Originally Posted by
Maplelane1
Thank you both for the tips!
I didn't bottle at 185. Once the sap was finished I removed from heat then prepared the jars... Clearly a mistake. I won't do that this year. I also did not use a hydrotherm... Do i need one? I mean, if I tell my wife I have to buy something a stranger on-line told me to she'll give me that look.
FWIW I would still sterilize absolutely brand-new bottles and lids....they usually have a little bit of an unplesant scent anyway so a rinse under hot water won't hurt. If you're going to bottle straight off the fire,then yes you probably can go right into the jars/bottles/jugs - but you should still check the density first with a therm before doing so. But if you're going to reheat syrup from cold, watch out for going over 190.
I think most here would say yes, you do need a hydrotherm, cause if your density is off you'll either get syrup finishing too hot and too dense, which will then crystallize on you. Nothing wrong with that, still perfectly edible and can always melt out the crystals with warm fresh sap or distilled water. NO TAP WATER.
Or you will get syrup that is too thin, too watery, and thus could host unwanted bacteria - I know the only batch in recent memory that molded on me, once sealed, was a batch (a very small one, like 500ml) that I knew had thermed out a bit low.
The rest of you here can explain the mysteries of the hydrotherm as I will be in yoga school tonight and pretty much all weekend. I think Big_Eddy has a Hydrotherm 101 on his page, take a look. And BruceL is a 7th generation sugarer, he can share his knowledge with you too. Check too in other forums on this site. Good luck!
ETA:here's an old thread you may want to check out
http://mapletrader.com/community/sho...with-questions
Last edited by Galena; 02-23-2018 at 03:58 PM.
Been tapping since 2008.
2018 - 17 taps/7 trees...819l sap, approx 28l syrup
2019 - 18 taps/8 trees...585l sap, 28l syrup...21:1 ratio
2020 - 18 taps/8 trees...890.04l sap...gave away about 170l, 30l snafu'd....23l total for me from approx 690l
2021 - 18 taps/8 trees...395l sap, 12 l syrup
2022 - 18 taps/8 trees....7 sugars 1 red due to #2 having surgery so had the season off....582l sap, 18.5l syrup
2023 - 18 taps/8 trees...all sugars again. 807l sap, so far approx 14l syrup