Into the woods by 9:15 AM to light the fire on the finishing pan. Then brought over the filter press, filter aid, kitchen heater, bottling pan and other things we needed for bottling.
Syrup ready for filtering by 10:40 AM. Started bottling by 11:15 AM. Done by 12:15 PM. Then started on the second milk can. Finished bottling it by 3:05 PM. Bottle 16.5 gallons in total.
Snowed all day. Up to 37, but atmosphere must have been colder. Continues snowing over night too.
UPS delivered the pump yesterday about 6:00 PM. The snow storm delayed them because UPS usually delivers around Noon. But we got it.
Into the woods by 9:00 AM to get a tank of water to test the pump after replacement. Took at little while to figure out the electrical connections on the new pump. When the pump starts it should reach 25 PSI within a few seconds, but took longer then expected. Likely because the pump needed to change itself with water first. But all is well. We need sap next to verify that the new feed pump can meet the needs of the high pressure pump.
This pump from Goulds is widely used in the maple industry. It’s propellers are all stainless steel. And parts are replaceable. It was expense at $1042, but should last. It’s the third feed pump for the R/O.
Washed the finishing pan. Brought over two milk cans of water. We plan to bottle tomorrow.
Snow forecast again for tonight and tomorrow with 3″ – 6” possible by Monday morning. 26 overnight. Cloudy all day. Did reach 36, but cold north east wind. Time change tonight: Spring ahead an hour.
About 8” of wet snow over night. Snow started by 7:00 PM yesterday and lasted until Noon today. Between 4:30 AM and 9:00 AM it was accumulating at ½” per hour. We were at the syrup building and that’s what we observed clearing the sidewalk in front of the building.
Into the woods by 4:30 AM. Evaporator going by 5:15 AM. Three batches in the milk can. Finished by 1:30 PM. Back to the farmhouse by 1:45 PM.
Still waiting for the pump. UPS got a late start because of the weather. It’s still showing as out for delivery by 7:00 PM March 10 (today.)
The day cooking 5:30 AM 15.5” 6:00 AM 15.25” 7:00 AM 13.5” 7:00 AM 0 PSI 7:35 AM batch 8:00 AM 11.25” 9:00 AM 9” 10:00 AM 7” 10:00 AM 0 PSI 10:35 AM batch 11:00 AM 5.25” 12:00 PM 3.25” 12:00 PM 0 PSI 12:40 PM batch 1:00 PM .75” 1:30 PM done
Into the woods at 2:30 PM to clean tanks for collecting at 3:00 PM. Collected 160 gallons, but the Brix is down: 1.5 Brix. That’s disappointing. It’s the second collection that Brix is down. Trees were not dripping today when we collected. All the other days they were dripping. Collecting yesterday wouldn’t have yielded as much. And now the buckets are empty before the storm. We were right to wait a day before collecting.
A snow storm is predicated for later tonight and into tomorrow. 5”-8” predicated. Cold north east wind now. Cloudy and 35 today. Froze overnight but not sure of low. Sunny early, but then clouds moved in.
30 overnight, but dropped to 28 at sunrise. Sunny and 38 today. Out at 3:00 PM to collect. Picked up 210 gallons, but sugar content down to 1.5 Brix. That’s 57:1.
Ordered a new R/O pump from the manufacture, Lapierre in Swanton, VT. The propellers and other internal parts are stainless steel. Should be better than plastic. Not sure when it arrives, but hoping for Friday. That’s 3 days away.
Also found out the Grundfos pump is prone to burn out the bearings. They can be replaced, but it’s still down time. We don’t need down time with burned out bearings.
Checked the woods at Noon. Dripping. Pressure 9 PSI. Collected at 3:00 PM. 210 gallons, but only 1.5 Brix.
Cook tomorrow. Should be about 10 hours. Back to the farmhouse by 4:15 PM.
Into the woods by 4:30 AM. Cooked 265 gallons. Back to the farmhouse by 6:00 PM. 13 ½ hours. The only consolation is making Grade A Golden syrup. We haven’t made Grade A Golden before. This is special. Wet snow over night. Just enough to make things white. Switched between snow and rain. Cloudy all day. 34.
The day cooking
5:30 AM 22” 6:00 AM 21.75” 7:00 AM 20” PSI 4 7:25 AM batch 9:00 AM 16” 10:00 AM 13.5” 10:15 AM 16.5” Added 8 pails of sap 10:25 AM batch 12:00 PM 12.5” 12:50 PM batch 1:00 PM 10.75” 2:00 PM 8” 3:00 PM 6.25” 4:00 PM 4.5” 5:00 PM 2.75” 5:45 PM .5” 5:45 PM batch 6:00 PM done
Into the woods by 5:15 AM. 28 overnight. Sunny and 42 today. Snow in the woods. Trees dripping. Steam rising from the syrup building. It’s the kind of picturesque day people think about when they think of maple syrup.
A Picturesque Day
Washed the storage tank first then pumped sap from the collecting tank. Got the evaporating going by 6:30 AM. Had a batch ready by 7:00 AM. The evaporator was very sweet from yesterday.
Cooked hard all day because we wanted to get the sap pushed through. Very nice syrup. This is could Grade A, Golden. We’ll grade after bottling.
First milk can of syrup
Finished cooking by 1:45 PM. Back to the farmhouse by 2:00 PM for a brief rest because we had to go out collecting at 3:00 PM. Brought two milk cans of water to the syrup building when we took the tractor over.
Collected 265 gallons at 2 Brix. Trees ran well. The storage tank holds 225 gallons so we have the rest in 5 gallons pails in the building. We’ll empty in the morning as we cook. Pumped the sap into the storage tank this afternoon yet so we are ready to cook in the morning. 265 gallons is 13 hours of cooking at 20 gallons/hour.
The day cooking
7:00 AM batch 7:00 AM 16.5” 8:00 AM 14.25” 9:00 AM 12.0” 9:00 AM 15 PSI tree pressure 9:20 AM batch 10:00 AM 9.25” 10:50 AM batch 11:20 AM 6.5” 12:00 PM 5” 12:55 PM batch 1:00 PM 2.5” 1:30 PM 1.25” 1:45 PM done
Rain/snow possible overnight. Low of 30. Cloudy tomorrow.
The feed pump on the R/O failed again. We replaced it in March 2020 because the motor seized up. The feed pump worked yesterday when we ran 200 gallons of water through the R/O to rinse the membrane.
Into the woods at 7:15 AM. Expected an easy day. 215 gallons with the R/O should take about four hours. Had to transfer sap from the collecting tank to storage tank first. Started the R/O. The feed pump wasn’t pulling sap. Checked the lines for a closed valve or ice. All clear. Tried the feed pump again. Now it just hummed. Won’t try to pull sap. We’re thinking we seized the motor again. But we learned from 2020 that this pump needs priming before use and we’ve been careful to always prime it. Did basic troubleshooting and called our equipment dealer. Dealer suggested checking if the motor shaft turned. But there isn’t easy access to the propellers on the pump without disassembling it. So the next step was to disassemble. Our cousin who did the 2020 pump replacement came over. Took the pump off the R/O. Took off the stainless steel housing around the pump. It’s a centrifugal pump. The pump parts that spin are made of plastic. Only the housing is stainless steel. One of the fins on the pump broke.
The pump couldn’t generate suction. That it only hummed was likely the auto shut off sensor engaging when it didn’t detect anything to pull.
The R/O manufacturer isn’t available until Monday. We want to both get a replacement part for the pump and a completely new pump. The new pump will go on the R/O. The replacement part will go into the pump so we have spare pump. We’re also going to put a screen filter in the line before the pump to filter out twigs, leaves and bark. While that is mostly soft bio-mass, it’s likely a harder piece broke the plastic fin.
We expect more set backs getting the pump and installing it. Hoping to have the R/O back in operation by March 10. But the season got harder without the R/O. This piece of technology saves us 2/3 of the time to cook. It’s frustrating to have it off-line.
Started the evaporator by 8:00 AM. Tried to fire and troubleshoot the pump at the same time. By 10:00 AM it was obvious the R/O was out of service so commenced to fire harder knowing we couldn’t use the R/O. Finished cooking by 7:30 PM. Four batches into the milk can. Very nice syrup.
Collected at 3:00 PM. 165 gallons at 2 Brix.
25 overnight. Started sunny. By 10:00 AM it was melting and sap started to run. Up to 45. Cloudy in the afternoon. By 4:00 PM a few rain showers.
Back to the farmhouse at 7:45 PM. Into the woods early tomorrow to cook. Without the R/O.
Into the woods at 4:30 AM. It was cold overnight: 22. Storage tank drain pipe was frozen and took about 10 minutes to thaw with the heat gun. But finally we heard the “gurgle gurgle” of the sap moving through the thawed pipe. Started the evaporator by 5:30 AM.
Then started on the R/O. The membrane needs rinsing before use with about 200 gallons of water. First we had to get the membrane out the storage canister. It was sealed very tight. Struggled with a pipe wrench to open it. After applying heat from the heat gun it finally opened.
After starting the pump, leaks appeared. First around the canister for the pre-filter. Food grade grease solved that. But there was still a leak from one of the drain plugs on the pump. Tied food grade grease there too but didn’t solve it. After inspecting the plug, noticed it was missing an O ring. We didn’t have any spares so we were unable to continue with the R/O. Later in the morning, family was able to get an O ring. But now it was 11:30 AM. We checked the sap level in the tank and realized we wouldn’t get enough water to wash the R/O after use. So we cooked all 170 gallons old school. One batch into the milk can. Finished by 1:30 PM. Back to the farmhouse by 2:00 PM.
But we still had to collect. Help arrived and we started collecting at 3:15 PM. Some ice in buckets from the cold overnight. It did warm to 42, but stayed cloudy all day.
While going around a sharp corner the front tires fell into a rut. Struggled to get it out. And one of the tires was flat making it even harder. Unhooked the wagon. Got the tractor out. Back to the farmhouse to fill the tire with air. Completed collecting by 4:45 PM. Picked up 215 gallons.
Another long day. It’s frustrating when something small like an O ring prevents use of technology that significantly reduces cooking time.
