As anticipated, the trees ran all night. We collected 275 gallons. Many full buckets. Nice clear sap. And 3 Brix; that was a surprise. Started collecting by 2:00 PM. Done by 3:15 PM. There were four of us collecting.
While collecting, start thinking through the steps to use the R/O. The 11 hours from yesterday reminded us how nice the R/O is to use. The R/O was in the woods with the hoses connected and a tank of water. It needed the membrane and a flush with 200 gallons of water. By 4:14 PM the membrane was in and all final hoses connected. Then we flushed it with water. Should be ready to use in the morning. We can process 50 gallons an hour with the R/O. We should be done by 12:30 PM or 1:00 PM if we don’t have problems.
Froze overnight because there was ice on puddles. 33 by 4:00 AM. Cloudy with snow flurries then light rain.
Into the woods by 9:00 AM to bottle. Wanted to finish the milk can from last Sunday when we had the cloudy syrup. Figured out why we had cloudy syrup: didn’t tighten the filter press plates enough. We saw syrup bubbling out. Didn’t seem like much but must have been loose enough the cause poor filtering. Verified today the plates were snug. No leaking/bubbles. And clear syrup.
1:00 PM before bottling and cleanup was completed. In between we washed collecting and storage tanks so they were ready by 2:00 PM for collecting.
There will be another run this season. Weather looks promising and the frost is out.
Back to the farmhouse by 5:00 PM.