Crystallization, why?

[Tweegs]

OK gents,
Last year about this time we started noticing crystallization in most of our glass bottles of syrup. We guessed that it may have been caused by bottling too hot.

This year we invested in a good thermometer, I think we dropped around $50 on it, checked the calibration here at work (we have equipment that will do that sort of thing), and bottled at 185 degrees.

Though it is not as bad, we still have crystals forming in the bottles now 4 months after bottling. It is a light, almost powdery residue settling in the bottom, and a light dusting around the inside of the cap.


While filtering the syrup during the season, I use a minimum of 2 paper filters, usually 3 or 4 so I can pull out the dirty, clogged filters and keep going. These are inside one of the orlon filters. The syrup is always bright and clear when we are done.

The bottles are stored in their original cardboard box in our crawl space. It is cool, dry and I seldom go down there so there is rarely even a light bulb on.

I’m not quite sure what the problem is.

We intend to sell much of our syrup through a cider mill in the fall. I could get around the problem by bulk packing in the spring and bottling in the fall, but that is just a band aid. There is a reason for this happening, and I’m stumped at the moment.

Thoughts, suggestions, ideas?

[Jim Brown]

Tweegs: Does not seem a crystallization problem as much as a filtering problem.Just from our own experiences ,we like you filtered with felts and pre filters .syrup was beautiful when put in the jars .Like you about this time of the year we needs a new jar of syrup and found a white dust about 1/8 inch thick on the inside bottom of the jar. NITER!!The next purchase for us was a filter press.We have had no problems since and we bottle ALOT in glass and we have some that we sit on the window sill of the sugarhouse for display that has been there for a number of years no white dust.
Hope this helps
Jim

[MERIDIAN MAPLES]

I second Mr. Browns comment. Filter press is the way to go, you've got niter.

[adk1]

yes, niter or "sugar sand" and some call it. takes awhile for it to settle out. filter press is really the only way to really reduce it

[Father & Son]

Ditto to the above comments. Bottling in plastic this little bit of residue is never seen. If you are going to bottle in glass invest in a filter press.

Jim

[SilverLeaf]

I've never seen a filter press in operation - what exactly is it about the design that it's able to to a better job of getting the niter out than a regular gravity-based filter system???

(I have the same problem, btw. Looks great going in the bottle; a month later there's niter clearly visible in the bottom. I was feeling kinda bad about it too, until the other day when I was in Wal-mart and noticed all of their glass syrup bottles had 1/8 inch of niter in the bottom as well!)

[Tweegs]

Niter is the consensus. Why doesn’t that surprise me?

I thought it odd how I was reading about the troubles others were having with it, and I get very little build up in my pan. Thought I was just lucky. We do go through a ton of paper pre-filters though. Wash, hang to dry, reuse…no soap.


I’ll see if we can swing a filter press for next year. 200 taps, maybe 30 gallons of syrup, I’m thinking a 5 bank should do. Agreed?

[DrTimPerkins]

I've never seen a filter press in operation - what exactly is it about the design that it's able to to a better job of getting the niter out than a regular gravity-based filter system???

Much higher surface area for filtration, along with some recirculation at the beginning. Rather than bypassing a single piece of paper, in a filter press, niter would have to get through layers of diatomaceous earth (DE) and filter paper in order to make it into the syrup. Filter presses are quite common in the liquid food and beverage industry (beer). It is frequently referred to as "polishing."

At least one company (Wesfab I think) makes a small hand-pump operated filter press.

There is a bit of a learning curve to using a filter press correctly. See http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/filter_press_brochure.pdf for more information. The most common error is not using enough DE....if the press is plugging up too quickly, most people assume it is the DE plugging the works and try to cut back, which only makes things worse. In reality it is probably that there is not enough DE is there to act as an effective filtration surface....adding more should help. The other key thing....filter the syrup when it is HOT.

Finally....if you use a filter press, always use FOOD-GRADE DE, not the stuff for swimming pools.

[TF Maple]

This made me take a look at mine because I gravity filter too through orlon, but I don't have it in any of my 5 batches. Make sure you don't wring out the filters and make the fibers separate, that would let the niter through. Maybe it can happen anyway even if you have good filters.

[Homestead Maple]

Crystallization? Sediment? Are you talking about sugar crystals in the bottom of containers? Sounds like a density problem to me.

[3rdgen.maple]

If it is sediment in the glass you can always skip the purchase of the filter press and do it the old fashion way...... A sediment container. Here is what good ole gramps did as many others did and still do. Filter your syrup into a large food grade container with a good seal. ( Gramps used big milk cans) Hot pack the containers and let the syrup settle for bottling at a later date. Dont disturb the bottom of the container with all the sediment in it. Gramps had a spigot about 2 inches off the bottom. He would then put it in bottling unit and bring the temp up to 185 and bottle. The last 2 inches of syrup in each container got reheated and filtered again and grandma used it for all her cooking and pancakes.

[red maples]

IT sounds like niter but like home stead maple said it could be too dense and forming sugar crystals on the bottlom of the jug. thats possible.

I used the cone filters(although I filter 2 times to make sure I get everything) and bottled a few glass not too much but nothing settled out yet.

I don't know if it would matter but do you let your syrup cool before putting it back in to boxes. I know that if they are repacked in the boxes hot it will effect the color grade but I am not sure if there will be any additional niter.?

[SilverLeaf]

Hot pack the containers and let the syrup settle for bottling at a later date. Dont disturb the bottom of the container with all the sediment in it. Gramps had a spigot about 2 inches off the bottom. He would then put it in bottling unit and bring the temp up to 185 and bottle. The last 2 inches of syrup in each container got reheated and filtered again and grandma used it for all her cooking and pancakes.

That's actually more or less my methodology, and I still got sediment in my bottles. Must've been some "hiding out" somewhere....

One other observation of mine this year: the amount of sediment was directly proportional to the syrup grade: the lighter it was, the more sediment it had. My darkest stuff had virtually none, but my lightest (which this year was about A Medium) had tons of it. Don't know why that would be.

[Tweegs]

These aren’t really crystals, more like powdered/confectioners sugar. Something I would suspect is still suspended in the syrup during bottling, and then settles out over time.

Niter/inadequate filtering certainly seem a plausible reason for it.

Fall is a very busy time for us. Packaging the syrup in the spring is a better option, from a time perspective, with all the irons we have in the fire. We just have to get a handle on this little problem, and if it takes a filter press, so be it.

The cider mill owner is a friend of mine. Talking about it a while back, we thought that packing the light and medium ambers in glass and the darker stuff in plastic might be more attractive to his customers.

As an aside, the weather this spring really took a toll on him; he lost 90% of his apples. He’ll be buying apples from a grower a little south of here that wasn’t hit so hard, just so he can keep his doors open.

As for washing the filters…no, we don’t wring them. We turn them inside out and run them through the washing machine, then hang them on the line to dry.

Our bottling practice is to heat the syrup to 185, fill and cap the bottles, then lay them on their sides until cool. Once cool, we move them to the boxes.

[ToadHill]

Gravity filters never get all of the nitre no matter how well you think you do filtering it. A filter press with DE is the only way to guarantee that you will get all of it and have a product that will remain clear. With a gravity filter system the product may look clear when you first put in the bottle, but then the small percentage of nitre that is present, but not visibly obvious, will settle to the bottom and form a thin layer.

That said, if you reheat the syrup after filtering (even with a filter press) be sure to not overheat it and allow additional evaporation. When you allow additional evaporation you further concentrate the syrup, thus causing more nitre to precipitate out of solution and make your syrup cloudy. It is quite common, especially with beginning maple producers, to reboil the syrup after filtering. When they put it in the bottle they are perplexed that it is cloudy again. Just heat it to 180 degrees and package it.

[Jim Brown]

Tweegs; Your headed in the proper direction. A small 5" hand filter press won't break the bank but would filter 30-50 gallons of syrup in a season with ease! No more chalk dust in the bottom of the glass containers.

Jim

[220 maple]

I've had the same problem with some of my syrup in glass. I took one with me recently when I went to my maple equipment supplier Henry B. He said it is niter, he said Bruce from leader said it is caused by having the temp. of the syrup to be bottled at 190 or above to long. Syrup gets cloudy then settles out after a period of time.

Mark 220 Maple

[Brent]

You could do it like the Quebecois, use "traditional" cans and no-one will ever see the sediment.

18000 French sugarmakers can't be wrong.

[red maples]

checked my glass no sediment!!!

[ontario guy]

"As for washing the filters…no, we don’t wring them. We turn them inside out and run them through the washing machine, then hang them on the line to dry."


I think we may have found the problem, i too have this problem and it only started after i started using the the washing machine two years ago. Last year i purchased a new filter and after the first couple of batches i started getting nitter. I had my old filter for 5 years no problems.

i will buy a new filter this year and only hand wash from now on.

Good luck.. i will let you know if this fixed it.

mark

[red maples]

5 years is a long time for a filter. I personally will check mine at the end of the season if it seems roughd up at all I toss it and get new. when I clean mine I just submerge and rinse several times in clean water unit the water is clear. then I boil it in clean water. and hang it. thats it. I like to start the season with new filters then there is no chance of any off flavors/ mold/ or anything like that could possibly taint my syrup. Oh by the way flat filters are way cheaper and easier to clean than cone filters and they work better so I will be switching for this season.

AS for putting them in the washing machine that scares me a bit. Don't know what's lingering in there. I wash my sugarhouse rags(which are mostly for wiping things down and cleaning) in the washer but I add a touch of bleach to sanitize but they rarely come in contact with edible syrup. just my 2 cents

[Brent]

Tweegs

One thing that is often overlooked, goes like this:

Your draw off your syrup and use any kind of filter you like and collect beautiful clear stuff. Great to this point. Then for bottling you put it back in the finishing pan, turn on the propane, bring it up to 180-185 degrees, put it in bottles and 3 weeks later you get sediment in the bottom of the bottles !!!

What has happen is that when you re-heated the syrup after filtering, the in the pan directly over the flame, was heated to 200 or so degrees. With normal pan with a single layer of stainless, you CAN NOT avoid this over the flame. When the syrup reaches 200 degrees it makes more nitre, which is what you see settling out a few weeks later. How much you get depends on how hot your propane flame is and how much you stir when you're reheating. Lots of stirring and a low flame will minimize the hot spot effect over the flame. It will also take longer with the low flame.

All this can be avoided using a water jacket canner or a make shift canner with a double boiler style set of pans, to keep the flame from heating the syrup container directly.

The key is NEVER to get ANY part of the filtered syrup up to about 190-195 degrees, which is the triggrer point to make more nitre.

It took us 2 years to figure out that the re-heating was the trigger to make more nitre. Now we have a water jacket canner and have never had any nitre since.

[red maples]

I use a hotel pan. don't have any issues with glass or sediment. One thing as long as you have syrup in the pan the metal itself will only get so hot. there is a natural stiring that happens, heated sap rises and cooler sap sinks. so there might be times when the botoom might reach 200F but its for only a second or 2.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Im with Brent on the boiling issue. Try this start out with nice clear syrup in your bottler just enough to cover the bottom about 1" start up the burner and watch the tiny little bubbles and that all familiar sound of micro boiling. It also happens with coffee makers that have elements that are in direct contact with the syrup.

[Tweegs]

We’ve been using the cone filters.
Mama will wash out the washing machine, (we have a front loader so not so hard to do) then she turns the filters inside out and washes them with hot water only, no soap. Hang to dry. No issues so far, but we always start the season with new filters.

We’re down to syrup packed in gallon jugs and need to re-bottle some here soon. We’ll try stirring it and see if we can reduce the amount of niter being formed. Makes perfect sense, given the way we bottle.