Grade A Medium/Dark on first boil . anyone else getting dark?

[WoodButcher]

ive made 5 gallons so far on my 2x4 flat pan , and all of it right from the start is medium and dark amber . its weird though ... it kinda has the candy sweet taste of light extra fancy , just dark in color .

the only thing im doing different this year is leaving the sweet in the pan overnight after boiling (since i usually boil 50 gallons at a time on weekdays) and then fire it up the next day and add fresh sap to start making a gradient and draw some syrup off by the end of the 2nd night . i know the longer you leave the sweet the darker it gets, but this is kind of drastic , no?

last year i made some nice real light amber from the same trees , but i drew off every night i boiled and finished on the turkey fryer . .. im avoiding that now and it works nice since i save on propane.

anyways , ive heard of several people around here getting a medium amber off the bat... anyone else?
im thinking its the snowmelt we got and the rain. . . dont get me wonrg, im not complaining.... it tastes phenomenal ! ;)

[heus]

Woodbutcher, Ive made 52 gallons in Andover and all has been light amber except 1.5 gal of medium. Actually wish I could make some med and dark

[christopherh]

Mine has been all light and medium. Cleaned pans over the last 2 days and the sweet I pulled off looks like it'll be the same.

[Gary R]

Mine has all been dark. Closing in on 20 gal. My sugar content has been terrible. Most of it is 1%:(

[WoodButcher]

correction :

funny story . i put all my syrup in pint and quart mason jars i got from wallyworld this year. the ball jars have silver lids instead of gold... kinda neat.

anyways , a family member got me some fancy maple leaf shaped 100 mls and maple leaf half pints so i can put them in the light to see the different 'vintages' along the season . ...

look at the pic below on the difference between the fancy glass and the mason jars! same batch from last night .

now i know the mason jar being round and more light needs to pass through it since its thicker, but sheesh.. these ball jars had me all worried i was producing dark amber in the middle of the season . which would be fine as i think its tastier.... but i was thinking i was keeping the sweet in too long or whatnot .
this gets me thinking.. when the pros have to grade their syrup... i wonder what glass they use (dimensions etc) .

just wanted to share with you guys in case someone else has a brainfart and forgets on container thickness when trying to grade :rolleyes:

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z104/italianjeremy/Sugarin/2011%20sugar%20season/IMG_20110317_092202Large-1.jpg

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z104/italianjeremy/Sugarin/2011%20sugar%20season/IMG_20110317_092302Large.jpg

[CBOYER]

Grading is made whit 1" wide glass bottle, same as grading kit.

[WoodButcher]

Got ya. Thanks

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

thats all i have made ,only person i know to make anything else was fancy in middletown springs vt the Haley's

[WoodButcher]

I haven't really compared it to anything from last year, but its like a light/medium hybrid ...