Newby - Help me clear my syrup on a budget

[bryankloos]

Hi All,

I have a new setup this year, tubing, RO and a 2x4 continuous pan. Its a big step up from my buckets and chaffing dishes of last year.

As of now I plan to initially filter my syrup through cone prefilters and a synthetic cone.
I think I'll keep my syrup in food safe pails in the cool basement until I have a few boils completed and then bottle several batches at once to keep things efficient.

When Bottling, I'll refilter as above into my finishing pots, heat to 185 and then bottle.

Here are my questions:

1. Will the above process give me a decently clear finished product?
2. What temp do I need to hit before bottling?
3. Where do you all source your bottles at an economical price point. I'm looking for small decorative bottles up to 1/2 gallon containers.
4. What trick of the trade can increase quality without breaking the bank...?
5. What am I missing?

All help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Bryan

[fisheatingbagel]

Hi Bryan,
Filtering through prefilters and cone should give you nice, clear syrup. I've bottled cone-filtered syrup in glass and it's remained crystal clear with no sediment showing at the bottom. Might depend a bit on the niter content though. You'll want to bottle syrup at 180 degrees, but not much more than 190 or it'll form more niter. Helps to preheat your containers also, especially glass if they're cold. After bottling, turn containers on their side for a few minutes to sterilize the lid.

I've found Roth's Sugar Bush a good source for containers, especially if buying less than a full case. They have a nice selection of glass, plastic and tin containers - https://www.rothsugarbush.com/

The most cost effective way to increase quality is to keep everything in the process as clean as possible. Bacteria is what leads to lower quality syrup, spoilage and bad tasting syrup.

Best of luck!

[maple flats]

When you filter you should always have the syrup at or above 180, I think 190+ is better. I actually heat mine to 205-210 then filter. That way you have removed more niter, and you are less likely to get more building up if you reheat to 185 to bottle. Remember, the niter is basically the excess minerals (mostly) that precipitated from suspension as the syrup became saturated at that density.

[Rssyrup]

questoin here, may be somewhere else no luck finding answers, i boil in stainless buffet pans propane fired about 10 to 15 gallons of sap at a time, i was told by locals to pull and filter at 216 and filter then finish to 219 then filter and bottle, this seemed to work last year, my question is when i pull at 216 and filter what can i do with this so that it wont spoil if im not able to finish right away, thanks in advance for info ron

[Sugarmaker]

Bryan,

1. Will the above process give me a decently clear finished product? cone filters have worked for years just dont try to force the syrup through, filter hot (boiling if possible) Have a dozen pre filters and couple felts so you can change them as needed
2. What temp do I need to hit before bottling? your 180 - 185 is good
3. Where do you all source your bottles at an economical price point. I'm looking for small decorative bottles up to 1/2 gallon containers. Glass is always good even mason jars canning jars will work and keep costs low.
4. What trick of the trade can increase quality without breaking the bank...? Taste it for flavor, get a grading kit to get the correct class of syrup, Get a Murphy cup not cheap but will check your density at any syrup temp, long term, enter you syrup in competition, Longer term make syrup for 60 years and you will still be improving!:)
5. What am I missing? Sounds like your doing good.

Regards,
Chris

[18mile]

If you are letting your syrup sit in pails for a few days you will be able to pour off the top of the pail and leave much of the niter in the bottom. You can then combine all of the niter from the bottom of the pails and let them settle. Do this before you reheat and filter your syrup. It will speed things up for you.

[barnbc76]

I bottle all my syrup in glass using cone filter/w prefilters. I sell some and they are nearly perfect, like others have said it depends on your process but it can be done. I purchased the optimizer this year for filtering so I'm looking forward to using that and making my filtering process alot faster and easier. If you havent heard about the idea of using your cone filter in the shape of a sailors hat (which is what the optimizer does) look into it, its alot more effective use of cone filter. Also I do batches of 3/4-1.5 gal of sap at a time, and use a minimum of 3 to 5 prefilters. The best bottles I found from www.leaderevapirator.com they have maple leaf shaped bottles up to 1.5pts for about $5-$6. And glass syrup jugs up to 1gal about $3 a piece.