Tips for making granulated maple sugar

[BSD]

I've tried 3 times to make maple sugar and only one of them was successful.

First time> 2 year old syrup (granted i wasn't finishing as well as i am today), i stirred occasionally while I heated in a pot on the stove to 262, threw it in the stand mixer and i turned it into maple taffy effectively. it became rock-hard in the end and was a failure. i think it may have had to do with the butter i placed around the top of the pot to keep it from foaming over.

second time last night, i did a much smaller batch, just a few ounces in a frying pan. kept on heat while whisking in the pan, as it crossed over 262 (hard to get an exact read since it was small sample size). it kept whisking away and i got a nice dry granular and some of the nuggets. they tasted great and were dry like they were supposed to be

Take 3 this morning. I heated 8 oz in a pot on the stove, no butter around the ring this time. heated slowly while mixing, as i hit 250ish i started getting a burnt smell. i kept it on until 257, at which point the smell was pretty strong, i knew it wasn't going to be quite right,but i threw it in the mixer anyways. i did get it to turn to sugar, but there was still moisture due to low temp before removing from the stove. It's very clumpy and has a burnt taste, so in the garbage it goes. the pot had a large amount of burnt sugar on the bottom, i had to heat with water to soften it up and scrape it out

Is there a methodology to surface area (large frying pan) versus small diameter stock pot? How can i do this in a stock pot (make larger batches at once) without the burn?

[tbear]

I use a deep (stock pot?) that has a heavy bottom, rub a bit of butter around the rim and heat one quart of syrup without stirring to 260°F, then in the upright mixer it goes and set on stir (lowest setting). The sugar comes out moist, similar to brown sugar. For long term storage I dry it in a warm (175°F +-) oven for a while, maybe 30 minutes. Let it cool, run it through a sifter to sort out the larger crumbles and bag it up. It works for me. Ted

[tcross]

i bring it up to 260-262 in a good sized stainless pot. bigger the better. once up to temp shut the heat off, and let it sit for a few minutes. then I stir, stir, stir. be careful though. it can boil up once you start stirring. once its pretty much granulated I put it on a big sheet pan or two and let it dry. once dry, If I want it more granulated i'll run it through the food processer... but let it cool off before you do that. works for me.

[mellondome]

BSD,
Do you test your invert sugar levels?

[tcross]

just curious... how do you test the invert sugar levels of syrup? I'd like to, but never have.

[ennismaple]

I do up to 5L at a time in a 10L pot so I'll make up to 10lbs at a time. I heat to 267 or 268 without stirring. I do use a little butter on the rim of the pot to keep it from boiling over. Once it hits 267 I take it off the stove and start to stir. It will foam up aggressively so you need to stir quickly at times to keep it from bubbling over.

[Sugarmaker]

We use a hobart mixer 15 qt? about a gallon of syrup, taken to 260, poured into mixing bowl, stir on low. Your two year old syrup did not have the invert sugar level correct to make sugar. your skillet didnt have enough syrup. and the small pan scorched due to lack of volume or very high heat. This stuff at 260 F will boil over in a heart beat. As others have said, deep stock pot, early run syrup, little defoamer or butter around the rim. Then remove from heat and stir, watch out for the steam exploding during the stirring process.

https://i.imgur.com/0yr4EXJ.jpg

Regards,
Chris

[BSD]

thank you all for the pointers. i had some more (almost) successes tonight. i did another two batches in a frying pan and that seems to give me the best results in terms of dry/siftable sugar, with the plus sized nuggets. I did two other bigger batches in stock pots and but it has turned more to a confections sugar. it is still damp. i heated one batch to 262, and the other to 267 and got similar results.

any other ideas?

[Sugarmaker]

The sugar being damp? Double check your thermometer for boiling point of water. Seems you might be to low on temp? We dont have any lumps or wetness in our sugar. All syrups are not created equal.
The other thing is how do you keep boiling syrup in a frying pan at those temps? I would think it would boil right over?
Regards,
Chris

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Abbott posted a video on here that I followed and have made 3 good batches and 1 failure. The failure batch I think was from not going high enough, should have gone a little beyond 260 because it never granulated, it stayed gooey. 8 qt pot and 3 qt syrup (i think). Once it boiling leave it on medium to medium high heat. As others said, watch it at first. I usually have to pull the pot and and off the burner during the initial foam up but then it settles down.

[Sugarmaker]

My guess is that the gooey syrup was never going to make sugar anyway. Check the process of testing for invert sugar in syrup. I have tested it but have forgotten most of the details. I assume these batches were made from syrup from different times of the season?
Regards,
Chris

[BSD]

I did not have a ways to test for invert sugar level. my "damp" batches i put in the oven and baked them a bit and that helped dry them out a bit.

All in all it was a success, just haven't quite perfected my method just yet.

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