Sample changing grades!

[S.S.S]

Hello everyone, I take samples of every barrel I fill, and today I opened barrel from last year to find the syrup testing out at 66% light transmittance and the sample from when I filled the barrel tested out at 40% light transmittance. Now this is the second time this has happened. How can I be getting this difference?

[DrTimPerkins]

Syrup generally never gets lighter once it has been made (unless you do something illegal to it...no comment). It will get darker upon exposure to light or oxygen. This is often quite noticeable in retail containers which can drop in grade -- which is why most people will pack syrup well above the LT for the grade to ensure it is still within grade when purchased. Not all retail containers are equal in this regard....some will drop grade really fast, some far more slowly.

What kind of barrel was it packed in? Was it filled to the top with no (air) head space? Was the hot-pack still good when you opened it, or had it been opened previously?

[n8hutch]

Is there niter settling out of the syrup, it sounds like it got lighter ,is that correct?

[DrTimPerkins]

Is there niter settling out of the syrup, it sounds like it got lighter ,is that correct?

It the LT went from 66 to 40%, it got darker. Less light transmitting through the syrup, thus darker.

[n8hutch]

Sry the way i read it was it tested 40 when he packed it and 66 when he opened it.

[DrTimPerkins]

Hmmm....perhaps you're right and I've read it wrong. Thanks for pointing that out -- that would be very odd.

In that case, either the original records were recorded wrong or your measurement of LT was wrong to begin with. How were you testing syrup grade (LT)?

If it is truly getting lighter....was it packed in a galvanized barrel? How long? Alternatively, it may have "layered" in the barrel.

The only time we ever see much lightening is in retail containers when syrup is packed in uncoated tin. By that time, it tastes metallic.

[Big_Eddy]

I'm reading that he tested both the sample and the barrel today, and the sample is now darker than the barrel that was filled with the same syrup.
i don't read that he has a record of the LT last year when the barrel was filled.

That would make sense if the sample is not sealed or air-tight but the barrel was.

[DrTimPerkins]

That would make sense if the sample is not sealed or air-tight but the barrel was.

Absolutely. Syrup in the sample jar would darken if exposed to air (bad seal or been opened a few times) and/or light.

[Russell Lampron]

The way that I read it was that the sample darkened, not the syrup in the drum. I put my sample bottles on a window sill and do notice that some of them darken over time.

I would be delighted to open a drum of Amber and find that it had darkened enough to lose (gain) a grade. I don't make much dark syrup and could use some to put on my shelves.

[S.S.S]

When I packed the stainless 55 gallon drum last spring the LT measured 66%. When I opened my sample jars the other day and tested them they where 40%LT. So I started pumping syrup in canner and was like that syrup looks way lighter then what I just tested from my samples. So I tested syrup that iam pumping out of barrel and that measured 66%LT how did my samples darken over the course of last year. This same thing happened to me a year ago also.

[mellondome]

How are you storing the samples?

[Russell Lampron]

When I packed the stainless 55 gallon drum last spring the LT measured 66%. When I opened my sample jars the other day and tested them they where 40%LT. So I started pumping syrup in canner and was like that syrup looks way lighter then what I just tested from my samples. So I tested syrup that iam pumping out of barrel and that measured 66%LT how did my samples darken over the course of last year. This same thing happened to me a year ago also.

Like has been said in other posts in this thread things like an unsealed sample bottle and exposure to light can darken the sample. I've had the same thing happen to me because the sample bottle didn't have an air tight seal and because it sat on a window sill in direct sunlight.

When I pack my drums I put a grade sticker on the drum so that I know what's inside. I also put a date on the drum and sample bottle so I know when it was made.

[S.S.S]

How are you storing the samples?1 sample was on window sill other samples where in fridge.