Filtering trick?

[Pete S]

Last night we ran our last batch for 2011.

During the boil we scoped of tons of dark and blackened foam.

Within 15 gallons of sap from being done, we pulled the pan and filtered the "near syrup".

Dumped the filtered stuff back into the pan, put it back on the heat and started back up.

Yes it was more work BUT when it was all finished, the syrup ran right through as the filter DID not plug up, but caught more gumpta!

We figured we lost about 20 minutes was all.

[3rdgen.maple]

That is what you would do when you do a pan cleanup. Filter out the pans, clean them and then put it back in. I think we all do it.

[John c]

Again I will say I run a very small operation, so since everything can easily fit into large stainless pots this procedure goes quite quick for me, but I filter at least 3 times throughout the boiling process and it sure does make the final filtering go really quick. Besides the fact that I never, ever have to reopen any well sealed jars and refilter, reheat, rewash, reseal or waste lids!
I can see where this process would be much tougher with a large scale operation though. I kinda like my scaled down operation so these little details can be addressed.
My hat is off to all you guys n gals that run those big rigs out there!

[Starting Small]

All of the literature says that the ratio of sap to syrup is 40:1...Does this take into consideration the loss of sugar in the sugar sand that is lost in filtering? If not then does that mean the ratio is really 50:1 if we are losing sugar content through filtering? Thanks,

[CBOYER]

40 to 1 is an average. When i was making syrup whit silver maples i acheived 60 to 1, now i have sugar malple and last year was 34 to 1. directly related to % of sugar in sap. i am on buckets, operations on high vac retreived lot more sap from a tree, but less sugar %.

[BryanEx]

All of the literature says that the ratio of sap to syrup is 40:1...Does this take into consideration the loss of sugar in the sugar sand that is lost in filtering? If not then does that mean the ratio is really 50:1 if we are losing sugar content through filtering? Thanks,

The ratio is based on reducing sap to syrup at a specific density. Filtering and packaging are both consumer related "options" and not factored into the equation. By filtering syrup you are not losing sugar, just total syrup volume from what gets stuck in the filter or due to spillage.