Concentrated sap color

[Jonnie Maple]

I did my first boil about 2 weeks ago and it was great, nice medium amber color when I finished.
I boiled on Sat and Tue and got 35 gallons down to 5. The color is a light amber at that point.
I boiled another batch today, 30 gallons down to about 3. and it is the color of black coffee.
Todays batch was from fresh sap that was collected on Tue.
I filtered it through a pre filter after boiling and got the usual crud out but the sap is still real dark (almost black).
Tue was the last good run of sap. the last 2 days it has slowed way down.

So my questions are:
Is this going to be a batch of dark syrup just because it is at the end of the season?
Should I finish it separately from the lighter batch or should I mix them together?
Or did I do something wrong and waste 12 hours of my life on this batch?

[happy thoughts]

Sap is usually much darker at the end of the season due to faster microbial growth in the taps and sap as the temps get warmer. To mix or not is up top you as long as the new batch tastes good.

[SPILEDRIVER]

sap/syrup color changes anytime during the season. you can make fancy one day, dark amber the next and medium the day after that and then go back to fancy.you never really no but generally it tends to darken as the season progresses. as for blending it that is a matter of preference,i myself prefer it dark because of the stronger flavor, the lighter makes better sugar/candy. take a cup of each batch and blend it together and see how it taste,if you like it blend it all if not keep them seperate

[Crushnbugs]

I had something very similar happen to me, 2 weeks ago I made a near perfect batch. Light in color, fantastic flavor taste and consistency was ideal. Yesterdays batch came out very very dark and the flavor is like a carmel flavor. don't know what i did...