Overcooked to 65 Brix (hot)

[fishpal]

I ducked into the garage and when I went back and checked my nearly one gallon of syrup the hydrometer read 65 Brix. Can I blend this batch with the next batch to bring it back down to 59 or is it too late? Are there any uses for this 65 Brix "Syrup" if blending isn't a good idea? Many thanks.







30 taps
32x32 non-stainless pan
18 concrete blocks
2 foot deep fire pit
Kawasaki 650 ATV

[backyard sugaring]

Add a gallon of sap to it and heat it up again and take another reading. If you didn't burn it, it should be still good. Good luck, and welcome to this wonderful site. Lee

[RileySugarbush]

A gallon is way to much unless you really enjoy boiling. Hold it at 185 and slowly add distilled water a bit at a time checking density as you stir it in. If you are careful you won't need to boil anymore at all.

[fishpal]

So I'm supposed to read the hydrometer at 185 degrees? I've been reading it in a wine carafe straight out of the boiling pan. Is that too hot to get an accurate reading? Many thanks.

[happy thoughts]

The temp will affect your reading. There's a correction chart floating around here somewhere. One may even have come with your hydrometer.

If you decide to add sap instead of distilled water you're going to have to reboil anyway to kill off any microbes in the sap or you risk contaminating the syrup and at the very least affecting shelf life.

[RileySugarbush]

you need to compensate for the temperature. Charts are available but the site won't let me up load it today

[fishpal]

Found it....many thanks

[backyard sugaring]

See I learned something new never thought of using distilled water. I always added more sap and reboiled. Thanks Lee

[Brent]

I see you've got a small rig so you're batching, but for perspective, we boil on the evaporator to 68 - 69 %, filter while hot and pump into a canner. When we've got enough we use the temp correction chart at 185 deg to make 67 - 67.5 which is the way we bottle it..
With 10 - 12 gallons in the canner it normally takes only 1/2 to 1 cup of distilled water to make the correction.

[fishpal]

Thanks for all the info folks. My comedy of errors continues: Originally took a reading as I was cooking syrup down, so probably around 211? Measured 65 Brix. Cooled syrup down. Re-heated in a pan on the kitchen stove to 185 and added 1/8 to 1/4 cup of distilled water at a time until I got to the (hot) redline on my hydrometer.(59) Total distilled water added to 7/8 gallon of syrup was 2 1/8 cups. Perfect redline (59 Brix). I was so proud. Got up this morning and noticed on my hydrometer written in RED at the 59 Brix line: HOT TEST 211..(remember I tested at 185) So I added too much water and now I must boil some off. Fortunately(?) I don't have enough sap to do another batch today like I planned so I can make my adjustment this morning. To paraphrase Bob Dylan: "I'm an idiot babe, it's a wonder that I still know how to breathe."

[happy thoughts]

I wouldn't beat yourself up too bad. You still haven't ruined anything, and as always, experience, including our mistakes, usually turns out to be the best teacher:)

[fishpal]

I wouldn't beat yourself up too bad. You still haven't ruined anything, and as always, experience, including our mistakes, usually turns out to be the best teacher:)
Many thanks!:cool:

[oneoldsap]

I've found it to be more cost effective , to learn from other peoples mistakes !