another problem filtering

[tbear]

I finished off approx. 2 gal. syrup and poured it into my wet and warm felt cone filter. After about 45 seconds the stream of filtered syrup slowed way down. A few seconds later the stream all but stopped. I scraped the inside of my filter with a spoon and it flowed a little more so I scraped some more. Taking the spoon out I noticed not sand but a thick gooey gummy coagulated substance stuck to the edge of the spoon where it had been scraping the filter. The filter was new and had been rinsed several times in buckets of hot water. The "substance" was similar in consistancy to ... maybe unset gello? It didn't taste very good either. Any ideas?

[Randy Brutkoski]

If you are using pipeline it could be last years sap that was in the lines. How long was the sap sitting in your tank before boiling.It sounds like it is ropey.

[tbear]

No pipline, all buckets. The oldest sap was 4 days old and the over night lows were in the mid to upper twenties with the daytime highs in the mid to lower forties. The sap was stored in a shed out of the sun. I don't think "nasty" sap was the problem, but then what do I know? I haven't a clue what ropey sap is. It sounds awful.

[Father & Son]

Might be one of mother natures nasty tricks. It could just be the year and what the trees are producing. Three years back the sugar sand was more like black slimmy mud. Had a devil of a time trying to gravity filter syrup all season. Be careful when you start scrapping your filters, it could force some of the sediment through the filters.

Jim

[MapleME]

This is pretty common. some trees just give off this stuff. Its sugar sand sludge. Totally normal and you can't do anything about it (and more importantly you didn't do anything to cause it). My filters get clogged with it each year. I stack 4 or 5 pre filters per batch so when they slow to a halt, I pour the remaining on the next one and keep doing that. It does indeed take time, filtering can take a couple of hours to get the last bit through my flat filters.

I used cone filters for a long time. I put 4 or 5 pre filters in the cone finish filter and did what I said above. One thing that you want to do it try to keep the syrup as warm as possible. So doing it inside your house vs in the unheated shack is a good start. then I used to fold over the top or even use a clothespin to keep the steam and heat in...that helped. Eventually I widened up and went with a larger flat filter. Not because I was making more syrup, but because you have much more surface are filtering your syrup and its easier.

[skillet01]

Are you using prefilters? If not, put 3 or 4 prefilters in your cone filter then dump each one into the next. Then rinse out your prefilters with not water and air dry for the next batch.

[tbear]

Thanks for all the input! I will start using multi prefilters (3-4) inside my felt filter. I'm glad it wasn't something I caused (getting kinda tired of that!). Since this hasn't happened in the past might it stop in the future?

[maple dayes]

A damp filter will work better than a dry filter. We use to soak them in the flue pan then hang up to dry for bit before filtering, this also is a good way to clean your filters.