Originally Posted by
fireant911
Swingpure,
I am curious if you have any update to your first RO run (as you and I are 'first-seasoners' with Reverse Osmosis!).
My first run went well - 44 gallons of raw sap in and 17 gallons of concentrated sap out. Incoming sap Brix was 2.6% and concentrate was at 5.6% Brix. Final boiling yielded about 3/4 gallon of syrup that looked and tasted WONDERFUL! There was a tremendous learning curve as not only was this my first usage of the RO, my father-in-law has a new CDL wood-fired evaporator; however, overall, things went nicely albeit slower than expected. I am just waiting for things to warm up so we can tackle our second batch.
My Aquatec Pump never worked from day one. After trying to get Amazon to replace it, I am not working with Aquatec to cover it under warranty. I have finished my season, so hopefully will have it for next season. Can you wait a year for my answer?
I could have used it and made the 930 gallons seem like 465 gallons and the five face cords I burnt more like 2.5 face cords.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.