Strange,"earthy" smell- ?????? HELP

[Mapleridge]

We ran about 100 gallons of our neighbor's sap in our drop flu this weekend to help him out, and the more we boiled the stronger an odd, musky, almost fishy smell was in the steam. We made 2 draw offs, the first seamed to taste ok, the next one the syrup had a awful taste. We tasted his sap before we ran, and it tasted fine, by the afternoon the sap was a little cloudy. We stopped, we poured out everything in our feeding tank and all in the 2x4 drop flu pan. We spen all day yesterday flushing everything out with fresh water. We have our fresh sap collected last night and the sap will run today. If we boiled bad sap, which we think is what smelled, is there more we should do before sugering the pan? Anyone ever have this happen? The sap was from very big sugar maples, could this be signs that the season is over ??? We need help this is only our second season sugaring, and last year was not much practice. Previous to this smell, in 3 weeks we have made 10 gallons of the best maple syrup I have ever tasted. What happened? Thanks

[mapleman3]

the question is how long did they hold the sap? was it warmer out, was it cloudy or milky looking?

[lew]

How old is the sap? If it has been held for very long in warmer temperatures, it can get that fishy smell and often times has an off flavor. Obviously smells are hard to describe, but when the sap gets "buddy", it takes on a "meaty" smell, and will have a terrible taste to most. I myself cannot taste buddy syrup, but I can smell it. Others can taste it and not smell it. The chosen ones can do both.

Usually a bad odor or flavor comes from bacterial growth (excluding manmade contaminations) of some form or another, or from the trees releasing (Iforget the proper terminology now) stuff in the sap when they begin to bud.

If you think your trees havn't begun to bud, flush your pans with lots of water and try again. Alot of learning in maple is in the school of hard knocks.

[sweetwoodmaple]

Find a low hanging branch and break the bud in half and look inside. Some rough guidlines that I follow (don't always hold true):

If it is dark green/brown and dry, you will be making lighter syrup.

If it is green, but still fairly dry, most likely you will be making darker syrup.

If it is very green and moist, the season is over or you have to wait until another deep freeze before collecting again. This sap will probably have an off flavor or buddy. Sometimes, you can still make commercial grade syrup.

Buds swelled and very green...well you know the rest.

[the old guy]

THIS HAPPENED TO US THIS YEAR. WE WERE COLLECTING SAP AND THE TEMP OUTSIDE WAS NEARLY 65. WE HAD COLLECTED ABOUT 50 GALLONS WHEN WE NOTICED A STRONG SOUR SMELL COMING FROM THE GATHERING TANK. FURTHER CHECKING FOUND SEVERAL OF THE BUCKETS WITH THE SAME SMELL. WE PULLED UP STAKES AND THE SEASON WAS OVER. THE SILVER MAPLES HAD THE RED BUDS SHOWING AND THE SUGARS ON THE FRINGES OF THE WOODS BEGAN TO SHOW ALSO.

THE OLD GUY

[royalmaple]

Message for the guru's...

Do you guys find that when the sap is going buddy, does the sugar content also drop way off, or could you still have sap in the 2.5-3.0 range but be buddy?

Same question for sap that is getting too much bacteria from not being boiled soon enough?

[Mapleridge]

We have been busy looking for answers, and thanks for these in puts. We think we have a combination of; 1. Neighbor stored sap in a closed drum for a couple days and went bad and pollutided our tank and pan , 2. We have reviewed our sap handeling and will make changes for cleaner sap.
We talked to Leader Evap. Co this AM : Bacteria causes stinky steam and syrup to have a terrible after taste, and End of the season tree sap will slowly change the smell of the steam, and the flavor and color of the syrup.( Thanks to Brad at Leader, he took the time and really helped.)
Our season is over...made some great syrup, learned a lot, and will be ready for next year.

[220 maple]

the tree is producing sap that has a different chemical make up. Why hasn't someone come up with a test to determine the amount or precentage of bud sap in the tank of sugarwater. I'm not a Chemist, I believe someone at the Proctor Maple Research Lab in Vermont could help.
With the high price of fuel it would be cheaper to dump it than make it and dump it.....
Wishfull Thinking Again!!!!!!

Mark 220 maple