unclejohn
02-23-2023, 08:14 PM
We have made 22 gallons of tasty, clear, syrup this year. Been a good year and we have already pulled the taps, and cleaned up all messes. One issue bugs me, and perhaps you can help. In past years, we would bring the hot syrup off the wood-fired pan into the kitchen, bring it up to density, pour it into several synthetic conical filters nested inside a wool filters. The inside filter would clog quickly. So we would have to lift it our, pour the contents into the next filter, and repeat as needed.
We would lose syrup with the dirty filter. Burnt fingers. Some of the sludge would go into the next filter, making it worse. And because it slows down the flow, the syrup is cooling rapidly, a sanitation problem. This year, we brought in the hot syrup to the kitchen, brought it up to density, then let it cool, then poured it into a 4 gal glass jug and let it settle for a week. After 3 days, it appears that settling is complete. There is a well-defined surface between the cloudy stuff and clear. We siphon the clear out of the jug, bring it up to 185 degrees, run it through the conical filters which work well, and put it in canning jars that are stored in an oven at 200 F.
Problem is that about 1/6 or 1/7 of our syrup is the cloudy stuff on the bottom. It tastes great but is awful looking- we call it crankcase oil. This season we made about 5 gallons of crankcase oil. I dont want to throw it away- I want to figure out how to clarify it. I have a vacuum filter using a shop vac. The hot crankcase oil clogs the filter and the vacuum starts screaming immediately. Adding DE to the hot stuff doesnt help- the filter plugs and vacuum screams.
So I seek some of your expertise here, you amateur chemists and food scientists! Is there a coagulant that would be effective? Water treatment plants use aluminum sulphate as a coagulant; it is obviously food grade and has no taste impact. Does anyone have experience with it or other safe chemicals? Would some form of electrolysis work? Kitchen-scale centrifugal separation? Please forward this request to anyone you know who might be able to help.
Thanks for your time. John in Missouri (yes- there are syrupmakers in Missouri- see my website www.mosyrup.com that I created to encourage more Missourians to make syrup.)
We would lose syrup with the dirty filter. Burnt fingers. Some of the sludge would go into the next filter, making it worse. And because it slows down the flow, the syrup is cooling rapidly, a sanitation problem. This year, we brought in the hot syrup to the kitchen, brought it up to density, then let it cool, then poured it into a 4 gal glass jug and let it settle for a week. After 3 days, it appears that settling is complete. There is a well-defined surface between the cloudy stuff and clear. We siphon the clear out of the jug, bring it up to 185 degrees, run it through the conical filters which work well, and put it in canning jars that are stored in an oven at 200 F.
Problem is that about 1/6 or 1/7 of our syrup is the cloudy stuff on the bottom. It tastes great but is awful looking- we call it crankcase oil. This season we made about 5 gallons of crankcase oil. I dont want to throw it away- I want to figure out how to clarify it. I have a vacuum filter using a shop vac. The hot crankcase oil clogs the filter and the vacuum starts screaming immediately. Adding DE to the hot stuff doesnt help- the filter plugs and vacuum screams.
So I seek some of your expertise here, you amateur chemists and food scientists! Is there a coagulant that would be effective? Water treatment plants use aluminum sulphate as a coagulant; it is obviously food grade and has no taste impact. Does anyone have experience with it or other safe chemicals? Would some form of electrolysis work? Kitchen-scale centrifugal separation? Please forward this request to anyone you know who might be able to help.
Thanks for your time. John in Missouri (yes- there are syrupmakers in Missouri- see my website www.mosyrup.com that I created to encourage more Missourians to make syrup.)