Cloudiness in syrup

[Oregon sugar bush]

Yesterday I boiled our sap and the color and clarity or the syrup was nice. Today I collected sap and when I boiled it down ( almost syrup) I did a filter. Looking at it in a clear glass container this batch has cloudy particles...unusual ...

Any clues? Should I filter more, boil more ???? The taste is fine, but this is not pretty.

[whalems]

did you use a hydrometer to check density?

[Oregon sugar bush]

No...we are waiting it to cool to 60 degrees..to do a cold test. We have never used one before. Just bought the syrup hydrometer last week.

[spencer11]

i do only hot tests with a hydrometer and ive never had anything but niter in mine.(cause of not using the proper filters)

spencer

[Oregon sugar bush]

What is a proper filter? Is the hot test more accurate then the cold one?

[spencer11]

im not sure which test is more acurate. but by real filter i mean a filter designed for syrup. like one from leader or bascoms. the really expensive ones. but they are worth the price.

spencer

[Oregon sugar bush]

Thank you. Will look into it.

[Oregon sugar bush]

Spencer...thank you for the tip.

We have a synthetic felt piece and just used it . The syrup is very clear now...

Conni

[spencer11]

glad to help. and good to hear that it is clearer now. good luck with the rest of your seson.

spencer

[sugaringman85]

Filtering is definately the way to go...not sure if you use a canner of any variety to can your syrup but we discovered last year that our canner thermometer was off by a whopping 15 degrees so when we thought it was at the proper canning temperature it was actually boiling off more water and making enough heat to create more sugar sand in the syrup and resulting in a cloudy syrup. So if anyone can learn off mistakes take it from me. Check and recheck your instruments to make sure they are adjusted to the correct measurements!

[whalems]

depending on how much syrup you are making filtering can waste alot of syrup. you can always let it settle out and decant the clear syrup off the top. if you are only making a small amount at a time alot of syrup can get left behind in the synthetic filters. Hot test will let you know right away if you are at density and if not keep boiling. cold test you have to wait and if density is off you have to reheat and adjust.

[Oregon sugar bush]

All you said is true...and we do not make much as you said.

On my wish list is a syrup hydrometer cup...reading it hot will be useful.

[maplefrank]

i used to make filters out of white cotton flannel ,they worked really good, a producer who tapped 12000 on buckets with 3 6x16 evaporators used to make them.i just cut out a cone pattern and sewed them together

[Oregon sugar bush]

My husband gave me something made in Germany called Shamwool. I cut a piece and put in over a sieve. I will be able to see what the wastage is as I canned some last night and this morning emptied the syrup to filter it.
Wondered if a flannel pillow case would work???
The color of the syrup after it is filtered is so beautiful. Clearly liquid gold.

Having to heat up and then can again is too bad, but oh well. Thank you to everyone for their support and kindness.

[Oregon sugar bush]

Frank,

How long with how many folks does it take to collect sap from 1270 buckets?

[Oregon sugar bush]

Yesterday I boiled our sap and the color and clarity or the syrup was nice. Today I collected sap and when I boiled it down ( almost syrup) I did a filter. Looking at it in a clear glass container this batch has cloudy particles...unusual ...

Any clues? Should I filter more, boil more ???? The taste is fine, but this is not pretty.

Well..you all cannot say you warned me...In filtering I just lost about 12 % of yummy syrup. That is a lot of pancakes.

[spencer11]

really! wow! thats alot. i just ordered some filters from bascoms. i hope i dont loose a ton of syrup myself. how many trees do you tap?

spencer

[Oregon sugar bush]

I used a thick filter...perhaps too thick, not a real filter...

Only 20 trees now, but hope to get to 50.

[whalems]

I would order the pre-filters and run your syrup thru that and skip the heavy synthetic one. then let it settle out. this will take a week or more then decant off the clear slowly so you don't disturb the niter in the bottom. you will waste a lot less syrup this way.

[spencer11]

well with 50 trees i would get a filter designed for syrup. last year i ran it through several layers of paper towels. that got rid of any debries but left some niter. not that big of a deal.

spencer

[Oregon sugar bush]

A week!!..Wow...I had no idea.