Taste of syrup

[Jacob]

I like the taste of golden my first batch of syrup of the season, my question does the flavor always get heavier and darker or does it ever go back to that good golden taste to get better flavor I am boiling right away

[michael marrs]

I have always been told amber , grade A in the early season, and it gets darker as season goes on, I am lucky, and like it all. I am doing some experimenting though. I have 2 block burns going. At both, I use restaurant pans. but at one, the pans sit down in the blocks, resting on the lip of the pan, at the other, the pans sit on a grate above the blocks. The first one always gets scortching, and is always dark early season on. the second is always lighter, but this last batch seems to be just a bit darker, ( as it should). I think, with the fire coming up around the pans, it gets the sides as hot as the bottom , and think some of the color is brought about by the pan color, not the sap itself. good luck

[Jacob]

Sounds interesting about pans either on top or down inside mine always sit down inside to be closer to fire


I have always been told amber , grade A in the early season, and it gets darker as season goes on, I am lucky, and like it all. I am doing some experimenting though. I have 2 block burns going. At both, I use restaurant pans. but at one, the pans sit down in the blocks, resting on the lip of the pan, at the other, the pans sit on a grate above the blocks. The first one always gets scortching, and is always dark early season on. the second is always lighter, but this last batch seems to be just a bit darker, ( as it should). I think, with the fire coming up around the pans, it gets the sides as hot as the bottom , and think some of the color is brought about by the pan color, not the sap itself. good luck

[Sugarmaker]

The flavors can change during the length of the season. 2015 we started with dark syrup and ended with golden delicate (fancy back then).
Sometimes the taste might not match the grade too.
Regards,
Chris

[Run Forest Run!]

Jacob, like Michael mentioned, the colour can be impacted by the pan. If you scrub the pan meticulously clean between batches that can help keep your syrup lighter. Any burned on sugar from a previous batch can darken the next batch. Also, processing the sap very quickly will help to keep your syrup lighter. All that aside, you can only do so much in your quest for a light batch. All the rest is up to Mother Nature.

[Jacob]

Hi Karen after each burn I do clean pans I use to scrub them in the house with bar keepers friend what a job after reading about using vinegar I now clean them on my grill a little bit of vinegar some heat from grill and grill brush makes quick work I am a clean aholic you could say I even pulled all my collection buckets and replaced with ones that had been sterilized they had been out since January and getting a little bad

Jacob, like Michael mentioned, the colour can be impacted by the pan. If you scrub the pan meticulously clean between batches that can help keep your syrup lighter. Any burned on sugar from a previous batch can darken the next batch. Also, processing the sap very quickly will help to keep your syrup lighter. All that aside, you can only do so much in your quest for a light batch. All the rest is up to Mother Nature.

[Eds Constructors]

I've noticed that the cleaner all my equipment is, the lighter the syrup is. I've got very light syrup after a long dry spell as well. Dr. Tim had mentioned in pasts post that bacteria played a big part in syrup color, so it would make most sense to clean if you can if you wanted lighter syrup.

[bigschuss]

Haven't seen anyone mention the effect of batch boiling on flavor and color yet. IMHO many small scale producers are probably batch boiling and will thus end up with a darker syrup (compared to those who draw off) no matter what time of the season it is.

[berkshires]

Haven't seen anyone mention the effect of batch boiling on flavor and color yet. IMHO many small scale producers are probably batch boiling and will thus end up with a darker syrup (compared to those who draw off) no matter what time of the season it is.

I'm curious about your reasoning for this. When I batch boil, a batch takes anywhere from two to ten hours, depending on how much sap I have to get through. On a big rig with channels, as I understand it, it can take a full day just to sweeten the pan and get a gradient set up. So if it's a matter of how long the sap is boiling, I would think it's a long long way (at least a day or two) for any bit of sap that goes into the flue pan before it comes out the draw off at the end. That should lead to darker syrup, right? What am I missing?

Gabe

[michiganphil]

Hey Berkshires,

It can take a full day to "sweeten" the pans, but that's only for the first boil. Every boil after that, what goes in is what comes out. You can see the color variations from each load of sap run through. A continuous flow evaporator tends to make lighter syrup because syrup is drawn off as it is done, every 1/2 hour or so, it doesn't sit boil for 10 hours like some of your larger batches. That being said, you can make some great colored syrup by batch boiling, just keep the batches small enough to finish each session not over multiple days.

[wiam]

I'm curious about your reasoning for this. When I batch boil, a batch takes anywhere from two to ten hours, depending on how much sap I have to get through. On a big rig with channels, as I understand it, it can take a full day just to sweeten the pan and get a gradient set up. So if it's a matter of how long the sap is boiling, I would think it's a long long way (at least a day or two) for any bit of sap that goes into the flue pan before it comes out the draw off at the end. That should lead to darker syrup, right? What am I missing?

Gabe


Not sure what you're calling a big rig. On my 3 x 12 I am drawing syrup in less than an hour on my first boil.

[bigschuss]

I'm curious about your reasoning for this. When I batch boil, a batch takes anywhere from two to ten hours, depending on how much sap I have to get through. On a big rig with channels, as I understand it, it can take a full day just to sweeten the pan and get a gradient set up. So if it's a matter of how long the sap is boiling, I would think it's a long long way (at least a day or two) for any bit of sap that goes into the flue pan before it comes out the draw off at the end. That should lead to darker syrup, right? What am I missing?

Gabe

You're thinking is correct for the initial sweetening of the pan. But once sweetened, as long as you have enough sap to feed the pan, that new sap you introduce will spend way less time boiling than if you batch boil it. For example, when I used to boil outside on a small 20"x20" flat pan it would take me 14 hours to boil off 40 gallons of sap...that was on a good day! On my 2x4 that same 40 gallons won't spend anywhere near 14 hours boiling. More like 4 hours. So every 4 hours I can introduce 40 gallons of sap and draw off a gallon of syrup. The big time guys are burning through hundreds of gallons an hour.

This is just all based on my own observations as a hobbyist batch boiling outside many years ago vs. now on my
2x4. I could never make light colored syrup when I batch boiled.

Like Michiganphil said...if you keep the batches small and finish off in small batches instead of just introducing more and more sap to the batch it is possible to end up with nice colored syrup. I personally like the flavor of darker syrup so it never bothered me to batch boil to a darker color.

[berkshires]

If my thinking is correct, the time it takes for sap to get from one end of a continuous flow setup to the other is approximately the number of gallons it takes to fill it divided by the GPH rate of the rig. This has little to do with how often you can draw off. You're not drawing off the same sap you put in ten minutes ago. It still takes some number of hours to get from one end to the other. So if it takes 100 gallons to fill your pans for the first time, and you get 100 gph, then once a gradient is set up, you're moving each gallon of sap from beginning to end in one hour.

For example, wiam, I would definitely consider 3x12 a big rig. How many gallons does it take to fill it to your desired level? And then how many gallons per hour do you get once you're up and running (if you don't mind my asking)?

For what it's worth, the first three batches of syrup I ever made were about the color of honey! And I actually overboiled the first one, and wound up with lots of sugar crystals in it later. The batches got darker as the season progressed, but it just goes to show you that batch boiling definitely doesn't have to mean darker syrup.

Edited to add that based on this thread: http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?30152-How-Much-Sap-for-2x6-to-start it sounds like it takes roughly 30 gallons to fill a 2x6 with a drop flue, and you can expect around 30 GPH. So that means that in an hour, the sap you put in at the beginning is at the finish. One hour! Not bad!

Gabe

[Big_Eddy]

We take a sample bottle from each batch as we bottle. This is the 2016 season from left to right. Taste intensity followed the colour.

Batch 3, some of the sap sat for a couple of days until we had enough to boil.
After batch 5, it got cold for a week, so we drained and cleaned everything and started again.

The last batch is from closing the valve, draining the flue pan and finishing off in the syrup pan only, with water boiling in the flue pan for cleaning.

[Jacob]

As I look back on my last boil my temp was around 210 and it was a light golden color but still had many hours to boil and 15 gallons to add and I am thinking if I would of drained then it may have been a lot different but I have 2 steam pans on cement blocks and when I empty the pans I actually take and scoop out with a pot until it's low enough and I use to use 2 pairs of channel lock pliers and pick up pan and drain into bowl but purchased a very good pair of welding gloves this year and just pick it up with my hands I know this is very dangerous but until I can get a bigger pan with a drain this is how I do it

[Jacob]

After doing some reading I have a question I use 2 steam pans and fill each one with sap and as it evaporates I add more sap to each pan my question once the sap starts getting that golden color should I move it to a empty pan I do have one more pan but only about 3 inches deep

[Run Forest Run!]

Jacob, to keep your syrup on the lighter side I'd combine both of the pans into one and then finish that one off. In meantime you can add all new sap to the one you just emptied and start boiling from scratch again. The quicker you can boil sap to the syrup stage the more chance you have of producing lighter syrup - and that is what you mentioned that you would like to make more of.

[Jacob]

Karen you just answered my question the quicker I can boil sap to syrup,That is what I thought because the longer I boiled it just got darker I will use your advice as there should be one more boil left for the season Thank You

Jacob, to keep your syrup on the lighter side I'd combine both of the pans into one and then finish that one off. In meantime you can add all new sap to the one you just emptied and start boiling from scratch again. The quicker you can boil sap to the syrup stage the more chance you have of producing lighter syrup - and that is what you mentioned that you would like to make more of.

[Run Forest Run!]

You're welcome Jacob! You sound like you are having so much fun this year. That's awesome! I'm certain that your neighbours are loving the entire process now that they are invested in the harvest. Good luck with your quest to make a few more bottles of light syrup. :)

[Jacob]

My agreement with neighbors was they each got a free bottle I sell for $10.00 and everyone of them wanted to pay for it I would not take the money told them I was glad that they let me tap there trees very nice neighbors and check this out a neighbor who did not have trees bought a quart for $20.00 and he gave me 25 and would not take the 5 back he said because it was something I made so I asked if he like pickles he said his daughter did so I gave him a quart of pickles that I grew and packed myself I do all that in summer make my own strawberry and grape jelly

You're welcome Jacob! You sound like you are having so much fun this year. That's awesome! I'm certain that your neighbours are loving the entire process now that they are invested in the harvest. Good luck with your quest to make a few more bottles of light syrup. :)