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Been doing syrup for 15 years and normally at 219 its syrup this year my first boil finishing off 5 gallons the temperature was 222% so now I am one my second batch and looks like 221 or 222 will be syrup
I have two thermometer's and two Hydrometer so I tried them both and they came up with the same thing DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE THIS PROBLEM THIS YEAR?
been a lot of high pressure weather systems
I had the opposite "problem" this year. I had a day it boiled at 216.5 if you can believe it! To be fair however I am about 850 or so feet above sea level which can effect it as well
that was boiling water!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6d4c2c136a.jpg
Alot of times I set my thermometer to how the syruy sheets. The ole sheeting never changes!! Once you get accustomed to it it's pretty accurate. I can generally tell within a couple brix by the sheets.
I use a Marcland barometer/boil meter. I'm at 470' elevation and my draw temps this year have ranged from 218.2 up to 220.4. I get those by taking the barometer reading at that time and add 7.3 F. I think last year I had a time or 2 when a draw temp was a little over 221F but not by much. I really like the Marcland Baro/Boil meter, it quickly gives me the accurate boil temperature so I can make adjustments as often as needed. I used to just draw at 219.3 and then adjust as needed, now I find very little adjusting necessary.
I have been finishing between 222.5 and 223.5 this season. I am at about 30 feet above sea level
I start every bottling session with a careful comparison between the hydrometer and the thermometer. When I've settled on today's temperature, I write it on the blackboard and work to that temp for the rest of the day. If there's a major change in the days weather, I check again Over the past week we've made syrup from 219 to 221.2 degrees on different days,
I never use the sheeting method. I can take a scoop of syrup where the hydrometer almost does not float and make it sheet thinking the syrup is done but it's not. I also don't pay a lot of attention to temperature. My hydrometers have been checked and are accurate, that's the only thing I trust to make sure my syrup is correct density. I adjust my auto draw to open when my hydrometer says it is ready.
The only thing I use temperature for is to determine when I should unpack the Hydrometer. I had a day this year when both my thermometers went down. I never even missed a beat. Since I finish on propane I can pretty much look at the pot and figure when I need to check with a hydrometer. For the two days before my new thermometer arrived I did find myself checking more often, oddly I was heavy more than I was light.
I'm almost always around 220 or 221....sometimes 222. I have two thermometers (different brands) and it's all about the same for me. 250 feet above sea level. First year or so I was frustrated in that I would boil outside until 219 and then bring into the house where I'd still be finishing for an hour based on the hydrometer readings. Now, I just watch the bubbles and the pan outside tells me when it's nearly ready to be finished. I still check with the thermometer just to know what it reads but it's the hydrometer that tells the real story. It took a while for me to "read" the bubbles.
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I also only use a hydrometer to determine draw off. I have used 10 different digital thermometers over the past 15 years that have always failed. I now have dial thermometers in my flat pan and finishing pot to get me close but after that its all hydrometer.
Interesting, I have been around 216 to 217 on the Marcland this year. Water boils around 210 here + 7.1 = 217.1. Also on the aproning. When I see it starting to apron it is usually 1 to 1.5 degrees below syrup. Just my 2 cents.
Regards,
Chris