Proper procedure for using Hydrotherm

Tgormley358 - When you need to slowly dump 25 gallons of 64 Brix nearly-syrup into your syrup pan over a 10 minute period and watch the ensuing chaos to your pan levels and auto-runoff you'll never want to make the same mistake again! Our runoffs come so frequently that we don't have time to get it perfect coming off the pans. I'd rather take off at 68.5 Brix and adjust down by 1.75 by adding a few Liters of water than try to thicken thin syrup by adding a bunch of thicker syrup. Plus, our drawoff temp will adjust down throughout the day by up to 0.5 degrees as the temperature probe gets sugared up so we are always chasing the correct drawoff temp.

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Originally Posted by tgormley358

Embarrassed moment for a “still a newbie”, as I’m reading this and learning more than I knew about using a hydrometer. I always use one to determine when I drawoff, but I’ve only used the top red line (32 Baume / 65.8 brix), and I’m seeing here that all of you boil well past that, so my syrup is thin in comparison. I’d like to understand that. It always struck me as obvious that such a clear indicator as a red line would mean “Syrup”. Is the red line just a starting point, like a minimum acceptable for syrup? Is it just personal preference beyond that? Unless you’re selling in Canada where 66.5 is required? And why would you go beyond that - again just personal preference?

Lifelong learner

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Ontario minimum is 66. Anything over 68.5 will crystallize over time. 67 just tastes better than 66. I shoot for 5 lines over (66.8) because it's easy to read on the scale and even if I am off a touch I will never be under.

Here's an article that explains it well
https://onmaplesyrup.wordpress.com/2...ase-customers/

Thanks Big Eddy. That was a helpful article.

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Originally Posted by Big_Eddy

Ennismaple and I are doing exactly the same thing, just at a different scale.
He does 20 gallons at a time, I do 20l.
He adds permeate, I add sap.
In both cases we start thick and adjust to exactly 66.8 Brix before bottling.

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I have understood everything that you have posted in this thread about the hydrotherm, thank you.

I will be getting the sap close on my cinderblock evaporator, but will finish it in a pot. I imagine it will be about 6 L of almost syrup. Would I be okay to finish it to 5 or 6 lines over (66.8-67 Brix) and be done with it, as opposed to going over and thinning it later?

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Originally Posted by Swingpure

Would I be okay to finish it to 5 or 6 lines over (66.8-67 Brix) and be done with it, as opposed to going over and thinning it later?

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If finishing off an evaporator, it is just easier to thin the syrup down to density (with water, NOT sap) then to have to reboil. If you're finishing on a pot on the stove, either way will work.

A good number of your questions could be quite easily answered if you checked https://mapleresearch.org/pub/mproducersmanual/ There is a new version coming out in about a year, but this edition would mostly be sufficient for your needs.

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Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins

If finishing off an evaporator, it is just easier to thin the syrup down to density (with water, NOT sap) then to have to reboil. If you're finishing on a pot on the stove, either way will work.

A good number of your questions could be quite easily answered if you checked https://mapleresearch.org/pub/mproducersmanual/ There is a new version coming out in about a year, but this edition would mostly be sufficient for your needs.

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I downloaded the manual and I am more than halfway through it. I learnt lots of new things and it also corrected some beliefs I held.

One chart in the book was different from other things I had read. I had read before that a tree should be at least 20” in diameter to have 2 taps. The chart in the book says trees 15-20” can have two taps and trees 20+ can have three taps. What is the current thinking on the number of taps/diameter?

Thank you.


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Gary, it's just my own personal way of tapping. 10 to 18" - 1 tap 18" and bigger no more than 2 taps. two is the most I will put on any of my trees. Like I said it is me personally. I know you can put up to 3 taps on the bigger trees I just don't. I don't even tap all the trees I have available and rotate each year.

Can you use a hydrotherm for measuring the sugar content of raw sap?

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Originally Posted by Swingpure

Can you use a hydrotherm for measuring the sugar content of raw sap?

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No, you can't. I don't know of anyone who makes a hydrotherm for sap.

Check your local CDL store they will have sap hydrometers. They are usually around $20.00 or maybe a little more. It's been a while since I bought mine and I do not know about the prices in Canada.