Sugar crystals at 66 brix?

[Run Forest Run!]

Last night I bottled my most current batch. I borrowed a friend's hydrometer so that I'd know for sure when I had true syrup. (It was a very interesting process to be using one. I'll have to purchase one for next year's syrup.)

When the syrup got to 66 I bottled it and it looks like some small sugar crystals are already starting to appear. Not that many at the moment, but undoubtedly they will continue to form.

Is it normal for maple sugar crystals to form at 66 brix?

[Noseguard76]

I don't know about the crystals but yesterday was my second batch at 66 by a hydrometer. As I mentioned on another of your posts, the jelly bag (that I used for the first time) was loaded, REALLY loaded with niter.

[wnybassman]

At what temp did you have 66?

[Run Forest Run!]

It was around 224F. It seemed like a high temp, but I figured the hydrometer wouldn't steer me wrong.

[psparr]

Hydrometers are almost full proof but human error can play a big part in a false reading. If the hydrometer has a coating of syrup on it from the last reading, it will be heavier and sink lower giving you a false reading. Also niter will cling to it giving a false reading. Make sure it's really clean. Hope that helped.

[Run Forest Run!]

That is very helpful psparr. I tested the syrup at least a half dozen times before it registered 66 and I'm sure that each time a coating of syrup had dried on it. Is it your recommendation to rinse the hydrometer clean before each reading? Is is safe to assume that you would not find sugar crystals at 66 and that there was something else at play here, such as a syrup coated hydrometer?

[psparr]

That is very helpful psparr. I tested the syrup at least a half dozen times before it registered 66 and I'm sure that each time a coating of syrup had dried on it. Is it your recommendation to rinse the hydrometer clean before each reading? Is is safe to assume that you would not find sugar crystals at 66 and that there was something else at play here, such as a syrup coated hydrometer?

Bingo

Also when you get real close, be sure to lower the hydrometer in slowly and try to keep it from sinking then rising back up. Won't give a real bad reading but the little bit of syrup clinging to the hydrometer above where its floating will weigh it down.

[psparr]

One more. I your making it for yourself, blow on the hydrometer to cool it a bit then lick that sucker off. Don't want to waste any.

[grimmreaper]

You say you have crytals at 66 brix !thats unusual,you may have coating or inaccurate hydrometer,but I dout that.don't be offended but did you read the hydrometer at the top red line when it was at 224 or the bottom red line????could that be your problem? The top mark is your hot reading and the bottom is your cold test....if you have that syrup not bottled yet check it at a room temp to see what the reading is...

[Run Forest Run!]

One more. I your making it for yourself, blow on the hydrometer to cool it a bit then lick that sucker off. Don't want to waste any.

That's classic. :lol:


You say you have crytals at 66 brix !thats unusual,you may have coating or inaccurate hydrometer,but I dout that.don't be offended but did you read the hydrometer at the top red line when it was at 224 or the bottom red line????could that be your problem? The top mark is your hot reading and the bottom is your cold test....if you have that syrup not bottled yet check it at a room temp to see what the reading is...

I'm certainly not offended by the question. It's my first time using a hydrometer, so the "duh" factor is pretty high. There are three red lines on this hydrometer. One just above the 60ish mark, one just above 66ish and one at 67ish. I used the one just above 66. Was that the correct one? BTW, what's the line near 60 for??

[CBOYER]

66 brix is at 68°F... you need to be at 59 brix for hot syrup (212°f, time allowed to test) hot syrup is more "liquid".

[Run Forest Run!]

66 brix is at 68°F... you need to be at 59 brix for hot syrup (212°f, time allowed to test)

Do you mean that I should have pulled the syrup when it was at the red line just above 60???? If so, then I boiled the syrup way too long by leaving it until it read 66! Really?????

[grimmreaper]

You what to use the hot Mark.without seeing yours it should be the one on top ,the one around the 60 ish.it should say hot test.once again try to test it at room temp and it should read 66. I'd say you used the wrong Mark.any guess you are at 72-73 brix

[wnybassman]

Do you mean that I should have pulled the syrup when it was at the red line just above 60???? If so, then I boiled the syrup way too long by leaving it until it read 66! Really?????

Yeah, that was what my question was getting at. My hot test line is 59 brix at 211º, and cold test 66 brix at 60º

[grimmreaper]

You are going to be making rock candy...ummm ..yummy ..

[CBOYER]

Do you mean that I should have pulled the syrup when it was at the red line just above 60???? If so, then I boiled the syrup way too long by leaving it until it read 66! Really?????

Yep!! now you know that it is not too long to boil syrup at the good density ...:lol:

[Run Forest Run!]

Well, on the newbie scale of 1-10 I feel like a 12! :lol: Boy I am such a dope! I thought you just boiled and boiled until the hot sap registered 66. So to be clear I'm supposed to pull the syrup off the heat when the hot sap reached the 59 brix mark. Geez.

So....what should I do now? Should I empty my bottles and thin down my 'driveway seal' with fresh sap and reheat it? If so, do I need to bring the syrup back up to a boil to sterilize the fresh sap or just to around 185 for a proper rebottling temperature?

Thanks so much everyone for pointing out what I did wrong. You've saved future batches.

[psparr]

You can thin it out with sap or water. There are charts online that show temp to brix scale. Thin it at room temp and check it. Then heat to bottling temp and your good.

Imagine where all us newbs would be without this site.

[Zamkev]

Karen - if you are considering buying a hydrometer next yr, you might consider a hydrotherm. This is what I use and it is very easy - one red mark, and you can't go wrong. It's a little more expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

http://atkinsonmaple.com/catalogue/equipment/testing/instruments

[Run Forest Run!]

There are charts online that show temp to brix scale.

Psparr, as a newbie glowing in newbiness tonight can I ask what a 'temp to brix scale' is and if I am in need of knowing how to read one to fix my mess? :confused:

[Run Forest Run!]

Karen - if you are considering buying a hydrometer next yr, you might consider a hydrotherm. This is what I use and it is very easy - one red mark, and you can't go wrong. It's a little more expensive, but worth it in my opinion.

http://atkinsonmaple.com/catalogue/equipment/testing/instruments

Zamkev, thank-you very much for that suggestion and the link. Atkinson's isn't too far from me and you can be sure that there'll be a shopping trip in my future so that I'm prepared for next year. That hydrotherm looks blonde-proof.

[Asthepotthickens]

Last night I bottled my most current batch. I borrowed a friend's hydrometer so that I'd know for sure when I had true syrup. (It was a very interesting process to be using one. I'll have to purchase one for next year's syrup.)

When the syrup got to 66 I bottled it and it looks like some small sugar crystals are already starting to appear. Not that many at the moment, but undoubtedly they will continue to form.

Is it normal for maple sugar crystals to form at 66 brix?

Please do me a favor, freeze one jar. See if it freezes like I e cream. My syrup at 67 did not crystallize but it froze like hard ice cream. Thank you Karen

[Run Forest Run!]

Asthepotthickens, how funny, you know I was thinking about your thread and wondering the same thing even before you asked me to freeze one. I'll do it tonight and let you know in the morning what has happened to it! I'm always up for an experiment to aid in the betterment of mankind, I mean, maplekind.

[psparr]

7731
Here's a bad picture I had saved on my phone. Shows what brix should be at any given temp.

[psparr]

7732heres one for baume.

[Big_Eddy]

http://en.cdlinc.ca/how-to.aspx

Some good directions available from CDL.

[Asthepotthickens]

Asthepotthickens, how funny, you know I was thinking about your thread and wondering the same thing even before you asked me to freeze one. I'll do it tonight and let you know in the morning what has happened to it! I'm always up for an experiment to aid in the betterment of mankind, I mean, maplekind.

Great minds think alike thank you

[Run Forest Run!]

For anyone interested in the result of my experiment, my uber-brixed syrup that was put into the freezer overnight is now the consistency of molasses that had been put into the fridge.

[wnybassman]

You just invented the pancake/waffle spread. :D

[Run Forest Run!]

Patent pending. :lol:

[acerrubrum]

Boy, another helpful thread! I just realized I didn't know that I didn't know how to use my syrup hydrometer. I always aimed to get the syrup between the two red lines! After reading this thread, I actually read all the print inside the hydrometer. And sure enough, it says at 60 brix for hot test (211 degrees) and 66-67 brix cold test (60 degrees). Usually for me, 60-61 brix is when boiling is 221.
Thanks.
Pat.

[Run Forest Run!]

I'm pleased to see I'm not the only one who made this mistake.

This was a classic good news bad news problem. The bad news was I over-boiled the batch, but the good news is when I thin it down and make it the proper brix I'll end up with MORE syrup than I originally had.

[bearair]

I always had the thought in the back of my mind that the hydrometer is only accurate at 211 degrees or Hot or 60 for cold. So at any other temp the accuracy is off. So I made a simple sugar solution where I dissolved 4 cups if sugar into 2 cups of water. Heat slowly to dissolve the sugar. Do not boil off any water!
Now I can test the denisity at any temp just by matching the tempature of the simple syrup with the temp if the maple syrup.
I also bought a refractometer on Amazon, price varies but a good one can be found for under $30. You just put a drop of syrup on the instrument and look where the blue line is fir the brix. I don't have to worry about breaking the hydrometer. And it's quick. I also calibrate it with the simple sugar mix.

[jnmartin]

Maybe I'm being a little dense, but how will matching the temperature of the sugar solution help you measure the Brix of your sap/syrup? Even with your refractometer, unless it has auto temperature correction, you're still going to need to apply a manual temperature correction unless its at the calibrated temperature, aren't ya?

It just seems to me to be a complicated method for a relatively simple measurement process.

[happy thoughts]

Maybe I'm being a little dense, but how will matching the temperature of the sugar solution help you measure the Brix of your sap/syrup? Even with your refractometer, unless it has auto temperature correction, you're still going to need to apply a manual temperature correction unless its at the calibrated temperature, aren't ya?

It just seems to me to be a complicated method for a relatively simple measurement process.

Thinking the same thing. also as it took a few of us a bit to figure out in another thread, your test solution, bearair, is probably not at standard density since you measured volume not the precise weight of the sugar and water used in your solution.

[bearair]

66% sugar is what we are after. Thus we are looking at how dense the solution is at certain temps. Thus when the temp of the syrup and my mix is equal the hydrometer would float at the same height. Who cares where the red line.
As for the correct mix 1/3 water to 2/3 sugar. I suppose weight would be a better way to measure it but I didn't have a scale to measure things.

[jnmartin]

66% sugar is what we are after. Thus we are looking at how dense the solution is at certain temps. Thus when the temp of the syrup and my mix is equal the hydrometer would float at the same height. Who cares where the red line.
As for the correct mix 1/3 water to 2/3 sugar. I suppose weight would be a better way to measure it but I didn't have a scale to measure things.

I realize I'm probably not going to convince you with a simple post but I have to mention it anyway. Firstly, making your sugar solution by weight is the only way to make it. Well not the only way, but certainly the simplest and most likely to be somewhat accurate way. The % is percent by weight and not volume. Like I said, there is a way to go through the back door and get close...but why?

Secondly, every time you heat your comparative solution you're going to lose some amount of water through evaporation if not by steam thereby making your sugar solution denser and denser. All in all, the way you suggest doing it is at best a much more complicated and more subject to error way of measuring your syrup's density.

There's nothing mystical about using a hydrometer to measure the density of your syrup at almost any temperature and getting a reasonably accurate measurment. You just need to use a temperature correction chart and apply the correction to the observed reading. It's just that simple and straightforward.

You can certainly do it anyway you see fit but in good conscience, I can't help feeling like I need to point out a better, more accurate, and correct way to do it if for no other reason than to avoid having those new to using a hydrometer misled.

[NW Ohio]

I think a 4 cups of sugar to 2 cups of water solution will give you a 61.9 brix solution.

The nutritional label of my bag of sucrose says a serving is 1 tsp (4 g). There are 48 tsp in a cup, so a cup of sugar should be about 192 g. Although the "granularity" of your sugar could make a difference. The mass of a cup of water is about 236.6 g.

(4 c x 192 g/c) / (4 c x 192 g/c + 2 c x 236.6 g/c) = .6187 ...about 61.9 brix. (As I found, thanks to the help of some of you, you have to do this by "weight" to get an accurate solution.)

I keep a brix / temp compensation chart handy and compare when bottling:
1) fill my hydro. cup
2) drop in a thermometer and wait for the temp to stabilize
3) find that temp. on the chart to see what brix I need to be at to have syrup
4) lower in the hydrometer to see where I am actually at.
The chart I made ranges from below 60 F to above 220 F, that way I can check brix at any temp in between.

I can't believe there isn't an app for the iphones where you could plug in the temp and it would return the brix range at which you would have syrup.

[buck3m]

Are you sure it's sugar crystals and not nitre?