In fact, the reason we want to run sap through an RO is the exact opposite. We dont often have time to boil more than once a week. I just received all the parts today and hope to assemble over the holidays. Try setting you brass valve (petcock) to around 70-80 psi. I am going to give it a go. Open the tops and add additional solution if needed. Pretty sure we dont want to give up the precious space (right now its crammed full because of covid-19). Carrie Williams Howe is an educational leader by day and an aspiring homesteader by night and weekend. thank you Hi Michelle. in the sense that we keep the waste (the sugar) and toss the water (permeate). WebBeautiful handcrafted maple cheeseboard with walnut & red inlays measuring 19"x6". Their cleaning regimen seems a bit extreme though. When you flush with permeate to rinse filters are you doing this under pressure with the needle valve nearly closed or with the valve wide open? At this rate, itll only take a few seasons to return the investment on the hardware. I dont see any discussion about whether or not the finished machine has to be kept at above-freezing temperatures to prevent damage to the filters. Click on the image below to pin this post. Since most backyard sugar makers use wood to boil their syrup, the savings on fuel by cutting your boiling time in half is huge. And then the downer a material balance. WebReverse osmosis greatly reduces the time and energy spent in boiling maple syrup by pulling much of the water from the sap before the boiling process begins. Their reverse osmosis system helps to produce high quality maple syrup. Im a VERY small backyard producer, making less than 10 gallons of syrup per year. (Id love to keep it all.) We were only tapping 12 trees the year Bill built this and it paid for itself by the second year. When you can limit the boiling process by running it through reverse osmosis (RO), the syrup does not darken nearly as much and the flavor is much more mild and enjoyable. Hello Michelle, I am in the process of assembling my RO. RO Maple systems enhance the syrup Thank you in advance for your time as well as your assistance. yay! (If you need a giant cookie fixand I do mean giantyoull want this recipe.). By morning I would have 30 40 gallons of sap to boil down. Question: Why the Aquatic CDP 8800 water booster pump that requires a transformer? And a pleasant way to describe your knowledge. Thanks again for this post! of pure water an hour. Our goal is to create a curated library of how-to information by and for homesteaders of all varieties. I am excited to get this working and I am determined to figure it out. Im a New England homesteader and the author of Sweet Maple. Maple syrup is produced typically from maple sap concentrated by nanofiltration or reverse osmosis at a moderate Brix level ranging from 6 to 16 Brix followed by heat evaporation. And check for a leak on your vacuum side (the unfiltered sap side). We filter out the impurities (aka the sugars in the sap) and keep them. I think I may try to rig up a smaller system than yours, by eliminating 1 or 2 of the RO filters and maybe running the sap thru twice. Im wanting to do up to 200-300 trees this year. Cover and let stand overnight. When that bucket is half full I pull it and start the next bucket. Looks like there is a shut off between the supply line and the pump to control the flow? I had no Idea what it was going to do when I built it.. His pump is pushing up to 140 PSI The amazing beauty of this I can confirm all your answers have been great and correct I have built 4 of these units now,and everyone loves them. a five gallon bucket at around 7%. N ow that I have gone to a small backyard evaporator I plan on building one because I do know what an RO will do for me, I just did not want to lay out th money for even the small ones that most of the Maple company make. These items, which I couldnt find on Amazon, I list below, along with where I did find them and the item #s or purchasing info youll need. Hi Michelle, Just want to thank you and Bill for your plans and advice on the RO setup. Our experience was that after 10% you could begin to see a slight difference in taste, and by 12% to 14% it was no longer a product that we wanted to sell, so youre right that 1 or 2 passes with this RO will not vary in taste. We always, always run the sap through twice, even with the 4 membranes. Every evening during the season, when were done RO-ing for the day, we simply run the RO one more cycle, using permeate instead of sap. (And it was my pleasure ). Im wondering if your system would cope? While running 2 each 75 gpd Axeons in series at about 100, I thought was seeing > 0%. If you decide to take the plunge, let me know what you think. tanks of propane. The first time through, the flow rate, at 70psi, is about 3 min/gal and I get about 20% permeate. 6. Mount the RO membrane housing horizontally to the Unistrut channels about 3 inches above the motor using the Unistrut pipe clamps.There are two She is a Founder and Editor of Homestead How-To and also blogs about her family's homestead life at The Happy Hive. For you, it is more about the experience than the production. Maybe Im blind. Free samples of maple products and maple baked Mark & Colleen Falardeau, backyard sugarmakers who built this RO system, explain, It cost us roughly $300 to make our RO and it takes sap from 2-3% sugar content to 7-8% in one pass! For this article, we were provided with a Sugar Cube Reverse Osmosis System from Vermont Evaporator Company. Thanks so much for your information. And you can definitely try another pump. I put one together last year using 4 100 gpd membranes. Alan. That would still account for only 60 of the missing 130 grams. To build a reverse osmosis set up of your ownand seriously slash your fuel costsyoull need a piece of plywood, or something similar, for mounting everything, and youll need the following items, which are all pictured below as well, in the order theyre listed. Then keep scrolling for a totally unprofessional, hope-you-understand-what-hes-talking-about drawing of Bills design. I do have a couple of questions though. Please consider helping me support sugarmaking education worldwide with every purchase of SoulyRested Swag. Your email address will not be published. We set a large can of sap beside our RO. (We use the 150 gpd filters. Spendy at $30 each. I ask because I honestly do not know. If you where to increase your pressure would you be able to process more sap and hour or are you restricted by your filters to your pressure? Except sugarmakers use the idea in reverse. This filter eliminates bacteria and yeast in your sap, leaving you with sap concentrate that stores longer. WebCooldown the maple syrup to about 95 F. Once cooled, get your arm ready, find a partner and take turns stirring and stirring some more. I ended up purchasing an even SMALLER tubing with and OD of 1/4 and an ID of .170 in and this is the correct tubing for the smaller of the two tubing sizes and the fittings you have listed. Large maple producers pay thousands of dollars for high-quality reverse osmosis set-ups which work well for their size and scale. What pressure do you run at? Plan on doing this well ahead of time. Hi Adam. Making maple syrup is something Ive wished we could do since we lived in New England for a couple of years. No, we never wash our unit. Large commercial operations use a If nothing else, sign up and get all these goodies delivered to your door for free shipping, right away, so you can start saving money on your propane. even read about storing the filters in permeate. WebPlace maple syrup and mustard in small bowl and stir with fork to combine. After filtering when do I need to process. Haha. Remember maple sap is almost pure table sugar / sucrose. . Compare to last year where we got about 1 gallons and used 4(!!!) Thanks for your info. Apparently everyone else figured this out, all I had to do was go buy the different tubing and I am good to go! Continue the boiling until one pan of sap/syrup remains. It may start at 3-4% sugar and end at 6-8% sugar; it should roughly double in sugar content. I know nothing, as you can tell. Jason. We run it at 60-70 psi, which we regulate with the needle valve. The inlet and outlet on the aquatec pump connections supplied by manufacture are 1/4 and the 3/8 tubing doesnt fit into the opening. The easiest way to do this is to make PVC vessels. If making your own system feels too complicated or time-intensive, you can invest in a reverse osmosis system made for backyard sugaring operations. Listing Im blessed to live in an old farmhouse, by a mountain lake, on acres of stone walls and sugar maples. Apple Bitters, Organic Maple Syrup and Garnished with Maple Infused Bacon. Another unique benefit of the Sugar Cube is that it adds an Ultraviolet (UV) filter to the system as well. 18195 Conc Rd 17, Maxville ON. I have not been able to remove much water just passing the sap thru the system. These prices are excluding tax and shipping and excluding the extras Id need to get at the hardware store. I think Im removing maybe 10% of the water and am running at 70psi. Im not sure Im understanding your other questions, but I have a feeling this video will make it all clear for you. If you have a new parts list that you used, with the corrected item #s and details, that would be helpful. $12.99. Hi Michelle, I have built your RO and have come across a problem. When its time to start up the RO again the next year, all we do is take the filters out of the fridge and use them. This means less time monitoring the evaporator and, importantly, less wood needed to boil and make our syrup. I guess looking at the elbows and paying attention to the image of your setup is crucial to a correct build. . Thank you Michelle & Bill for sharing this information! WebTotal 9584 products from sugar free substitute for maple syrup Manufactures & Suppliers We dont want that syrup to end up costing us more than if we bought it from another sugaring operation. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Steam the tofu 5. drizzle with maple syrup and mustard mixture. [68] In 2019 it led with over 7.8million litres (2.07million US gallons), followed by New York with 3.1millionL (820,000USgal) and Maine with 2.2millionL (580,000USgal). WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE NEEDLE VALVE ON THE LINE. And great question about what we run it at! I am intrigued by this system and would like to attempt to build one however I have a few questions as I have no experience with ROs. My questions are. Follow up questions re: cleaning. Hi Lucas, glad you solved your problem before I even saw your comment. This kit is indeed awesome! Thanks for the great instructions. Im doing a pretty small operation, but getting just large enough that my fire cant keep up, so wondering if I can cut a few corners and come up with something for closer to $200. Put them into two separate buckets and voila, you can cut the water content of your sap by up to 50%. Please consider submitting your own how-to advice through the write for us link in the About Us tab above. Had readings starting out with 5 gallons of right at 2% which should be about 380 grams total sugar. Hi Michelle, Im not understanding every item youre referring to. What a great question. Thats just the one Bill chose. . Hi Tim. We never need to clean them during the season, but every time we use it we run some permeate through the system before shutting it off for the night. Thanks for the instructions and parts list. Thanks. the gauge reads 120 psi and the needle valve doesnt adjust the pressure at all. I noticed in your post on 2/15/19 to Christine, that you ID the red line as the sap line, when I think that it is the waste water from what I can tell by both your diagram and the actual photo of your set up. Hi Michele, Just wanted to add after you told me about getting a refractometer. It traps all the the sap in the filter doesnt let it through. Thank you, Gordie, for letting me know all of this!! On that unit I used all 3/8 lines and 3/8 fittings and Hi, love what you have come up with. I use a 4 foot evaporating pan heated with wood, hoping to use a lot less wood and time! The drawback is that you need 4 needle valves, one for each sap line/canister to create the proper back pressure. The line with the needle valve is the line that carries the ROd sap that then is boiled. But Im a little slow. At what pressure do we run our RO? Post author: Post published: February 27, 2023 Post category: simon the zealot symbol Post comments: 21 signs you've met someone from a past life 21 signs you've met someone from a past life EZ-FLO 0.170-in ID x 150-ft Polyethylene Tubing Item #879275Model #98632. We have 120 taps, so you will be using yours for twice as much sap as we do, but the only difference, I would assume, would be the length of time it takes to process your sap through it on a daily basis. If the weather is going to be particularly warm, we can take this smaller amount of sap and pop it in a cooler or the fridge so it doesnt warm up too much. Is this due to only having 3 membranes or is there something else Im missing. Read through all comments looking for what the permeate sugar content was. Because here our family has started living a more sustainable life, focused on simple joys. For us, some of the parts from Lowes were not needed b/c the parts were included with the Amazon pieces. Ill try to remember to get back to you! If youre like me. Looks like we will need a bigger system next year. Its been a 2-year process pulling this all together. $8.99. Does any body know what pressure setting to use when running permeate thru for the daily cleaning? It wouldnt much less expensive 115V direct plug (i.e., not needing a transformer) be a simpler and effective option? I have run straight hot water thru and the water drain flows freely. An official scientific study at the Univ of Vermont stated this in their conclusion: in sensory evaluations panelists were unable to detect a difference in flavor between the syrup produced simultaneously with unconcentrated sap and with the same sap concentrated to 8% by RO. Water ( permeate ) sap through homemade reverse osmosis maple syrup RO is the PURPOSE of the missing 130 grams through, reason... Uv ) filter to the image of your sap, leaving you with sap that. Back to you for your time as well with walnut & red measuring... 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