How do you store your syrup?

[3fires]

I made about 11 gallons this year and bottled it right away into 4 to 32 oz. bottles, a good mix of each size.

But, I had a lot of folks who wanted quarts, gallons, and one person who wanted over 100 4 oz. bottles. Nobody wants 8 or 12 oz'ers for some reason.

I ran into a situation of either having to rebottle the 8 and 12 oz'ers into smaller or larger bottles, give a big discount for buying quantity and losing money on bottles, or not selling the syrup at all.

So, how do you decide when and how to bottle your syrup and still meet customer demands without losing your tail?

[BryanEx]

The big producers pack into drums and then bottle what they need as it sells but for people like us with under 20 gallons a year production that's not very practical. I think you will find that each year that passes you will become better at estimating which size bottles to pick based on previous years sales. I also started with too many small bottles and now use almost all 1 litre jugs with a few 1/2 litre glass bottles.

[ennismaple]

I recommend you bottle coming off the evaporator only what you need for immediate sale. The rest can go into 2.5 or 5 gallon jugs to be repackaged later. We store our 2.5 gallon jugs in the deep freezer. If you need the syrup quickly it'll thaw in under an hour in a warm water bath in your sink. The nice thing with repackaging like this is if you ask, most people want it for immediate consumption so there's no sense it heat packing it if they're opening it the day after for their wafffles.

[Dennis H.]

I picked up some nice 2 gal food grade buckets from uline. They are rated for 180 degree hot packing. I hat pack at 185 and did not have any trouble. I also will be reusing the lids again next year.

I hot packed the buckets and put a batch number and grade on it for my records.

Now as people ask for syrup I can open 2gals at a time and make what ever size bottle that I need to meet what they want.

I have found that 1/2 pints do not sell good for me. I find that people only buy them to give as gifts.

Pints and quarts are what I sell and it is about 50/50. I have had several people ask for 1/2gals so when I get more jugs I will pick up a case of 1/2gals.

[PapaSmiff]

DennisH,
That sounds like a good idea. So I went to the uline.com website. But it doesn't specifically say "Food Grade". The term they use is:

Manufactured using FDA compliant resins

How did you find out they are Food Grade?

[Haynes Forest Products]

He is still alive:o

[3fires]

Most everyone wants quarts or pints here as well. I suppose if I got a big order I could repack it, maybe do up a few gallons or something. I was wondering what the smaller producers used to store it in the meantime, those buckets sound good as long as the customers live. LOL! :o

I want it to be safe!

[Dennis H.]

I was told when I ordered them that they were infact food safe.

They are made by a company called Letica Corp. I think they are from Michigan. They have plants around the country that makes containers closer to the market that they intend to sell to. There is a plant right here in PA.

If the 2 gal size is too small they make other sizes.

Another thing to do is get a case of gal syrup jugs and a bunch of extra caps and store the syrup that way. The good thing about doing that is if someone wants a gal it is already to go. I did this last year and worked good for a small quanity of syrup. I knew I was aiming for over 20 gals and didn't wall over 20 jugs sitting around. The buckets stack real nice.

[red maples]

I don't know if the maple guys still have them but they used to sell 1 gallon freezer jugs. I keep them in the basement fridge and in the freezer so if I run out of a particular size that some one is looking for then I can bottle it up in a pinch without breaking into a 5 gallon container. and I just wash and reuse them.

[3fires]

1 to 2 gallon size sounds about right for me as that's about how much I made per batch this season.

If it's in the freezer does it have to be sealed?

Thanks again everyone.