Any tips for lighter syrup?

[justlookingon]

Hello all, we're using a 2x4 Mason flat pan and boiling off about 11-12 gph. Our sap has really run well for the past couple of days-still got over 3' of snow in the woods here. We're picking up sap from a pipeline with about 40 taps on it as well as 75 cans/sap bags. It's still early in the season and our sap is crystal clear. We filter before we put sap into the evaporator and then filter the syrup with a wool filter before bottling.

That being said, we've never produced any "Light" syrup and only rarely produce "Medium". We pulled off just over 2 gallons of syrup today and it's all "Dark" amber according to the grading kit. Any tips for getting lighter colored batches? Thanks for any tips you may have!

[Clinkis]

Some of the things you can do to keep your syrup light....
1. Keep your sap cold and boil ASAP as this will minimize microbio growth
2. Keep all sap collecting and storing equipment santized for same reason
3. If you batch boil do as small of batches as possible. The longer sap cooks the darker it can get
4. Avoiding starting and stopping boils. Heating and cooling too much can cause darker syrup

That said, some sap will give you dark syrup regardless of what you do.

[bowtie]

I have made about 22 gallons so far this year and it has been mostly dark amber and today I started making b grade. From what I have been told this year has been a dark year. I have made light med,and dark in the past but for whatever reason nothing but dark And b this year it all tastes great. My gathering tanks are getting nasty but the sap is clear. Like others have said sometimes all you will make is dark.
I have a mason 2x4 with smoky lake hybrid pan and have found it harder to make draws on this pan compared to the flat pan from mason. Try making small draws, sometimes ounces into a draw off pail and then finish it on a finisher, this keeps the sap/syrup from boiling to long in the pan.

[Germanmaples]

I have 1100 taps and my sugar content is very low maybe 1. All my syrup for the year has been dark amber no matter how quick or how fast I put it through me 2-6 x 10 evaporator. It is just like 2 years ago. Nothing seems to help lighten it up with the low sugar. Have you checked your sugar content? Waiting for today and maybe tomorrow and then washing up. Good luck.

[maplematt]

We are tapping trees at my brother in laws this year, mostly silver maples...all of our syrup from the silvers is very light, nearly clear.
I have been reading and i guess thats fairly characteristic of silver maples. You could try adding silver maple sap, if you have any to tap, although the flavor is much lighter also.

[happy thoughts]

You could also try a bubbler which is supposed to make lighter syrup with less niter.

[trevor]

this year the syrup seams to be darker for everyone, that being said, I talked with a guy today and his sons' friend did his college theasus (wrong spelling) on maple syrup. He said the darkness comes from the soil. Basically, wet/swampy areas are darker and high and dry areas are lighter, obviously depending on the actual composition of the soil.

[highlandcattle]

This year ours is all dark. Great taste but dark. We have cold woods. Done for today. Will filter and pack 5 gallons tomorrow for orders.

[Labwalker]

Just finished third 35 gal sap batch this year. First batch was like used motor oil. Second batch came out like coffee. Today's batch like tea. Tried faster and slower boils but does not seem to make a difference. Been doing this for 20+years and only had one batch like these back in 2010 near the end of the season. I boil in a stainless steel tub starting with 20 gallons in the tub and adding 15 more as it boils down.9599

[stoweski]

Any tips for getting lighter colored batches? Thanks for any tips you may have!

Yep. Bring all of your dark down to my place. I'll trade for all the light syrup you want. Boiled last night, the latest I've ever boiled, and pulled off medium. A very light medium. I thought for sure it was dark or extra dark. I need my high test syrup before the season is over!

[killingworthmaple]

I had all light syrup this year I was waiting for it to change and it never did finished the season and still amber color. That is not normal for me but this year was really cold and there were no warm 60+ days to speak of.

[MapleMoonChaos]

I only boil on weekends so sometimes the sap sits in the buckets a while, but my first batch was medium, my next two batches were light and my last batch was grade B.

[justlookingon]

Well, an odd year to say the least...but aren't a lot of them? Thanks for all of the input and reminders on this issue. We made all Dark Amber with one batch of "B". Probably going to miss out on 2-3 sap runs this week, but we're tired of breaking through knee-deep, rotten snow to fetch buckets so we started pulling them today. Some of the sap was getting a little cloudy anyway so time to finish up and clean up everything. Thanks again!