Thinning Syrup with sap, water

[Eberzin]

I have always used sap to thin syrup over density when finishing. What happens when you use tap water instead of distilled water?

[SeanD]

I always use water. Either way those tables are dead on. I always draw heavy, so I'm correcting every batch. Do you have a copy of the maple syrup producers manual? If not, there is probably an online version of the density correction chart.

[ecolbeck]

As long as the tap water is of high quality it shouldn’t matter, should it?

[DrTimPerkins]

Either sap or clean water is fine. If you want to keep the syrup hot for filtering, draw off of the backpan.

[Russell Lampron]

If you use water and leave the sweet in the evaporator you'll make more syrup. I use permeate to correct the density.

[DrTimPerkins]

Actually, in the end you’ll end up exactly the same.

[DrTimPerkins]

Actually, in the end (over the season) you’ll wind up with exactly the same amount of syrup. For that particular batch though, you’ll end up with slightly more syrup if you use sweet.