What is sugar sand exactly?

[mike z]

What is sugar sand? Is there any use for the stuff? A friend of mine spreads it on toast like butter. He keeps every bit of it. I think he's crazy myself. Should I avoid washing it down the drain? I wouldn't think of letting that much "sand" go down the pipe. When filtering right off the evaporator, I had lots and lots of it. Can I expect to have that much when I reheat the syrup again for bottling? I usually need to take it a degree or two further at the bottling stage.

[wnybassman]

If you need to boil more at bottling, sand and niter will be created.

[KenWP]

Spreads it on toast now we got food safe niter. Man what next. If you washed it into a septic system it would probbably help as the sugar in it would feed bacteria. Everytime syrup goes to a temp over boiling it will create more niter and you have to refilter it.

[Buckshot]

yes don't go over 195F or you will need to refilter.:-|

[argohauler]

I was always under the impression that nitre and sugar sand are 2 different things. Nitre is minerals that come out of hard water when you boil it, like in your tea kettle. You get the same scale deposits in your syrup pan as well.

I've never seen "sand" in a tea kettle before because your not boiling sap in it.

I haven't had sugar sand in my filters for quite a few years now, but I always have scale deposits in the syrup pan.

Where's the experts!

[Haynes Forest Products]

In my old 3 pan set up with the finish pan in the middle the sweet from the flue pan passed thru the flat pan/finish pan on the way to the front semi flue pan and the flat pan looked like the shallow water at the lake rows of sand. It was a light tan color and didnt stick to the bottom just rolled around built up.

[KenWP]

If you poured all the water out of our tea kettle you get sand just like the evaporator. Allways have to have enough so that you don't empty it into something you want to eat or drink.