As an Amazon Affiliate, we earn commission on qualified purchases. The Mapel Fever is almost here.. Like Michele said for little cost a refractometer is really fun. Hi, Im Michelle. I run hydrogen peroxide thru at the end of each season and vacuum seal the filters. Its being hailed at the Book of Knowledge of all Things Maple., But maybe you stumbled here wondering what an ro system is, Ill explain, An RO system is exactly like a water filtering system. We wont cover the full instructions for building your system in this article, but this set of instructions from Souly Rested offers great guidance on how to do so. I saw on line there are 400gpd membranes and housings available. Thank you very much for this system. We run it at 60-70 psi, which we regulate with the needle valve. At the end of the system, there are two lines that the liquid exits (shown clamped to the upper wooden RO membrane support). 8. Before you run valuable maple sap through your unit it is a good idea to test it on 50-100 gallons of clean water. Fill a tank with 50 - 100 gal Yours, Bill Lohr, is there a difference between putting the ro in a series or parallel. Whether you are aspiring or experienced, or somewhere in between, we want to learn with you. Order Wavey Maple Cheese Board online from Urban Stead Cheese. . Our maple syrup operation manager (aka hubby) built a reverse osmosis (RO) filter system that we run our sap through before boiling. The other item you listed, 1/4 polyethylene tubing (25 of it) item #814305, model #98584, Is correct, but technically it has an OD of 3/8 and the ID is 1/4. My setup is nearly the exact same as yours. Thank you for taking the time to share all this information. Hope that helps! Im wanting to do up to 200-300 trees this year. I think your pricing is not correct. Do you want 24 V or 120V near all that water? The line with the needle valve is the line that carries the ROd sap that then is boiled. 1654 Queen St, New Dundee. So, the last year of making maple syrup at home, we tried a 4 by 40 with the 330 gallons per hour pump and it performed very well, delivering 80 to 100 gallons per Based on 403 gm / liter of sucrose at 35 Brix, that comes out 250 grams or only 2/3 of available sugar at start. This may be a good place to introduce yourself and your site or include some credits. Youll find the latest designs right here (like the one Im wearing here) . I did find this suggestion for the seasonal storage of RO membranes: Storing your membranes in the off season: Killer Key Lime Pie. My sap went from1.5% sugar to 4 to 5% sugar after running through my ro. A backyard sugarmaker in New England, and author of Sweet Maple. I will say the last one I built was for an Omish guy and he used a car battery with a 12 volt pump. Thanks for all the hard work you do to spread the sweetness! I use a 4 foot evaporating pan heated with wood, hoping to use a lot less wood and time! Please consider helping me support sugarmaking education worldwide with every purchase of SoulyRested Swag. containerEl: '#fd-form-608a538fe8b3a8e1e4d62a1d' I plan to pipe RO straight into the evaporator pan as my evap rate is about 5 gal/hr. Man I wish I could have Bill on video chat! Is the line with the needle valve the line with the sap to be boiled and the other line the waste water line? I had a few doubters when I said I was going to do this. I cant wait to hear what you do with the permeate, and or what you use it for! 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. I just ordered all the parts :). Thank you for all of this; would not have done it without you. How do you clean the membranes for storage off season? (Easier to tell if one of the membranes is plugged as each has a separate discharge line that you can monitor). tanks of propane. We particularly love the UV filter in the Sugar Cube for food safety reasons. Also describe it in case I want to purchase one. I have about 80 red maples some are huge and some are younger. You can put your sap through the RO system on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday and then more easily and safely save it up for the weekend. We set a large can of sap beside our RO. I currently only have 1 tree that gave me 60 gallons this season. Thanks for doing the legwork to find the correct tubing. See a 2,100-tap operation using a tubing/vacuum system, reverse osmosis and a wood pellet-fired evaporator. You are very welcome Jill just 4 years ago I was someone like you and needed all the help I could get. How long are they typically good for? Compare to last year where we got about 1 gallons and used 4(!!!) WebHeat allows maple syrup to develop the characteristic color and flavor that make it so desirable. Steam the tofu 5. drizzle with maple syrup and mustard mixture. Sap can be put through the system repeatedly and becomes more concentrated with each pass through the RO membrane. So happy sugaring and thanks for the simple RO. This post may contain affiliate links and/or advertisements, which means that Homestead How-To earns advertising fees or commissions if you click on a link or make a purchase. Im making birch syrup in Alaska and it takes about 100-110 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. Out of stock Categories: DIY Maple Syrup Supplies, Packages (Read about Ray Inghams ro experiences below.). And great question about what we run it at! Bill confuses me sometimes too. (Id love to keep it all.) 6. 1. Attached is a pdf of the components you'll need. I have no particular relationship with the suppliers or brands listed, they just happened to be Thank you so much for sharing this DIY RO set-up. I got a lot of wet. We collected over 3000 gals of sap this year in 5 weeks. So weve actually never tried to run it in an unheated area. We chose 4 membranes cause we read that any more is pointless, but wanted to maximize what we could. Ill get it. We dont want that syrup to end up costing us more than if we bought it from another sugaring operation. These items, which I couldnt find on Amazon, I list below, along with where I did find them and the item #s or purchasing info youll need. At the end of the season, after flushing them well, we then place the filters in a large ziploc bag in the freezer until the following season. Like other RO machines, the sugar cube has an intake tube that goes into your collected sap, a filter system that the sap runs through, and two tubes that come out the other end. True story. Hi, what is Bill using This item for? This my first attempt at this. Any thoughts or comments? By concentrating the sugar in the maple sap, a sugarmaker can save as much as 90% in fuel since he or she will have to boil the sap for a much shorter time. That is insane return on my investment!. The smallest ones you can purchase are definitely a costly investment that would take a backyard sugarmaker anywhere from 4-10 years or more to recoop. I am sure that this will only be first of many questions. For instance, if I planted a maple, how long before I could tap it? Thanks for sharing your DIY project. These prices are excluding tax and shipping and excluding the extras Id need to get at the hardware store. Theyre the exact same filters. Im about to build my unit thanks to your posting! What a huge time saver. This way I dont have to add another tank. I have quadruple-checked everything and cant seem to find the problem. It was 1.5 out of tree. For you, it is more about the experience than the production. Im curious as to whether or not you run the concentrate thru multiple times? It still takes a long time and a lot of fuel to make the syrup, so your RO system sounds like it would help with both. Follow up questions re: cleaning. Weba maple syrup producer records the amount smithsonian jet works instructions pdf/east dorset open water swimming club/ a maple syrup producer records the amount/east dorset open water swimming club/ a maple syrup producer records the amount Souly Rested lists all of the supplies you need to make your RO system and where to get them, and estimates run that these supplies cost about $300 (give or take). Cost then was quite high to buy. 1/4 T (youll need 4 of them) Sharkbite item # 835039, model #25427Z, 1/4 male x 1/4 quick connect 90 (youll need 5 of them) Sharkbite item #83500, model #25433, 1/4 male x 1/4quick connect straight (youll need 8 of these) Sharkbite item #835025, model #25413Z, 3/8 x 1/4 male quick connect (just 1) Sharkbite item #835028, model #25416Z, 3/8polyethylene tubing (25 of it) item #879277, model #98634, 1/4polyethylene tubing (25 of it) item #814305, model #98584, 3/8 quick connect ball valve (just 1) Sharkbite item #835049, model #25438Z, ridgid 3/8 x 30 pex tube (30 faucet) item #751655, model #7227-30-38-2, *NOTE: the red lines in Bills drawing represent clear tubing connecting the filters in sequence above. When searching maple trader, some were using these. Hi Michelle, You could also reach in and remove large pieces of debris with a slotted spoon. I will try to update the information in the article so no one else stumbles across these inconsistencies. Of course, no matter what you use for fuel, cuddling with a barn cat while you watch the sap boil makes everything a little more puuurfect. What is the function of the 5 micron filter? Weba maple syrup producer records the amount. Our maple season can be very short and using your RO cuts boiling time down considerably. Your blog is so interesting. I just received all the parts today and hope to assemble over the holidays. I have not been able to remove much water just passing the sap thru the system. Build a fire to boil the sap. And finally, do you replace your filters with any regularity? Thank you. I have assembled the RO setup like yours. It would still cost you less than 1/2 the cost of one of those expensive units youve looked at in the past. Read thisarticle right here. What causes air bubbles to come out of 1 RO filter the rest of them are ok.. Ive built and used your RO system for 3 years now. 2. The frame is a rectangular base welded from 1 1/2 in angle iron. It measures 18 inches wide by 24 inches long. It has a mounting plate for the h This is the 3rd year of tapping. How do you find the pump? Thanks again for the help. We filter out the impurities (aka the sugars in the sap) and keep them. Since most backyard sugar makers use wood to boil their syrup, the savings on fuel by cutting your boiling time in half is huge. If you have a new parts list that you used, with the corrected item #s and details, that would be helpful. Anybody else with similar experiences? Excited to start using this. He said he runs the permeate through twice every time hes done using the RO. (We use the 150 gpd filters. Id sure like to reduce my energy cost. We use the 150 gpd filters. Thanks. Everything I ever write about maple gets added to that one board. Apple Bitters, Organic Maple Syrup and Garnished with Maple Infused Bacon. This makes me so happy to hear! I will share your story with Bill (cause hes never on my blog :)). In fact, the reason we want to run sap through an RO is the exact opposite. I looked into RO years ago but never realized one could build one. Heat olive oil and butter in large frying pan over high heat. Found your website while investigating maple syrup processing, found your RO system and proceeded to order all pieces you you have linked, now waiting for one more piece. I read somewhere that there are special chemicals for that. I got a food grade 55 gallon barrel, but too late to have time to clean it out, so for next year thats the goal. Chris M. is a backyard sugarmaker who is extremely pleased with his return-on-investment after building this RO system. Yes!! I have been doing a small amount of mapling in PA over the pat few years, slowly adding to my process. . Continue the boiling until one pan of sap/syrup remains. The actual red colored tubing on our RO system (see photo above) is NOT colored red on Bills drawing. Webbiogen senior engineer ii salary. ROd to about 5% then electric skilleted to 21 ounces of 35% for a quart jar. Every evening during the season, when were done RO-ing for the day, we simply run the RO one more cycle, using permeate instead of sap. Its rather simple, its rather small, but its totally huge on savings. I only have 40 taps, but if this works I will tap more. Build Your Own Maple Syrup Reverse Osmosis Rig GardenFork 196K subscribers 652 45K views 2 years ago How to make a DIY reverse osmosis system for Wisconsin has won every family taste test (blind of course). My concentrate was sound 4%. Sadly, yes, you have to filter many other times throughout the whole process. One of those tubes produced clean, clear water, and the other produces highly concentrated sap. Im not like you. Keep them from extreme heat and freezing and they will be safely stored until next season. Maple syrup is made by boiling maple sap to evaporate most of the water until we are left with 66% sugar. 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