Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Maple Production Glitches

We collected about 300 gallons of sap yesterday, but when we tried to get our Reverse Osmosis machine started, nothing happened.  It wouldn't start, wouldn't run.  Nothing.  The Reverse Osmosis (or R.O.) machine takes a lot of water out of the sap so that we don't have to spend hours and hours and hours boiling with the evaporator.  Sooo, about 11 p.m. last night I think the R.O. finally got working.  

When we tried to unload our sap from the back of the truck into the tanks in our maple building (sugar shack), we had a problem with the feed tube where the sap backed up and poured towards us onto the ground.  We ended up putting a quick connection onto the pump so that the sap would have to run into the tanks.  

Annoying.  Time consuming.  But, we hope to be boiling today!

4 comments:

  1. Dang machines always causing problems! I hope everything is working today!

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  2. Out of 300 gallons, how much will you have in the final product?

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    Replies
    1. Clint, out of 300 gallons of sap we should get about 7-1/2 gallons of syrup. But the sugar content is very low on our sap, so we may get less.

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  3. Hang in there! The first time is always challenging, but it's that one time that will make the best story in the long run. Fingers crossed for you. :-D

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