Why am I only a B grade maker??? :(

[maple sapper]

I have a two pan arraingement. One pan is a barrel stove thats approx 3x3, 4 channeled and flat bottomed. The barrel usually glows red even with bricks, and ceramic blanket. The lower pan is a 18'x4' , four channeled and propane fired with two high output burners. The two of these pans have hard boils the once they get going. I also run two GE Merlin RO membrane units to assist in the job. I sometimes can get them running in advance and sweeten things up good. They do run continous during boils as well.

My problem is that I have only made one batch of A dark amber once in three years of running this arraingement. The rest has been all B. I have felt the last few years have been lack luster due to the extreme warmth and lack of sap as well as long time between boils.

This weekend I pushed 445 gals of sap thru my rig and have all B. What can I try to get lighter syrup?

I am trying washing tanks and buckets more frequent, a one micron bag filter in my overhead tank, and running RO as much as possible before boiling. One other thing that could possibly be the problem is the line connecting barrel pan to finish pan is close to the fire door. Could extreme heat be "burning it" in the pipe? The taste isnt burnt.


I am looking for some suggestions. Thanks in advance.

[Kev]

445 is your total through the evap? or total collected?
and how many hours of evap time. how many draws? how much syrup made?
Whats the input temp into the pan?-Although I doubt just going past the heat of the arch is burning the sap. you would more than likely have syrup intering the pan if that were the case.
this type of data is very helpfull in determining the why:)

[adk1]

Hve you checked the brix of your sap before entering the RO and after?

[maple flats]

Somehow the sap is getting loaded with micro organisims. Do you reclean the storage and transport tank every day?

[PerryW]

Somehow the sap is getting loaded with micro organisims. Do you reclean the storage and transport tank every day?

Every day??? I clean my tanks once or twice during the season (when they look or smell like they need it)

Only maybe 10-15% of my syrup is Grade B. I usually make at least 20% fancy, though last year, around 50% was fancy.

I do however, boil all my sap within 24 hours.

[SSFLLC]

I think that is the key to making good syrup. Boil it as soon as you get it. The longer you keep it the more micro-organizems and less sugar. Just my thoughts Keith

[Dennis H.]

You do not want sap to sit any length of time if you can help it. The 1st sap of the season will hold over longer because there is very little bactria out there but as the temps warm up they start going crazy.
Don't feel bad, I wasn't able to make anything lighter than Med and that was the very 1st syrup I made of the season. The rest was Dark and then right at the end Grade B.

Clean those tanks when you manage to empty them. I did mine 2 times this year. Both times when I would stick my head on there it had this yeasty smell so there was alot going on in there. Not good for nice clear sap. They just love the sugar that I was feeding them.

The next is your pans. Again if you can manage it when you have no sap to boil empty the pans and give them a quick wash. If you have a filterpress use it after you filter syrup to filter out the sugarsand in your syrup pan. You will be also saving some syrup in the filterpress that would be going to waste.

The last tip I have is boil it the least amount of time possible. Not sure how often you draw off syrup and how much.

[maplecrest]

where are your trees located? what type of trees? swamp maples tend to make b grade syrup

[Southtowns27]

How deep do you run your pans and how long is it in between drawoffs?

[maple sapper]

Ok, lots of good things to consider. I will try to put some of my anwsers and thoughts here now and add as I think of them.

The 445 gals was processed in two different boils. One being 8 hrs. The second being 10hrs. with the RO's going constantly and well before the boils got going. Those things save me so much boiling :D. As far as draws, I have done some tweeking and found if I open the valve to a certain spot, I can litterally pull a small stream for up to 45 mins at times. other times Its open close open close etc. I was pulling at 220 deg and it was always a bit over syrup. So the second boil I tried drawing at 219 to 218 and got it a bit more in line with what I need.

Out of all that sap I ended up with approx 11 gals +/-, My stainless pails have no markings on them and some are not full to the top.

As far as input temp., its usually around 150 deg from the preheater which is right up close to the stack pipe.

I will pay more attention to sap levels entering tank, preheater, and ro's and see what I have. I may even run RO longer before starting. Time is the problem. I dont have the ability to collect at lunch time so I can pump it up and then run RO then boil at a decent hour.

In regards to trees tapped, I have roughly a 50/50 mix in trees. However the vac trees are mostly red maples or swamp maples. Would it matter if your running an RO on the sap to sweeten it up, in regards to swamps making grade B?

I am going to make it a point to hose out transport tank, and over head tank after each use. Maybe thats where I lack. As far as woods tank, thats a tough one. No running water there. Also, Is sap on ice a bad thing. Early on my woods tank froze solid on me and I was unable to get the sap down low. I was under the understanding, if its under ice or on ice its kept cold enough.

Anybody know how small or big a microbe is? What size filter will catch them? One micron perhaps? I have a one micron filter bag in my tank that my RO recirculates into as well as all sap entering the tank has to go thru as well as a 5 micron filter right after the pump to get it there.

Thanks for the tips and I may put more as I think of it.

[maple sapper]

Does anybody think I maybe making syrup in the other end of the pan. Not at the end of the last channel? I dont have reverse flow so what can be done if thats the case?

I run my pans at 1-1 1/4".

[Gravel]

I have boiled in a pot, galvanized little bucket, small stainless pan that I would boil in for 7 hours adding sap as I went and not get syrup until the end of the night and now use a homemade 2x6, I have made fancy on all of these which would make me believe it has something to do with the trees the sap is coming from??

[Kev]

the trees and the season both effect quality do they not?
This year I have made more light syrup than I have the entire time I have been making it. Its at the very tail end of our season and I am finally making syrup as dark as I like it, for my taste.

[maple sapper]

Maybe I should just trade my professional B syrup for some light and be able to offer both. As well as the person who only makes light. LOL

[Kev]

LOL
well It sure feels weird to be running the evap and hope for darker syrup:lol:

[Gary R]

I too have made only B syrup this year. I've made about 21 gal. out of about 1500 gal. of sap. I have about 20 sugars and 80 reds. No swamp, high and dry. My sugar content has been 1%:mad: A few runs were 1.3%. An interesting note is sap quality. The first couple of runs in mid Feb. were clear. Ever since it has been cloudy. The tubing system is brand new. I've boiled the sap the day I get it. Rinsed tanks and pan a few times. Very unhappy with my syrup. Tastes fine, just dark.

A couple of days ago I hung 30 buckets. All on sugar maples. I've collected twice. Sugar is 1.6%, but the sap is very clear. I rinsed the pan, feed line and head tank. I should have a couple of more good runs this week. I hope to make a gallon or two of decent stuff. I'll post the grade this weekend.

[heus]

Ive made 84 gallons so far and 82.5 gal of it has been light. Im actually hoping for some darker syrup its my personal favorite.

[maple sapper]

I gathered 235 gals of sap. pumped it through a 5 micron and 1 micron filter. Put the RO's on it all night and its now at roughly 80 gals. So going to start to boil and see what happens. Also hosed out transport tank and over head tank and rinsed filters off. So lets see what comes out.

[Three Saps Sugar Shack]

how deep are you running your pans... you should only run your pans about an inch deep.. sounds like your stewing your syrup...

[maple sapper]

on the high end I run my pans at 1 1/4" and average 1".

[Gary R]

Well, here's what came out. The dark one is my solid B for all season. The lighter one is Grade A dark, just missed medium. I messed up on the boiling. I boiled five days in a row. 133 gal. total. The first day was 49 gal. I just kept adding every day so, a lot of the sap was boiled six times including finishing. I should have drained the pan each day and finished it all on the last day. Still pretty happy with the results. My take is that it is in the trees. Is anybody making Light when more than half of the trees are reds? My neighbor is a small time backyarder. He collected sap from his parents place about 10 miles south. All big yard sugars. First few batches were nice and light.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Gary,

How old is your grading kit??

[Gary R]

Don't know, it was Jim Brown's that we used to grade with. I just took the samples to his place for a quick check. The sap from the red's definitely make a red tint to the syrup. I should have put some of my neighbors syrup in a test bottle. There is a huge difference.

[Jim Brown]

FYI-guys the kit was a new 2011

Jim

[Gary R]

Thanks Jim, sorry, I do believe the grade to be accurate. I've seen a lot of very light stuff from other producers.