new to the forum and tapped my first trees a week and a half ago...

[happy thoughts]

As far as I'm concerned, for home use a hydrometer is optional especially if only making small amounts. If it's in your budget go for it. If not, learn to work with it. If you think your syrup is too thin, refrigerate or freeze it. If you bottle it, make sure you are scrupulously clean in everything you do at time of bottling. Under dense syrup is more prone to mold in storage. The syrup going into the jars will be virtually sterile because of long boiling at temps well above 212*F. Any mold spores that enter the syrup will come from contaminated jars, lids and other equipment. Because I too have yet to take the hydrometer plunge I sterilize jars, lids, and my ladle. Also take care not to touch the inside surface of the lids when capping.

Sheeting has worked for me. I have never had a bottle mold in storage and only had one small bottle develop rock candy like crystals a few years ago. I have some bottles left from 2 and 3 years ago that still look as good as they did at the time they were packed. My syrup tastes great and no one ever complains. In fact, they keep asking for more . So just have fun and keep at it

[G0J0]

Looked today, and enjoyed a nice sap-sicle hanging from just below the tap. No juice.

[alcontrast]

thanks again for the additional advice.. It's always cool to see a community of people helping each other! I have a feeling the next batch will go a lot smoother thanks to all your help. But really this first batch went pretty well as far as I'm concerned.

I bought a digital thermometer which will be way better than the analog candy thermometer I was using but I'll still calibrate it against a pot of boiling water before using it with syrup to be sure it's accurate, I'm only about 80' above sea level so it should be pretty close to 212f/100c for boiling water. I checked the analog thermometer against boiling water and it seemed like it was reading at least a degree or two F on the low side but the scale on that candy thermometer is not exactly precise and it also responded crazy slow. I tested the analog thermometer in a pot of boiling water where I was sterilizing my jars while my sap was finishing on the adjacent burner and that's when I realized the candy thermometer was not going to be accurate enough. A little too late unfortunately!

I've done a bit of water bath canning in the past (pickles, salsa, veggies) so I'm pretty careful about sterilizing the jars, caps, etc.. I don't know much about the rubber gaskets on the two flip top flask type bottles I used so I left them in the boiling water a little longer than the jam jars. Those "flasks" were brand new bottles and those will be the first used so I'm not really concerned with longevity for those anyway..

I think my biggest mistake (aside from not using a more accurate thermometer) was bringing my filtered syrup back up to a rolling boil before bottling it. Next time I'll only go as far as 180-190 F after filtering. I have a feeling that the filtering will be a bit more of a trial by fire type learning process but I picked up a lot of good info from your replies and a couple of other threads on the forum.. I'm looking forward to my next batch!!

When I do my next batch I'll probably add the clear syrup from the first batch to the near finished new batch; trying to leave all the sugar sand / niter at the bottom of the jars. My last question [today!], and I feel like an embarrassed maple virgin even asking this, but are niter and sugar sand the same thing or are they entirely different side effects of poor filtering/over heating the syrup? If they are different what is the difference?
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here's a photo of the biggest jar from my first batch showing the "sugar sand" at the bottom. This is after 3 days of settling..
IMG_2448.JPG
I'm more than happy with the top 7th of the jar but would like to avoid that bottom bit in the future.. And no, my table, floor, house are not exactly level. Things have shifted a bit since the 1800's..

[Run Forest Run!]

Yup, sugar sand and niter are both referring to the same thing. The colour of your syrup looks wonderful. There'll be a lot of plate licking at your house.

[happy thoughts]

Nice color in that syrup alcontrast. Looks like liquid gold. Addicted yet?

[maplerookie]

alcontrast: It might be easier to calibrate in Ice water. fill a small glass with crushed ice. add water ,wait a couple mins. temp should read 32 degrees f. make sure you pack (over fill) that jar with crushed ice. cubes don't work as well. When you boil make sure you take the temp in a boiling pan of water right next to where you are finishing. don't believe h2o boils at 212..that is only at sea level. then bring your syrup 7.5 degrees above your boiling water temp...should be syrup or darn near .

[happy thoughts]

alcontrast: It might be easier to calibrate in Ice water. fill a small glass with crushed ice. add water ,wait a couple mins. temp should read 32 degrees f. make sure you pack (over fill) that jar with crushed ice. cubes don't work as well. When you boil make sure you take the temp in a boiling pan of water right next to where you are finishing. don't believe h2o boils at 212..that is only at sea level. then bring your syrup 7.5 degrees above your boiling water temp...should be syrup or darn near .

Kind of- boiling point changes with elevation and barometric pressure. Since pressure changes constantly, boiling point will vary constantly, too. Here's a handy calculator for boiling point that takes those factors into consideration.

http://www.thermoworks.com/software/bpcalc.html

But that said, using a thermometer alone will always have it's it's limitations. Move the most accurate thermometer around in a large pot and see what happens. The syrup will probably not be an even temp throughout. Let the probe touch the bottom of the pan and see what happens. Also consider that most pans have a few hot spots. So when have you reached the *right* temp?

What some call an inaccurate thermometers when temps are all over the place, I call an accurate thermometer Even the best thermometer can only give you a ball park figure at best.

[maplerookie]

Kind of- boiling point changes with elevation and barometric pressure. Since pressure changes constantly, boiling point will vary constantly, too. Here's a handy calculator for boiling point that takes those factors into consideration.

http://www.thermoworks.com/software/bpcalc.html

But that said, using a thermometer alone will always have it's it's limitations. Move the most accurate thermometer around in a large pot and see what happens. The syrup will probably not be an even temp throughout. Let the probe touch the bottom of the pan and see what happens. Also consider that most pans have a few hot spots. So when have you reached the *right* temp?

What some call an inaccurate thermometers when temps are all over the place, I call an accurate thermometer Even the best thermometer can only give you a ball park figure at best.

What you say is true. I think the issue here is that Alcontrast doesn't want to lay out the expense for a hydrometer. so his best bet is temp as a guide and recognizing the sheeting off of a spatchula for this year. probably next year when he really has the maple bug he will go out and buy one...cause we all know in out hearts that it will get bigger and bigger . I am waiting to get bigger when I retire from my job, then I will have time to play more.

[happy thoughts]

What you say is true. I think the issue here is that Alcontrast doesn't want to lay out the expense for a hydrometer. so his best bet is temp as a guide and recognizing the sheeting off of a spatchula for this year. probably next year when he really has the maple bug he will go out and buy one...cause we all know in out hearts that it will get bigger and bigger . I am waiting to get bigger when I retire from my job, then I will have time to play more.

I agree as long as you are not just going by temp but looking for sheeting as well. For someone making a small amount for home use, the expense of a hydrometer may not make much sense. It doesn't for me yet either. But If you just think it's syrup because you reached some specific temp you'll more than likely end up with some under density syrup that could support mold growth in storage. I'd rather have over dense syrup even if that means crystal might form. At least it's going to keep well..

[lpakiz]

Hydrometers are around $18 at the dealers. Even my first year with a dozen taps, I felt a hydrometer was worth the money. Take the money you would spend on a thermometer and put it towards a hydrometer. You will have perfect syrup.