Fine sediment in bottom of syrup bottle

[mspina14]

I updated this year from a cone filter to a flat filter system in a water jacketed filter tank.

I'm generally please with the results of the flat filter system. I use 2 prefilters on top of an orlon main filter.

water jacket - 3.jpg

I only use glass to bottle my syrup. I've notice in some recent bottles I've opened a very thin layer of fine white sediment on the bottom of the bottle:

syrup sediment - 1.jpg syrup sediment - 3.jpg syrup sediment - 4.jpg

Anybody have any idea what caused the sediment?

thanks

Mark

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Looks like sugarsand to me

[buckeye gold]

yup I agree on sugar sand. A little settling out on the bottom I don't worry about, but that is more than a little to me. I also bottle exclusively in glass and I have refiltered more than once. It sucks but that is the perils of bottling in glass...if you bottle in plastic no one knows until the customer empties it. I prefer they see what they are buying even if it cost me some syrup. I have had some late season syrup be real hard to filter without some cloudiness, when I see this start I filter through final orlon filters at 217 and then finish and filter again through two pre filters and another clean final orlon. If the sand still shows up I mix in a little filter aid in the last filtering.

[mspina14]

yup I agree on sugar sand. A little settling out on the bottom I don't worry about, but that is more than a little to me. I also bottle exclusively in glass and I have refiltered more than once. It sucks but that is the perils of bottling in glass...if you bottle in plastic no one knows until the customer empties it. I prefer they see what they are buying even if it cost me some syrup. I have had some late season syrup be real hard to filter without some cloudiness, when I see this start I filter through final orlon filters at 217 and then finish and filter again through two pre filters and another clean final orlon. If the sand still shows up I mix in a little filter aid in the last filtering.

Thanks.

Can you use filter aid (DE) with cloth filters?

I always thought DE was only used with filter presses.

I'm like you. I like to see the syrup in the glass bottle. Something about the golden/amber color that makes it appealing. If you're going to go through all that trouble to collect sap, boil it down for hours and filter it, might as well enjoy looking at the finished product!

Mark

[Sugarbush Ridge]

I've had good luck using flat filters. But it seems that late season and or very dark syrup seems to over load flat s and just have to reheated and filtered again.

One thing,,,,, Ray Goodrich,, Cabot MA says to not bottle above 189 degs. As 190 degs and above that,, more sugar sand will form in bottle. That I believe I have noticed when my LP heated, water pan goes above 190 and because turning down LP doesn't right away stop raising temperature of syrup in canner.

[Urban Sugarmaker]

Thanks.

Can you use filter aid (DE) with cloth filters?

I always thought DE was only used with filter presses.

I'm like you. I like to see the syrup in the glass bottle. Something about the golden/amber color that makes it appealing. If you're going to go through all that trouble to collect sap, boil it down for hours and filter it, might as well enjoy looking at the finished product!

Mark

Yes you can use DE with gravity filtering. I found it was noticeably better. The DE forms a cake on the surface of the filter that will help catch more sugarsand. It's still not as good as a press but it should help a lot.

[buckeye gold]

Yup you can use filter aid (DE) with flat filters, but use less than with a press. I have a small measure I use but I don't remember the amount, I;m guessing maybe an eighth to fourth cup per gallon. I mix it in while the syrup is boiling after it is finished, it is kind of a dance, but I have learned to do it. It will be slower but keep it hot and be patient. I agree on the temps, i set my probe at 185 to bottle.

[Quebecguy]

Hi Mark,
What are you using to check the sugar content of your syrup? If the syrup is too "thin" sometimes the nitre or sugar sand is not fully precipitated out of the syrup and passes with the syrup through the filter.
Regards, Chris

[mspina14]

Hi Mark,
What are you using to check the sugar content of your syrup? If the syrup is too "thin" sometimes the nitre or sugar sand is not fully precipitated out of the syrup and passes with the syrup through the filter.
Regards, Chris

Thanks Chris.

I use a refractometer like the one shown in the photo below:

refractometer 2.jpg

We finish the syrup to 67 Brix.

I had a little trouble getting used to using this instrument (used it for the first time this passed season) and some of the syrup did come out too thin. So that might have been some of the problem.

But even in bottle where the syrup is thick, and I'm sure it is at 67 Brix, I still notice the very thin layer of white grit on the bottom of the glass bottles.


Mark

[whity]

I would try using 4 pre filters. When you wash them make sure you use hot water and rinse with cold water. Don't wring them out. Also make sure they are moist and warm before filtering. We will start with 7 pre filter and a finish filter in our flat filter canner. Pull filters as they plug up. Finish the night with still 4 pre filters