Boiling Questions

[Pro Novice]

I have 2 Questions about boiling
1) Can you boil "Too hard"
2) Does 2 part boil effect product? i.e. Boil off most water, refrigerate 2-3 days and then finish, filter, and can.

I tried my hand at syrup making for first time last year. I gathered approximately 150 gallons of sap and generated 3 gallons of syrup. I am using a block arch with steamer serving trays (full size 6" deep). I canned in mason jars after filtering with several layers of "Tap my trees" brand filters. Everything turned out wonderful.

This year I have good wood (last year I used bigger logs not fully seasoned resulting in slow boils) and am able to achieve very hot fires. At times I get a violent boil although there are several inches of sap in pan. Additionally I have been boiling to close to finish and refrigerating for couple of days prior to finishing. I have been getting a suspension in my syrup that I didn't have last year. I am assuming this is referred to as niter. After a couple of days it does settle to the bottom of jars. I haven't changed anything (including trees tapped) from last year with the exception of these 2 things. I canned 1st batch by gravity filter and decided to step up and build a vacuum filter. I had same results with both. Any insight would be appreciated.

Wife says I am becoming obsessed with this maple syrup production, I told her that everybody here has pretty much done the same! :)

[Pdiamond]

It sounds like niter, which you can let settle in the jars then pour off syrup slowly. don't throw out the niter syrup, just put it all together and heat it up and filter it again,

[Hkb82]

You can’t over boil it I don’t think unless you take it past syrup. As for clarity it sounds to me like nitre also. If your putting to much vacuum to it I’m sure you’ll draw stuff through the filters. Also if get it to hot when bottling you could be getting it then. I’ve also been down that road lol

[maple flats]

As long as there is enough in the pan, (1" or more in a level pan" it can't be boiled too hard). That is why I had my custom pans made 4" taller than standard. My flue pan is 20" tall but the level in the pan is at max 11" (10" raised flues), my syrup pan is 16" tall and the level is kept at 1". Both boil so hard that the sap/near syrup jumps high as it boils.

[BCPP]

Just make sure you dont take it too close to syrup. Then it can foam up and cause a dry spot in the pan which instantly burns the sugars!

The sediment you describe sounds like nitre but that should be filtered out by your filters. If you're heating syrup above 200 when you package you can cause more nitre to form and would need to refilter. Also, the amount of nitre formed is not consistent year to year.