Yesterday I observed a difference in niter in suspension on different batches drawn off and finished. The first batch I drew off ended up perfectly crystal clear after only a few hours of settling in gallon jars, and all the niter had completely settled to the bottom. (which is my preferred way of filtering and have been doing it with success for a while) The second draw off was the same light amber color, but the niter is not settling out too much at all.
I am curious if this is because of something I did wrong. Could this be related at all draw off rates and the pan is getting more and more sweet. The sugar content in the flue pan is currently above 30%. Could I have gotten the syrup pan too hot before that draw? I had one instance of a foam up in the syrup pan, and had to draw off a larger batch to get it to settle down. I am curious if anyone knows if any factors like that could have caused the niter staying in suspension and not settling out.
This is not intended to be looking for filtering recommendations, but rather looking for reasons for the difference in the niter being left suspended in the syrup, rather than settling at the bottom. I always thought the longer the sap boils in the pan, the larger the crystals get, which are heavy enough to settle out at the bottom. The first draw clearly has bigger crystals though, so I mustve messed up something else.
first draw
Attachment 19462
second
Attachment 19463
thanks!