15 overnight. Sunny but cold today only 31. Checked the tanks first thing this morning. We kept all the tanks liquid, no ice. The R/O water tank had a heating tape so it didn’t freeze. We took down the pipe from the storage tanks to the evaporator. Wrapping in heating tape is a hassle and not 100% effective. Turns out the pipe is pretty easy to take down and store in the heated R/O room.
Had to haul 100 more gallons of water to clean the R/O membrane. We used the same hose setup we figured out yesterday in the snow storm. That was a lot of trail an error. Today we were much more efficient.
By 11:00 we were running the cleaning cycle on the R/O. By 1:30 PM we started concentrating. Everything worked. Our cleaning and off season storage were adequate. Had a few leaks from loose fitting that we quickly fixed.
Sap went in the R/O at 2 degrees Brix and left at 5 degrees Brix. That’s a 17:1 ratio. By 2:00 PM we were cooking concentrate. Took the first batch of syrup off at 5:00 and the second batch at 7:00 PM. Cooking concentrate is faster. Its worth the hassle of setting up the R/O. Back to the house by 7:45 PM. Took down the storage tank pipe again.
Tonight down to 7. Still 200 gallons of sap for tomorrow, but that should go fast now that the R/O is ready to use.
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