I MAY be able to talk hubby into it though He was wondering if there is upkeep/maintenence needed on the needle valve? Your blog is so interesting. We only tap 50 trees and burn with wood, but anything that saves time is going to be very much appreciated. Chris M. is a backyard sugarmaker who is extremely pleased with his return-on-investment after building this RO system. Thanks again for sharing all this info.. Great to hear from you Gordie! Yes, Laurent is right, if you JUST want to measure the sugar content of your SAP, you can save money by getting a refractometer that only measures on the lower end of the scale like this one: https://amzn.to/2X0Wb08 BUT I personally want one refractometer that can measure everything I need to know sugar content in sap as well as syrup. Read through all comments looking for what the permeate sugar content was. Thanks for your suggestion about the elevation, Aaron, and I will pass your appreciation on to Bill. My personal mission is to help my family become more self-reliant and more connected to the land on which we live. HI Michelle, Great question, Jerry. Hi Michelle, This year the public can tour the farm on March 18 from 10am-4pm and March 19 from 12pm-4pm. 10. Hi Tim. Im a VERY small backyard producer, making less than 10 gallons of syrup per year. 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. Oh, boy, any technical questions I have to run by Bill. 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. I flushed the system after each run. Maybe some day we will upgrade to that fancy-shamancy gorgeous thing. Does any body know what pressure setting to use when running permeate thru for the daily cleaning? I will share your story with Bill (cause hes never on my blog :)). Thanks for letting us know Martin! Im not understanding every item youre referring to. Reverse Osmosis is a process typically used in water purification. Their cleaning regimen seems a bit extreme though. (In fact, youll see below thats exactly what were usingfilters from a water purifying system.). Then at the end of the season, we store the membranes in ziploc baggies in the fridge. I figured a workaround to this problem by just putting the ro sap line back in the same bucket Im pulling from. Or does it not matter? Cant wait to try it out. 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. To find me in some otherneck of the woods, just click any (or every!) The 1/4 inch tubing works fine into the pump, no need to convert. I have to run the sap through twice in order to get a good reduction. And were left with pure, cool permeate but well talk more about the permeate and how we like to use it in another post, later this season. It saves that much more on fuel costs. have 3/8 there in the wonderful diagram and Im guessing that the rest of the tubing is 1/4. I expected the permeate flow to be really really really low and most would just flow into the water tank. I asked Bill but sadly he said no, he hasnt tried that. Sap is running in SE Wi. Sorry for my ignorance. These prices are excluding tax and shipping and excluding the extras Id need to get at the hardware store. I was in the shade and busy. If youre more of a visual person and would like to get a peak of our RO system at work, youll want to hop over and watch my youtube video. Suggested uses (non-specific recipe uses): Use birch syrup to enhance sandwiches, using a hearty bread like sourdough or peasant bread makes the experience even better. My sap went from1.5% sugar to 4 to 5% sugar after running through my ro. Thanks. I have quadruple-checked everything and cant seem to find the problem. Then see what the system does under various operating conditions. Its been a 2-year process pulling this all together. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. the system is working flawlessly now. As an Amazon Affiliate, we earn commission on qualified purchases. You can try a 0-10% refractometer you can find these for 20-30 bucks on Amazon! (Easier to tell if one of the membranes is plugged as each has a separate discharge line that you can monitor). 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. The Sugar cube is an RO system built into a compact ammo box with handles so that you can move it around as needed. Do not see it in the drawing. 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. EZ-FLO 0.170-in ID x 150-ft Polyethylene Tubing Item #879275Model #98632. (We use the 150 gpd filters. 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. He said he was processing between 18-20 of sap per hr. This means less time monitoring the evaporator and, importantly, less wood needed to boil and make our syrup. Visit our affiliate disclosure page to learn more. There just arent enough hours in the day or trees in the woods to do it all. Thank you. The other line is carrying the permeate, or tree water minus the extra sugar you have filtered into your ROd sap. Maple Tap Farm will also participate in the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival on April 1. Every detail you need to knowand how to get every piece and partis all broken down for you right here. Yes, the needle valve is for adjusting the pressure. 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. The permeate cleans out the filters. 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. Cost then was quite high to buy. This video shows you our DIY reverse osmosis (RO) filter, which cuts our family's costs in LESS THAN HALF when we make maple syrup. I have no idea what to expect it to look like while running. 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. Our maple syrup operation manager (aka hubby) built a reverse osmosis (RO) filter system that we run our sap through before boiling. Continue the boiling until one pan of sap/syrup remains. How often do filters/membranes need to be cleaned? 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. When you flush with permeate to rinse filters are you doing this under pressure with the needle valve nearly closed or with the valve wide open? Youll also need some tubing and connectors, as well as another valve. How do you adjust the pressure; is that what the needle valve is for? Maybe I need even SMALLER tubing for the filters? Thats just the one Bill chose. (Sorry, bad pun. Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trialby clicking through this link. IS THAT MY PROBLEM? How does that compare to my costs last year? 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. How do you clean the membranes for storage off season? Haha. Heat olive oil and butter in large frying pan over high heat. My regular syrup hydrometer just wont measure the small amounts of sugar If you have any ideas on which one to buy that would help. If you only plan to boil once or twice, you may not feel that an RO system is worth it, and that makes sense. We always, always run the sap through twice, even with the 4 membranes. But for now, our little homemade one gets the job done. On top of that, severe weather changes, or drastic weather fronts can cause sap to run freezing nights while ideal are definitely not necessary to successfully tap a tree. We filter out the impurities (aka the sugars in the sap) and keep them. Im a wife to my high school sweetheart, mom to four daughters, and ardent fan of all things maple-flavored. It cost me about $350 and was well worth it. I am hoping to make one before this years season! If youre like me. 0; . Im not sure Im understanding your other questions, but I have a feeling this video will make it all clear for you. Im going to really look into RO and save some time and $$$. Hi Sheila, three cheers for awesome husbands! Im retired and a one-man band. Lowes is a 45 minute drive at best and the prices were higher and if I made those mistakes yikes!! If the weather is going to be particularly warm, we can take this smaller amount of sap and pop it in a cooler or the fridge so it doesnt warm up too much. Thanks again for this post! Required fields are marked *. Thank you in advance for your time as well as your assistance. Im about to build my unit thanks to your posting! . Compare to last year where we got about 1 gallons and used 4(!!!) Hi Gordie Works great. lol. 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!! Sadly, yes, you have to filter many other times throughout the whole process. Just follow their directions and it will work for you.. Seems like if I was using this to actually just.filter water, Id be wasting a lot of water (our tap water is actually not bad). Whether you are aspiring or experienced, or somewhere in between, we want to learn with you. We have 110 taps and process roughly 5 gallons of sap through the RO every 45 minutes.). Look up a group called the Vancouver Island Sapsuckers. We think a reverse osmosis system is a great investment for hobby syrup makers IF you are serious about making syrup more than once or twice a year. I think I figured it out I think actually one of the part numbers you listed isnt correct the 3/8 polyethylene tubing (25 of it) item #879277, model #98634 is too large for that pump. 7. If you are prone to fits of unrestrained enthusiasm, such as I am, you may want to add capacity by adding additional RO membranes in series. It Webboiled to syrup, causing an off-flavor. so am excited to get this up and running. How do you flush the system, how often would you do it, and what do you do to store it? The mix ratio is 1.1 ounces to 1 gallon of permeate. I have assembled the RO setup like yours. Thanks for the great instructions. Will the water be coming out of the tube marked permeate? Im a New England homesteader and the 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. Looking forward to next year. And finally, do you replace your filters with any regularity? Heres our Reverse Osmosis set up. Yes. My name is Carrie Williams Howe and I am the founder and editor of Homestead How-To. What is the function of the 5 micron filter? I will more than likely build it. 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