Ive also made nothing but dark this season. Not worried one bit. As long as it taste great I dont care about the color
Ive also made nothing but dark this season. Not worried one bit. As long as it taste great I dont care about the color
Camp Wokanda
Peoria Park District
2023 - 210 on 3/16 shurflo, sap storage shack w/ 1100 gallon tank - 123 gallons
2022 - 210 on 3/16 shurflo, homemade vac filter & water jacket canner - 104 gallons
2021 - 215 on 3/16 shurflo, added 2nd membrane to RO - 78 gallons
2020 - 210 on 3/16 shurflo, upgraded hp pump on RO - 66 gallons
2019 - 150 on 3/16 shurflo, Deer Run 125 dolly RO - 73 gallons
2018 - 120 on 3/16 shurflo, 2x6 raised flue w/hood, homemade arch w/ AUF & AOF - 34.5 gallons
thank you everyone for chiming in i don't feel like it's any thing that i'm doing wrong or can change i guess its just that kinda year
Recirculating into the same tank is a BIG NO-NO if you want to make light syrup. What do you have for sap storage, if you have plastic pickup tanks and plastic tanks that "only have a couple gallons in there." That is another big no-no. Cage tanks?? They need to go to the dump. Start there, keep up on the gathering, quit recirculating and the grade should get better. By recirculating that long, your also multiplying the bacteria by the millions. In addition, every pass the concentrate warms up about 4 degrees, YIKES!!
Mark
Where we made syrup long before the trendies made it popular, now its just another commodity.
John Deere 4000, 830, and 420 crawler
1400 taps, 600 gph CDL RO, 4x12 wood-fired Leader, forced air and preheater. 400 gallon Sap-O-Matic vacuum gathering tank, PTO powered. 2500 gallon X truck tank, 17 bulk tanks.
No cage tanks allowed on this farm!
Same here in Maine usually make light the first couple of batches and this year is dark . only 4 gallons but I am glade to here that it wasn't just me .I do batch boil so I know the longer I boil the darker it gets but I have been doing this 11 years and this is the first time this dark . second batch looks like it may be lighter .
Backyard sapper
Mason 2X4 XL with blower
12x24 post and beam shack
30 taps on 5-Gallon buckets
134 taps on tubing into the shack
15-30 gallons a year for family and friends
I know that we are discussing this via PM but thought that I would add this here for others to see. I had the same problem a few years ago and in 2013 I built a bubbler for my evaporator. I use it in both pans and haven't had a problem with dark syrup that taste like golden or amber since. In fact I haven't made any dark in at least 3 seasons.
Russ
"Red Roof Maples" Where the term "boiling soda" was first introduced to the maple world!
1930 Ford Model AA Doodlebug tractor
A couple of Honda 4 wheelers
Four chainsaws and no chickens!
Tapped a full month earlier than '17 got a quick 20 gl of sap but the syrup is darker and more robust this year. We had very little rain last summer and I think that the stress on the trees is the culprit.
I have made no amber this year at all. All Dark and Very Dark. Usually make some Golden, mostly Amber and some Dark. Very seldom make any Very Dark. Sugar content is mostly 1.5 to 2. Much lower then my normal so it is boiling a lot longer but it starts turning dark fast. 55 to 1 this year. My worst ever.
2x3 Patrick Phaneuf Divided Pan
Homemade arch
RB20 RO Bucket
121 taps total
Sugar Shack in future
Wife into it as much as me
Also do homebrew
http://s928.photobucket.com/albums/ad121/ZMANSYRUP/