off taste

[chuck]

I drew off 4 gal of great tasting MA yesterday. I put it through 2 pre filters and a felt filter into my canner as I always do. Today I taste it from the canner and it has taken on a taste of the felt filter. The paper filters are brand new and the felt filter is from last year. The canner was squeaky clean. Regardless of how thoroughly I thought I cleaned, dried and stored the felt filter at the end of last year something isn't right. My question is what is my best course of action with this syrup I have now? Obviously I am going to replace the filter going for future batches but what can I do with the 4 gallons I have now? Can I put it back into the evaporator and "dilute" it with fresh sap in hopes that the off taste will go away or will I just contaminate future batches with the same taste? Or should I just pack this stuff up and sell it bulk and chaulk it up to being too cheap to replace the felt filter every season? I would love to try to salvage this as I am a small operation (180 taps) and hate to waste it. Any imput waould be greatly appreaciated.

[DrTimPerkins]

I drew off 4 gal of great tasting MA yesterday. I put it through 2 pre filters and a felt filter into my canner as I always do. Today I taste it from the canner and it has taken on a taste of the felt filter. The paper filters are brand new and the felt filter is from last year. The canner was squeaky clean. Regardless of how thoroughly I thought I cleaned, dried and stored the felt filter at the end of last year something isn't right. My question is what is my best course of action with this syrup I have now?

If felts are not stored completely dry, they can take on a musty odor. Even putting them into a sealed storage bag on a humid day can result in them getting musty. When you first go to use them at the beginning of the season, put them up to your nose and take a big sniff. If they smell musty AT ALL....either wash them VERY well or replace them.

[chuck]

Thanks Dr. Tim. Is there anything I can do with the syrup at this point?

[DrTimPerkins]

Thanks Dr. Tim. Is there anything I can do with the syrup at this point?

Sell it as commercial or make it into sugar.

Slight chance you can dilute it out, but you risk ending up with a lot more slightly bad tasting syrup.

[bobbyjake]

If it is from the felt, heat it back up now just to kill anything that might be growing in it. Reseal it back up and keep it separate until the end of the season.

After the season, reheat it again. Borrow a press from someone and run it through a press. If that doesn't work, dilute it with some Dark and filter press it again.

2x as much Dark Amber is still better than 1/2 dark and 1/2 commercial.

[DrTimPerkins]

If it is from the felt, heat it back up now just to kill anything that might be growing in it. Reseal it back up and keep it separate until the end of the season.

After the season, reheat it again. Borrow a press from someone and run it through a press. If that doesn't work, dilute it with some Dark and filter press it again.

2x as much Dark Amber is still better than 1/2 dark and 1/2 commercial.

That's frequently a reasonable approach (except for metabolism off-flavor, which has a very low flavor detection threshold), however just be aware that you might end up with 2x as much commercial if the flavor is not blended out.

I'd test this approach with a small batch (quart) first before doing it with the whole thing.