Syrup Mold

[the old guy]

We Process About 65 -75 Galllons Maple Syrup A Year. But During The Last Two Years We Have Been Plagued With Mold Forming In Some Of Our "sealed" Bottles. All The Filtering, Canning, And Handling Of The Bottles Are Strictly Followed--but We Still Get Mold. It Doesn't Matter Which Batch (early Season Or Late). Anyone Else Have This Problem? Any Suggestions?

The Old Guy

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I would guess you are not bottling it hot enough. I would try to bottle it about 185 to 190 and seal the bottles quickly when they are full. Never had a problem with mold in plastic bottles unless there is a defective bottle with a bad seal or the syrup 2 or 3 years old or more.

[the old guy]

Brandon

We Heat The Finished Syrup To Almost 200 Degrees, Rotate The Bottles Upside Down. I Have A Suspicion That The Problem Might Be In The Caps. My Nephew Is In Charge Of "gatorade" Production And He Says That Sanitizing The Caps Right Before Bottling Might Help.

The Old Guy

[3rdgen.maple]

Well I have never had any mold problems that I know of until this year. With the plastic sugarhill jugs this year I have seen a few that have molded on top. I also bottle at 190*. Tilt the jugs upside down and what not and did nothing any different than I have ever done and still a few showed mold this year. I sent out an email to the place I bought the jugs from (been the same place for ever) and they told me too boil the caps to sanitize them before capping. Hmmmmm boiling plastic caps seems like it would warp the heck out of them. What I have noticed in the past is that it is possible to tighten the caps too much and they do not get a good seal as it distorts them on the jug. You can visually see this by looking at the tops and see that they look warped on the jug and not actually sitting nice and flat. I plan on paying a little more attention to the jugs as they get opened and see if they are warped. The only difference this year was there was a newby putting the caps on the jugs. I think I may have just discovered my problem as I type. LOL

[C.Wilcox]

We had the same problem here. Mold in almost every jar so we emptied them all out and reheated to boiling and then canned. Ended up with some of them developing mold again! I also think it might have been the lids. Next year all the jars are going in the dishwasher on a Sterilization cycle and the lids are going in a pot of boiling water to make sure that the glassware is all spotless.

[Brian Ryther]

One potential cause might be low density. Are you using a hydrometer to verify density?

[red maples]

no problems here...yet...I use both sugarhill and bacon jugs. Although once the sugarhill ones are gone I am switching to bacon only because of the nh maple producer's bottle is a bacon jug. it wouldn't be the lid itself just the seal. you can take the lid off and the seal should still be attached. correct. either the glue in the lid is bad or it didn't seal correctly for whatever reason or the other thing like brian said is the density.

[brookledge]

Like most have said the only causes can be from not hot enough or not dense enough. Have you checked your thermometer? I can up about 1500 jugs of syrup a year in sugarhill jugs and don't have any problems. When I do 5oml glass I usually put the cases of empty glass in the oven and heat them up to 150-175.
It is possible that the temperature of the jug was so cold that it cooled the syrup below 185 before you screwed the cap on. With 1/2 pts and pts you have to be careful when canning in the winter.
I guess all you can do is step back and look at all of the conditions when you canned it.
Good luck. I hope you can figure it out.
Keith

[3rdgen.maple]

I cant speak for the other guys but after 3 generations of using the sugarhill jugs this was the first year I have ever had problems. I can tell you density, temps etc. are not the concern. Been doing this long enough to bottle syrup the right way. The only point that has been brought up that I noticed wrong this year was from Red. He hit a key point when he said the seal should stay on the jug when the cap is removed. Not thinking about this before but he would be right. The few jugs that have mold the seals came off with the caps. I date each batch and give each jug a corresponding batch number and I can tell you it is no specific batch that I had the problem with and in fact it might be only a single jug in a batch that was molded. Temp is not the concern cause my botteling setup is heated to maintain the proper temp. with a thermometer on it as well. Also it has only been a problem with quart jugs. I am reverting back to the darn caps and if they get screwed down to tight they just dont seal right. I will keep tabs on it from now on and keep you guys posted on what I find out.

[Russell Lampron]

I would think that boiling the caps would soften or wash off the glue on the seal and make it not seal when put on the jug.

[maplecrest]

when handling caps, be sure not to put your thumb in the cap. all it takes is one thumb print inside the cap to make a jug mold