6 filters and counting

[TrentonTerry]

This is my first year making syrup. I have read these forums and quite a few blogs over the past few weeks as I made my first four batches of syrup (all 1 cup - 3 cup amounts). While each time I make better syrup, I still have cloudyness issues.

My last iteration went like this (incase its not my filtering technique).

Pour sap collected same day from trees through a prefilter into pot on stove.

Heat up 2 litres of sap on the stove to just under a boil, put into turkey fryer stainless steel pot over propane burner. Repeat this each time the turkey fryer gets to half volume.

When out of sap, kept the turkey fryer boiling until 218.1 (boiling plus 7.1 degrees). Last night I had 3.5 cups of syrup at this point.

Pour through 4 prefilters, the orlon cone and one extra prefilter outside of the orlon cone (tips from this site). The prefilters were all brand new, the orlon cone filter had 7 litres through it already in prior boilings this year. Filters were damp (tips from this forum) and poured into warmed up (but not hot) heavy duty glass measuring cup. I looked at it and it was cloudy already. I made my own filter stand like the one posted here with the ABS and the filter hanging off it.

Then every so slowly warmed the syrup (it was 145 at this point) to 182 and poured into warmed up mason jars.

The end result was just as cloudy. The last 3 batches are the same way (each time i used more filters) the first batch I didnt have an orlon filter so it doesn't count.

What should I try next? Here is a picture of the finished product. Note that the batch that is now 6 days old looks exactly the same with perhaps a tiny bit of nitre at the bottom. I may be being picky, but I want to give this out as a wedding favour this year and don't mind investing the time to get it right.

http://www.vectrainternational.com/photo.JPG

[Haynes Forest Products]

Terry If you have the time I would spend all your time gathering and cooking and use the settling method. Make a gallon and filter thru the prefilter and then put in a 1 gallon glass jug and set in a dark cool place. DO NOT go down stairs and shake the jug to see if the sedement has seperated. Let it settle for a week. Then SIPHON off all the clear and bottle. Dont try and pour it off you will get a river of crud that will slide under the clear.

Now get ready for everyone to tell you they can filter crystal clear syrup thru a brand new diper in the back of a moving truck at night without lights:lol:

[buck3m]

Note that the batch that is now 6 days old looks exactly the same with perhaps a tiny bit of nitre at the bottom.

Sounds to me like you did everything right.

Has it been sitting 6 days undisturbed? Usually the nitre will have settled out by then, although we have waited up to two weeks to be sure. I'm a fan of the sedimentation method, but was told by two different equipment dealers that you'll sometimes end up with sugar sand no matter what you do short of a filter press. More than once I was sure I had it all figured out, only to learn otherwise.

[RipTyd]

You could try filtering it just before it is finished syrup (it will go thru your filter pretty good as it is not as thick) and then put it back on to boil and finish it and filter it as you previously described. You may want to also put it into the mapleleaf bottles as they are thin and will reveal good clairity.

[3rdgen.maple]

I think it is possible that you are so use to the fake crap and how clear it is that you dont realize what your holding in that picture looks pretty darn clear for maple syrup to me. Looks good.

[buck3m]

I think it is possible that you are so use to the fake crap and how clear it is that you dont realize what your holding in that picture looks pretty darn clear for maple syrup to me. Looks good.

I respectfully disagree. It appears quite cloudy to me. There is niter visible in the bottom of the jar and there's little doubt there will be a lot more appear with time.

[BryanEx]

Is it possible this is just because it's one of the first batches of the season and the mineral content in the sap has not stabilized yet? I seem to recall very early batches can have a high level of very fine sugar sand but that balances out once I'm into regular sap flows. I'm certain I've had to re-filter first batches for the same reason but after that - all was good.

[Dave Puhl]

Your syrup is fine just has real fine sediment...This is what I do...I use gallon glass jars I take and draw off into them.... I let them sit for week or more cooler the better.... then I pour it off till just before the crud starts to come out..... then reheat to 180 ...filter..prefilter then orlon...then it gets botteld...the dregs from all the gallon jars get combined and that sits a long time but it will settle out too... to a point....with the amount you have put in quart jars let sit...

[Haynes Forest Products]

Or label it as all natural no minerals removed. Tell the bride that if she brushes her teeth with it it will whiten here teeth and remove tarter.

[wnybassman]

That's what mine used to look like when I brought the syrup way too hot (210º+) before bottling. You claim this is not the case, so hard to say.

[3rdgen.maple]

I respectfully disagree. It appears quite cloudy to me. There is niter visible in the bottom of the jar and there's little doubt there will be a lot more appear with time.

Thats perfectly fine I drank way too many boiling sodas last night to even see straight. First time any beer was drank in the sugarhouse. I know what a crime but it does appear with sober eyes to not be very translucent.

[wnybassman]

Thats perfectly fine I drank way too many boiling sodas last night to even see straight. First time any beer was drank in the sugarhouse. I know what a crime but it does appear with sober eyes to not be very translucent.

It's funny how unclear things become when you can see more clearly. ;) I bet you were using one of my filtering tricks in the sugarhouse last night, weren't you? :lol:

[3rdgen.maple]

It's funny how unclear things become when you can see more clearly. ;) I bet you were using one of my filtering tricks in the sugarhouse last night, weren't you? :lol:

No but it is funny you say that I almost posted to use your trick to filter the syrup but decided that my humor might make you mad so I refrained. Its all good fun. Lets just call it new terry cloth and leave the other word out, Id feel better that way lol. Good luck this season bassman I think we all deserve it.

[wnybassman]

No but it is funny you say that I almost posted to use your trick to filter the syrup but decided that my humor might make you mad so I refrained. Its all good fun. Lets just call it new terry cloth and leave the other word out, Id feel better that way lol. Good luck this season bassman I think we all deserve it.

It takes a lot more than that to make me mad. lol

Sugarers all are a strange breed, and all do strange things but always share one thing in common.

I got a batch on the stove right now (that I boiled down outside last night in the rain) that should result in about a gallon, take or give.

I bought some prefilters yesterday (never used any before), and will use them in conjunction with my terry cloth filters later.

[wnybassman]

I lied about the terry cloth today. I actually broke out a piece of orlon and used two prefilters (which I have never used before) and laid them on the orlon. Note, this was the only filtering I did since I filtered the sap before boiling.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s163/wnybassman/maple/2011_batch2_single.jpg


I don't know, I read the original posters post over and over and can't figure out what went wrong. The only thing I can think of is it is such a small batch the thermometer is not accurate and the syrup is getting hotter than he thinks as he is bottling.

[3rdgen.maple]

Hey Bassman can you please bring my jar of syrup back along with my orlon filters and prefilters? I really needed them today. ;)

[wnybassman]

Hey Bassman can you please bring my jar of syrup back along with my orlon filters and prefilters? I really needed them today. ;)

Just a few more weeks, pleeeeeeaze :D

[TrentonTerry]

Well two more batches later, one with an extra filter session as described and I am still getting similar result with a slight improvement. However it is far from clear. The oldest bottles (about a week and 3 days now) does have a bit of nitre at the bottom.

I had a visitor over yesterday and he suggested the final filter be through cheesecloth. I am going to try that on the next batch and post the results.

I had some of the cloudy stuff yesterday and boy, it was sure good. I was told if the wedding guests didn't want it because it was a bit cloudy that many people would gladly take an extra even if its cloudy.

[wnybassman]

Well two more batches later, one with an extra filter session as described and I am still getting similar result with a slight improvement. However it is far from clear. The oldest bottles (about a week and 3 days now) does have a bit of nitre at the bottom.

I had a visitor over yesterday and he suggested the final filter be through cheesecloth. I am going to try that on the next batch and post the results.

I had some of the cloudy stuff yesterday and boy, it was sure good. I was told if the wedding guests didn't want it because it was a bit cloudy that many people would gladly take an extra even if its cloudy.

How big of a container are you going to bottle in for the favors?

If you are still getting niter sediment at the bottom, my guess is still bringing it too hot at bottling time. I know my kitchen thermometer is not very accurate when syrup depths are much less than 2 to 2 1/2 inches. With small batches I try to pick a pan that gives me the most depth, or combine smaller batches to make a larger one.

[BryanEx]

I suppose a last resort would be to pack in pastic.

[3rdgen.maple]

It sure sounds like to me your temps are to high before you bottle and after you filter. You do not want to have it boiling in your bottling setup at all. Boiling is a hotspot and will release more niter and cloudy syrup. Reheat it slowly after filtering. And if you are I would throw the thermometer your using in the garbage and get an accurate one.

[TrentonTerry]

Today's boil produced perfect syrup. I did nothing different other than only use 3 filters because i ran out of time to get all six ready and the syrup was ready to pour.

Temperature was 210 when I stopped it boiling (~7.1 degrees over todays water boiling temperature) and i let it gently boil a bit more till the consistency was right on the spoon (someone showed me how it should look on the weekend).

It must be because of the mineral content from the above answers. The sap here most would consider not flowing as most trees are only producing 200 or so mililtres per tap. I am told I will get well over a litre a day when the sap is reallly flowing.

My boils have mostly been underboils as I have a few jars that are almost watery. On the other hand, I did scorch the toffee on the weekend, but I used costco stuff for that - no sense wasting the good stuff on that experiment).

If this was luck, I have lots to think about from all the answers, thank you all so much.

The wedding favours are 125ml jars, so they are about 1 inch wide and 5 inches tall, so it might not look to bad in them. However if my suspicions are right, we are just at the start of sap season, so I should have lots of sap to get my 12 litres of syrup off of 80 taps (and growing). I fear my turkey fryer will be on 24/7 if i start to get 1-2 litres of sap per tree per day!

I am in the Trenton ontario area if anyone else is from around here - it would like to meet others with this hobby and confirm for me that the syrup really isnt running yet.

[Big_Eddy]

I'm in the Frankford area. We tapped about 2 weeks back - got 1 small run, then nothing, then a bit more on Saturday. Yesterday they were running, but not enough to warrant collecting.

Should start in earnest the next few days.

80 Trees on a turkey frier will have you running to the propane store a lot.

I wrote a filtering response earlier, but the server crashed and I lost it. Make sure your jars are 175, not 225 when you pour into them. If the syrup boils when it hits the jars, more nitre will precipitate out.

And if you bring the cloudy syrup back up to a boil and filter again - it should come clear. Some days it just happens.

[happy thoughts]

I've been making fairly small batches for about 5 years and am usually happy with a gallon. You're first syrup pic looks pretty cloudy to me. A couple of thoughts...

First I think you're making too small batches of finished syrup. It's going to be hard to get a good quantity of clear syrup for final bottling at any one time If you're only making 3 cups batches and bottling. Hopefully your sap flow will pick up so you can produce larger batches. Until then concentrate the sap as much as possible. Jar it and keep refrigerated until you can do a larger batch for syrup. This will likely give you darker syrup but if it's clearer in the end I say so be it. I don't filter and just use sedimentation.

If your syrup is watery I also would question your thermometer as others have mentioned. Short of tossing it, test it in boiling water then add ~7℉ to that for syrup stage. And I also agree with the person that said to use the pan that gives you a little more depth in the syrup so the thermometer is really in there,

Also ditto on what Big Eddy said, bring the cloudy stuff back up to a boil. I usually let it boil not so gently for a few minutes. Add a little bit of fresh sap if needed if you're sure the cloudy stuff has already reached syrup stage. You should start to see a lot of sand precipitate out.

And blessings to the happy couple! May all their days be as sweet as your syrup:)

[3rdgen.maple]

If you dont have a hydrometer you are playing the syrup guessing game. It is a must have to make syrup to the correct density. I have never seen a thermometer that is reliable. Also if you have 80 taps you need to a bigger setup cause your going to be overwhelmed in short order on a turkey fryer. Wait till the season starts goining good and you are pulling 80 gallons of sap a day or more. Your syrup is looking better nice job. With the small amount you are filtering at a time 6 prefilters is unnecesarry. You would be fine with one. The purpose of using alot of prefilter is for filtering larger amounts of syrup or several smaller gallon size batches throughout the day. We just use one orlon filter for 6 batches of syrup. Filter a batch pull a prefilter, till I hit the last prefilter I pull it all and start with a fresh round.

[maplematt]

Speaking of hydometers...I have a hydrometer from making wine, will it tollerate the heat of syrup or do I need to buy a special syrup hydrometer?

[3rdgen.maple]

Not the same as a syrup hydrometer. Brix scale is different.