Dark Syrup

[Gandolf]

Fellow Syrup Junkies,

My syrup this year is coming out much darker than previous years (as in grade B), but it still has good flavor.

I know you can get dark syrup from cloudy sap (which one of my batches did have), but the 1st batch was made from clear sap.

Is it possible I have too much sap in the pan, or the fire is too hot (didnt think this was possible).

I'm using a Leader Half Pint evaporator and was cooking with about 3 inches of sap in the pan.

Any ideas......

[adk1]

that is the first thing right there. I would go down to 1.5-2" max from what I have read. You will boild off alot faster but will take more frequent draws.

[Farmboy]

I had a half pint last year and all I made was B. Your running way too much sap in your pan. Run it at 1" with the half pint its easier too keep and eye on and not burn it than a bigger evaporator. But its not an easy bake oven dont set it and forget it.

[Turtlecreek]

I agree 3 inches is too much, I run my half pint at around 1" sometimes if I'm not feeding enough out of the preheater it gets a bit less than that. Once I start drawing off I get lots of small drawoffs, then I get to rest for a bit then I get drawoffs again. I make the syrup in my pan not in a finisher, I may have to boil a bit on the stove but no more than 5 minutes or so.

I have made all light amber this year, last year I made medium.

When your running at an inch you really need to watch things and not fall asleep at the wheel. I have forced air in my arch and 1 inch of sap boils off really fast when the fire is screaming!

[Sugarmaker]

Yes 3 inches may be a little deep. but may be comfortable as a starting point. Depending on your sap you might not have made any lighter syrup boiling at 1 inch.
We made 8 gallons of dark and another 8 gallons of WIP will be dark too. I thought the sap looked good, Cheryl thought it looked a little green. Now that I think about it more it was just a little tint of green.

Comment on looking at sap! Some of the best sap I every saw had a blue tint to it when you watched it being poured. I think it made light syrup too.
CLEAR, COLD and BLUE.
SM

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

The depth of the sap in the pan makes no difference. Flue pans have the sap in them 15 inches deep sometimes. That doesnt make a difference. And the depth changes nothing with boiling rate. only the temputature of the fire and the surface area change the boiling rate. And the biggest thing to make grade b is the impurities. and sugar content of the sap.

[heus]

Grade B is my favorite personally

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

The depth of the sap in the pan makes no difference. Flue pans have the sap in them 15 inches deep sometimes. That doesnt make a difference. And the depth changes nothing with boiling rate. only the temputature of the fire and the surface area change the boiling rate. And the biggest thing to make grade b is the impurities. and sugar content of the sap.
No disrespect Rossell just my 2cents
I really think the depth does make a difference. If its real deep you have to boil longer to evaporate as much, because you have to bring 3" deep sap to a boil. Thats a lot of heat to do that, but if you only have 3/4 to 1" to bring to a boil the gph rate will be higher.
Flue pans might have sap in the flues 8 / 10" deep but only 1/2 wide and there's fire on two sides of it, unlike a flat pan only fire on one side and thats the bottom.

take it down to 1" if you feel comfortable 3/4" thats what I run my 2x6 at.

[Ridgeland Farm]

I am not a pro by any means but I would have to agree that depth is very important from what i have researched and experienced. I actually boiled of a pint of syrup took a sample then added water to thin and boiled it down again and took a sample and the second sample was darker than the first, which kind of proves that the longer you have to boil the darker your syrup will be. And the deeper your pan is the longer it takes to boil it down. I would def. try bringing it down to an 1-1.5''

[Turtlecreek]

I am certainly not advocating running your pan at 1/2" to 1" it takes alot of practice in knowing what it looks like right before you draw off.

It still scares the crap out of me since last year. I scorched a pan when I wasn't paying attention, that cost me a whole pan of sweet, a lot of time to clean it, and some money to get the silver solder put back in it. The more I think about this it really wasn't a scorch but I would consider it a meltdown!

[Jim Brown]

As the old saying goes:

RUNNING AN EVAPORATOR AND YOUR ONLY 10 SECONDS FROM A DISASTER AT ANY GIVEN TIME!

Experience talking!!


Jim

[Gandolf]

Thanks for all the replies.

I think I will try running at no more than 1 1/2 inches. The sap is running good here and I have lots of good fresh sap to work with.

I will monitor my boil rate and see what grade of syrup I produce this weekend. I will try and post my findings on monday.

[adk1]

Thanks for all the replies.

I think I will try running at no more than 1 1/2 inches. The sap is running good here and I have lots of good fresh sap to work with.

I will monitor my boil rate and see what grade of syrup I produce this weekend. I will try and post my findings on monday.

Why did you scrap the hood for the coupola?

[Gandolf]

adk1,

The first year I used the half pint in a metal roofed shed, no vents to speak of. In a little over 5 minutes the clouds rolled in, and then it started raining. No thunder or lightning, but I'm not sure that wasnt next on the list.

I next tried using a 20" box fan at the peak to draw the steam out, and it helped a little.

So I made myself a little hood using 2 x 2's and rolled aluminium, about a foot bigger than the pan (both length and width) and suspended it about 2 1/2 feet above the pan. At the top of this I mounted a high cfm bathroom fan and vented this out the back of the shed. Steam shooting out 6', kind of looked like a jet engine (still brings a tear to my eye).

Anyway, to make a long story short, I am spending enough, have spent enough on the new building and wanted to keep my operating costs down. Hence no hood, just a hole in the side of the building with rope and pulleys to open and close. Works great by the way.......

[Sugarmaker]

One thing I may have missed on this post. On our two days of open house we boil in slow motion taking all day to slowly boil some syrup. Keeping the heat from the evaporator to a minimum while we have 200-300 folks come thru. Anyway the syrup that we make is always darker than the days before and generally the next runs will be lighter too. This says that the time that syrup boils also contributes to the darkening.
SM

[holstein]

i tried to run my syrup pan at 2 1/2 inches but i had trouble getting it to finish and it was dark. So i ran my pans at 1 to 1 1/2 inches with good results making nice syrup. This year i added a blower and what should have been atleast medium to light was a dark medium that got darker clear to B. So I changed things and raised the level in the syrup pan to 2 1/2 to 3 the next draw was medium up from grade B so the hoter the fire the deeper the level less heat shallower depth

[The Birdman]

I run my pans 1in to 1.5 in my syrup is the darkest i've made. I have batched boiled before with around 6-8 inches of sap 12-16 hours boil time and made light syrup. I don't have niter as bad this year

[adk1]

tht is weird. what is your brix of the sap?

[steve J]

Well before I had a 2x3 I used to boil in a turkey frier and I have the pots filled right up and the only thing I ever made on the turkey frier set up was fancy so I do not think depth has much to do with it at all. I always ran my 2x3 between 3/4 and 1 inch.

[adk1]

Well before I had a 2x3 I used to boil in a turkey frier and I have the pots filled right up and the only thing I ever made on the turkey frier set up was fancy so I do not think depth has much to do with it at all. I always ran my 2x3 between 3/4 and 1 inch.

You going to run your 2x4 at 1-1.5" as well?

[The Birdman]

Hit 3 right after tapping. Running 2 now