Cloudy Sap

[Father & Son]

When can you tell when sap is no good? Collected 200 gallons Monday and put it in the bulk tank. Tuesday it was somewhat cloudy. Can it be still good and boiled today? When it goes bad is there a flavor or smell to indicate. Hate to dump it out. Was going to boil it tonight if there was no run today. Most everyone around here quit yesterday but my trees were still running clear.

Jim

[sweetwoodmaple]

Sample a little bit from the tank and boil it up in a pot. Smell the steam, if it smells a little woody or "green", they is it probably buddy.

Best thing to do for sure is boil a little bit all the way down to syrup (even if you only get a couple teaspoons when you are done).

I did this last night and determined that what i had was ok, but wasn't going to collect any more.

You can get away with more off flavor if you are going to sell commercial syrup, but I hate the smell so don't go for that late season sap.

[Father & Son]

Brian,
So cloudy isn't that bad of a thing as long as the flavor is ok? I collected and boiled yesterday and it was ok so the Monday stuff should be alright?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

1/3 of what I boiled down here this more was cloudy. It was hitting 50's and 60+ for 2 to 4 days nearly every week. You can make dark A or B with cloudy, boil it and don't dump it. :D

[markcasper]

You can boil it if it is anything other than stringy or jelly-like. If its that bad, get rid of it, its gone.