Made the decision to shutdown the season due to low Brix in the sap. It’s uncomfortable because the sap is still running and the weather patterns are favorable. But with sap at 1 Brix or a little above, there’s a lot of water. With the R/O, it’s feasible to cook this sap, but we’ve had an above average crop and made our best syrup ever with the Grade A, Golden, Delicate. We shouldn’t feel disappointed. Even though we will dump sap.
This is another new for a season: sap running, but low Brix. The sugar likely moved during the February runs. Last season, it was deep frost that delayed the season until March 28. Climate change is likely at the root of both events.
Into the woods by 4:45 AM to cook. Three batches into the milk can. Back to the farmhouse by 10:30 AM.
Checked the buckets at Noon. Nice sap and dripping well. But then checked the sap with the hydrometer: all around 1 Brix. Tasted the sap. Difficult to detect any sweetness.
The day cooking 5:05 AM R/O start 6:00 AM concentrate 6:20 AM batch 6:30 AM -5 PSI 7:15 AM R/O done 7:15 AM 6.5″ 8:00 AM 5.25″ 8:30 AM batch 9:00 AM 2.5″ 9:50 AM batch 10:00 AM .25″ 10:15 AM done
Into the woods by 7:30 AM to get a milk can on the finishing pan. Bottled 8 gallons. Done by 10:30 AM.
24 overnight. Sunny and 50 today. Trees dripped. There was already sap in the buckets from the other day. We collect that day at 4:00 PM but the trees continued to drip into the night. It warmed quickly so the trees added sap to the buckets.
Into the woods by 2:30 PM to collect. Picked up190 gallons.
But the sap is 1.25 Brix. That’s a 69:1 ratio. With the R/O we can cook it, but it’s reaching the point were it’s not feasible. The weather pattern looks favorable for sap but with low Brix the season may end. We already have an above average crop so ending wouldn’t be bad. February weather was also favorable for sap and sap was moving in the trees. It’s likely the sugar moved in those runs. So even through there are favorable freeze/thaw cycles, there isn’t much sugar left and it’s mostly water moving now.
Into the woods by 8:00 AM to cook. Couldn’t get sustained boils so took about an hour longer to finish. Expected to finish by Noon. Finished by 1:00 PM. We may have allowed our self to feel we didn’t have much to cook, so didn’t fire hard enough. This shows up below in the section labeled “The day cooking” in the concentrate tank levels between 10:30 AM and 12:30 PM. We typically drop 3” per hour on the concentrate tank. We should have cooked 150 gallons in 4 hours including startup/shutdown.
6 Brix on the R/O. Tried for 7 Brix. But this sap was 1.5 Brix to start with, a 57:1 ratio. At 6 Brix the ratio is 14:1 so we are already removing 43 gallons of water before boiling. That realization makes 6 Brix feel okay.
Additional thoughts on the R/O wash tank temperature. We have a single 4” membrane. Lapierre didn’t know that when they said a 1 1/4” intake on the feed pump wouldn’t matter. Most of their customers have one or two 8” membranes, or even two 4” membranes. Multiple membranes provides more surface area for friction to heat water. A 1 1/4” intake on the feed pump may work without adjustment for those R/Os.
Maybe 2” of snow. Snow started at 5:00 AM. Didn’t snow hard however. Snowfall rate increased by 8:30 AM but diminished by 11:00 AM. Between 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM we got the heaviest snowfall. Other areas got more snow. We were in between snow bands given the way the storm swirled. By 5:00 PM it started to clear. 24 forecast for tonight with 42 tomorrow.
The day cooking. 8:25 AM increased snowfall rate 8:45 AM R/O start 9:00 AM 4 PSI 9:30 AM concentrate 9:45 AM batch 10:00 AM R/O done 10:30 AM 4.75” 11:30 AM 3.5” 11:45 AM batch 12:00 PM 2.25” 12:30 PM 0.5” 12:50 PM done
24 overnight. Sunny and 42 today. Trees dripped a little. We collected. Pickup the sap before the snow. Forecast is somewhere between 3” and 10” although 6” seems most likely. It seems strange to think of a snow storm when we had such a nice day.
Into the woods by 4:30 AM. Done by 10:15 AM. Did a pH wash cycle on the membrane where we add a cleaning agent to bring water in the wash tank to pH 10, slightly Alkaline (Base.)
The day cooking. 5:30 AM R/O start 6:00 AM cooking with concentrate 6:55 AM batch 7:00 AM 0 PSI 7:40 AM R/O done 8:00 AM 4.75” concentrate 9:00 AM 2.5” 9:15 AM start pH wash on R/O 10:00 AM batch 10:15 AM done 3:30 PM R/O pH wash done Back to the farmhouse by 10:30 AM.
Decided to collect. Pickup the sap before the snow. Got 150 gallons. We are now over 100% of a crop.
Using the tank heater to supplement the pump during the wash cycle worked. We set the thermostat to 108 and left the heater on during the entire wash cycle. With the base temperature at 108, the pump only needed to raise the temperature 5 degrees by cycling water through the membrane. Friction from the water passing through the membrane raises the temperature. We started the wash cycle at Noon. Checked it at 6:45 PM. Temperature was 112.9. It needs to reach 113. Checked again at 7:50 PM. The pump was off. The wash cycle completed successfully. Took about 7 hours which is consistent with past use. Using the tank heater should be workable solution.
Into the woods at 2:45 PM to wash tanks and prepare to collect. Pickup 175 gallons, but the sugar is still down: 1.5 Brix.
35 overnight. Cloudy this morning then becoming sunny with high of 42. Expect lows in mid 20s tonight with highs in the low 40s and sunny tomorrow. Hoping for a sap run. But Friday night into Saturday we get snow: 2”-4” forecast.
Into the woods by 4:30 AM to cook. R/O and evaporator going by 5:30 AM. The evaporator was sweet. Took off six batches. The first batch was at 6:00 AM. R/O finished by 8:55 AM. Went to 6 Brix. Routine day cooking.
36 overnight but there was ice in places. The ground is still cold. Up to 45, but cloudy and light fog all day.
Had a conference call with other producers across the US and Canada. A lot of golden syrup being made. Had reports that 40% and even 50% of their crop was golden. Our golden wasn’t unique to us, but it’s still special for us.
The day cooking. 5:30 AM R/O start 6:00 AM batch 7:20 AM batch 8:25 AM batch 8:55 AM R/O finished 9:00 AM 6.75” of concentrate 9:40 AM batch 10:00 AM 5.25” 10:20 AM batch 11:00 AM 2.75” 12:15 PM batch 12:30 PM done
Wash cycle running now. Using the wash tank heater we brought the water to 108 and kept the heater on. We’ll see if that helps.
Into the woods by 5:45 AM to check the O-ring (U-cup) at the bottom of the membrane. The seal looked fine. That leaves the pump: it’s feeding too much water or sap. We’ll work on strategies to compensate for that tomorrow when we cook.
Collected 285 gallons of sap. A weak 2 Brix. Trees dripped into last night, then resumed dripping today. Nice looking sap.
30 overnight, but again a lot of ice. The ground is still cold. Cloudy all day until 3:00 PM when the sun appeared. Temperature up to 45.
We’ll cook tomorrow. Back to the farmhouse by 5:00 PM.
30 overnight but it might have been colder because there was a lot of ice. Cloudy most of the day, but sunny between Noon and 4:00 PM. Temperature up to 45 but warmed slowly. Trees slowly dripping. After several days of very cold weather they may take a few days to warm.
Worked on troubleshooting the R/O feed pump to find the root cause of the wash cycle not getting to 113. Troubleshooting is about isolating components and testing variations. We know the new feed pump works but troubleshooting starts with examining the most recent change. We’ve already eliminated the broken wash tank valve and the quick release.
Called the R/O manufacturer, Lepierre. They had some troubleshooting steps, but it’s not likely they will resolve this problem. They said the room was too cold and the tank is losing heat to the room and we should wrap the tank to keep it warm. But it’s the same room from past years. It’s 6’ x 8’ insulated room. The heater keeps the room between 50 and 60. We didn’t have this problem past years. They also said to check the temperature sensor on the R/O to verify it works. We took the sensor out of the R/O pipes. Pointed a heat gun at it. After it exceeded 113, the high temperature warning light of the R/O came on. The sensor works.
Tomorrow we’ll check if the O ring (U-cup) the bottom of the membrane seals tightly. We tested the permeate on Saturday when we last used the R/O. It tested at 0 Brix; no sugar. If the seal wasn’t tight, the permeate would likely have sugar. But we’ll check it anyway to be sure its sealing.
Next we looked at the feed pump intake. The pump warms the water through friction with the membrane. More water will take longer to heat . The intake is 1 1/4” and it’s feed by a 1 1/4” line. The intake on the old pump was 1.” It was also feed by a 1 1/4” line, but the feed pump had a reducer that restricted the intake 1.” Going from 1” to 1 1/4” almost doubles the cross section and would greatly increase the volume of water it could move. It’s possible the pump is pushing too much water.
Other symptoms:
The flow rate on the concentrate and permeate meters is higher then we’ve experienced in the past.
A 1” line feeds water back from the membrane to wash tank. It’s almost full of water during the wash cycle. This also differs from past experience when that line had a fast trickle of water. .
One possible solution is to leave the tank heater on during the entire wash cycle. We used the tank heater with a “soap” wash to warm the water to 90 before adding the “soap.” But we can try using it for the entire wash cycle. We increased the thermostat to 107 and we’ll leave it on the entire wash cycle to help the pump. At 107 the pump only needs to generate 6 degrees to reach 113.
It’s official: the first three milk cans of syrup in 2023 are Grade A, Golden color and Delicate flavor. This is picture of the grading from today’s bottling. This is special for us. With our older equipment its difficult to make Golden Delicate syrup. This is our bragging picture.
Grade A Golden Delicate Maple Syrup
Into the woods by 7:00 AM to check the R/O. The wash cycle ran all night again. Temperature reached 109 but that was after 15 hours. Something is wrong. We’ll check with the manufacturer tomorrow, but suspect the O ring (U cup) at the bottom of the membrane isn’t sealing tightly. Without a tight seal it doesn’t generate the needed friction to heat the water passing through the membrane during the wash cycle.
Emptied the milk can into the finishing pan by 8:30 AM. Started the fire on the finishing pan by 11:45 AM. Syrup ready for filtering by 1:00 PM. Started bottling by 1:30 PM. We monitored each step carefully so we didn’t make a mistake and mess up what we hoped would be Golden Delicate syrup.
Bottled some of the 500 ml maple leaf bottles so we have syrup to show off. Total bottling: 14 quarts; 33 pints; 11 250 ml.
15 overnight. Sunny today. Warmed to 36 late this afternoon but the wind was cold. Some melting. Tree pressure was -9 overnight but up to 15 this afternoon when it warmed. Trees started to drip slowly but not enough to collect.
A lot of snow on the ground for March 19th. Many years, the snow has melted by now. Last week’s snow storms of 20” are the reason we still have snow on the ground yet.
Into the woods by 7:30 AM. It was cold overnight, 10, but we can work through the cold. Expected an easy day. 160 gallons with the R/O should take 3 hours. With startup and shutdown time we should be done by Noon or earlier.
The R/O was still running the wash cycle when we arrived in the woods at 7:30 AM. Temperature was only 104. Something was off. It should have shutdown automatically after reaching 113. That should have taken 6 hours maybe. Turned off the R/O. Not sure of the impact of an incomplete wash cycle.
Started troubleshooting. Found a cracked valve on the R/O wash tank. It wasn’t leaking, but if it compromised the seal it could have pulled in air disrupting and cooling the circulating water. We made arrangements to get a new valve. Another concern was the quick release on the new feed pump may not be sealing tight enough. It’s not leaking, but if the seal is compromised, it could pull in air and disrupt the pump. A symptom we noticed is the feed pump not reaching and holding 25 PSI. It normally takes under 5 seconds when water or sap is present. Found enough fittings to replace the quick release and made a new line connecting to the feed pump.
Installed the new valve and reconnected all lines to the pump, then tried to prime the pump. Water from the storage tank wasn’t flowing to prime the pump. Suspected a frozen line leading from the water storage tank to the pump. Found a wire to use as a snake to probe the line. Encountered ice where the line enters the building. The heat tape didn’t extend through the wall and the room heater didn’t warm though the wall. Used the heat gun to thaw. Reconnected the lines. The pump primed so we could pump water through the R/O. Things were looking up.
Configured the R/O to concentrate sap. Opened the sap feed value. The feed pump couldn’t reach 25 PSI. Suspected another frozen line. A few minutes with the heat gun on the tank and we heard the gurgles of sap moving in the line. But the feed pump still wouldn’t reach and hold 25 PSI. Took off the line from the tank to R/O. A lot of work removing it to find no ice. The line connecting to the tank must have had the ice. Back with the heat gun. Thawed it again. Reconnected everything. The feed pump got sap and held 25 PSI. Started concentrating with the high pressure pump. All my preparation with heating tapes and tank heater yesterday didn’t help because we didn’t account for the place the line enters the building. It was Noon. Expected to be done by this time.
The challenges weren’t over. Expected the R/O to finish by 1:30 PM. It didn’t. The Brix kept increasing. By the end of the day it was reaching 12 Brix. And the temperature increased to over 70. This isn’t normal. We speculate we were feeding the sap through twice. The valve from the storage tank to the evaporator was open. We opened it while troubleshooting the frozen pipe: if sap could flow from the tank to the evaporator, it would also flow to the R/O because the R/O feed line branches off up-line from the evaporator. At shutdown we noticed the valve to the evaporate was still open. That could explain the higher Brix and temperatures because with that valve open, sap from the storage tank and concentrate tank can mix allowing sap through the R/O twice.
Diagram of sap flow from tank to R/O to evaporator
A wash cycle is running now. Hoping it reaches and shuts off at 113 and doesn’t run all night. We’ll see in the morning.
10 overnight. Snow flurries gave dusting of snow. High of 27. Everything stayed frozen.
The day cooking 11:00 AM -5 PSI 12:00 PM R/O start 12:00 PM -5 PSI 1:10 PM batch 2:00 PM Stopped R/O 2:20 PM batch 3:15 PM done
