newbie syrup batch and processing questions w/pics

[870ExpressMag]

first off I am a newbie, I tap 10 trees in my yard on 2 acres in the country. Tapped em first first time in 2008, then again in 2010, and now 2016. In 2008 and 2010 i made about a gallon each year of some fine tasting syrup, sure it had sugar sand in the bottom and all that, but I was quite pleased at the product while being a rookie. Now this year I think the bug finally bit me hard and I am really getting in to figuring out the finer details and trying to make a better product. I have finished two batches so far this year. Tapped on Feb 17th, boiled 24.5 gallons down on the 20th and 21st, and then boiled 44 gallons down on the 27th and 28th. My process was nearly identical on both batches, however different things happened throughout each batch, and I was hoping some of you could help me figure out why some things happened the way they did.

Batch 1: 24.5 gallons of sap, unsure of sugar content, but guessing avg 2.0%
Filter sap through cheesecloth
Boil in kettles on propane turkey fryers
on saturday night i shut fryers down and allow to cool
filter through cheesecloth again and discard whatever settled to bottom of kettles during cooling
refrigerate until sunday morning and then boil again in kettles
Reduced down to about a gallon
filtered through cone filter (not sure the type of filter, was purchased at syrup shop) in to pot
it filtered out a lot of junk, probably a 1/2cup or so of stuff
i then put on the stove to finish it off
walked away to rinse my filter and boiled half the batch over the stove (MESS!)
after the unfortunate accident i was able to finish what was left, brought to density, checked with my hydrotherm
then canned it right out of the pot, no more filtering
I ended up with some nice clear syrup and almost no settlings on the bottom, even after losing half the batch i was excited that the final product turned out so nice for being a small rookie hobbyist. So i figured I would keep the process the same for the second batch.

Batch 2: 44 gallons of sap
Filter sap through cheesecloth
Boil in kettles on propane turkey fryers
on saturday night i shut fryers down and allow to cool
filter through cheesecloth again and discard whatever settled to bottom of kettles during cooling
refrigerate until sunday morning and then boil again in kettles
Reduced down to about 3 gallons
filtered through cone filter (not sure the type of filter, was purchased at syrup shop) in to pot
it didnt filter much out at all
i then put on the stove to finish it off
brought to density, checked with my hydrotherm
then canned it right out of the pot, no more filtering
syrup ended up lighter in color, but very cloudy and LOTS of sugar sand settlings in the bottom.

I plan on pouring the syrup off after sap season is over, bring up to temp and filtering and re-canning

But my question is, what made the difference? my first two thoughts are i boiled most of the sugar sand all over my stove? my second was that i brought the sap down closer to nearup on the first batch so when i did filter through the cone it caught more junk?


In the pictures, Batch 1 is on the right, Batch 2 is on the left.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give as many details as possible.
134561345713458

[psparr]

Both your assumptions may hold some weight. The other thing is sugar sand gets worse as the season progresses.
Thirdly when you reheat to finish, your creating more niter "sugar sand". Anything over 190 will cause niter. You should bring to syrup then filter.

[happy thoughts]

I don't know why your first batch came out better but as for your second batch even if you thoroughly filter your near syrup or syrup at density, reheating past 200F will cause more niter to form. So once you boiled your sap again it needed to be refiltered.

As for your cloudy syrup- If it's for your own use and you know you haven't used any equipment containing lead, the niter won't hurt you. I probably wouldn't go through the hassle of refiltering and rebottling. The niter will eventually settle out and it will be easy enough to pour off the good stuff onto your pancakes. Some people even like the niter because it's rich in minerals. We've laughed here in past years about niter laden syrup soldas health food on craig's list at premium prices. I think it's a little gritty but to each his own :)

[870ExpressMag]

Well I wouldn't bother with it except I want to try to get it figured out for the future, and I'm kind of a perfectionist so even though I will give some away to friends, I want it to look good.

So for future, I should be filtering after I get to density, then if I lost any temp while filtering, it just needs to be returned to minimum 180deg and max 190deg for bottling?

And on the current batch, I can leave it to settle until after the season, open the jars, pour off the cloudy syrup and re heat to 180-190 to re bottle correct? Will the cloudiness go away then to? Or can I warm it up and filter it, then warm it back up for bottling as long as I don't bring it over 190?

[richwilly]

Or do what I do pur it off as I use it just let it settle.

[psparr]

Yes 190 ish is the rule.

[happy thoughts]

Well I wouldn't bother with it except I want to try to get it figured out for the future, and I'm kind of a perfectionist so even though I will give some away to friends, I want it to look good.

So for future, I should be filtering after I get to density, then if I lost any temp while filtering, it just needs to be returned to minimum 180deg and max 190deg for bottling?

And on the current batch, I can leave it to settle until after the season, open the jars, pour off the cloudy syrup and re heat to 180-190 to re bottle correct? Will the cloudiness go away then to? Or can I warm it up and filter it, then warm it back up for bottling as long as I don't bring it over 190?

Yes, filter after you get to density. Then reheat. You want to reheat higher than 180 as that is the minimum temp for best keeping to kill mold spores and produce a good seal. Mold spores from the air can enter while bottling even though the syrup is itself virtually sterile. That temp is measured at the time the cap goes on. You will lose a few degrees from transferring from pot to bottle depending the temp of your jars/bottles and how you transfer. If from a heated urn and a spigot into a heated bottle then not much. But if you take some time ladling through a funnel into a room temp container then you may need to heat higher so keep that in mind.... but always stay below 200F. I think the actual sweet spot at capping time is a temp of 185F if I remember the study I read correctly. 180F is the absolute minimum, again measured when the cap goes on.

If you leave it to settle all the niter should eventually settle to the bottom and what's above it should be clear. So you would pour off the clear and leave the niter that's on the bottom by pouring off carefully. Then bring to bottling temp just as you did before. You can filter it again if you want but you probably won't need to if you pour carefully.

I clear most of my syrup through settling though I start early from the first boil. It's easy when you aren't making much. At most I make 5 gallons a year for my own use, not for selling.

Good luck and happy sugaring! :)

[leaky bucket]

Hello 870. This is only what I would do. First loose the cheese cloth. (Did that come from the book backyard maple). Bring your batch to syrup 67 brix is best then filter when hot. To filter use a orlon cone filter with as many as 6 paper prefilter inside that.As the paper filter plug lift it out and clip it on a pot rim to drip and repeat and repeat to all paper filters are used( small batch like gal of syrup or less you won't need that many prefilter ,maybe a couple will do. Reheat filter syrup to 180 to bottle . Don't presoak your filter in SAP as some books say! That's just contaminating your filter.
Keep a close eye on your finishing syrup as you already learned it sneaks over the side in a hurry. Get your self a long wood pick like one you would use for shish kabobs. Have a little bit of olive oil to dip the end of the pick in and swish it around in the bubbling syrup when it threatens the top of the pot this will settle it down .
Sugar sand (nitre) changes from year to year and during the season, sometimes it is not a prob and some years even filter presses have a hard time with it. everybody has the same issues with sand.
If you have that book "a guide to back yard sugaring". Next time you build a fire under a pot of sap use it for a starter.

Good luck
Mike

[870ExpressMag]

thanks for the help and info, I don't make much either as my 9 trees only put out so much, this year is my most out of the three years I have done it. Prior years I made a gallon each, this year I have 1 1/4 gallon, I would have a gallon and a half but the boil over happened. I'm learning one mistake at a time! Since I don't make a lot of it, I don't mind taking the extra time trying to make it "better", even if it is only cosmetic. Next year I might try and find some more trees to tap, but want to get my processes down before expanding

[870ExpressMag]

Hello 870. This is only what I would do. First loose the cheese cloth. (Did that come from the book backyard maple). Bring your batch to syrup 67 brix is best then filter when hot. To filter use a orlon cone filter with as many as 6 paper prefilter inside that.As the paper filter plug lift it out and clip it on a pot rim to drip and repeat and repeat to all paper filters are used( small batch like gal of syrup or less you won't need that many prefilter ,maybe a couple will do. Reheat filter syrup to 180 to bottle . Don't presoak your filter in SAP as some books say! That's just contaminating your filter.
Keep a close eye on your finishing syrup as you already learned it sneaks over the side in a hurry. Get your self a long wood pick like one you would use for shish kabobs. Have a little bit of olive oil to dip the end of the pick in and swish it around in the bubbling syrup when it threatens the top of the pot this will settle it down .
Sugar sand (nitre) changes from year to year and during the season, sometimes it is not a prob and some years even filter presses have a hard time with it. everybody has the same issues with sand.
If you have that book "a guide to back yard sugaring". Next time you build a fire under a pot of sap use it for a starter.

Good luck
Mike

Thanks for the advice, I do not have that book, I have merely learned what I know by research, and making mistakes. I bought the property, a few uncles and a friend said hey you got maples, tap em and make syrup. So with very LITTLE knowledge, I got some buckets, taps, drop tubes, and started. I somehow actually turned out tasty syrup the first two years. And after I realized how much work it was I kinda had the attitude that I will just tap and do about a gallon whenever I run out of syrup, however this year for some reason something happened, I seem to have been bitten by the bug, and want to learn more, make better product, and maybe tap a few more trees next year. So I'm trying to refine my processes and look at where I need to improve for next year. I'm thinking I could make big improvements by filtering with correct filter, at the right time, getting a dedicated tapping bit, and learning when to tap at the right time. Any suggestions? Books?

[happy thoughts]

I think the bible of sugaring is the North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual put out by ohio state university.

There are also a few good online resources from state ag extensions and universities like this short booklet from Umaine. You should be able to save this to your computer as a pdf
http://extension.umaine.edu/publications/7038e/


Ontario has an extensive pdf resource for major production available online here:
http://www.ontla.on.ca/library/repository/mon/25011/313691.pdf

UVM has many interesting articles and is always a good place to visit for the latest maple research news. Thanks Dr. Tim :)
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/

The Cornell maple program also has many downloadable resources here
http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/pubs/index.htm

The Maple confections Notebook is a keeper if you ever want to go beyond syrup. There is a link to download the complete recipe book or just sections of it from the page below.
http://maple.dnr.cornell.edu/pubs/confections/index.htm

[870ExpressMag]

Thanks for the help and info! It's amazing how something that's really pretty simple in theory(boiling sap long enough becomes syrup with out adding anything), can become so complex!