SeanD
04-11-2015, 05:58 PM
After ten years of sugaring, I got hit with ropey sap in my pan. I lost about two gallons of syrup and about 20-30 gallons of sweet from the back pan. I still haven't figured out where the contamination happened which has me most upset because I want to root it out.
The first time I noticed it, I was able to skim out most of the glops and get a decent boil in with no affect on the syrup. The second time, less than 48 hours later I had to dump and rinse the whole back pan. It was a total mess.
After that I got through three separate boils and about 600 gallons of sap with no issues.
Then after I pulled off the sweet from the back pan to finish off at the end of the season, it went ropey in my buckets in a few days.
This all happened during a period where I was boiling every other day or every day. The sap going in was fresh and clean and my tanks and barrels looked and smelled ok.
So, I have two theories about its source:
1) Once it was in the pan, it never left. I was probably keeping it at bay with my boil schedule. When I dumped and rinsed the back pan, those little critters were still in there and just waited for the next lull to get going again.
2) I never quite emptied my collection tank before new sap would come in. Even though the tank looked okay, I think a residual amount of critters could have been in there and just waiting for their trip to the warm bath in the pan.
So moving forward, I'll try a second collection tank to take the new sap when I fall behind. That's an easy fix.
The bigger problem I have is I don't know how to sanitize or disinfect the pan quickly. Clearly boiling doesn't do it. So, what's the most effective way to kill everything in my pan and do it quickly enough that sap doesn't have to sit and compound the issue further?
Thanks in advance,
Sean
The first time I noticed it, I was able to skim out most of the glops and get a decent boil in with no affect on the syrup. The second time, less than 48 hours later I had to dump and rinse the whole back pan. It was a total mess.
After that I got through three separate boils and about 600 gallons of sap with no issues.
Then after I pulled off the sweet from the back pan to finish off at the end of the season, it went ropey in my buckets in a few days.
This all happened during a period where I was boiling every other day or every day. The sap going in was fresh and clean and my tanks and barrels looked and smelled ok.
So, I have two theories about its source:
1) Once it was in the pan, it never left. I was probably keeping it at bay with my boil schedule. When I dumped and rinsed the back pan, those little critters were still in there and just waited for the next lull to get going again.
2) I never quite emptied my collection tank before new sap would come in. Even though the tank looked okay, I think a residual amount of critters could have been in there and just waiting for their trip to the warm bath in the pan.
So moving forward, I'll try a second collection tank to take the new sap when I fall behind. That's an easy fix.
The bigger problem I have is I don't know how to sanitize or disinfect the pan quickly. Clearly boiling doesn't do it. So, what's the most effective way to kill everything in my pan and do it quickly enough that sap doesn't have to sit and compound the issue further?
Thanks in advance,
Sean