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cjf12
10-22-2015, 08:21 PM
We were told you could store syrup in bulk till you were ready to can or bottle it later. Being busy with baby and other kiddos we bottled what we needed as we got it boiled down but left 20 gal in five gal. buckets till we knew what we needed to bottle it in size wise. My wife skimmed the top as we were told to do (about 4 months ago) and then heated up to pasteurize just the amount she wanted at the time and left 3 gal in the bucket. I just went down to finish bottleing it and some other and the mold was so thick on the partial bucket it came off in one big piece and had green on it. Complete different critter than before or the other buckets now. It also has an off smell. So question is, I thought Maple Syrup didn't spoil. Is this method bad news or did we do something wrong?
highlandcattle
10-23-2015, 07:09 AM
Well here's my 2 cents. Buckets? We use 5 gallon food grade blue jugs. Just as you would with canning. You can't open and close those buckets without introducing bacteria and yeast and molds that are in the air. Then leaving a partial bucket. Recipe for disaster. Syrup is sugar and makes a great medium for growth of all sorts of organisms.
OldManMaple
10-23-2015, 07:51 AM
No mater what size or type of container you have, if you refrigerate after opening it prolongs shelf life. I use buckets with spout lids and usually have one open for making sugar and syurp for our house. I have had no problem with mold but I have not gone 4 months. That is pushing it. After it's opened I store it back in the cooler. In your instance heating the entire amount and storing the unused syrup hot packed in a container that is the right size so you can fill it to the top, maybe a 3 gallon jug or 3, 1 gallon jugs, to be canned later.
RC Maple
10-23-2015, 08:33 AM
Try keeping an amount like that in the freezer. For our use, I keep a five gal bucket in the freezer that I refill a quart jar from as we need syrup throughout the year. It doesn't pour too fast and you may have to let it warm a little to pour it easily, but it will keep very well in the freezer.