Is the ice in my buckets woth boiling?

[Redmaple]

Should I boil the frozen ice in my buckets or discard it as just water?:confused:

[3fires]

I melted and measured some last year with a sap hydrometer and if I recall correctly it was 1-1.5%. My unfrozen sap was 2.5-3%. I will be using mine as long as I can get it broke up enough to fit in my holding tanks, otherwise, I'll just munch on it while collecting sap. :)

[fresh spout]

dump the ice! sugar melts first, so you sap will have a higher percentage of sugar, creating less of a boil time. I know you feel like you are waisting some, but the majority of the sugar has already left the ice.

[PerryW]

years ago I saw some melted sap ice tested and it was close to zero percent. The sap sure does taste a lot sweeter that the bucket is half ice!

[syrup2nv]

Chuck it!!! Think of it as a poor man's ro! :lol:

[buckeye gold]

when buckets freeze ice throw their Ice out lol

[maple flats]

Much better to toss it. If you want more sap drill another tap, and let mother nature concentrate it some for you.

[concord maple]

Just checked 15 gallons that was all ice and allowed to melt from yesterday and both tests showed 0.5%_1.0% at 38.4 degrees F. Dump it.

[Ausable]

[QUOTE=Redmaple;177502]Should I boil the frozen ice in my buckets or discard it as just water?:confused:[/QUOTE

Redmaple - All the advice You have received is very good. However - It may be less then 1% sugar and be Natures RO.... But - I'm a contrary old fart - and until I'm sure Mother Nature is gonna give me lots of her sugar rich maple sap - I save the ice. During lean times - I let it melt and make and rescue all the maple syrup I can. During shining times I pitch it like everyone else. I just ain't in a hurry to pitch all my maple ice....LOL.....Mike

[happy thoughts]

LOL ausable I must be a contrary old fart, too:)

That said, last year someone posted a nice scientific study on this forum about how sugar freezes out of solution. As I remember, the science behind tossing thinner ice looked pretty solid. The first ice that forms is mostly water. But as ice continues to form, more sugar freezes with it. So the question then becomes how thin is thin ice and how thick does it have to get before your gain is no longer worth it.