bottling questions

[RC Maple]

Last weekend I made my 1st batch of syrup. I thought it would be a good idea to put some of each batch in glass so I could see how it was holding up. What was bottled and sealed in glass still looks great but I had a little left that I put in a glass jar and put in the fridge. Looking at it this morning it looks like some sugar has precipitated out of it. I microwaved it and swirled it around and that helped it quite a bit but there is still a little floating in there. Is that just the way it is or could I be doing something better? I finished with a hydrometer and did so when I could just see my finished syrup red line floating on top of the syrup. Any thoughts?

[happy thoughts]

Did you filter before bottling? If not, it might be just a little sugar sand that precipitated out on standing.

[RC Maple]

Yes I did filter - gravity through a filter with several prefilters.

[happy thoughts]

Could be sugar then. The cold temp in the fridge probably helped it form faster. Leave it in there and see what happens. If it starts to form larger rock crystals then you'll know what you have in time. They're still good eating as long as you can get them out of the container :) But that said, and as a small home producer that doesn't use a hydrometer and goes strictly on temp and the appearance of the hot syrup, what I've noticed is that as I get to bottling the last of a batch, that last stuff tends to be thicker. I always blamed it on the residual heat of the pan on such a small quantity of syrup causing some extra concentration. It's these small orphan bottles that tend to form crystals in my own experience.

As an added thought, you could try putting one of your full bottles in the fridge to see if you get the same precipitate. Then you'll have a better idea if you're overboiling.

[Brent]

There are lots of ways to get wrong readings with hydrometers. Next time you get to that stage fill you cup and get the hyrdometer in it quickly. Put it down somewhere and sit on your bum to watch for 5 minutes. As the syrup cools you'll see the hydrometer rise ... a lot !
Temperature is critical. If you're not doing it, pre-fill you hydrometer cup to per-heat it and the hydrometer. Dump the contents back into the pan and then take your sample for the real test ... and read it quickly. Alternatively go to the web site of the owners of this web site and get one of their Acu-Cup rigs with a built in thermometer and a temperature compensation table. I love it.

http://www.mapleguys.com/index.php?category=6