sugar sand

[RI syrup]

Hi all, just finished my first batch. It's beautiful, light amber and 7/8 of it perfectly clear. Now for the bad news, About a 1/2 inch of sugar sand in the bottom of each jar. I may have drawn off just a tad early (last yrs. last batch was clear but crystalized at the bottom over time. just a bit too long) Anyway I filter with a paper pre filter then a felt filter. Can I just re-jar. HELP thanks rob

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Rob,
I'd reheat, check the density, re-filter, and re-can it. If it is for home use, I wouldn't worry much about it unless you have some fussy teenagers....

[Russ]

What's the temperature of the syrup when its going in the jars? You're not reheating it in the jars to seal them, right? Are you spacing out the jars after capping to allow them to cool?

[RI syrup]

The hydrometers' hot test red line is maybe 1/8 inch below the syrup level in the cup. (I tried to draw off a little early last batch formed cyrstals) thanks Rob

[Haynes Forest Products]

I would draw off and then filter and let sit for a few days then siphon into bottler and heat to 190 and bottle. Filter the rest and add to next batch. I had the same problem and couldnt filter my way out of it.

[Uncle Tucker]

Rob,
This has happened to all of us. It sounds like one of two things, either your filter is not fine enough, or you heated your syrup over 195* after filtering.
One thing you might want to do if you rejar it is check the density again. If it’s to light it could ferment or it taste watery, and if it’s to heave it will crystallize.

Or you could leave it and eat fast and it will taste “AWESOME”just the way it is!!!

[Dennis H.]

Last year I didn't have good filters, I used large coffee filters. Once I hot packed it into mason jars I let them sit for awhile.

All the really fine sugarsand that the coffee filter didn't get settled to the bottom. If you don't mind that just let it go and try not to stir it up to much and when you get down to the gunk just toss it out.
I also took some jars and repacked it. I used one of those bulb turkey basters and sucked out the syrup till I got down to the gunk and then reheated it and repacked it into mason jars. This produced some real nice clear syrup.

One thing I am doing a little different this year when I go to finish the syrup is I let all the sugarsand settle out of the syrup in my evap pan and then carefully draw off just the top liquid and run that thru a coffee filter,then I take the remainder and filter that thru several coffee filters a few times.
My first batch of syrup came out really clear.

[rpetro]

Is there anything that can be done while boiling to lessen the amount of sugar sand?

[buck3m]

Hi all, just finished my first batch. It's beautiful, light amber and 7/8 of it perfectly clear. Now for the bad news, About a 1/2 inch of sugar sand in the bottom of each jar. I may have drawn off just a tad early (last yrs. last batch was clear but crystalized at the bottom over time. just a bit too long) Anyway I filter with a paper pre filter then a felt filter. Can I just re-jar. HELP thanks rob

I have been through that exact same situation and here's what I've done with good results.

Let each jar sit undisturbed for a couple of weeks or until the syrup at the top is completely clear. Carefully poor off all the clear syrup from each jar into a container. Let the remaining syrup/sugar sand from each jar drain into another container.

Wash out your jars, take all the clear syrup and can normally.

Take all your dregs and put them in a half gallon jar or similar. Let sit a couple of weeks or until the top is clear. You should be able to pour off another small batch of clear syrup. Throw out the remaining sugar sand.

[Old Shady Lane]

I bought I new wool filter and actually read the directions before using it. It says to soak it in boiling sap right before filtering. I did this then ran about a gallons of syrup through it and of course it watered down the syrup and I had to reboil and filter again. Any suggestions?

[PerryW]

Silly directions!

If you soaked it in boiling sap, then you would get unfiltered sap on the bottom of the filter which is supposed to be clean. (not to mention, diluting the finished syrup)

[PerryW]

Silly directions!

If you soaked it in boiling sap, then you would get unfiltered sap on the bottom of the filter which is supposed to be clean. (not to mention, diluting the finished syrup)