What happened to my batch?

[jwmiller]

My second batch this year ended up having a crazy amount of niter sand in it. I did two batches this year that were one week apart and boiled almost identically. In the picture, the first batch is on the left and the second batch is on the right. You can see almost the same color, but very different results in terms of niter. My boiling process is using an outdoor wood fired boil until I can fit the batch in my 16 quart pot and finish inside on the stove. I filter (using a cone filter with 2 pre filters) when I do the transfer from the wood stove to the kitchen stove and then once again before bottling. I used a hydrometer to find the finishing point, waited for the temp to drop to 185 before I filter a second time. After the 2nd filter, the syrup went straight into jars that were sterilized and pre-heated in the oven. Exact same process for both batches except I did not use a hydrometer on the first batch. This is the same process I have been using for 3 years and I've never had niter sand issues. Usually I only see a small trace of it, if any, at the bottom of my jars... This 2nd batch is something like 15-20% niter sand! This 2nd batch was my first time using a hydrometer and you can see from the pic with the thermometer that I reached around 222-224 as my finishing temp. The sap used for batch two was less than a week old and was stored buried in snow banks, so the sap should have been fine. The sap was also around 2.4% based on my sap hydrometer. What did I do wrong?

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[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Many people were reporting higher than usual niter this year and in some cases a finer niter which would be harder to filter out using cone filters. So I wouldn't say you did anything wrong or there was anything wrong with your batch. It just needs more filtering. Make sure you clean and rinse your filters good. And never wring them out or do anything to distort the fibers. Did you use new filters on the 2nd batch or used ones?

[buck3m]

I can't tell from the photos, but are you saying that the niter fills 15-20% of the jars? If so, I wonder if it could be sugar crystals and not niter. I'd pour out a jar and taste the residue. Is it gritty and bad? If so it's niter. If it tastes great it's sugar.

Your hydrometer photo looks like the syrup is a little heavy. I can see a gap below the red line. Check out the reading line: https://www.leaderevaporator.com/pdf_files/syrup-hydrometer.pdf

Are you sure you kept your thick cone filter the same side out both times?

[jwmiller]

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I am saying the niter fills 15-20% of the jars volume wise... When you say sugar crystals, I don't think that is the case. My first year boiling syrup and I cooked one batch way too long and had several of my jars crystallize at the bottom... This is nothing like that.

So if I am understanding proper use of the hydrometer, you want to stop as soon as you see the red line? I thought that is what I did but can see now it looks a tad heavy.

Yes, I am positive the cone filter was the same side out for both filters. The pre-filters were swapped out for new ones on the 2nd filter.

The part that confuses me so much is the difference in the batch results and only being a week apart... my first batch had zero niter, like literally nothing. How does it change so fast? Or is it the fact that my first batch is likely light since I went off of temp and not using a hydrometer, so it didn't cook long enough to produce as much niter as the second batch when I did use a hydrometer? That is the only thing I can think of.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Niter can vary greatly throughout the season, even day to day so it's really no surprise. There's probably a science behind it but that's beyond me. It's nothing you can control so focus on what you can do to filter better. Your first batch being done off temperature is just as likely to be over cooked as under cooked. That's not the difference, it's just what the trees gave you. You can reheat the batch and re-filter it.

[buck3m]

Despite having done this a long time, I am still learning new things, but don't think I have personally seen so much niter after proper filtering. I have seen that much sugar. I think the different results might be due to different finish densities.

I think you'll want to verify if it is, in fact, niter, thus my suggestion to do a taste/grittiness test.

As the linked illustration in my prior post shows, the syrup actually "climbs" up the hydrometer a bit, so as soon as the hot syrup red line starts appearing above the near-boiling syrup that you've just drawn, you should be good.

[to100]

Have you tried a rolling boil with filter in large pot with permeate or house water for a few minutes?
I had same problem 5 or so years back.
I do at end of season, they look like new no stains.

[jwmiller]

I will taste test tonight and confirm whether or not its niter. I've been so disappointed by that 2nd batch's niter that I haven't even tasted it yet.


You can reheat the batch and re-filter it.

I am going to re-bottle.. Is it better to reheat and refilter? Or now that the niter is all settled at the bottom, I could probably just pour it out of the jars and stop once I hit the niter... Either way will result in lost syrup to either the filter or not being able to perfectly stop pouring before the niter starts coming out.

[jwmiller]

Have you tried a rolling boil with filter in large pot with permeate or house water for a few minutes?
I had same problem 5 or so years back.

So are you saying filter the syrup when its at a boil? That is what I did the first year I started boiling syrup and I definitely got more niter sand than how I do it now where I let it cool to ~185 before bottling. Isn't best practice to filter at 185ish? Forgive me as I have a lot to learn.

Or are you saying that you kind of steam the filter before actually using it? I do run hot water thru the filter before using it if that counts for anything?

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

I would definitely let gravity help you and let the niter settle to the bottom. Dump it all back into a pot and waste a little bit of syrup once the thicker niter starts coming out of the jar. I would try reheating and filtering at 185 so you don’t make more niter. Then try and keep it above 180 but below 190 when bottling.

[buck3m]

Worth a read: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Ask-Proctor-Filtering-MapleSyrupDigest.pdf

We like to filter at about 200 degrees. In fact, many places recommend filtering finished syrup right off the evaporator, which would be even hotter.

I think there's merit in the theory that no portion of reheated syrup should get hotter than the temperature at which it was filtered. It's important to reheat filtered syrup slowly, so hotspots aren't created on the bottom. Syrup shouldn't be reheated past 190 or so, certainly not past 195.

Nowadays, we filter very hot and bottle before it cools off, between 185 and 190. That way we aren't dealing with reheating issues at all.

[paulslund]

Worth a read: https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Ask-Proctor-Filtering-MapleSyrupDigest.pdf

We like to filter at about 200 degrees. In fact, many places recommend filtering finished syrup right off the evaporator, which would be even hotter.


I think that might depend on how you are drawing off into the filter. I've read that niter can form after filtering if the syrup is still over 200 after if filters through.

If you are drawing off from a continuous flow pan where you draw off slowly into a filter, I think the stream would have time to cool off enough so that it's below 200 once filtered? Maybe not, but at a minimum if you are pouring your entire batch of 4-5 gallons in at a time, it has a greater chance of retaining more heat due to volume, and then potentially making more niter even after it's filters..

At least that's my understanding..

[minehart gap]

I thought that you were supposed to read a hydrometer at 211 degrees. If that hydrometer is to be read at 211 and you took it to 222 when reading, using the chart in the North American Maple Produced Manual, your syrup is at 71% to 73.5% sugar if boiling point was 212 degrees that day and would be the reason for the sugar.

[buck3m]

I think that might depend on how you are drawing off into the filter. I've read that niter can form after filtering if the syrup is still over 200 after if filters through.

If you are drawing off from a continuous flow pan where you draw off slowly into a filter, I think the stream would have time to cool off enough so that it's below 200 once filtered? Maybe not, but at a minimum if you are pouring your entire batch of 4-5 gallons in at a time, it has a greater chance of retaining more heat due to volume, and then potentially making more niter even after it's filters..

At least that's my understanding..

I think new niter can form if more water evaporates, or if syrup is reheated past the temp where it was filtered, or about 195, whichever is lower, or reheated so there are hot spots. Otherwise, I think it can be filtered nearly boiling hot. I'm basing that on these guys and my own experience. http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?29732-Filtering-too-hot

Here's what Cornell says. They are talking about reheating and bottling: "The syrup should then be heated between 180-200 degrees and poured into a clean container. If you go over 200 degrees, then you will start to form niter (sugar sand) and the syrup must be re-filtered again." https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.cce.cornell.edu/attachments/21562/Bottling-Syrup.pdf?1490125771

Always learning new stuff myself of course. I'm interested on what others have to say.

[jwmiller]

I did another batch this weekend with the same niter results. Same filtering - once with cone filter and 2 pre filters before moved inside to stove, and then again once proper sugar level was reached with the hydrometer and temp was brought down to ~183. Insane amounts of niter - like never seen anything like it. Most of the sap that was boiled was between 2.3-2.8%, with a few buckets even north of 3%.

I know someone mentioned others around the country are experiencing large levels of niter this year. I tried searching a few different forums for threads with more info on this. Can someone please link me to a thread with more info on the high levels of niter this year?