drew off too soon

[eustis22]

so I'm using a thermometer to gauge when to draw (hydrometer me no hydrometer..I only have the one for the next few boils and I save it for finishing) and I'm sure my last batch I drew way too undone...what's the procedure for adding this batch back into my pan? The whole 3 or 4 gallons at once? A little at a time? I don;t wanna spend hours getting it all boiled down in my kitchen.

[maple flats]

If I did that I'd add it back into the draw off end of my syrup pan. I might (with a 3x3 syrup pan,) add about 1-2 gal at a time if I didn't have a finisher. Without a hydrometer how are you sure it is too thin? For a thermometer to be right, you must test the temp. of rapidly boiling water on that day, then add 7.1 degrees F. If you're on a 2x3 you may only want to add 1 gal or so near the draw off as you start to boil, then add slowly as it is drawn off, maybe 2/3 thru the flow path (2/3 of the way from inlet to draw off.)but not right at the draw off.

[Russell Lampron]

I don't know what your hydrometer situation is because your statement is a little foggy. If you don't own one yourself you need to buy one asap so that you know what you have when you draw it off. If your near syrup is close to syrup make your next draw offs heavy and mix them into your near syrup. If it is so thin that it is still going to be way too thin after adding heavy syrup to it add nit back into your evaporator and boil it to density. You can dump it all in before you start boiling or a little at a time as you are boiling.

[eustis22]

sorry for the lack of clarity, russ. I meant that I DO have a hydrometer (1) but since I've no spare + they're fragile + I have stonefingers = I don't use it out at the shack (all that metal and corners and cinderblock and aiyiyiyi) but inside when I finish. I have another one on order which should be available by this weekend's boil. I've been pulling when my thermometer reads around 219 (boiling app on phone says 211.8 at my elevation) but my first batch, about 2 gallons is boiled down to about 2 quarts and the hydrometer still isn't moving a smitch so I don't think its even at 50 brix so I don't trust the 219 setting on the thermometer I was using. I found my thermoworks and have another enroute so I can junk the Target POS.

How does this sound: I turn my preheater around so the valve is over the syrup channel vs the sap channel, heat the unfinished to boiling then trickle the hot unfinished stuff into the syrup channel via the preheater? ....that way I can maintain my depth. Then when that's gone turn the preheater around again and continue with the sap.

[zandstrafarms]

I just wanted to pop in quick, we had a similar problem with ours.

We just begun running a 2x5 hybrid this season and last year we boiled to 119 degrees and got syrup. Figuring the same we set automatic draw off to 119 into our bottler. Out of curiosity we checked density with our murphy cup and like you said, it sank! Not even close! It was so bad we tried 2 hydrometers and were convinced they were both broken.

Decided to pull it out and re add to syrup pans. Kept boiling and testing. HAD TO GET TO 221 DEGREES! No joke. We have a digital thermometer in our automatic draw so I'm pretty sure it's accurate? But at 221 it was spot on for floating though!

[Russell Lampron]

I just wanted to pop in quick, we had a similar problem with ours.

We just begun running a 2x5 hybrid this season and last year we boiled to 119 degrees and got syrup. Figuring the same we set automatic draw off to 119 into our bottler. Out of curiosity we checked density with our murphy cup and like you said, it sank! Not even close! It was so bad we tried 2 hydrometers and were convinced they were both broken.

Decided to pull it out and re add to syrup pans. Kept boiling and testing. HAD TO GET TO 221 DEGREES! No joke. We have a digital thermometer in our automatic draw so I'm pretty sure it's accurate? But at 221 it was spot on for floating though!

The temperature for syrup varies from day to day and sometimes it will even change during a boil. At the beginning of a boil you need to adjust your thermometer to the boiling point of water for that day.