MapleAcres

40 and rain overnight.  Cloudy and 52 today.  Into the woods by 7:15 AM.  Cleaned pans and started the evaporator fire by 8:00 AM.   Preped the R/O and started it by 8:10 AM.  Cooking hard by 8:30 AM.  And done by 11:30 AM.  Three hours.    165 gallons.   The R/O spoils us by making it much easier to  cook.

Experimented the R/O controls.  Trying to figure out how to get higher Brix concentrate.    Should be able to get 6 or 7 degrees Brix from the R/O.

Its frustrating waiting for the weather pattern to change.   March 13th seems to early for the weather to stay this warm, even with the El Nino weather pattern.   The forecast is for the weather pattern to change to normal, colder, temperatures by the 17th. 

Bottled this morning.  24 quarts and 7 pints. 

This afternoon we collected.  Not a lot of sap, 165 gallons.  But if it stay stays in the buckets it spoils, so get it while we can. 

42 overnight.  Cloudy today with highs around 50.

There was frost this morning so at some point it froze overnight.   But it was up to 60 during the day, about 25 degrees above normal.  Too warm.  Taps wet and dripping a little but not enough to collect.  Tomorrow’s forecast has rain.  It Wednesday before he weather pattern changes to more normal temperatures. 

Bottled 30 quarts today.  Plan to bottle tomorrow too.

25 overnight.  That seemed promising.  It was not sunny today.  Warmed to mid-40s.  Taps wet, but not enough to collect today.

Tomorrow we will bottle again.

Done cooking by 1:00 PM.  Started at 8:00 AM.   We like the R/O working for us.

Only 44 overnight. Sigh.  We need colder weather.  Tonight may freeze.  But warms up the next days again.

45 overnight.  Foggy this morning.   Then partly cloudy.  Up to 55.  Too warm.  The sap is moving in the trees.  If we had a freeze we would have a big run.    There is still frost in the ground in the woods.

Into the woods by 9:00 AM to get syrup on the finishing pan.   It was ready by 11:20.  Filtered and bottled.  30 quarts and 3 pints. 

Decided to collect the sap in the buckets.  It won’t stay fresh when its warm.  Started collecting at 3:15.  Done by 5:00.  215 gallons at 2.4 degrees Brix.

Only 42 overnight.  Up to 54 during the day.  Partly cloudy.   A week ago we had 4 inches of snow with blowing and 18 followed by 0 or below for a few days.   Forecast is for warm weather for the next few days.  But there is still frost in the ground in the woods.  That helps us.

Into the woods by 7:00 AM.  Cleaned the syrup pan.  No nitre or sugar sand.  Didn’t really need to clean it, but did as a precaution.

By 8:00 had the fire going.  By 8:10 started the R/O.  Sap out at 5 degrees Brix.  By 10:50 the R/O completed the 225 gallons in the storage tank.   Pumped in the additional 85 gallons for the R/O to process.  All done by 1:00 PM.    Doing a soap wash on the R/O now.  Looks like it may be a few days before we get more sap and the membrane should be cleaned if it sits idle.

Back at the house by 4:00 PM.  So 310 gallons in 8 hours.  Without the R/O it would take 16 hours.

We lost track of how many batches we put in the milk can.  7 or 8.   We have 2 full milk cans now for finishing and bottling.  Plan to finish and bottle tomorrow.

Only 35 overnight.  Upper 40s today.  Partly cloudy.  Sap dripped all night.  We collected again this afternoon at 3:00 PM.  Picked up 310 gallons at 2 degrees Brix.

Into the woods by 7:00 AM.  Today’s goal: get the R/O operational.  Started the day cleaning the syrup pan of the evaporator to keep in clear of nitre.  Then moved on to installing the membrane in the R/O and running a long rinse cycle to get it ready.  By the feed pump would not start.   The R/O had power because indicators on the control panel were on.  But the pump would not start.  We stored the R/O in house since last April so it couldn’t have ice in pump.  We test turning it over with a screw driver and it moved freely.  Contacted our dealer who put us in contact with the manufacturer.  The manufacturer said it sounded like it was only getting 110 Volts.  It needs 220 Volts.    Called our electrician.   They arrived in about 30 minutes.  Confirmed it was only getting 110 Volts.   Checked the circuit breaker box.  Loose wire on the circuit breaker for the R/O.   After fastening it, the pump started right up.

After the long rinse cycle we were ready to start concentrating.  Switched all the values for concentrating and started the pumps.  Now the high pressure pump was not generating any pressure.    It ran, but no pressure.  It should run at between 200 PSI and 500 PSI.   After troubleshooting for about 2 hours we realized we missed a part on the membrane.  There is a small plastic cap with two O rings that fits on the bottom of the membrane.    Took out the membrane and added the plastic cap with O rings. Then high pressure pump generated pressure. 

It was about 2:00 PM before we could start concentrating.  We had been boiling old school since early in the day so we could make progress on our 265 gallons from yesterday.  We had 11 inches in the tank that went though the R/O.  We were getting 6 degrees Brix on the R/O.

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Back to the house by 6:15 PM.

Tomorrow we start the day with the R/O on the 310 gallons from today.

Picked up 265 gallons of sap.  2.5 degrees Brix.   

Only down to 30 or 31 overnight.  The day started cloudy.    Around 9:00 AM the sun appeared.   Clouds move back in but we had brief periods of sun.  Helped warm the trees to start running.   We went out about 2:30 to collect.  Dumped ice that was in the buckets.     Not as big a run as last weekend but we take whatever we can.

We get a warm weather patten the new few days.  Highs in the 40s or even 50s.  But no freezing nights.    That’s not good for sap runs.  There is still frost in the ground so we will wait it out.   We’ve had warm spells during past seasons.   

Installed the wash tank heater on the R/O.  Should reduce wash time from 8 hours to under 1 hour. 

Filled the R/O holding  tank with water.  Tomorrow we run a cold wash cycle to prepared the R/O for use.  Then  we plan to use it on the 265 gallons we picked up today.

It may not freeze tonight.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

4-5 inches.  Started about 6:00 PM and snowed most the night.

Cloudy today.  Up to 37, but felt damp and cold.  The trees tried to drip.   We need a sunny day to get them going.   Tonight forecast lows in mid-20s.  Tomorrow sunny and low 40s.  That’s the weather pattern we need. 

Moved a tap from a dry tree to a tree close the building we missed.  Used the hand brace to drill the hole.  Don’t miss using it for all the holes.   

Plowed the snow in the yard with the H.  The H is starting fine.