Heating small quantities to pack.

[maple flats]

I was getting an order ready to ship and had already sent the invoice when I discovered I had no qts. packed in Amber. Has anyone ever heated just a qt. or 2 in a double boiler (syrup in inner pan with cover on it), brought the product up to 182-185 and packed it from there. Will this change the the density or grade enough to worry about, the source for the syrup is Amber, at the light side of the scale and the density was perfect according to my Murphy Cup.
I want to ship this tomorrow but can't get time to pack more until Monday.
Have any of you ever tried this?

[ennismaple]

We re-heat syrup in a pot on the stove all the time. As long as you don't let it simmer for too long and don't let it get past 180 it should have minimal effect on the density or colour.

[BreezyHill]

Heck I remember doin that as kid in the early 1970's. "Watch the temp and shut it down at 180, son"

Fun times!

[maple flats]

That is what I thought and hoped. I sure hope it's right. Right now I have a pot with water in it, then a colander in that and the jug of syrup in that. The jug is in all except about 2" from the top of the syrup. I then have a thermometer in the jug. I sure hope this works because I'd rather by far, open another barrel to bottle on Monday or better Tuesday, not before. I'll report how it goes.
This is taking more work and effort than I do for a full canner batch (up to 18 gal), but I have other commitments until then.

[maple flats]

It worked just fine. However I wouldn't want to do large batches that way. I heated the syrup in the jug until it was at 185, took it out of the boiling water and put the cap on. To account for expansion I left the level down about 1/2" below normal full, then at 175 I added a 1/4", and at 180 I filled it to the normal fill line. Then at 185 I capped it. I did a second one, without the topping off and tomorrow early morning I'll test the density. I doubt it is off but I'll test it any ways.
That was the most time I ever spent putting one qt. (x2) up, but it served the purpose. I'll post later tomorrow on any density change for your reference (and mine).

[ronintank]

I did some single pints in the microwave. Took about 3 min to heat to a quick boil and put the top on.