Ice in Buckets

[Dan W]

I tap all reds. Last year on several days I had ice in most of my buckets. Some of them were frozen solid and others had a liquid core. I would put the ice in a cooler and use a hatchet to break it and release the liquid then throw out the ice. I know this can be considered natures RO sort of. What about the ones that are solid? They froze because of lower sugar content I suppose. Is it worthwhile to save and boil or should I just toss it? Any thoughts would be appreciated!!

[Grade "A"]

I would keep the ones that were solid and put it in you sap tank to help keep it cold. With the ones that are partly frozen I collect the liquid core and keep the ice in the bucket if it is going to be warm that day to keep the sap in the buckets cold.

[KenWP]

At he first of the season I kept all the ice and added it to the collection to keep things cold and because i figured it was waste full. By the end of the season I was trying to freeze the sap so I could throw the ice away and cut down on my boiling. I was able to gain a half point in sugar one night by throwing away the ice.

[red maples]

I would think that some of the sugar would get trapped in the big blocks of ice but if your getting rid of an inch or so off the top then that would be good to pitch. I like the idea of using it to cool the tanks. I will use that this year!!! thanks

[3rdgen.maple]

I try to avoid as much ice in the buckets as possible. When you get one that has busted the seams it cost money to replace it. I empty buckets at the end of the day usually when it stops running. That way an empty bucket has nothing in it to freeze. Does not always work if it runs into the night then freezes early morning but I keep a good eye on the weather and if that is the case I gather before the freeze as well. Now if I could find a thermometer that has an alarm on it when the temps hit freezing to wake me up. I hate ice unless Im fishing on it.....

[DrTimPerkins]

I try to avoid as much ice in the buckets as possible. When you get one that has busted the seams it cost money to replace it. I empty buckets at the end of the day usually when it stops running. That way an empty bucket has nothing in it to freeze. Does not always work if it runs into the night then freezes early morning but I keep a good eye on the weather and if that is the case I gather before the freeze as well. Now if I could find a thermometer that has an alarm on it when the temps hit freezing to wake me up. I hate ice unless Im fishing on it.....

If I recall correctly, I believe that research has shown that there is some amount of sugar tied up in the ice. You will lose some sugar if you toss out the ice. It is not as much as is left in the liquid, but it is there.

Edited Version...

Found the paper. It is by Stinson and Willits in the Maple Syrup Digest Vol. 2, No. 2. 1963. The summary is below:

Summary
1. Do not discard ice from partially frozen or melted sap. The value of sugar lost with the ice exceeds the gain from lower oil consumption.
2. Dipping frozen sap in plain water or fresh sap has no advantage.
3. Discarding centrifuged ice which has been crushed or rinsed is advantageous. However, this procedure would not be practical due to the high cost of centrifuging.
4. Discarding the ice from partially frozen sap appears economical only under unusual condition wherein an evaporator house could not process all of the sap supply or a maple farmer could not haul all of his sap run. Under these rarely encountered circumstances it would be advantageous to process only the liquid portion of the mixture since syrup solids are greater in the liquid phase.

[Dave Y]

THis will get you guys going. Ice tends to make darker syrup. I have seen it first hand. so if your goal is to make lighter syrup, pitch the ice.

[3rdgen.maple]

Dr. Perkins when I said I emty the buckets at the end of the day I guess I should have said gather the sap.

[TF Maple]

I only had about 12 ounces of sap so far so I had time to do some testing of ice and sap that wasn't frozen. Two of my trees had some sap in the pails and about one third was ice. I checked the sap on my calibrated refractometer and it was 4%, then I melted some of the ice and it was 1%.
From 2 trees at my cousins house the sap was about half frozen and the unfrozen part was 7%. Left the ice melt and what was left is 2%. There may have been some of the 7% left in the glass, I can't say for sure it was all drained out, so that may be why this last ice sample was higher.
I'm sure it will be a few more days before any big sap run around here so I will do some more testing in the next couple days.

The sap was very good tasting and you could certainly tell the difference in the sweetness between 4 and 7%.

[TF Maple]

I have melted some ice a couple times now and it has always been 1% on the refractometer. Well, except one time when it was 1.3% but then I checked it with some RO water from my drinking faucet and found out it was reading .3% high. So it still was 1%.
Before I get too busy I want to check ice at the top of a bucket and some from the bottom, to see if there is a different density.
So everyone has to decide if this is worth boiling or should be tossed out. I can see where keeping the 1% is going to increase boiling time and make darker syrup. I don't like tossing it now because it keeps my stored small amounts of sap cold and when you only have small amounts at the beginning of the season, you want to save it all so you can boil soon. Maybe later when there are big runs I will feel like dumping it so the boiling goes faster.

[gomish]

T F Maple Thanks for sharing the Ice Testing. For the last few day I have been straining the ice with deep fryer basket strainer after smashing it up some. I was wondering if i was throwing away sugar. So there is a small bit. I may do as you suggest, keep it now in early season since the production is quite low due to cold mornings (4 degs yesterday and 10 today). Later, if production picks up, though, the temps will be higher and ice will probably not form.

[markct]

I try to avoid as much ice in the buckets as possible. When you get one that has busted the seams it cost money to replace it. I empty buckets at the end of the day usually when it stops running. That way an empty bucket has nothing in it to freeze. Does not always work if it runs into the night then freezes early morning but I keep a good eye on the weather and if that is the case I gather before the freeze as well. Now if I could find a thermometer that has an alarm on it when the temps hit freezing to wake me up. I hate ice unless Im fishing on it.....

it seems usualy my trees here start running mid morning and run till 9 at night or later, do ya gather in the dark or your trees seem on a different scedule? i know its a pain pumping tanks in the dark, but alot easier than collecting buckets!

[Gary R]

I did some testing yesterday. Some of the ice when melted read .7 But others read 0. I was using a refractometer and wasn't shure it was right. I tested with my hydrometer and my readings were correct. I just got done collecting and pitched all the ice. Some were solid blocks of almost 1 gal.

[BryanEx]

I bought a sap hydrometer today mostly because of this discussion... I wanted to try it myself. I had 4 five gallon pails which froze 1 inch thick around the sides and across the bottom last night. The top & center were still liquid when I removed the lids. First I tested the center sap which read 4.8 Brix. Next I drained off all the liquid sap, broke up the ice, and let it drain through a strainer for over an hour. The ice that remained was then melted and measured at 2.2 Brix at 38 degrees. I will be trying this test a few more times but for now I will be processing the ice unless as Dr. Perkins quotes - I have more sap than I can process.