Filtering syrup

[SYRUP FREAK]

What is the best way to filter syrup for a very small operation. Last year i tried cheesecloth which didn't work and got a lot of sediment in the bottles. Please advise.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

8 quart cone filters and prefilters.

[psparr]

Let it settle for a couple days, then pour off the cleared syrup. No need to filter.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

This is what I'm doing now....i know we all get excited with the small operations and wanting to get our results into the bottles....but let it sit a few days and then pour it off and go from there.

[tcross]

a synthetic cone filter is around $25 in these parts! by far the easiest way to get clear syrup for a small producer!

[psparr]

Unless he's talking that small that when he pours it in the cone filter, it just soaks in and nothing comes out.

[tcross]

good point!

[Snappyssweets]

Alas I think I am a small producer (under 20 gallons of syrup)

I went to Gordons Foods and had them order me a box of 250 Large coffee filters.

I have pondered doing a video of what I have done and how I do things for others that might like to do things starting out.
Guess I should. I was new last year to this and I see we have a lot of new people this year. Might help someone out.

Hope this answers things. I will have to give it some thought and get to this idea though.

[NYMaple]

I agree here... We do somewhere between 8-15 gallons per year depending. I've been filtering with a wool cone and pre-filters, but I find that just letting the syrup sit in the fridge for a while and settle does an amazing job without losing any syrup and dealing with stuck filter, etc. I use will be using 5 gallon soda kegs, sanitized, for settling this year. The decant is crystal clear.


Let it settle for a couple days, then pour off the cleared syrup. No need to filter.

[Mini_Maple_Men]

We use a 5 gallon Brewers bucket that has a spigot 1/2 off the bottom, crystal clear and not tipping, dumping or siphoning needed except for the last pint or so.

[Cedar Eater]

I let mine settle, but I also filter the nearup through a fine mesh jelly bag before finishing down to syrup.

[CampHamp]

Filters can hold a lot of syrup like a sponge, especially the thick felt/synthetic ones. You should recycle all that goodness by soaking them in the next batch of boiling sap! Obviously, keep the filter top out of the sap to keep the niter/sediment in the filter.

If you are waiting a while for your next batch of sap, then be careful, that filter will mold up if left in the warmth. Put them in a ziplock in your freezer.

[Birdland Sugarbush]

When you say to let it settle and then pour off. Do you then reheat and bottle? I'd heard something about more niter when you go that route.


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[Run Forest Run!]

When you say to let it settle and then pour off. Do you then reheat and bottle? I'd heard something about more niter when you go that route.

You do reheat the clear syrup, but only to about 185 degrees. If you let the syrup heat to 190 or higher, new niter will form and you'll have to let it settle all over again.

[Jacob]

Karen I took your advice and letting syrup settle in bowl my question I have always put my glass containers in dishwasher before bottling is this step needed and I first I put the sap in my canning jars but I did not have enough lids so I just put it into a big ceramic bowl the only downside is I cannot see as if it were a glass container but I will just be careful to not stir up

[Run Forest Run!]

Jacob, I always use freshly washed and dried glass containers. I know some people use them straight out of the box when new, but I can't get past the haze that is always on new glass. I like to see them sparkle first. However, if I was one of the huge producers making hundreds of gallons a day that would be an impossible task. Since you are only making a few gallons, I'd encourage you to always wash them. It's not that big of a job.

Putting the syrup into a big ceramic bowl will do the trick, but keep your eye out for some large 1 quart or 2 quart canning jars. Something like that will be easier to work with in the future - and I know you'll be making syrup again next year!

[saphound]

I've been letting mine settle this year also. It works good, but when you go to pour off the clear, you have to stop before you get it all. So now I have a dozen pint jars and a 1 gallon jar with all the niter but also quite a bit of syrup still in there. What do y'all do with that? Try to filter it? Gonna take a lot of paper to do so.

[Cedar Eater]

I've been letting mine settle this year also. It works good, but when you go to pour off the clear, you have to stop before you get it all. So now I have a dozen pint jars and a 1 gallon jar with all the niter but also quite a bit of syrup still in there. What do y'all do with that? Try to filter it? Gonna take a lot of paper to do so.

If you still have fresh sap or if you don't mind adding water, you can dilute that niter laden syrup to the point where you can filter the bulk of the niter out by pouring the warm nearup through cloth. I use high thread-count muslin. Then you boil it back down to syrup.

[Run Forest Run!]

I've been letting mine settle this year also. It works good, but when you go to pour off the clear, you have to stop before you get it all. So now I have a dozen pint jars and a 1 gallon jar with all the niter but also quite a bit of syrup still in there. What do y'all do with that? Try to filter it? Gonna take a lot of paper to do so.

I pour all of the dregs into a smaller bottle (preferably a tall skinny one if you can find one) and the niter will do the same thing. It will fall to the bottom of that bottle leaving the syrup at the top. It will be easier to get to in the smaller container.

[saphound]

Hmm..I just happen to have a bunch of empty clear "boiling soda" bottles. Good ideas CE and Karen..I think I'll try Karen's first then CE's if there's still enough to worry about. Thanks.

[sluggish]

When you guys say you let it sit for a few days, where do you let it sit. Just on the kitchen counter at room temperature, or outside in the shack? When I make a batch it is usually in a large stock pot that will not fit into my fridge. Is it ok to leave it sitting on the counter for a couple days? If so, that is the route I will be going. Lately I've been bottling it, letting it sit, pouring it off without the niter, then re-bottling. Gets to be a pain and it costs me extra money by having to use twice as many caps.

The one time that I managed to put it into a blender container and let it sit in the fridge, my daughter ended up knocking the entire thing over in the fridge. That was not a pretty mess to clean up.

[Cedar Eater]

When you guys say you let it sit for a few days, where do you let it sit. Just on the kitchen counter at room temperature, or outside in the shack? When I make a batch it is usually in a large stock pot that will not fit into my fridge. Is it ok to leave it sitting on the counter for a couple days? If so, that is the route I will be going. Lately I've been bottling it, letting it sit, pouring it off without the niter, then re-bottling. Gets to be a pain and it costs me extra money by having to use twice as many caps.

The one time that I managed to put it into a blender container and let it sit in the fridge, my daughter ended up knocking the entire thing over in the fridge. That was not a pretty mess to clean up.

I use quart mason jars for the settling and I put them in the fridge. This might actually slow the settling, but I'm not in a hurry. You don't actually have to cap the jars. Just some cling wrap and a rubber band is enough.

[happy thoughts]

I use gallon glass jars I get from a local sandwich shop or sometimes smaller 2 gallon icing buckets I get from a bakery. I always refrigerate them. I would not let them sit anywhere warm where mold and yeast growth would be more likely.

[psparr]

You'll be fine to let it sit out. Probably best outside, but not necessary. For personal use, don't sweat it. You can even take bottled syrup that has mold in it, basically letting it sit, it just sat in a bottle. Skim that mold off, reheat it and bottle again.

[sluggish]

Thanks guys. Just found some 1 liter bottles with caps in the garage so I will fill those and let them sit in fridge.