Eastern Ontario 2024

[ennismaple]

Oh wow that's great to hear! So it's not all "doom and gloom" as some articles would have one believe! Sweet! (no pun intended )

I'm pretty sure there's a marketing objective in the "doom and gloom" news articles by the Federation...

[paulslund]

The reason this works is that potatoes contain oxalic acid. That is a key ingredient in all the nasty chemical rust cleaners, which are usually expensive and not enviro friendly. The oxalic acid and dish soap create a chemical reaction and loosens up rust.

Now there is a neat hack! I'll have to remember that one!

[Galena]

I'm pretty sure there's a marketing objective in the "doom and gloom" news articles by the Federation...

What, are the levels of the great Lac Sirop D'erable dropping?

[paulslund]

So I had a small boil last weekend that had a woodsyness to it, so I put it in the fridge with the thought I *might" add it to any batch I get after the snowstorm we had last week (barely a drop in the buckets so I called it yesterday -wasn't really expecting much actually). I decided to finish it on the stove (very small batch.. around 250 ml finished) and I think it's definitely off.. not off by much but off just enough that it's not going on pancakes, and might not even make it into my coffee..

Anyone get one last run after the snowstorm last week?

[jungmaria]

What does everyone use to test the brix of their finished syrup? Been using a hydrotherm for the past 5 years (thanks Big Eddy for the instructions), but there is always that bit of guess work while you wait for it to come up to temp and hope it hasn’t gone too far. Can I get the same result faster with a hydrometer & digital thermometer? Is a refractometer the way to go? Yes a Murphy Cup would be nice but I’m probably not going to spend $200 on something when I can do it pretty well for $25.

[ennismaple]

We boiled Friday - had a little better than 1 GPT of sap to process. The first half drum was 23LT and tasted OK, as soon as the syrup started to really lighten up (to 60LT) it got a very definite "bite" to it. Wasn't a hard decision to call it a season. We left the pumps on overnight and had to dump 2500 gallons of sap Saturday afternoon. Put 300 gallons into the flue pan to let it soak for 3 or 4 months and the rest went back into the ground. If there was a market for buddy syrup I would have made a few drums but no sense making what you can't sell. Overall we are very happy with the season.

Jungmaria - we use a hydrotherm. You don't need to get the density perfect coming off the evaporator - take it off slightly thick and adjust down using distillate from your steam hood or distilled water. We aim to take off at 67 Brix but often end up at 68-69 if the temp spikes a bit in the front pan. For smaller batches you may not need to add much water, when we adjust 20 gallons at a time it's not unusual to need 2L of distillate to bring it back to 66.8. We add the hot distillate to the hot, unfiltered syrup, add DE, stir and run through the filter press. We tend to have more variability in density early in the boil when the gradient isn't well established yet. Later in the boil you can be pretty accurate and not need to adjust very much.

[Andy VT]

jungmaria,
I have a murphy cup and have found that under normal circumstances it always gives me the same reading.
On a plain syrup hydrometer there is usually a red line for a 211F sample, at 59 brix.
My murphy cup always tells me 61 brix. This is because I finish on the kitchen stove in a pot and ladle the syrup into the cup. By the time I do all that, the sample is not 211F anymore. But the murphy cup always tells me 61 (whatever that is on the chart in degrees F), as long as I do what I always do.
So.... my suggestion is figure out where you're at with whatever method you use to fill your cup. Use an instant read thermometer and a compensation chart to figure this out.
As long as you keep using the same method to fill your test cup, I would assume the sample is the same temp every time and from then on you can go to the same target on a plain syrup hydrometer.
If my murphy cup ever self destructs somehow this is my plan. I likely won't replace it unless my needs change.

[DrTimPerkins]

The first half drum was 23LT and tasted OK, as soon as the syrup started to really lighten up (to 60LT) it got a very definite "bite" to it. Wasn't a hard decision to call it a season. We left the pumps on overnight and had to dump 2500 gallons of sap Saturday afternoon. Put 300 gallons into the flue pan to let it soak for 3 or 4 months and the rest went back into the ground. If there was a market for buddy syrup I would have made a few drums but no sense making what you can't sell. Overall we are very happy with the season.

Was it sour sap or buddy? Often the transition from darker to really light-colored syrup is due to heavy fermentation in the line, which causes sour-sap off-flavor. This can go away with a solid freeze followed by a decent sap run to flush the lines.

If it was truly buddy there is little chance of it going back to good syrup.

[paulslund]

It turns out that the little 250ml batch I made was in fact more than a bit off.. it was in fact, totally gross! Both my daughters tasted it and confirmed it.. although one could tell by the smell alone (taste and smell were worse once cooled down which was weird..I thought it would have been the opposite). It was reminiscent of my first ever attempt at making syrup.. We had a cold spell at the end of April with a few frozen days so I thought to myself I would try it and borrowed my neighbours buckets and spiles, and cooked down on the bbq. I had no knowledge of buddy syrup, but that stuff was the most vile thing I ever put in my mouth..

[Galena]

What does everyone use to test the brix of their finished syrup? Been using a hydrotherm for the past 5 years (thanks Big Eddy for the instructions), but there is always that bit of guess work while you wait for it to come up to temp and hope it hasn’t gone too far. Can I get the same result faster with a hydrometer & digital thermometer? Is a refractometer the way to go? Yes a Murphy Cup would be nice but I’m probably not going to spend $200 on something when I can do it pretty well for $25.

Lol let's put iit this way....I swear BY my Murphy Cup, not at it ;-) And I attribute using it to the # of ribbons I won in 2022, esp at Carp, where you have sizeable entries.

I went the hydrotherm way too, and still have it and its cup, but it's the Murphy that has the final say-so. It has never failed me, at any temp, bc it measures density, not temp.

@ Paulslund.....omg poor you! Did it not smell off when it was boiling, like overcooked vegetation? Or a frog's butt in summertime?

Oh and I have upped my rust removel game. Grate a few raw potatoes into a flat-bottomed container, add dishsoap, mix together. Submerge rusty items in it. Leave for about 40 min. Rise off item and let air dry. It works beautifully!