White Floaties

[Amber Gold]

This year I decided to filter my syrup in batches. I've boiled about 1.25 gallons of syrup so far and have them sitting in mason jars. I noticed that there is a 0.25-0.5" layer of white floaties on the bottom of the jar. I plan on boiling another 0.5-0.75 gallons of syrup this weekend and filtering it all at once. Just curious what the stuff is.

Thanks.

[maple flats]

You say floaties but then they are in the bottom of the jar, which is it. If in fact they are floating I think it is defoamer, skim it off before reheating and you could put it back into the evap, that way you would not loose any of the syrup that comes along for the ride. If they are suspended near the bottom or settled on the bottom I don't know what they are, but it will filter out.

[fred]

sounds like sugar sand or sugar crystals. is it too dense?

[Amber Gold]

No it's not too dense. I left it light intentionally for final processing. They were originally in suspension, but after a few hours they settled out to the bottom of the jar to form a 0.25-0.5" layer. If I shake it up they go back into suspension. What is sugar sand? Is it minerals in the sap?

[maple flats]

Yes sugar sand is minerals that precipitate out as the density gets thicker because it becomes too much to remain in suspension, in other words it is super saturated.

[twigbender]

Sounds like sugar sand to me. I've seen it my jars that I heated up past 190 to bottle. The amount that you have is quite a bit. I'd decant the stuff before you bottle and then don't get the temp above about 185 and you should pretty much eliminate it.

I'm jealous. Haven't even collected a drop of sap yet. Heck, I haven't even tapped yet!

[RileySugarbush]

Sometimes the sugar sand is so small and light it hovers around the bottom like a cloud, but does not really settle to the bottom. When I first saw this, I thought it was some sort of insidious bacterial growth. I pulled some out and looked at it under a microscope. Definitely crystals. Back then I was cooking in batches, filtering off the evaporator and finishing in the kitchen. This stuff formed during the last hour on the stove.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

If it's on top, it's likely a type of mold. Light syrup will develop this after sitting for a while.

[Amber Gold]

I'm not sure when it forms, but your description of it sounds pretty accurate. I finished up filtering and canning the 1.75 gallons of syrup I've gotten so far and the sugar sand is still there. I finished about 1/2 hour ago and it's still in suspsension, but the syrup is definitely cloudy with a layer forming on the bottom. I guess I'll decant this batch to removed the stuff, but in the future is there a way to get the crystals out without decanting. I would think that you should be able to go from boiling, to filtering, to canning without waiting for solids to settle out. If I wasn't canning in mason jars I never would've noticed the stuff.

Thanks for the help.

Josh

[MaplePancakeMan]

I have been using my filter press relatively problem free. On monday i filtered 8 gallons of dark syrup and it appeared to be really clear. I bottled it all up in glass and it was awesome looking clear and everything. Now i have very light almost transparent suspended things in the syrup. You can't see it unless you hold it up to the light and really look at it. Any ideas? Its possible i could have blown a paper but it doesn't look like sand. Its slightly over syrup but not by more than .5 a brix.

[lmichel]

I'm a new guy at this, (only my first season) but I get the cloud of floaties at the bottom of mason jars all the time. My average batch size is about a gallon - I'm on batch 14 today. What's odd is that sometimes I get a batch that have the floaties and I just carefully decant the syrup off after 48 hours. Other times I get this very fine but heavier 'silt' that settles like amber mud at the bottom. This stuff makes decanting very easy because it pretty much sticks like clay while the clouds move pretty easily.
The thing I can't figure out is why I get one type of sediment over the other.
The taste and color are the same. From what I can tell, all of my processing is the same. The batch times, the temp, the brix readings, etc. Maybe the source sap is different from batch to batch? None of my sap is ever older than about 3 days before I boil it.
I sure would like to figure it out - so I can get 'silt' every time :-)

-Lance

56 Taps on 5/16" droplines. 2X3 Stainless Steel Creations Pan and two Jet LPG Burners