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Thread: why so thin?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Appleton NY
    Posts
    1

    Question why so thin?

    This is our first year making maple syrup. My syrup has a nice color and flavor but it is so thin. Is there anything I can do to thicken it up?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Marshall, MN
    Posts
    321

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    Boil it down some more. It just means you pulled it off the stove a little too early.

    Were you using a thermometer to test it? A hydrometer is the most fool-proof way to get 100% accuracy, but a thermometer works fine so long as you are really careful and test things out first. You have to do a test boil with water to find out what the boiling temp is at the moment (usually 212 fahrenheit, but it will vary from day to day and even hour to hour depending upon your altitude and any weather patterns coming through), and then seven degrees above that is the point where you know your syrup has for sure become syrup.
    Dan
    -15 years sugaring and counting - hoping to create a tradition my kids will always remember
    -400 taps, mostly buckets (Silver Maples + a few Boxelders just for the heck of it)
    -Custom-built 2x6 evap with Smoky Lake Maple raised flue, boiling in dad's old farm granary, now converted to sugar shack
    -Cobbled-together RO with XLE4040 membrane
    -New in 2021: experimenting with 3/16 tubing & a Shurflo pump.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Marshall, MN
    Posts
    321

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    Oh - also, keep in mind real maple syrup is by nature thinner than the store-bought stuff.

    But you probably knew that already. I only mention it because my first time having it I didn't, and I was like, "what is this colored waterlike substance"? (And then of course I tasted it and I've never gone back to the fake stuff...!)
    Dan
    -15 years sugaring and counting - hoping to create a tradition my kids will always remember
    -400 taps, mostly buckets (Silver Maples + a few Boxelders just for the heck of it)
    -Custom-built 2x6 evap with Smoky Lake Maple raised flue, boiling in dad's old farm granary, now converted to sugar shack
    -Cobbled-together RO with XLE4040 membrane
    -New in 2021: experimenting with 3/16 tubing & a Shurflo pump.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Lyman, NH
    Posts
    2,311

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    you may want to see is it seems too thin after you refrigerate it. Syrup's viscosity varies with temperature and warm syrup always seems real thin.
    2012: Probably 750 gravity taps and 50 buckets.

    600 gal stainless milk tank.
    2 - 100 gallon stock tanks
    one 30 gal barrel
    50 buckets

    3' x 10' Waterloo Raised Flue wood fired evaporator w/ open pans.

    12" x 20" Filter Canner

    Sawmill next to sugarhouse solves my sugarwood problem

    Gather with GMC 3500 2wd Pickup w/ 425 gallon Plastic Tank.

    Been tapping here in Lyman NH since 1989 but I've been sugaring since 8 years old in 1968.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Adirondacks
    Posts
    2,786

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    all of my syrup is thick. I never got a batch that was 66.9 brix...I had some 71 and some up to 72... I know it will form crystals on the bottom of the jugs but that is ok.
    FIRST GENERATION SUGARMAKER
    First boil 2/22/2012! Went Pefect!
    3,500' of laterals
    1,000' of mainline
    2012 - 105 taps on gravity, 12 sap sacks.
    2013 - 175 taps on gravity, 25 on sacks = 200 taps for 2013! Second year.
    2014 - 250 taps on gravity, 25 on sacks
    Tapped on February 16, 2014
    2015 - adding vac sap puller no more gravity for me!
    275 gallon holding tank for 2014
    20'x30' Sugarhouse

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    south new berlin,n.y.
    Posts
    125

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    Hot syrup or even warm syrup is thinner than the corn syrup stuff but refrigerated syrup is thicker.All my syrup this year has been very dark, I mean really dark,has anyone else had this color or is it just me.Last year I didn't have any dark at all and it's sap from the same trees as last year.The taste is great but very dark.Just wondering if others had this situation.
    homemade barrel evaporator 2 x 4 divided flat pan 40 taps 10 x 8 sap house hood and pre heater

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Marshall, MN
    Posts
    321

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    Quote Originally Posted by seclark View Post
    I mean really dark,has anyone else had this color or is it just me.
    All mine was dark this year too. Funny how different every year goes...
    Dan
    -15 years sugaring and counting - hoping to create a tradition my kids will always remember
    -400 taps, mostly buckets (Silver Maples + a few Boxelders just for the heck of it)
    -Custom-built 2x6 evap with Smoky Lake Maple raised flue, boiling in dad's old farm granary, now converted to sugar shack
    -Cobbled-together RO with XLE4040 membrane
    -New in 2021: experimenting with 3/16 tubing & a Shurflo pump.

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