$8.99. This article goes over how to use reverse osmosis in a sugaring operation using a few different methods. See a 2,100-tap operation using a tubing/vacuum system, reverse osmosis and a wood pellet-fired evaporator. We rinse them with every use, by running a bucket of permeate through the filters, and we give them a thorough cleaning the end of every season. Great question. Does it cope ok? Continue the boiling until one pan of sap/syrup remains. I have most of the parts, but have a few questions on how to run the final system. Sadly it would be a few decades before you can tap a young maple. After 3 disconnections, the tubing may be scarred and leak. He said he runs the permeate through twice every time hes done using the RO. Tony Hansen How to Turn Maple Sap into Maple-Syrup. Costs for home producers are relatively high WebHomemade Maple Syrup Reverse Osmosis Water Reverse Osmosis System Canning Syrup Maple Syrup Evaporator Maple Tapping Maple Syrup Grades Syrup Labels More information More information Build your own Reverse Osmosis system for maple syrup SoulyRested More like this W Water Filtration System L 1 But for now, our little homemade one gets the job done. We are a very small family operation and your RO works really well. I literally know nothing about this unit aside from what you read here. Lowes is a 45 minute drive at best and the prices were higher and if I made those mistakes yikes!! Notify me of follow-up comments by email. It does have an ID of 3/8, but it should have an OD of 3/8. Order Wavey Maple Cheese Board online from Urban Stead Cheese. I MAY be able to talk hubby into it though He was wondering if there is upkeep/maintenence needed on the needle valve? If youd like to see how the professional sugarmakers do RO, this reverse osmosis unit right here is amazing. Next to the prairie river in Bloomvile Wisconsin. Every detail you need What I see of it looks like an improvement over mine. Yes, the needle valve is for adjusting the pressure. 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! The process takes about 30 minutes to transform the syrup into a gorgeous golden, thickened maple cream. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window). Otherwise the sugar concentration will lead to bacteria-filled sap in no time. For us, producing enough syrup to last the full year plus more for gifts is part of our priority. Hi, love what you have come up with. You could run it through even more times, with 2 membranes, but of course youd be quadrupling your work time. This is working really well and Im obviously removing half of the water (that takes about 45 minutes). I can, however, connect the smaller 1/4 tubing to the pump, the OD is 3/8. Is this not correct? Last year, I made about 1 gallon of sap and used 4(!!!) The 1/4 inch tubing works fine into the pump, no need to convert. It seems they both work well, just the way they are plumbed. While researching, Ive read about some RO systems running at 100 110 PSI, however this system runs around 60. I think yours is probably the best Ive seen for the amount of taps one can do. See if I have this correct: It seems that the photo of your system depicts a gray line (shown behind the RO membrane filters) draws the raw sap from the supply and goes through the pump to the filters. Reverse Osmosis is a process typically used in water purification. of pure water an hour. Looks like we will need a bigger system next year. Trying to figure out which tube the water will come out of and which the concentrated sap. Hope that helps. I expected the permeate flow to be really really really low and most would just flow into the water tank. . The stuff I order is the same as your part spec. Looking forward to next year. . Thank you for all of this; would not have done it without you. We have 110 taps and process roughly 5 gallons of sap through the RO every 45 minutes.). Thank you in advance for your time as well as your assistance. 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. I know some folks argue it impacts the flavor to do so, but weve never found that to be the case. Cost then was quite high to buy. Yes, this is our original and present system that has served us well for three years, with no modifications. Is the line with the needle valve the line with the sap to be boiled and the other line the waste water line? So we persoanlly choose to boil our sap with propane. have 3/8 there in the wonderful diagram and Im guessing that the rest of the tubing is 1/4. We dont feed our sap directly into our RO. Then checked the permeate and it was 0.3%. Look into a refractometer. (I wish we had a better answer for the storage, but thats what we do. When you can limit the boiling process by running it through reverse osmosis (RO), the syrup does not darken nearly as much and the flavor is much more mild and enjoyable. That would still account for only 60 of the missing 130 grams. Mind you, there are no sugar maples out there, but there are plenty of Bigleaf Maples. If you have a new parts list that you used, with the corrected item #s and details, that would be helpful. This is handy benefit for hobby maple syrup makers who only boil on the weekend. But whether youre a backyard sugarmaker who uses propane or wood for fuel, a homemade ro system will save you a boatload of time and money. 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. Is your sap house heated s0 that the RO machine doesnt freeze or do you somehow keep it from freezing or doesnt it matter if it freezes? I think it is 33 by 30 to be exact. 6. Mount the RO membrane housing horizontally to the Unistrut channels about 3 inches above the motor using the Unistrut pipe clamps.There are two You really only need one to measure the low numbers up to 15 % sugar, I purchased one yesterday and it is to arrive today. Hi Lucas, glad you solved your problem before I even saw your comment. Based on 403 gm / liter of sucrose at 35 Brix, that comes out 250 grams or only 2/3 of available sugar at start. If you decide to take the plunge, let me know what you think. I looked into RO years ago but never realized one could build one. The mix ratio is 1.1 ounces to 1 gallon of permeate. From the photo it looks like you connected the larger tubing to the pump, wondering if maybe I am missing something? Just follow their directions and it will work for you.. Webbiogen senior engineer ii salary. Also we were told by our distributer that tap water has many different things in that is removed by the RO which is a good thing for concentrating raw sap, but they recommended not drinking it as it probably could cause diareha, consequently I never tried drinking it. How long does it take to put it all together? Cant wait to try it out. Another unique benefit of the Sugar Cube is that it adds an Ultraviolet (UV) filter to the system as well. I wouldnt know how to even cut the plywood the size I wanted it. Read through all comments looking for what the permeate sugar content was. I only have 3 100 gpd membranes as one is on back order. When its time to start up the RO again the next year, all we do is take the filters out of the fridge and use them. The easiest way to do this is to make PVC vessels. Thanks so much. I ran a test by dumping some sugar in a 5 gallon bucket and it seemed to work correctly based on the tastes of the concentrate and the permeate since I dont own a refractormeter. Seriously. Sorry for my ignorance. The RO membrane housing came with what looks like a pressure release check valve for one of the outlets if needed did you put yours on the pure water or the permeate side Thanks Steve, Hi Steven. Put them into two separate buckets and voila, you can cut the water content of your sap by up to 50%. Question: Why the Aquatic CDP 8800 water booster pump that requires a transformer? (Bill said youre welcome. its nice for him to know its helping others after it took him 2 years to break down and put it all on paper for me. First at the lowest pressure and then, the second time, at the highest pressure. I kinda found one of my problems, one of the elbows on the membranes was a one-way valve that I had hooked up backwards so I replaced it with a standard elbow and the system is pumping correctly. 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. Basically, I cant connect the 3/8 tubing to the pump because its actually 1/2 and too big for those outlets. (Id love to keep it all.) Me? The floorboards creak, the barn roof sags, and the rocky land seems unforgiving. (And heres a facebook live video showing how it works.) tanks of propane. Michelle. I fill up my PVC vessels with water and measure how much they hold so I know how much solution to make. Hi, what is Bill using This item for? 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???? Everything I ever write about maple gets added to that one board. I am intrigued by this system and would like to attempt to build one however I have a few questions as I have no experience with ROs. Hi Bob, I just asked Bill. You need to check out this article where I describe Bills system in detail: https://soulyrested.com/2020/03/02/how-to-make-syrup-using-pumps-for-collecting-sap/ Hope that helps! I made my first syrup this spring and quickly came to the realization that ROing the syrup first is essential to cut down the time spent boiling. Your email address will not be published. (Sorry, bad pun. (My husband labeled it permiate spelling was never his strong suit. I think your pricing is not correct. True story. Remove from frying pan and set aside.4. Any addivce? Ive been a hobby sugar maker for somewhere around 20 years. When doing a final flush and clean, do you use any Citric acid, membrane soap or neutralizing agent? After seeing loss, I checked calibration with distilled water and got 0%. Thanks, Bob. They said they could see the difference. Professionally, my mission is to help you do the same. Will the water be coming out of the tube marked permeate? No, we never wash our unit. Id sure like to reduce my energy cost. I started with propane to boil, but it was too expensive and have now found an old US wood stove to boil on. I wish we had tap-able trees here, but I doubt that oaks are on the list! 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. My sap went from1.5% sugar to 4 to 5% sugar after running through my ro. I have assembled the RO setup like yours. Go here to read the full (ultra fun) legal disclosure about that. After both runs, I have about 55% high sugar content sap and 45% very low sugar permeate. will be compatible for the smaller volume of birch sap you will process. Great post. How long does it take for a 5-gallon bucket of sap to go through the system? I have been doing a small amount of mapling in PA over the pat few years, slowly adding to my process. Oh, boy, any technical questions I have to run by Bill. We have 100 taps and the wood saved and time saved in one season has made it worth every penny!!. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE NEEDLE VALVE ON THE LINE. Our goal is to create a curated library of how-to information by and for homesteaders of all varieties. Im going to really look into RO and save some time and $$$. Many readers often ask what camera I use to take the images you find here on SoulyRested. I would boil this down in less than 3 hours in my 24 pan. Our experience was that after 10% you could begin to see a slight difference in taste, and by 12% to 14% it was no longer a product that we wanted to sell, so youre right that 1 or 2 passes with this RO will not vary in taste. I saved a incredible amount of time and firewood.. You can also follow my Maple Syrup pinterest boardright here. Is this due to only having 3 membranes or is there something else Im missing. 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. For us clueless folks, it is important to always describe tubing with BOTH the ID and OD, like 1/4 ID / 3/8 OD. Wed love to hear from you! Read thisarticle right here. Reverse Osmosis in the Maple Syrup Industry The maple industry utilizes this technology to separate a large percentage of the water from maple sap. We set this little baby up right in the kitchen every night, if were collecting the permeate. I have no idea what to expect it to look like while running. 6. But no, Bill made the unit intending to take the filters out at the end of each season to clean and store and reuse the next season. 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. Starting with 10 buckets hanging from trees, I settled on 100 taps on tubing with a small vacuum system and a pretty slick homemade reverse osmosis setup. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. There just arent enough hours in the day or trees in the woods to do it all. I keep having to relearn to push the tubing ALL THE WAY IN. Yes, you are restricted by your filter capabilities. I have run straight hot water thru and the water drain flows freely. 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). Funding for this project was made possible by the U.S. Department of Agricultures (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service through grant AM170100XXXXG167, awarded to the University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Center. 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. Our maple season can be very short and using your RO cuts boiling time down considerably. That is insane return. 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. On that unit I used all 3/8 lines and 3/8 fittings and Well, that is if youre like Bill. Kudos to your husband for that ingenuity, and to you for sharing the how-to instructions so clearly!! Im assembling the RO system now, and everything is going great. We only tap 50 trees and burn with wood, but anything that saves time is going to be very much appreciated. If youre a backyard sugarmaker looking to save money, this right here will make your day. Its all Bills work. I got it all through amazon, eventually (after returns for having the wrong size fittings thank you Kohls). . Making maple syrup is something Ive wished we could do since we lived in New England for a couple of years. 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. Hi Gordie Hi Michael, No need to apologize I could never build one of these myself. WHAT PRESSURE SHOULD I HAVE? We use the 150 gpd filters. My primary limitation is sap storage. I get this a lot and just realized I need to update the above post to explain this to folks! Thanks again for this post! Thats what we boil down to make syrup. Volunteers boil it down and the park sells it. I love my Nikon; you canread more about my camera and even purchase your own here. Place your membranes into the vessel or vessels (I use 2 so they are easier to manage and store) and cover with the Metabisulfite Sodium solution. Also, is there something magic about that particular pump? Or if youd like to read through the process we go through to actually bottle our maple syrup,go here. I ended up purchasing an even SMALLER tubing with and OD of 1/4 and an ID of .170 in and this is the correct tubing for the smaller of the two tubing sizes and the fittings you have listed. Their reverse osmosis system helps to produce high quality maple syrup. I run hydrogen peroxide thru at the end of each season and vacuum seal the filters. N ow that I have gone to a small backyard evaporator I plan on building one because I do know what an RO will do for me, I just did not want to lay out th money for even the small ones that most of the Maple company make. All said and done, I ended up with about 2 gallons of syrup, using 2.5 tanks of propane and finishing in the kitchen. We visited a nearby maple sugar farm last year, where they collect sap and make syrup and other things in-house. Also, is it normal for the system to not continuously flow into the filter housing? Im doing a pretty small operation, but getting just large enough that my fire cant keep up, so wondering if I can cut a few corners and come up with something for closer to $200. Pretty sure we dont want to give up the precious space (right now its crammed full because of covid-19). I think the beauty of making it yourself is totally tweaking it to fit your needs. Great article and I am ordering supplies today. Haha. If you are still learning how to collect, boil, and bottle maple syrup, head over here to this article about making syrup, step-by-step or, better yet, pick up a copy of Sweet Maple. Im a retired guy who has made between 10 and 15 gallons of syrup annually using an open pan and LP gas as a heat source. We dont want that syrup to end up costing us more than if we bought it from another sugaring operation. Your blog is so interesting. . thank you ), I was wondering if can you drink the permeate. Compare to last year where we got about 1 gallons and used 4(!!!) 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. (And all the money it saves you!!). how do you wash your ro system after each use ? Michelle, fyi my issue was a bad membrane. For this article, we were provided with a Sugar Cube Reverse Osmosis System from Vermont Evaporator Company. Spendy at $30 each. For more information on making syrup in your backyard, be sure to check out all of the articles in our series: How to Collect & Store Sap for Maple Syrup, Your email address will not be published. WebAs a result, not all maple equipment (reverse osmosis, evaporators, filters, etc.) Hi Michelle, That top will not spin unless the line is cut. Never ever occurred to me that an RO system could be used in this manner. 3. the system is working flawlessly now. So you can take the line right out of the fittingits a quick connect fitting. We run it at 60/70. Thanks for your info. Our evaporator is heated by a wood fire and it usually takes around 50 gallons of sap to cook down into one gallon of syrup. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Free samples of maple products and maple baked goods will be available. At the end I was up to 5.5. Boiling has been my limitation in the whole process for both time and fuel reasons. Webboiled to syrup, causing an off-flavor. Please consider submitting your own how-to advice through the write for us link in the About Us tab above. The permeate cleans out the filters. <3. Thanks in advance. The views expressed by authors on this site are based on their experiences only; Homestead-How To in no way provides any warranty, expressed or implied, toward the content of these articles. Im curious as to what effect that would have. We filter out the impurities (aka the sugars in the sap) and keep them. Look up a group called the Vancouver Island Sapsuckers. 0; . He wound up making twice as much syrup using almost half the amount of propane: I made 2 gallons of syrup this year, using 2.5 tanks of propane. Thanks and happy sugaring!! Hi Michelle, I have built your RO and have come across a problem. We have 110 taps and process roughly 5 gallons of sap through the RO every 45 minutes. 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