Finishing syrup question, sediment issues
Ok, looking at the syrup from last season I find as I use it I end up with a dark residue on the bottom of the jars. My barrel evaporator used hotel pans so the syrup tended to burn on the sides of the pans since they set down in the fire. This along with some smoke and ash sneaking around the sides of the pans added sediment. My filtering and bottling was done right after finishing the syrup on a stove. We filtered through wool with a sythetic prefilter. For this season my goal is to make syrup that I could sell/barter and the residue while not an issue for me might put off others. I will be building a new pan setup that will take care of the side burning of the hotel pans and seal up the arch better with cloth, but the finishing is where I have questions. Should I finish to syrup, let cool and then re-heat to bottle , and if so what temp is good for bottling ? What is the trick for getting the syrup to filter through the wool filters ? I seem to loose alot of syrup in the filter and would like it to flow better. I filter the near syrup already as it comes out of the syrup pan on the arch.
This "hobby" definitely will be a lifelong learnign curve, but it sure is something sweet to look forward to every muddy spring !
31 Taps in 2011 with buckets, Barrel evap
45+ Taps for 2012 with buckets, 2x5 Dryer Arch with steel pans ! 8x11 Sugar Shack, Dump Stations,
60 Taps for 2013- Insulated Dryer arch, AUF,
2014 watched from sidelines...
70 Taps for 2015 - dryer arch, new 2x5 divided pan from Smokey Lake with a float box !
70 Taps for 2016 - added a preheater and new grates for the Dryerator.
80 Taps for 2018 - Dryer arch got new front and door