Maple sugar issues

[tonka]

So yesterday and today I made a couple batch of sugar and both batches of sugar came out clumpy, the whole batch. First batch I got it up to 262, and the second batch, 265. The only thing I can think of is it needs to be up to 270?!?! or its the invert sugars aren't quite where they're suppose to be (don't have a glucose meter) I tried the oven to dry the clumps out and try and break down but wasn't successful. First batch I ran through the blender to get it into sugar/powder sugar form. My batches are about 3 gallons each, could they batches be too much for it to turn out? any help is greatly appreciated!!!

[Russell Lampron]

I don't think that the issue is temperature. I've had batches of cream harden then break up into sugar which is only heated to 235. The invert sugar is most likely the problem.

[john henry]

The first time I made sugar it was a breeze, practically made itself... Ran it through a sifter and had almost no clumps. Next several times was a near failure or total failure. I had read of others using darker late season syrup so I did too. it either turned to a glob of chewy goo or it took hours to get it ground and sifted. I tried different temps too with the same results. I tried to use a glucose meter but the invert % results I got varied considerably even though it was an almost new expensive meter and I followed the instructions for finding invert level closely. Eventually used some early syrup it was a breeze. This past season I saved a decent amount of early to mid season syrup for candy, cream and sugar. Using this syrup it again was very easy to make into granulated sugar. So for me I assume the problem was simply having to high of an invert sugar level.

[tonka]

I made one small batche with the kitchen aid mixer that came out perfect which was mid to late season. The two batches I did a couple days ago were from the first half of the season(which seems to be recommended for sugar)and must not have had the right level of invert sugars. So looks like I'll have to try another batch but from the mid to late season syrup and hopefully I dont have any issue with that. Thanks guys for the input!

[Super Sapper]

You could also try seeding it with some maple sugar while mixing.

[SeanD]

There are a lot of variables and I feel your pain. Humidity is another factor at play here. It's always humid in New England. The thing that has bailed me out of every wet batch is the oven. I know you tried it, but it might be worth exploring a little more. When I first started dealing with wetter batches, I spread the sugar out on parchment paper on two cookie sheets in the oven. I only do a quart at a time, so it's only about 1/4" deep anywhere on the two sheets. I put the oven on the drying function at 190 deg. With the door open and the convect fan running over it, it dries it out pretty well in time. I'll stir it every 10 min or so and check for creep. Once it's creeping, I know it's good. I'll let it cool to room temp then run it through a food mill to break up any of the bigger chunks and get more uniform sized granules.

I had been using Golden until my most recent batch. I just used used Dark and I finally got the color and flavor I had been looking for. I'm now using the oven with all my batches to dry it out completely.

If you are doing 3 gal batches, you might have just needed to spread it out more, give it more time, and stir more frequently. Keep exploring the invert level side of things, but if you do end up with a wet batch, the oven could help.

[Sugarmaker]

A 3 gallon batch is pretty big for my equipment. (hobart mixer) I can do maybe 1.5 gallons max. My guess is it may be invert levels. Early lighter syrup generally makes sugar easier.
Regards,
Chris