Schenectady-Albany-Saratoga Counties

[MRFNY]

Busy couple of days! Looks like everyone else was in the same boat. Boiled 200 gallons the last couple of days and probably have 7-8 now that is ready to be bottled. Will be using the RO Bucket filtering and canning system for the first time, sure hope I don't screw up. lol. Carl at RO Bucket is awesome though, always willing to take calls and help and he said we could set up a video call so he can watch me to make sure everything goes smoothly. Sounds like mistakes can be reversed so that is a good feeling.

[The Heldeberg Sapper]

Let us know how the filtering goes. I didn't know they made a filter setup but looked it up and it seems nice! I just use an inverted cone filter right off the evaporator to filter which works well but I'm always looking for new things to spend money on haha.

[MRFNY]

Let us know how the filtering goes. I didn't know they made a filter setup but looked it up and it seems nice! I just use an inverted cone filter right off the evaporator to filter which works well but I'm always looking for new things to spend money on haha.

Will do! Prior to this new system, I would draw off the evaporator and pour into a finishing tank through three filters. That would remove the niter, the problem was reheating the syrup to get it up to density prior to bottling. I would wait until I had 5 or more gallons before bottling to make it more productive.

[The Heldeberg Sapper]

Will do! Prior to this new system, I would draw off the evaporator and pour into a finishing tank through three filters. That would remove the niter, the problem was reheating the syrup to get it up to density prior to bottling. I would wait until I had 5 or more gallons before bottling to make it more productive.

Gotcha I have a continuous flow pan so I draw off multiple times when it gets to syrup and it always ends up being on the heavy side (on purpose). I filter it right out of the rig into a stock pot where I then slowly reheat for bottling and achieving the proper density. I haven't had any issues with niter reforming but to be safe because I bottle mostly in plastic I always fill an 8oz glass jar so I can make sure that batch doesn't do anything weird. I also mark all of my with a serial number so I can keep track of everything. For example when I bottle tonight everything will be labeled as 25031265. The 25 is the year, 03 is month, 12 is the day, and 65 is the light transmittance from my Hannah digital grader (haven't actually checked this batch yet but am curious how dark it will be). Last year I made all Golden and Amber Syrup, I have a feeling this year will be on the lower end of Amber and getting into Dark Robust.

[ADK_XJ]

Busy couple of days! Looks like everyone else was in the same boat. Boiled 200 gallons the last couple of days and probably have 7-8 now that is ready to be bottled. Will be using the RO Bucket filtering and canning system for the first time, sure hope I don't screw up. lol. Carl at RO Bucket is awesome though, always willing to take calls and help and he said we could set up a video call so he can watch me to make sure everything goes smoothly. Sounds like mistakes can be reversed so that is a good feeling.

I was curious about that system, definitely report back on how it goes...I built myself a DIY style vacuum filter at the end of last year after being so fed up with cone style filtering (as you described). It works real well but I need a critical mass of syrup to make sense.

[ADK_XJ]

Another awesome day of boiling here near Saratoga and had some help from a few retired friends to boot! We hauled the 6th and 7th load of 100 gallons on the week, that's on top of two more last week. I'd love to say I hit 1000 gallons processed before I go back to work next week but we'll just have to see how it runs these next few days.

Thank God for this RObucket 4x40 upgrade, it's the only way I could keep up by making nearly 8% concentrate through recirculation in the head tank. Still, I think I've pretty well maxed out my current 2x4 divided pan setup. I know my homemade arch is not as efficient as it could be, the door is useless and it needs a blower probably. I've got the firebox bricked but should probably do the whole thing if I want to kick up my evap rate. That will be a next year project, for now we're having a ton of fun collecting and boiling on these long days!

[MRFNY]

RO'ing this morning and then onto boiling. Trees dripping early this morning, some faster than others so I would anticipate a collection later today.

ADK_XJ - How do you like that single post RO? I am thinking about upgrading to it next season. There are a couple features I like compared to my RB15 kit, one being everything mounted on the dolly. I have mine mounted on a board now and it's a little cumbersome if I RO in different areas of my barn/garage.

[ADK_XJ]

RO'ing this morning and then onto boiling. Trees dripping early this morning, some faster than others so I would anticipate a collection later today.

ADK_XJ - How do you like that single post RO? I am thinking about upgrading to it next season. There are a couple features I like compared to my RB15 kit, one being everything mounted on the dolly. I have mine mounted on a board now and it's a little cumbersome if I RO in different areas of my barn/garage.

I really like the 4x40 and, for the cost, it seems like a real value compared to more "commercial" options (i.e. the Leader Micro and whatever CDL's equivalent is). I especially like the flow meters and the fact that the pumps can run dry (vane pumps can absolutely never run dry and my boiling usually involves beer so accidents happen)! It's also very, very quiet compared to most single-post systems. I chose to do the kit and mount to my own dolly, which is not an exact match to the one he uses and I had to Jerry-rig the mounting for a couple things like the power source and the filter housing. If I had any criticism, it would be that one of the two pumps crapped out on me toward the end of my first season BUT he sent me a replacement right away for free.

Did you end up collecting yesterday? I did with my daughter but only our buckets (which were all full) as she doesn't quiet have the patience for pumping out the 275 gallon IBC totes. It is just barely running today after not freezing last night, I'm hoping that by keeping all the sap in the woods where it's shady it will stay okay until I can boil tomorrow.

[MRFNY]

I really like the 4x40 and, for the cost, it seems like a real value compared to more "commercial" options (i.e. the Leader Micro and whatever CDL's equivalent is). I especially like the flow meters and the fact that the pumps can run dry (vane pumps can absolutely never run dry and my boiling usually involves beer so accidents happen)! It's also very, very quiet compared to most single-post systems. I chose to do the kit and mount to my own dolly, which is not an exact match to the one he uses and I had to Jerry-rig the mounting for a couple things like the power source and the filter housing. If I had any criticism, it would be that one of the two pumps crapped out on me toward the end of my first season BUT he sent me a replacement right away for free.

Did you end up collecting yesterday? I did with my daughter but only our buckets (which were all full) as she doesn't quiet have the patience for pumping out the 275 gallon IBC totes. It is just barely running today after not freezing last night, I'm hoping that by keeping all the sap in the woods where it's shady it will stay okay until I can boil tomorrow.

Very nice. The flow meters are another feature I like about it too. Like you, there is typically adult beverages involved so if I can prevent any accidents from happening I'll all in. HA!

Yeah I collected Friday afternoon after boiling and then yesterday morning I finished up the buckets that were still dripping and in the colder areas of the property. RO'd and boiled that yesterday.

Today will be finally testing the new filtering / canning system from RO Bucket.

I have no idea what remains for the rest of the season. I see a couple potential good days later in the week but is it going to be too warm to get the trees to reset when we finally get a cold night?

[ADK_XJ]

Very nice. The flow meters are another feature I like about it too. Like you, there is typically adult beverages involved so if I can prevent any accidents from happening I'll all in. HA!

Yeah I collected Friday afternoon after boiling and then yesterday morning I finished up the buckets that were still dripping and in the colder areas of the property. RO'd and boiled that yesterday.

Today will be finally testing the new filtering / canning system from RO Bucket.

I have no idea what remains for the rest of the season. I see a couple potential good days later in the week but is it going to be too warm to get the trees to reset when we finally get a cold night?

I just came back to the forum to say this same thing...not really sure what to expect from here on out! It's gone like gangbusters for a little over a week but finally tapered off yesterday morning and has not come back online yet. I did "invest" (they were a few cents more a piece) in the check valve taps and my hope is they may salvage a few more weeks of the season by protecting the tap holes from the warm weather bacteria growth.

Still, it's been in the mid 60s a few days in a row during the day and this morning it was 52F when I woke up. No bueno.

Looks like we may hit high 20s Monday night, a 50/50 shot at just below freezing Tuesday and then some colder temps by the weekend. I would be pretty bummed to only get one good week out of the season, but we've made some really good stuff and a decent amount of it since I took the last week off work. Crossing my fingers!