Curious

[frjeff]

Boiled down my first four gallons of sap yesterday to a bit less than one gallon. In freezer awaiting more sap boil that I'll add it into.

Question: When does the evap. sap begin to turn amber in color. This first batch (tiny op here) is somewhat changed from the crystal clear sap, but no real brownish color very obvious.

Just wonder'in.

Jeff+

[Asthepotthickens]

You have to boil about 60% of the water out of the sap to see a golden colour, then you kept on boiling until the sugar boil hope this helps.

[Ausable]

Boiled down my first four gallons of sap yesterday to a bit less than one gallon. In freezer awaiting more sap boil that I'll add it into.

Question: When does the evap. sap begin to turn amber in color. This first batch (tiny op here) is somewhat changed from the crystal clear sap, but no real brownish color very obvious.

Just wonder'in.



Jeff+

Jeff - Asthepotthickens answered your question - But - it is a good one. If maple syrup is 66% sugar in solution and Your sap was say 3% when You started boiling - I would guess if I test it with my wine makers hydrometer - what You have now - would be about 12% sugar in solution so you have some more boiling to do. ----Mike-----

[Burnt sap]

Jeff sap here is at about 2.5% raw. So it's gonna take about 42 gallons of sap give or take some per one gallon of syrup. So color change takes place about a third of the way through.

[happy thoughts]

jeff- as others have said, you're a long way from syrup. The color will intensify the closer you get. But that said, some sap, especially the early stuff, can make syrup that is very light and will never be brownish. In VT they call this fancy grade and it's color is more light yellow or pale gold than brown.

Have a good season and have fun:)

post edit- Karen (Run Forest Run) Has a pic in her signature of some very beautiful fancy syrup just in case you want to see how light maple syrup can be. You can see it here http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?19011-sap-or-no-sap&p=213080#post213080 and elsewhere.

[Run Forest Run!]

post edit- Karen (Run Forest Run) Has a pic in her signature of some very beautiful fancy syrup just in case you want to see how light maple syrup can be.

Thanks for the compliment. :)