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Thread: How to use a Syrup Hydrometer

  1. #1
    Slatebelt**Tapper**Pa Guest

    Default How to use a Syrup Hydrometer

    Hi purchased a Syrup Hydrometer and cup from Maple guys.

    Thing is Ive never used one and was hoping there would be some instruction with it. (MY LUCK, NONE )

    Can Any body give me some basics.

    It has a hot test on it and a cold test on it.

    Does the syrup when finished right sit at the reds lines in etheir cold or hot line.

    Thanks
    Charlie

    P.s. seen the first miller moth today(1-20-06) !!!

  2. #2
    mountainvan Guest

    Default

    cold test is 68 degrees, bottom red line, hot test is 211 degrees. syrup is hardly ever 68 or 211 when your testing it, so. go to target, walmart, etc. get a digital thermometer, the kind for meat, so you know the temp of syrup in the cup. on the internet find the north american maple producers manual and print the page on compensation of syrup density for temperature, pin it to wall by your canner and you're all set. example at 100 degrees add 1 to the reading on the hydrometer, read the bottom of the miniscus, if it reads 65 + 1= 66% right on!!

  3. #3
    Maple Hill Sugarhouse Guest

    Default

    post edited

    .
    Last edited by Maple Hill Sugarhouse; 12-02-2008 at 08:10 AM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Slatington Pa
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    196

    Default I Found this

    Hot Test for Maple Syrup:
    Syrup should be tested directly from the boiling pan. Do not let the syrup sit or cool, test at 2ll.

    Place syrup sample in a sample cup at least 8” deep. (Hydrometer Cup)

    Hold the hydrometer cup over a pail or your boiling pan and slowly lower the hydrometer into the syrup. Be sure to hold onto the hydrometer tightly until it is floating on its own or resting on the bottom of the sample cup. A hydrometer released in lightweight syrup can hit the bottom of the cup and crack the glass. This is a VERY fragile instrument.

    The hydrometer should float so that the top Hot Test red line is even with the surface
    of the liquid.


    If the red line floats above the syrup surface, your sample is too heavy. Add a small amount of hot sap to your syrup to thin it and retest. Add small amounts at a time so you do not thin your syrup too much.

    If the red line is buried in your sample, the syrup is too thin and further boiling is required.


    Cold Test for Maple Syrup:
    The hydrometer is calibrated for 60o (room temperature) syrup. Proceed as above, except use the lower Cold Test red line on the hydrometer.

    Allow some time for the hydrometer to stabilize in the cold syrup.


    Some causes of test variations are:
    Syrup temperature is significantly different than the hydrometer’s calibration temperature.

    Sugar sand deposits on the hydrometer (carefully remove by scraping with a knife blade.)

    Syrup sticking to the stem above the red line. (This and no. 2 above both add weight to the instrument and vary its reading.)

    The paper scale inside the hydrometer stem has loosened or shifted position. This is rare but does occur from time to time.

    Syrup sample is not properly taken from the whole lot and therefore not representative of the whole batch.


    Hydrometers are fragile, glass instruments. They must be handled very cautiously. We recommend that you keep a spare on hand in case of breakage.


    Hope this works for me,. It cant be all that hard. I been useing a candy and an electronic thermo all this time. Just wanted to try somthing differnt this year.

    Charlie
    ~John Deere 750 4x4 /w65 loader~
    ~ 20" X 66" Maple Pro *7" drop flues~
    ~ 12 x 12 sugar shack~
    ~150+ taps old school~2011
    ~130+ taps for 2014~
    ~6x4 Gator~
    Hinkjc Mountain Poultry

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    BECKLEY, WV (SUGARHOUSE DAWSON, WV)
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    Default

    One thing I would recommend for beginners or someone starting to use a hydrometer is to fill your hydrometer cup with hot syrup and let it sit about 1 minute. Then dump it back and fill it again and take the reading immediately from the second cup. What happens if you put hot syrup in a cold or cool cup, it cools it some and it can affect the density a little.
    Brandon

    CDL dealer for All of West Virginia & Virginia
    3x10 CDL Deluxe oil fired
    Kubota M7040 4x4 Tractor w/ 1153 Loader hauling sap
    2,400+ taps on 3/16 CDL natural vacuum on 9 properties
    24x56 sugarhouse
    CDL 1,000 2 post RO


    WEBSITE: http://danielsmaple.com

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
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    smithville flats ny near binghamton
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    Default

    Like WV said, a cool cup and hydrometer can affect the reading a little bit. So, another way to keep it warm is to hang the hydrometer cup, with the hydrometer inside of it, inside the syrup pan while you are boiling. This keeps it hot and also keeps it near to where you are going to use it again.
    shrunken producer, from 8,000 taps to 4,000 to 5800 to 9500 to 11,000 vac
    5x16 woodchip fired evaporator with 5x10 max flue and 5x6 revolution front pan
    CDL 20+ RO
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    sp-11, bb2, airtech L63, L160, L230 vac pumps
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
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    Mercer, PA
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    Default

    It also keeps the glass hydrometer from the thermal shock of putting hot syrup against it at room temperature. Had one crack this way, even though the glass should be able to take the heat.

    Brian
    -Brian-
    1st generation sugarmaker
    A wonderful wife, 9 children...
    www.sweetwoodmaple.com

    250 Taps on Vacuum for '21
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  8. #8
    Join Date
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    Default

    What Brian says could possibly happen but I have been using the same hydrometer for over 10 years and I always drop it in cold and it hasn't failed me yet!
    Brandon

    CDL dealer for All of West Virginia & Virginia
    3x10 CDL Deluxe oil fired
    Kubota M7040 4x4 Tractor w/ 1153 Loader hauling sap
    2,400+ taps on 3/16 CDL natural vacuum on 9 properties
    24x56 sugarhouse
    CDL 1,000 2 post RO


    WEBSITE: http://danielsmaple.com

  9. #9
    Maple Hill Sugarhouse Guest

    Default

    post edited
    Last edited by Maple Hill Sugarhouse; 12-02-2008 at 08:10 AM.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
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    Default

    Maple hill sugarhouse was absolutely right about keeping an extra hydrometer in the sugarhouse. You don't break it until you use it, and if it breaks when you're boiling, then you're#@?$@% out of luck. When you get your extra hydrometer, put both of them in syrup at the same time and check to see that they read the same. Often times they will read a little different. You can then adjust your numbers from your "known" hydrometer readings to your new hydrometer readings. This may seem like unnecesary work, but 1/2 degree brix or baume too light and you don't have syrup, or if it is too heavy, you are giving away money. We bought out a sugaring operation years ago that had some extra hyrometers. I started looking through the boxes and one sap hyrometer said "buy" and another said "sell". Just to see what was going on I put both in a bucket of sap and one read 1.5 degrees brix higher than the other one. After that I have always check my hydrometers against the one that is working well for me and have found some inconsistencies.
    shrunken producer, from 8,000 taps to 4,000 to 5800 to 9500 to 11,000 vac
    5x16 woodchip fired evaporator with 5x10 max flue and 5x6 revolution front pan
    CDL 20+ RO
    Double 10"filterpress

    sp-11, bb2, airtech L63, L160, L230 vac pumps
    CDL low profile electric releaser
    MES 8000 electric releaser
    CDL 4000 tap mechanical releaser

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