Storing almost syrup ?

[smokeyamber]

I have limited ability to finish syrup this year I can get pretty close to finished on the arch and plan to get even closer still using a turkey fryer burner and big pots, but won't have enough control to get it exact. and would like to store almost syrup and finish later this spring.

Anyone do this and what do you store in ? I was thinking food grade buckets in the freezer that way I can store 5 gallons and then thaw out and finish later.

[Rangdale]

I did the same thing last year as I had limited ability to boil down large amounts. I would boil a few gallons down every night and then dump into a 5 gallon food safe bucket in the chest freezer. Did that until the bucket was full and then finished it off and got about a gallon.

[Big_Eddy]

I have a 20l stainless pot that sits in a large plastic bin with snow in it, or later in the season in the corner of my freezer. At the end of the day's boiling, I pour into the pot and collect until I have 3-4 gals worth, which I then bring back up to a boil, check for density and filter it all together. Wouldn't want to pour hot syrup into a plastic bucket, food safe or not, but the stainless pot works well.

I bottle in the house as I'm not set up to bottle in the sugar shack, so running the evaporator and filtering / bottling are separate activities for me.

[Rangdale]

Should have clarified, I let it cool outside before adding it into the freezer as I dont know what effect almost boiling liquid has on the container and also no sense in making the freezer work any harder than it needs to.

[steve J]

I have several large 12 & 16 qts Pots that I only use for syrup production. When things are running fast and furious I fill these pots with the almost syrup cover them and put in my basement which runs about 37 degrees this time of year. Than on a day when everything is frozen up or things start to slow down I filter and bring up to temp on a turkey frier burner until hydrometer reads syrup filter again and than bottle.

[SevenCreeksSap]

I do the same thing get as close as I can on the evap and finish on gas. store it after cooling in plastic food grade buckets. I've found if its really close to syrup it doesnt freeze solid, but is slushy crystals. easier to thaw and finish off and uses way less gas. I filter coming off the evap with coffee filters to get the first junk, then filter when finishing. Now I've started filtering with flat filters into a stock pot, and save that in a fridge until bottling, usually only a day or two between, but no burned fingers trying to filter and bottle at the same time.