Rookie mistake and a question to fix it...

[JP Quality Maple Syrup]

I was a bit hasty with my first couple of batches with the new evaporator so I waited until the right temp and took it off. I noticed it is a bit watery but not bad and a nice clear amber colour or color.....and it tastes fine. It did thicken up some but when I hold it up to the light I notice that it looks like there may still be moisture in it as you can see it mixing around in the bottle. Like mixing salt an fresh water. The last batches are perfect no I got the hang of it but here is the question. The first batches were a couple of days ago and have been left out in the cold. Can I reboil it and take some of the moisture out of it in my turkey roaster? Thanks in advance, Jack

[Run Forest Run!]

Absolutely you can Jack. That's a perfect solution. You can also put it in some pots on the stove and keep it on a slow simmer if that works better for you.

[Ausable]

Sure Jack - Just like Karen said - Good Advice. I will add - I made a lot of thin - light syrup for many years - Relying on a candy thermometer and the ladder test on a spoon. Some folks can make great maple syrup this way - I can't... When I bought my first maple syrup hydrometer and made a test cup - My maple syrup making improved greatly and it took all the guess work out of it. Soooooo! If You plan to keep making maple - I would invest in one - money well spent.

[billdean]

I think I am learning a lesson here myself. My syrup is a light amber color and it tasted great. I used a digital thermometer and figured out what the boiling point of water was in my area and then added 7.1 degrees. I boiled my syrup up to 218 degrees and then filtered it. All was good. So I thought. I had so much syrup I decide to freeze it to keep it good. When I opened up the freezer tonight all my syrup was frozen solid in layers. A layer of white ice and a layer of syrup. I didn't think it was suppose to freeze. I guess I will have to reboil it to maybe 220 degrees or get a hydrometer. The hydrometer at my supply house is just numbered 1 though 10 I believe. I just don't no how to use that kind of hydrometer so I did not buy it. Now I wished I had and learned how to use it. Darn Rookie!

[Ausable]

Bill - Don't be so hard on Yourself - It is all part of learning. I made a lot of mistakes and still do. I would always get nervous and pull it off too early - as the very first batch I made ended up with super hard maple sugar on the bottom of the jars - Syrup was good though. My syrup hydrometers are in the Shack - so I can't check the scales. They do have a hot syrup line and a cold syrup line along with the scale on them. You might be looking at a wine makers hydrometer which is scaled for the percent of sugar in solution. It is scaled between a sap hydrometer and a syrup hydrometer. Ice forming on the top of Your syrup in the freezer would indicate it is on the thin side. The Syrup under the ice is probably close to being - right on.

[MISugarDaddy]

Bill, as Ausable said, you are probably not looking at a syrup hydrometer, but rather a sap hydrometer. As Ausable also said, the syrup hydrometer will have a hot syrup line and a cold syrup line on the scale for determining the sugar level of your syrup.
Gary

[epd0407]

Make sure when you get your hydrometer you use it along with your thermometer and take into account tempreture along with sugar level. Download the conversion chart and keep it handy. The hot line is only good for 211 deg. The higher temp it is the lower on the scalene you need to be.

[billdean]

I went back to my supply house and they had both hydrometer, syrup and sap. They had been out of the syrup hydrometer. I bought one. I reboiled my syrup to 219.5 degrees checking it all the way with my newly acquired syrup hydrometer. Finally the red line appeared. It was hard checking the syrup precisely at 211 degrees. My syrup had been on the thin side but now perfection, or so I am thinking. It surely seems more like syrup now. Thanks everyone

[billdean]

Make sure when you get your hydrometer you use it along with your thermometer and take into account tempreture along with sugar level. Download the conversion chart and keep it handy. The hot line is only good for 211 deg. The higher temp it is the lower on the scalene you need to be.

Where would I find the conversion chart you are referring too?

[Tom59]

Try this link. This brings up another question.You boil to 219 or 220, yet all the hydrometer charts and hot test line only go to either 209 or 211. Supposed to test right off the pan so question. What is the correct brix reading for say 217 to 219 degrees? Bill. hope i didnt confuse you more, and not trying to hijack your thread, just trying to help and learn. Tom


http://www.leaderevaporator.com/pdf_files/syrup-hydrometer.pdf

[mellondome]

Once you take the syrup off the heat, it will cool very very rapidly to under 212. Only way to need to read it at 219 is if you put the hydrometer in the actual boil... but then it would be off due to the boil.

[Michael Greer]

We had the opposite problem...crystals in the bottom of the bottles...sometimes BIG crystals, like the size of a golf ball. I figured there was something wrong with our process, and decided to finish and re-test in a pot on the stove. Now my syrup is exactly right every time. The hydrometer is probably saving me a couple gallons per year.

[billdean]

Try this link. This brings up another question.You boil to 219 or 220, yet all the hydrometer charts and hot test line only go to either 209 or 211. Supposed to test right off the pan so question. What is the correct brix reading for say 217 to 219 degrees? Bill. hope i didnt confuse you more, and not trying to hijack your thread, just trying to help and learn. Tom


http://www.leaderevaporator.com/pdf_files/syrup-hydrometer.pdf

Thank you for the chart. Yes I am a bit confused now. When I would take my sample I immediately put my thermometer in and put the hydrometer in when the temperature came down to 211. Even though the syrup was 219.5 degrees when I took my sample I would not test the sample until it came down to 211 degrees. I guess I don't no any other way to do it unless you only take your syrup up 211 degrees and finish it at that temp. I am not sure now if it is to heavy. I did freeze a couple of jars of it and this time there was no sign of water. It stayed the constancy of molasses and never froze. It is clear with no signs of any sediments in it. Please correct me if I have done something wrong.

[saphound]

You're doing it right..if you let it cool to 211, it should be right on the hot temp red line. Any other temp you have to use the conversion chart, or cool it to 60 and use the cold temp red line.