Red maple and viscosity

[eastcoasttapper]

My syrup, even when finished at a higher temperature than recommended, does not get as "thick" as purchased maple syrup. Is there anything I can do to improve the viscosity of red maple syrup?

[maple maniac65]

Check your hydrometer there is no difference in viscosity of finished syrup from a maple tree

[Sugarmaker]

Purchased syrup is made with corn syrup and will probably always be thicker than real maple syrup. Your real maple syrup that is boiled to a higher temp will have slightly more thickness but will also have the tendency to crystallize in the container. You should shoot for 67 brix for your finished syrup density.
Folks that have never had real syrup will recognize the thickness difference. Its your job to inform and educate them on the benefits of the real thing!
Regards,
Chris

[jimsudz]

Place your syrup in the freezer. This will change the viscosity . Until it warms up to ambient temp. Just joking. Sugarmaker is correct. Always take your syrup up to 67 brix , don't go by temp, reds and sugars. Your job is to educate the consumer. Yes real maple syrup is thinner than artificial syrup,but yes it taste better, it's has no added chemicals, and it's MUCH better for you.

[eastcoasttapper]

Sorry, I meant purchased "real" pure maple syrup, not A.J or the like. I will rely more on the hydrometer this year than temp I guess. I appreciate the info :)

[DrTimPerkins]

"Table" syrup generally has a much higher viscosity than maple syrup due to the addition of thickeners (cellulose gum). If you brought maple syrup (predominantly sucrose) up to the density required to be that viscous, it would crystallize very rapidly. Glucose based syrups (corn syrup) don't crystallize as much at high density.

As far as getting the proper density, temperature elevation will get you in the ballpark, but because the relationship between density and temperature is very steep at the temperatures involved (meaning that small changes in syrup density result in fairly large changes in temperature elevation), getting it just right is often problematic. In addition, elevation and barometric pressure can change the temperature considerably. The end result is that relying on temperature elevation alone is insufficient to achieve proper density, and you can easily end up with syrup that is light or heavy. A hydrometer or refractometer, although subject to errors of their own, allows far better precision.

[Sugarmaker]

Ok so now we are back to just real syrup not AJ's. So you need to make sure you have a accurate hydrometer. They can be wrong.
Also the temp at which syrup is finished can vary across the country and across the street. Calibrate your thermometer in boiling water. Record the temp. Hopefully you are using a thermometer reading in tenths of a degree? Once you know the temp that water boils then you can add 7.1 degrees to that and you should be real close to syrup.
Around here water boils at about 210 so we make a lot of syrup at 216 to 217 on the auto-draw off.
If you have some of the purchased syrup have someone test it with a refractometer (you only need a small amount). Then check yours too.
Let us know what you find out.
My guess is that yours may not be quite up to 67 brix. We can detect the difference with our tongues and the heavier syrup typically tastes better to most folks.
Regards,
Chris