unclear syrup

[smalltyme haliburton]

Made about 2gallons of syrup last week, but it came out slightly cloudy. It was filtered and bottled like I always do, but was cloudy so I heated it again, refiltered and brought back up to 85-90deg before rebottling. Thisis not niter or sugar sand, as it has been well filtered, and after a week none of the cloudiness has settled on the bottom of the jars. I originally had boiled it to 109'c as has been suggested here many times before . Could it be that by boiling the extra 2', that it makes the syrup thicker and less clear ( I haven't seen where other people boiling the extra 2' had a problem with cloudiness) Any suggestions as to where I went wrong would be greatly appreciated.

[happy thoughts]

Did you really boil to 109C or was that a typo? If that's what you did it's likely cooked way past density. In F that's about 228 degrees.

I'm not sure where you got 109C from but could you have confused the F and C scales? It should be at or near syrup slightly more than 7 *F above the boiling point of water (219-220F) or about 104*C. I'll assume your syrup is very thick. If so, that may be the reason your syrup is slow to settle out and clear.

[smalltyme haliburton]

Sorry, I'm getting my units mixed up . I meant 221'f, or 9'f above boiling point of water. The syrup is thicker, but not too thick.

[RollinsOrchards]

I had a batch last week that just looked wrong when bottled, somewhat murky and "cloudy" I took it to a friend with a refractometer and it only tested 46 brix, (instead of 66) even though the temperature hit 9 degrees (yes 9 degrees F) above the boiling point of water on that day. It was just wierd. The atmospheric pressure and humidity must have interfered with it.

[Asthepotthickens]

Did you filter it at a temperature higher than 200? If so that may be the issue, let it sit for a week it will clear up

[Randy Brutkoski]

Remember , the syrup will read different on the hydrometer when it is cold or cooler. this might be throwing you off.

[smalltyme haliburton]

I have filtered and bottled it twice now at about 190'f . its been about 2 weeks and its still cloudy , but there is no sediment on the bottoms of the jars. I'm not sure what has happened, but thinking I may have been over boiled. I didn't use a refractometer, just a thermometer. Thanks for the reponses

[220 maple]

RollinsOrchard,
Did the 46 brix syrup taste ok? Whenever we get syrup like that it is overloaded with bud sap and will not finish. Just a thought

Mark 220 Maple

[RollinsOrchards]

The 46 brix syrup tasted fine, that was a full week before the first buds appeared here. Thanks for the suggestion Mark.

We took that 46 brix stuff back out of the jars (two dozen half-pints of course) and cooked it some more. The barometric pressure was different and it finished normally.

Our neighboring syrup maker mentioned to us also that the "stalled" syrup might have finished better after filtering. I had not considered that before, but I guess it makes sense that removing impurities will increase evaporation rate, just like keeping the foam skimmed off. . . always something more to learn about this product.


smalltyme:
My mother won't use the hydrometer when finishing even though we have one. She prefers her candy thermometer. I don't think that overboiling will cause cloudiness based on my limited experience. I suggest the following course of action, perhaps with one jar to see what happens:

1) Bring the syrup back to a boil, and make sure that it boils at 220*F or higher to ensure that it is finished.
2) Filter using a NEW pre-filter paper in your cloth filter. Sometimes the fibers of the filter paper will separate and allow "cloudy" particles through
3) Heat the filtered syrup to 180*F, but not more than 185*F
4) Wash and heat your jars before filling.

[smalltyme haliburton]

I use the big heavy felt filter when bottling, it is 2 years old and has had several batches of syrup thru it, but I made perfectly clear syrup on the first try, just 3 days before, plus it was well rinsed out . I don't think its my filtering and bottling technique, but am starting to wonder if sap ( and all the warm weather ) might have something to do with it. I think I'll just live with it for this year ( like I said earlier, it doesn't look terrible, and still tastes great ) I would just like to know where I went wrong so I don't have the same problem next year.