Black Syrup?

[WV Caver]

Ok, this is my 3rd year sugaring and I only tap around 10 trees. I mainly do it for my 8 y.o. daughter, with a fix for winter boredom coming in a close 2nd. Anyhow, I ran my first batch yesterday (3/2) and it finished black. So black that I can't see through it when held to a light, so black that when I took it out of my car, the oil light came on! (I'm here all week:lol:) Sorry for the terrible joke. My questions are: Isn't it early in the season for black syrup? Did I do something wrong? I'm sure it's all good, just wanted to ask folks with more experience than me.

[ferngully]

can be caused from holding sap to long befor boiling it
Ok, this is my 3rd year sugaring and I only tap around 10 trees. I mainly do it for my 8 y.o. daughter, with a fix for winter boredom coming in a close 2nd. Anyhow, I ran my first batch yesterday (3/2) and it finished black. So black that I can't see through it when held to a light, so black that when I took it out of my car, the oil light came on! (I'm here all week:lol:) Sorry for the terrible joke. My questions are: Isn't it early in the season for black syrup? Did I do something wrong? I'm sure it's all good, just wanted to ask folks with more experience than me.

[sweetmoomoo]

i have gotten real dark syrup on my last two boils, i use a barrel arch with suken in steam pans the longer i boil the more of a scorch line i get and the syrup gets realy dark . i think its from the burnt syrup on the sides of the pan. this is only my first year so maybe someone else has a better idea.

[Troutman10]

I was actually just wondering the same thing. Came in to bottle after making a gallon and noticed that as well. My pans were lined with a thick black burn mark on the sides. I'm guessing that's why it's so dark. Used my hydrometer for the first time today. Learned a few new things. Anyways...I'm looking for the answer too.

[SevenCreeksSap]

If you're in the deep south (WVa) your season on your trees could be getting closer to ending. at least maybe its been the right weather long enough that there is plenty of bacteria in the tree and your taps that its causing it. Is your sap cloudy? Do you store it in a tank or bucket for long? mine gets cloudy and the syrup gets darker if I don't keep the head tank clean. the bacteria stays in there and multiplies. Just my guess.

[Troutman10]

Eventhough I'm not in WVa I'm still trying to think of more reasons why mine was so dark. It was very clear sap upon collecting and during storage. I only stored it for 2-3 days in freezing temps. This thread also makes me wonder what happens if you cook the sap past syrup. Will that make it darker than normal? The batch I just made was really dark and when I used my hydrometer for the first time I noticed I was waaaay off. The hydrometer was so high it was on the 60 degree mark instead of being lower for the hot test. Just my 2 cents. That's it for now.

[pa farmer]

I boil my sap in black butcher kettles. You want to talk of dark syrup but it has a heavy maple flavor and the people that buy it say it's yhe best they ever tasted. You can't see through by either but everybody loves it and you can't beat the people that wait every year to get it. It takes me longer to get four gallons and a lot of wood but that's the way me greatgrand father, grandfather, and father did it and they sold many gallons and I just picked up the tradition. If it tastes good why worry about it

[Cole Handschke]

Im 15 but ive been around maple trees all my life. Our Dark batches are due to the sap getting infected. If you dont clean your tanks out between every use of it then the bacteria just builds up more and more as the season goes on, therefore every time we store sap for an amount of trees (2 days or more before cooking) we just swish a little hot water and bleach or achol in it and then spray it down quick. We have tried many things and this seems to work the best. None of the batches have been dark since we started doing this. (except for one because it burnt, yes it is possible to over cook syrup/sap)

2010: 2 trees
2011: 27 trees
2012: 156 trees
2013: 500-600 trees

[Galena]

I'm new to this too and have a pretty simple hobbyist setup. Normally I get black syrup only at the end of my run, and it's so dense it looks and acts and even has a slight molassesy taste. But it definitely has its fans, even if it does weigh a ton when I ship it cause it's so dense.

[emo]

My first 2 years I boiled in cast iron dutch ovens over open fire. Both years the syrup looked like used motor oil, could not see through the pint jars, but tasted ok. Went to stainless pans after that with a block arch, now making dark amber syrup. I guessed that the black was a combination of the cast iron and the embers the fire kicked up and landed back in the dutch ovens; I would find a lot of embers remains when I tried to filter the syrup. Could have also been the sap starting to get a little funky as the boil rates with the dutch ovens was really low, 1/2 gal/hr at best. Takes a long time to make 5 quarts at that rate.

[WV Caver]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm going to have to say that there is a good possibility that it was a scorch line that caused it to be dark. The sap was clear as a bell, but I had stored it for about 3 days, which I've never done before. The syrup tastes great, with a strong maple flavor. I always clean my storage jugs ( 5 gal. water bottles ) so that shouldn't be an issue. Should be running more real soon so I guess I'll see what happens. On another note, a friend at work said that his last batch was so dark it looked like molasses, so maybe it's not just me.