Blending Syrup to change grades

[PerryW]

I'm in the unusual situation of too much light syrup. Only 2 gallons of A Dark and about 10 gallons of Grade B. I have blended the A dark with some low end A Medium and ended up with 5 gallons of Adark, but that's already gone.

I was wondering about using the B to darken some of the A Light into A Medium or darkening the A Medium into A Dark?

I will definitely test some blends first before mixing a big batch. Any thoughts?

[ennismaple]

It'll work. You don't need a lot of dark syrup to make light syrup darker a grade. Do it a bit at a time and you'll be fine.

[Tmeeeh]

In addition to blending heating the syrup to 180 or therabouts and keeping it hot for 24 hours or long enough for it to darken.

[Russell Lampron]

Yup that's what the packers do to make darker syrup. Blend the commercial with the light to make dark amber.

[red maples]

if you use smaller amounts say in cup size measurements its will give you an approximate ratio of how much you will need to blend larger amounts. The same can be done in blending out off flavors.

For example if you have 2 cups of light and want to make it medium and add say 1/4 cup of Gr B mix well and test the color if it works then you know your ratio is 8:1 or 4 gallons light to 1/2 gal Gr B. best to measure to the lighter side of the grade so you don't over do it.

just my 2 cents

[sfsshadow]

last year i blended 30gal. of lite with 10gal. of B. ended up with 40gal. of Adark that tastes too sweet to call dark amber. the barrel is still sitting there, wondering what to do with it. that was a waste of some nice lite syrup

[maple flats]

I blended 5 gal batches of very light med with some good flavored C to get darker med, and dark amber. As said above, it does not take much. I added the C a little at a time until it was mid scale dark A. On my last batch it took about 1.5 gal C (it was borderline B-C) to darken the lighter grade a med to middle scale dark amber. The taste was very good. If doing this be sure no mixing is using any off flavor or the end product will be off flavor. But with good tasting B or even C you can bring some back to grade A. My commercial this year all came out so good tasting that I am going to bring it all back up to dark amber to sell. I'll have no mersh for sale this year. Even my final batch ended up good flavor, the first time ever I think.

[CBOYER]

i know that Qc Centre Acer in their web site have a complete chart and text about blending colors, but all is in french. Maybe same kind of chart in any US. research?