Buddy Sap

[Jim Powell]

I don't want to repeat last year and have a third of my syrup turn out to be buddy. Can you really taste it in the sap, or does it have to be concentrated down into syrup? I've done a search on here for buddy, and there does seem to be some issues with sap that is very clear (water white) but can end up tasting bad. I had a huge run yesterday when I thought nothing would be up in the woods this morning. I'm tasting almost every tree as I collect, and no bad taste in the sap, and the syrup made today was very good and light.

Thanks....

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
Been a while since I made any buddy syrup. I think you can taste a little bit in the sap but really should smell it in the steam. We made some nice light syrup last years that was not buddy but was metabolic ( woody) flavored. 12 gallons of that went for bulk. That was April 9 thru 13.

Chris

[mountainvan]

I've made my fair share of buddy syrup and have never tasted it in the sap or smelled it in the steam. I don't know it's buddy till I taste the finished syrup.

[Sugarmaker]

I admit that it has been a while since my dad made some and maybe you are correct. I do remember it leaving a bitter kind of after taste on the tongue.
The metabolic stuff we made last year had a unpleasant aroma in the steam and the sap tasted a little flat.
Regards,
Chris

[RileySugarbush]

Jim, we had a big run starting late yesterday and through today. Dave and I boiled down some in a sauce pan and it was borderline buddy. I could smell it in the steam and the very light syrup had an after taste that I really hate. It's a shame to dump so much sap, but we're done.

[Jim Powell]

Thanks for all the replies.

When I realized I had so much buddy syrup from last year, instead of dumping it, I filtered it three times @ 180°F through a carbon filter cartridge. It took out the buddy flavor, but also muted the maple a little. I was hoping to filter the "buddyness" out of the sap. Maybe I will switch from 25 micron sediment in my sap filter housing to the carbon filter tomorrow, and test sugar content before and after a single filter pass. Yes Riley, I was thinking with our weather the last few days that today would be a "day of rest"... WRONG!

[Jim Powell]

One last question,

Is it ok to store the syrup in gallon glass jugs prior to filtering in batches? I hope some of this off flavor doesn't come from storing a few weeks prior to any filtering.