Last year, I made about 1 gallon of sap and used 4(!!!) The results indicate that producing syrup with sap concentrated by RO does not have a significant impact on syrup chemical composition or flavor. Hope that helps. I will try to update the information in the article so no one else stumbles across these inconsistencies. a maple syrup producer records the amount. Everything I ever write about maple gets added to that one board. Free samples of maple products and maple baked But seriously, you cantry out Prime for totally freefor 30 days. (My husband labeled it permiate spelling was never his strong suit. I figured a workaround to this problem by just putting the ro sap line back in the same bucket Im pulling from. Hi, love what you have come up with. Wow, 3 days of banging my head against a wall trying to get it working and it came down to the one-way valve and having the needle valve hooked up to the wrong outlet of the 4th membrane. According to Leader Evaporator, it is a process through which a semi-permeable membrane is used to separate water from salt, sugar, minerals, and other impurities. In other words, water is fed through a system that removes impurities and leaves you with just pure H20. If its not a high enough pressure grains of the sugar will clog the holes in the filter and make your RO much less efficient. After both runs, I have about 55% high sugar content sap and 45% very low sugar permeate. Get a $20 E-Bay low scale refractometer and make a, say, 1.5% sugar solution. I put my sap into a 50 gallon drum and recirculate for the day. WebAs a result, not all maple equipment (reverse osmosis, evaporators, filters, etc.) February 23, 2023. Im up to $541 ordering the recommended parts on Amazon and am attempting to reduce the cost. And check for a leak on your vacuum side (the unfiltered sap side). Ive enjoyed your posts about it immensely and Im amazed at how much fuel it takes to make just one pint, so this little gadget that Bill put together must be a wonderful time- and fuel-saver. This post contains affiliate links & I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Hi, So I basically clicked all the links you provided and bought all the stuff, and ordered the part numbers from Lowes.. Its all Bills work. WebTito's Homemade Vodka, Fresh Lime Juice, Mango Puree, Fresh Jalapeno Topped with Ginger Beer. I have assembled the RO setup like yours. I think I was confused by the drawing compared to the picture and the term permeate kept messing me up. And, yes, the refractometer is AMAZING! If you decide to take the plunge, let me know what you think. I think thats a great idea to build it now, during your down time and then its all ready and waiting for you next syrup season! To build a reverse osmosis set up of your ownand seriously slash your fuel costsyoull need a piece of plywood, or something similar, for mounting everything, and youll need the following items, which are all pictured below as well, in the order theyre listed. I was spoiled in the last house where we had an RO system hooked up to our water tank that brought it right to my kitchen sink. Plenty of elbow grease and lots of clean, hot water are the best cleaning agents for maple syrup equipment. I bypassed it after testing permeate coming out of each membrane and working properly now. , Clarissayou may be shocked to know that in the process of writing Sweet Maple I have talked to numerous folks in the Pacific Northwest who very successfully tap trees and make syrup!! (Read about Ray Inghams ro experiences below.). If youre like me. How long are they typically good for? RO Maple systems enhance the syrup Compare to last year where we got about 1 gallons and used 4(!!!) At the end of every season, we run 5-10 gallons of permeate through the system, then we remove the filters from their casings and mark where each filter was in the system (so we can change their position each year, to hopefully give them a longer life) Then we put them in a ziplock bag and store them in the refrigerator until the next sugar season. I realized I had things set up all wrong. We set a large can of sap beside our RO. Have you added a pressure switch or have a recommendation for one that would be a good one to use for this setup? I hope you LOVE your RO and all the money it saves you! Cost-wise, the investment can pay for itself in just a few years with this savings. I got it all through amazon, eventually (after returns for having the wrong size fittings thank you Kohls). Follow up questions re: cleaning. Maple syrup is produced typically from maple sap concentrated by nanofiltration or reverse osmosis at a moderate Brix level ranging from 6 to 16 Brix followed by heat evaporation. Hi Michelle Its kind of you to share all this information with the back yarders. Heat olive oil and butter in large frying pan over high heat. Thats a My goal for this was to have it run when Im not actively monitoring it and want to save the pump. Hi Michelle, I was setting up my RO. Weba maple syrup producer records the amount. What pressure do you run at? thanks for putting this down for people like me! I do have a couple of questions though. Sadly it would be a few decades before you can tap a young maple. Pump and transformer,membranes* (you will need 4 but see other links for varying gallons per day),membrane casings(4),filter 4-pack,filter housing,pressure gauge, a straightneedle valve. Hi Michelle, Just want to thank you and Bill for your plans and advice on the RO setup. I only have 3 100 gpd membranes as one is on back order. We have 100 taps and the wood saved and time saved in one season has made it worth every penny!!. If nothing else, sign up and get all these goodies delivered to your door for free shipping, right away, so you can start saving money on your propane. When ready to boil I run it into Listing My boiling time is cut by greater than 50% and I seem to have gotten higher syrup yield, which I suspect comes from not as much sugar going up in steam. Great question, Jerry. Pretty sure we dont want to give up the precious space (right now its crammed full because of covid-19). Our family lives on 14 wooded acres, and we cut and store a lot of wood. Thanks for all the hard work you do to spread the sweetness! Since it saves us hundreds of dollars every year in fuel costs as we boil our sap, I totally wanna tell yall exactly how to build your own. I am going to give it a go. I only have 40 taps, but if this works I will tap more. Thats why we own this one: https://amzn.to/2X0X9cM Both are fine choices, depending on what you want. Our family makes anywhere from 15 to 25 gallons of syrup each year. just goes to show attention to detail is vital. Our maple season can be very short and using your RO cuts boiling time down considerably. Sorry if that is confusing. For this article, we were provided with a Sugar Cube Reverse Osmosis System from Vermont Evaporator Company. Heather Gilson, whose family has about 50 taps in their backyard on any given year, explains, My husband built one last year and man was it a time saver for us!! No, reverse osmosis doesnt remove sugar from your sap. Hope that helps. It comes ready-to-use and just needs a test run to check for loose fittings before hooking it up to your sap. Enjoy your sugar season!! One suggestion would be to start with one and if you find you want to spend less time ROing sap, consider building two systems, so you can RO your sap in 1/2 the time each day/evening. I hear you could pull 50% of the water off. Thanks. I was in the shade and busy. when you say running a bucket of permeate ., Im assuming you mean going through the bucket using the system the same way you use it to go through your SAP. I have completed the building of my RO kit and am awaiting sap season here in minnesota. Look into a refractometer. }); Im interested in making an RO machine from the plans you show here. I have huge respect for DIYers like you who know what they want and can seriously build it. Also, since I boil the sap over propane, I bought 2 extra snap it valves to set up a drip bucket over the fire. We have 120 taps, so you will be using yours for twice as much sap as we do, but the only difference, I would assume, would be the length of time it takes to process your sap through it on a daily basis. What a huge time saver. Build a fire to boil the sap. I am building an RO fashioned after one of my neighbors here in WI. HI Michelle I think it is 33 by 30 to be exact. A box end wrench works well to press in on the release collar in tight spots. WebCooldown the maple syrup to about 95 F. Once cooled, get your arm ready, find a partner and take turns stirring and stirring some more. Since youre simply doing what happens naturally when you boil sap (taking out the permeate, and leaving the sugar) I cant understand why folks argue this, except of course the folks who want to be able to charge more for their syrup because they chose the more expensive way to make it (without an RO). A friend is using this system and says it works great. Thanks for the great instructions. Hi, Im Michelle. The sap will be filtered again later, after it's boiled. The links were particularly useful, and i made good use of them.. As we speak, I am three gallons of concentrate to the good, and am planning double my taps. Hi Gordie We have 110 taps and process roughly 5 gallons of sap through the RO every 45 minutes. Remember maple sap is almost pure table sugar / sucrose. Oh, boy, any technical questions I have to run by Bill. It appears that the RO filters will be a challenge to change due to the lines set top and bottom on the casing will not allow the top of the casing to be unscrewed???? We run it at 60/70. Hi Lucas, glad you solved your problem before I even saw your comment. That is insane return. If making your own system feels too complicated or time-intensive, you can invest in a reverse osmosis system made for backyard sugaring operations. Thank you Michelle & Bill for sharing this information! A pre-made RO system like the Sugar Cube can cost up to $500, but if you are going to use it over the course of many years, youll save that much in firewood and your time to make it worth it. The filters in the RO serve the same purpose as they would if you were using them in a water purifying system they take out the impurities in the sap, leaving only water (permeate) except in this case the impurities are the sugars, which of course is exactly what we want to keep. Hope you have a fantastic sugar season! I did find this suggestion for the seasonal storage of RO membranes: Storing your membranes in the off season: I cant wait to hear what you do with the permeate, and or what you use it for! Or does it not matter? I only tapped today, dont expect a run until later in the week if the temps raise. Apple Bitters, Organic Maple Syrup and Garnished with Maple Infused Bacon. Then keep scrolling for a totally unprofessional, hope-you-understand-what-hes-talking-about drawing of Bills design. Why four membranes? formId: '608a538fe8b3a8e1e4d62a1d', Click either the item name or the picture for ordering information. Reverse osmosis is a process that can speed up syrup production by removing a significant amount of water from the sap before you put it in your evaporator. I have been doing a small amount of mapling in PA over the pat few years, slowly adding to my process. . At what pressure do we run our RO? If I use a cheaper RV pump that can get up to 60 PSI would I run into trouble? And I have huge respect for Bill and for YOU, since youre here. Any addivce? We are a very small family operation and your RO works really well. yay! Please use at your own risk. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. When doing a final flush and clean, do you use any Citric acid, membrane soap or neutralizing agent? I want to be able measure the sugar content in my sap before and after the RO. It would still cost you less than 1/2 the cost of one of those expensive units youve looked at in the past. . WebConsisting of one sediment filter and two reverse osmosis filters, the Sugar Cube RO Replacement Filter Kit contains everything you need for the annual maintenance of your prototype Sugar Cube RO. What I see of it looks like an improvement over mine. It was 1.5 out of tree. Do I need to find couplers to change to 3/8 or can I just use 1/4 for that part. Thank you so much for sharing. Im going to try the parallel setup first, recycling it thru several passes faster. Many readers often ask what camera I use to take the images you find here on SoulyRested. , So interesting!! Put them into two separate buckets and voila, you can cut the water content of your sap by up to 50%. Excited to start using this. (I wish we had a better answer for the storage, but thats what we do. Id sure like to reduce my energy cost. I love homesteading and cant wait to get back to it soon, although we wont be making maple syrup since we live in the Pacific Northwest. Free samples of maple products and maple baked goods will be available. Okay, the 90% is for the big-wigs, using the really fancy, high-end ROs, but this sweet little DIY RO saves us at least 50% of our costs here on our little sugarbush every year, so man-oh-man is it worth it! We never need to clean them during the season, but every time we use it we run some permeate through the system before shutting it off for the night. We have 110 taps and process roughly 5 gallons of sap through the RO every 45 minutes.). I just finished building my RO, and it looks just like yours, because i followed yours except I only put 3- 150 membranes in my system for now. (And all the money it saves you!!). I flushed the system after each run. Every Do you want 24 V or 120V near all that water? Im elated that you found this page. 9. Cleaning Between Batches. End of Season Cleaning and Next Season Start-upCLEANING AFTER USE DURING THE SEASON After you process a batch of sap f The RO pump draws the sap in, via the tubing we place in the can of sap. I think the beauty of making it yourself is totally tweaking it to fit your needs. Good Luckthis a great little unit and has saved me so many hours of boiling. How long does it take to put it all together? 4. I generally have used garden hose to connect the low pressure system components together. It's universal, it's cheap and readily available. It's
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