Re: [EE] Measuring increasing mass over a 1/2 day period

Alan and Sergio -

the container is a 1 gallon Rubbermaid pitcher - I wish we had metric
here in the US.  It is translucent but really NG for measuring volume
- I though about buying something with a tapered neck like an
Erlenmeyer flask to get better volume precision.  Yes, I use a short
length of hose from the still to the pitcher.

I start with 4 liters of sap, about 40 ml is lost to evaporation ?  I
get about 1+ gallon of distilled water and maybe 160 grams of maple
syrup (it varies).

I'm often asleep when the overnight boil starts percolating so no
chance to fiddle with roughly 1/2 the boils  - also the probable drift
on the scale zero would probably mess things up.

I got a couple of gallons of sap this afternoon so I'll try the insert
the scale at the last minute idea and see how it works tomorrow
morning.

Chuck

On Thu, Mar 12, 2026 at 6:04 PM smplx <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
> On Thu, 12 Mar 2026, Chuck Olson wrote:
>
> > Sergio -
> >
> > Thanks, that seems fairly easy to do - I'll have to think about it.
> >
> > The timeout is usually 2 minutes but can be increased to 5 minutes.
> >
> > If I could get around the initial heating period where nothing is
> > collected, roughly 1.5 hours, possibly the increase in mass would keep
> > the scale alive ?  I will have to try it.
>
> Perhaps another source of drip for the first 1.5 hours? Maybe into another
> container on the same scale. You could remove the second container once
> the distilate starts to come over? Or if the scale can't accomodate
> another container you could accuratly weigh the drip source and weigh it
> again when distilate starts to come over and go from there.
>
> Regards
> Sergio
>
> >
> > Chuck
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 12, 2026 at 4:45 PM smplx <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Thu, 12 Mar 2026, Chuck Olson wrote:
> >>
> >> > The mass in question would start at 263 grams (container mass) and
> >> > increase over 11+ hours to 4000+ grams (container mass plus about 1
> >> > gallon of water).
> >> >
> >> > I am trying to measure the distilled water output from a boil of maple
> >> > sap.  I use a Still Spirits Air Still.  With the still it's like
> >> > making candy blindfolded.  I can't measure the temperature or the
> >> > specific gravity of the maple syrup or even see what is happening.
> >> >
> >> > But I can measure the input maple sap for mass and sugar
> >> > concentration.  From that I can calculate the amount of maple syrup I
> >> > should be able to get at a concentration of 67 percent sugar by mass.
> >> >
> >> > I do have a kitchen scale which can handle 6000 grams but the problem
> >> > is that it times out and every subsequent powerup the measurement is
> >> > zeroed (tare function).  I suppose there are AC powered digital scales
> >> > which might stay on for 11+ hours but would the measurements still be
> >> > accurate after that time ?
> >> >
> >> > The only thing I can think of is to wait until near the end of the
> >> > boil and then start measuring the mass but that's a hassle trying to
> >> > put the scale under the container while the still is continuously
> >> > dripping.
> >> >
> >> > Any ideas ?
> >> >
> >> > Chuck
> >>
> >> I guess the scale has a timeout that resets when the weight changes? If so
> >> you just need to upset the weight periodically so that the scale never
> >> times out. Perhaps a solenoid to tap the scale?
> >>
> >> Regards
> >> Sergio
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