Grade Question

[doocat]

What are the chances of going from C back to a Dark or B? does anyone have any first hand experience and what would it take?
The long range forecast shows a weeek + of good sryup weather coming after this weekend.

[802maple]

The chances are good if the weather is fair to you. I have seen it go all the way back to fancy from commercial

[mountainvan]

I drain and clean my flue pan, strain the sweet and pump it back in, and clean my tanks in the woods and with the right weather I've gone up to light from b. Did that today, the cleaning, I'll see if it lightens tomorrow.

[Russell Lampron]

In the season of 2002 in March all I made was dark and grade B and didn't make very much syrup. Some producers pulled their taps and called it a poor season. The first week of April we got a foot of snow and favorable temps for sap runs. The grade went up from B to medium amber. I made 3/4 of my syrup the first 2 weeks of April that season and hope that it happens again this year.

Russ

[powerdub]

I think it is finally starting to go here. We went from barely B to barely A medium tonight before we ran out of sap. I think it would have made some pretty nice medium if we could have kept going. We have been all over the spectrum through the years and two years ago we switched grades about every other pour one night. Crazy! No, I was not drinking either. It happened to a buddy of mine as well so I figured I was not losing it.

[Russell Lampron]

I have had that happen as well. Started out making B Tuesday night then it went up to dark amber and then to medium for the final draw. If I had more sap I think I could have been making medium for a while.

Russ

[ibby458]

On Sunday, we made 20 gallons. The first ten gallons were medium Amber, the last 10 gallons were light Amber. I can't pin down a reason, but there were a couple possible reasons.

The first couple hundred gallons were held from the day before, and we cleaned the tanks after that went thru. The second half was freshly gathered into freshly cleaned tanks. I don't know which factor accounted for the grade improvement, but it did lighten up nicely.

[Pete33Vt]

I have a good question for you guys. The deal is, everything is clean, from tank to front pan, my sap test is up around 2-2.5%, but I can't for the life of me get outta the dark amber range? The bubbles are clear in the front pan, it aproans like light syrup, and even taste like light syrup,(no real strong aftertaste), not sure whats going on. Anyone else have the same issue? Its great syrup, with great flavor just the grades not there, wouldn't matter to me but everyone wants medium.I am even running it through a filter press. Hopeing for a good run so I can boil for a few hours straight to see if it will come up. ANY THOUGHTS?

[Mike]

Pete, I've heard alot of people are making dark syrup.....Seeing how last year a lot of light syrup was made we may get more for dark this year.....

[mapleman3]

tons of dark syrup here, I thought last night it was going lighter but that was 1 drawoff... wait that was tues night.. they are all merging together

[Mike]

Hey Jim!!! Hows it going in Mass??? Hows the rig been running??? Im up to 45 gals and looks like another 1000 gals to boil tonight...I sure like my RO....Its nice to make 6/7 gals an hour......Looks like it may be a short season unless we get some more cold for next week....This weekend looks great...Ill let ya know how it goes this weekend.......Later

[mapleman3]

Hi Mike. She's a great rig. Our season is just about done. Today maybe some sap who knows. Last year, yesterday was my last boil at 82gals. As of yesterday this year I'm only at 65. So not sure if that # will increase. Not done yet I hope.

[Maplewalnut]

Is it possible to mix a light batch with a adrk batch to get medium? I don't have many customers that ask for light amber, people are looking for a stronger maple taste

[HanginAround]

As long as the taste of the dark is fine, mix and match as you see fit. Big producers and bottlers do it all the time.

[maple flats]

My understanding is that it does not take much dark to change light to medium, However I have not blended any to test it. I would suggest you take the light and blend in small amounts of dark til it gets to about mid range medium and stay there. Then if it darkens a little with time you still have medium.

[Sugarmaker]

Pete,
Sounds like you are doing everything right to make light syrup. Nice looking operation!
Lots of dark made in PA this year also.
Is you boiling rate where you think it should be for your size rig? In other words do you feel you are getting it processed fast enough?

Regards,
Sugarmaker

[Pete33Vt]

Yeah Chris I think so, I haven't had a night of boiling for more then 5-6hrs at the most going through about 100 galls an hour, My wood could stand to be a little drier. But in asking around yesterday Mike was right everyone around here is making dark syrup. Even the big producers, only fancy I know of is from bucket operation. I am not looking to make fancy, would just be nice to get enough medium to can my orders. But oh well. On that note, went from Dark amber to B last night, hopefully it will come up a little today. Total for the year so far is 45 gals. Not quite half of what was made last year hoping for about a week or so more good weather.