2021 Sugar Season

[YooperDog]

kyle that is still a pretty decent ratio. I usually start 36:1 and by end of season sitting around 45:1. It’s great to have a piece of family history.

[processhead]

YooperDog said in 2021 Sugar Season:

deanlorensen I have a slightly modified barrel with a continuous flow 33x240 pan. Looking at an RO set up since my help has sorta disappeared. All kinds of help to drink and stoke the arch, imagine thatThat and a drop flue pan would really speed things along. Had a challenge keeping a 6 gal/hr boil rate going this year. Still have enough to make some candy and sugar.

When you sugar guys talk about an RO, is that a reverse osmosis unit? If so, what are you doing with it?

[deweymeats]

In Bismarck, Nd, I taped my Silver Maple 2 years ago, got 21 gallons, boiled into 7.5 pints, last year harvest was 32 gallons which made 1.25 gallons of the sweetness. That’s all from one tree. This year because of the warm dry winter, I miss calculated the time for tapping & only harvested 2 gallons of sap, not enough to boil. I think You can tap in Nebraska if you watch your trees and temp. Missouri has a sap run. Dewey

[YooperDog]

processhead yes it is a reverse osmosis system. Maple sap is at best 4% sugar and as the season progresses that number drops. The RO system condenses that sugar by removing water, that in turn will reduce your boil time. The quicker you can get to the syrup stage, 7° above boiling, will help with a better quality syrup, reduced fuel consumption and reduced man hours. There are other factors that will affect your final syrup, but those areas will make a big impact.

[processhead]

Thanks for the explanation YooperDog, I used to work in the water treatment industry and am more familiar with RO use to remove impurities from drinking water. ln the case of making sugar from sap, the water is the “impurity” you are trying to remove.