too much nitre

[dano2840]

im wondering why im getting so much nitre in my pans, the sap is filtered twice before entering the evap, i had alot last year but i wasnt doing a very good job of filtering sap as i only had 1 filter last year, but its being filtered 2 times from my little bush and as soon as i get my pump hooked up the sap from the big bush will be filtered 3 times, any one know why there is so much in my pans? should i filter it like 3 times in the feed tank alone? filter it like 4 times before entering the evaporator?

[KenWP]

Whats the sugar level of the sap. You will get niter even with cystal clear sap.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

You can filter the sap to you are blue in the face, but the nitre develops after you boil. Higher the quality of sap and the lighter the syrup, the less nitre in my experience. The higher the bacteria of the sap and the lower the quality, the higher the nitre or what most people refer to as nitre the majority of it is dead bacteria in my opinion. I hardly had any all season as long as I was making light syrup which about all my crop this year and the last few hundred gallon of sap I boiled from 70 degree weather and much higher bacteria almost looked like a light layer of mud. Still made good Dark A syrup likely when I filter and bottle it, but lots of gunk.

This has always been my experience over the years. The poorer the sap quality or the higher the bacteria count, the higher the gunk or what most people refer to nitre. I think true nitre stays about the same the entire season and from year to year. It is the dead bacteria that makes it look a lot higher.

[3rdgen.maple]

Dano you just gotta deal with it you can filter your sap 100 times it won't matter. I am told it is the heating that releases the nitre. I have a very excessive amount this year also but I was figuring since I tapped some virgin trees this year that It might be the problem. If you draw off your evaporator into a filter unit then reheat it to bottle you will release more nitre in the syrup. So lots of reversing pans and cleanups for us guys too. Funny thing is all I have made is light syrup.

[maplecrest]

dano my sugar house had nothing but a niter smell yesterday as i was boiling. the boys at maple pro told me that the are a lot of minerals in the sap this year slowing down r/os. but the syrup did taste great

[dano2840]

boiled wed. night and pulled off 7 gals, the first 4 were loaded with nitre but the last 2 had none what so ever when i shut down my pans were as clean as a whistle, just dont get it, made dark amber with tons of nitre and dark w/ out, the stuff w/ out tasted better though it might be because my pans arent level going to fix that tonight

[Mark-NH]

I like your hypothesis about quality of sap and quantity of Nitre. I'll keep an eye on that and see if it holds up for me.

[maple flats]

One of the main niter causes is minerals in the sap that cannot remain in suspension as the sap is condensed to syrup. This is regardless of whether you have a high or low bacteria count. Some might also be the dead bacteria and the bacteria by products.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Dave,

I agree with you on nitre but what most of the gunk people refer to as nitre is more like mud, not the fine gritty substance that nitre is. Thus what I was referring to as a lot of nitre being a lot of dead bacteria. Dead bacteria don't equal nitre, but mix with the nitre and is referred to as nitre do to it mixing together.