Preservation of "near" syrup

[notacarpenter]

I am small time producer, and when I boil I do the majority of the evaporating on a large flat pan on an old wood fed stove outdoors. When it gets to the point of "near" syrup, I drain the liquid to food-grade buckets, and then finish the syrup at a later time on my kitchen stove where I have a little more control of the temperature. My question is, how long can this near syrup last before it spoils? When I have room, I would store these buckets in the basement fridge, but usually I just keep them covered in the basement where it stays at about 50 degrees in the winter. I would also add a large ice bottle when needed. I've done it this way for some time now and haven't seen any signs of spoilage (as far as I know). I would sometimes wait as long as two weeks before finishing, thus I just want to make sure I'm not pushing the limits.

Thank you.

Greg from Wyalusing Pa

[psparr]

If the sugar content is pretty close you’d be fine. If it is just for personal use and you see mold forming you can skim it off and reboil it without issue.

[esetter]

I do the same thing except I try to get it down to a volume that I can put my near syrup in mason jars. Ive had some in jars in the fridge since last year. I like to do it this way too because it creates a been of all the runs for the season. This seems to make the best finished product in my opinion.

[maple flats]

Not sure I'd hold longer, but if you can keep it at about 45F or under, and if the storage container is good and clean, even a month should not be an issue. However if the storage temperature rises the time shortens. I've never held it without having it at proper density, but I have read where there are many smaller and even some who are a little bigger producers who do.

[Bucket Head]

I know everyone might not have the room for one but a refrigerator or chest freezer that you could dedicate to holding almost syrup and syrup is worth it's weight in gold during the season when time is short. We put both in 5gal. containers and put them in an old chest freezer. Saved a lot of worry over the years.

[themidnightsapper]

What do you folks consider "near syrup"? I ask because due to an issue we had to stop with about 4.5 gallons at 45% to 50% sugar on Monday night. The near syrup is outside where the temp has been below freezing until today (high of 49), low tonight is 36, back to 42 tomorrow, then below freezing again until Saturday. Was planning on finishing tonight which is not a convenient time, so was curious if this would wait until Saturday.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I know its all about timing and when your falling asleep on the old stump behind the garage and the wood is low you just have to bail some times. But if everything is clicking away and you think your getting close but just want to finish in the stove I would go heavy on it and then you don't have to worry. Going a few points over and keeping in a FG bucket at room temp wont hurt it a bit. Hot packing is the key to the successful storage.
I have 20 gallons of grade B/commercial that was hot packed 2 years ago and its just fine and its in the basement crawl space. Finishing 20 gallons of over density syrup at the end of the year when you still have sweet from the evap around it saves on time and fuel.

You should see what full drums of under density syrup will do to a stack of them. :cry: