How to use a Syrup Hydrometer

[Slatebelt**Tapper**Pa]

Hi purchased a Syrup Hydrometer and cup from Maple guys.

Thing is Ive never used one and was hoping there would be some instruction with it. (MY LUCK, NONE :cry: )

Can Any body give me some basics.

It has a hot test on it and a cold test on it.

Does the syrup when finished right sit at the reds lines in etheir cold or hot line.

Thanks
Charlie

P.s. seen the first miller moth today(1-20-06) :evil: !!!

[mountainvan]

cold test is 68 degrees, bottom red line, hot test is 211 degrees. syrup is hardly ever 68 or 211 when your testing it, so. go to target, walmart, etc. get a digital thermometer, the kind for meat, so you know the temp of syrup in the cup. on the internet find the north american maple producers manual and print the page on compensation of syrup density for temperature, pin it to wall by your canner and you're all set. example at 100 degrees add 1 to the reading on the hydrometer, read the bottom of the miniscus, if it reads 65 + 1= 66% right on!!

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[Slatebelt*Pa*Tapper]

Hot Test for Maple Syrup:
Syrup should be tested directly from the boiling pan. Do not let the syrup sit or cool, test at 2ll.

Place syrup sample in a sample cup at least 8” deep. (Hydrometer Cup)

Hold the hydrometer cup over a pail or your boiling pan and slowly lower the hydrometer into the syrup. Be sure to hold onto the hydrometer tightly until it is floating on its own or resting on the bottom of the sample cup. A hydrometer released in lightweight syrup can hit the bottom of the cup and crack the glass. This is a VERY fragile instrument.

The hydrometer should float so that the top Hot Test red line is even with the surface
of the liquid.


If the red line floats above the syrup surface, your sample is too heavy. Add a small amount of hot sap to your syrup to thin it and retest. Add small amounts at a time so you do not thin your syrup too much.

If the red line is buried in your sample, the syrup is too thin and further boiling is required.


Cold Test for Maple Syrup:
The hydrometer is calibrated for 60o (room temperature) syrup. Proceed as above, except use the lower Cold Test red line on the hydrometer.

Allow some time for the hydrometer to stabilize in the cold syrup.


Some causes of test variations are:
Syrup temperature is significantly different than the hydrometer’s calibration temperature.

Sugar sand deposits on the hydrometer (carefully remove by scraping with a knife blade.)

Syrup sticking to the stem above the red line. (This and no. 2 above both add weight to the instrument and vary its reading.)

The paper scale inside the hydrometer stem has loosened or shifted position. This is rare but does occur from time to time.

Syrup sample is not properly taken from the whole lot and therefore not representative of the whole batch.


Hydrometers are fragile, glass instruments. They must be handled very cautiously. We recommend that you keep a spare on hand in case of breakage.


Hope this works for me,. It cant be all that hard. I been useing a candy and an electronic thermo all this time. Just wanted to try somthing differnt this year.

Charlie

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

One thing I would recommend for beginners or someone starting to use a hydrometer is to fill your hydrometer cup with hot syrup and let it sit about 1 minute. Then dump it back and fill it again and take the reading immediately from the second cup. What happens if you put hot syrup in a cold or cool cup, it cools it some and it can affect the density a little. :D

[lew]

Like WV said, a cool cup and hydrometer can affect the reading a little bit. So, another way to keep it warm is to hang the hydrometer cup, with the hydrometer inside of it, inside the syrup pan while you are boiling. This keeps it hot and also keeps it near to where you are going to use it again.

[sweetwoodmaple]

It also keeps the glass hydrometer from the thermal shock of putting hot syrup against it at room temperature. Had one crack this way, even though the glass should be able to take the heat.

Brian

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

What Brian says could possibly happen but I have been using the same hydrometer for over 10 years and I always drop it in cold and it hasn't failed me yet! :D

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[lew]

Maple hill sugarhouse was absolutely right about keeping an extra hydrometer in the sugarhouse. You don't break it until you use it, and if it breaks when you're boiling, then you're#@?$@% out of luck. When you get your extra hydrometer, put both of them in syrup at the same time and check to see that they read the same. Often times they will read a little different. You can then adjust your numbers from your "known" hydrometer readings to your new hydrometer readings. This may seem like unnecesary work, but 1/2 degree brix or baume too light and you don't have syrup, or if it is too heavy, you are giving away money. We bought out a sugaring operation years ago that had some extra hyrometers. I started looking through the boxes and one sap hyrometer said "buy" and another said "sell". Just to see what was going on I put both in a bucket of sap and one read 1.5 degrees brix higher than the other one. After that I have always check my hydrometers against the one that is working well for me and have found some inconsistencies.

[lew]

Maple hill sugarhouse was absolutely right about keeping an extra hydrometer in the sugarhouse. You don't break it until you use it, and if it breaks when you're boiling, then you're#@?$@% out of luck. When you get your extra hydrometer, put both of them in syrup at the same time and check to see that they read the same. Often times they will read a little different. You can then adjust your numbers from your "known" hydrometer readings to your new hydrometer readings. This may seem like unnecesary work, but 1/2 degree brix or baume too light and you don't have syrup, or if it is too heavy, you are giving away money. We bought out a sugaring operation years ago that had some extra hyrometers. I started looking through the boxes and one sap hyrometer said "buy" and another said "sell". Just to see what was going on I put both in a bucket of sap and one read 1.5 degrees brix higher than the other one. After that I have always check my hydrometers against the one that is working well for me and have found some inconsistencies.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[MASSEY JACK]

A salesperson told me you should take your new hydrometer and stand it next to the box it came in and mark on the box where both red lines are. This is to be able to check later on to see if the paper has slipped inside the hydrometer. Sounds like a good idea to me...


Jack

[brookledge]

As Kevin said it is important to check and ajust density just before canning if you check it at the time of draw off and then let it run through cloth filters you would be suprised at how much more water evaporates. I have a 16X24 canner and when I take the cover off there is always alot of water droplets on the cover.
Even hydrometers that are not accurate any more can still be used as long as you have a new one to use to mark the old one. You can either count the lines that it is off or use a perminate marker and mark a new hot line.
Keith

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[sweetwoodmaple]

I end up double checking my hydrometer with a refractometer.

My refractometer came with a calibration block at 70.5 Brix, so I can check it's calibration every so often as well.

Between the three (evaporator thermometer, hydrometer, refractometer), I figure that I should be able catch a problem with one of them and get it corrected.

Brian

[MASSEY JACK]

well, I think I will buy another hydrometer before season starts. Where can I get mine tested? Can the equipment dealers do it? Bascom's,Lapierre???

Last year was my first year and I know that I made a lot of heavy syrup. I drew off into a wool cone filter and it was not covered so the evaporation kept going. Then I would heat it up later on to bottle it. Also, I did not keep the hydrometer cup hanging over the pan to keep it warm but I did fill it and dump it and then refill it before taking a reading to help preheat it. This year I will be drawing onto a flat filter rack that has a cover so I can stop the moisture loss. I also think I will draw off a little earlier and finish it in a finishing rig to make it more accurate. I would like to draw,filter,and can in one shot so I don't have to reheat it. One of the grading classes I attended said you risk losing a color grade every time you reheat it. I'm not sure I can manage all that and running the evaporator at the same time though.

Jack

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Jack,

They key is "they say" you could "risk" losing a grade. I don't usually see this happening as I reheat all the time. 8O

[MASSEY JACK]

That was from Mr Mackres, a State of Vermont Maple Inspector. He put on a Maple Grading seminar at the NYS Maple conference on grading syrup.

Jack

[maple flats]

I agree with Jack. I have talked with a few old time maplers and have heard the same. Maybe you don't lose a full grade but if you were leaning towards the next darker grade you would be at it upon reheating. Last year I made a higher % of lighter grade syrup and believe I did it because I had fewer but longer boils instead of 4 or 5 hrs and then shut down to reheat and add more sap. In 03 and 04 I would run a boil even if I only had 3 hrs between bus runs (I drive school bus) and then resume boiling after work until all sap was in the pan. Then I would shut down and resume on the next day of flow in the same method. In 05 I did not boil more than 1x/day and often went 2-3 days if temps permitted. In this manner I made lighter syrup. I really think it had to do with the # of times any given drop of sap was reheated before it reached the proper density. I plan to do the same way in 06.

[Slatebelt*Pa*Tapper]

hey all, I finish my syrup inside my home, so my cup and hydrometer will be at room temp when I use it.

But I think I will fill the cup first and refill it before I test it.

well here I dont have an inspector to check my hydrometer :?:

I will mark a piece of paper to keep a eye on my paper and also use my candy thermo to check the syrup both ways.

Thanks All for the tips.. :wink:
Charlie

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[Slatebelt*Pa*Tapper]

No, I have not.

Im going to try to go ahead with what I learned already Just useing this site and other info on the web and use my candy thermo and digital thermo to figure it out.

Thanks
Charlie

[MASSEY JACK]

Maple Hill, The site says $2. for the manual but what about postage or shipping? I would think they would want extra for the mailing.

Jack

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[MASSEY JACK]

Thanks Kevin, I will send for it this week. Just have to get a check from the wife.

Jack

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[MASSEY JACK]

Somewhere I got the idea you are not supposed to send cash through the mail. What was I thinking? I'll just send the $2. Do you think the same info from the Grading manual is in the big producer's manual ?? If so, then I will just get the big book :) :)

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[maple flats]

I think it is still acceptable to send the correct amount in 1st class stamps, might want to email and ask first. With .39 ea it does mean you would be sending a tip because you would need 6 or you would short change them. Back when it was 25 cents each it was easier, we'll never see that again.