Rule of 87 or 86

[oneoldsap]

Post # 7 had the correct answer . When the syrup brix was changed from 65.5 to 66.9 , the rule of 86 became the rule of 89.2 ! If anyone will make the syrup and do the math , you will be making the amount of syrup you should , using the rule of 89.2 . All of your "shrinkage" will disappear , with the right formula !

[adk1]

I made mostly 70-72 brix xsyrup this year. I like it heavy so do my customers.

[CBOYER]

I made mostly 70-72 brix xsyrup this year. I like it heavy so do my customers.

It is illegal to sell syrup over 68°brix, and call it syrup...at least in Québec

[ToadHill]

When you exceed 68 brix you are creating a supersaturated sugar solution, i.e. some of the sugar will crystallize as it returns to a balanced concentration. That is why you get sugar crystals in the bottom of a container when you make your syrup to dense.

[802maple]

The best rule of thumb is to boil it down to 66.9 and measure how much you have, it is never wrong. LOL

[Maplehobbyist]

Taken from the OMAFRA Fact Sheet for measuring syrup density:

The density of maple syrup is a measurement of the percentage of dissolved solids, which includes sugars and minerals. However, sugar accounts for about 98% of the dissolved solids in the syrup. Therefore, by measuring the density as a reading of dissolved solids, a reasonably accurate estimate of the percentage of sugars in the syrup can be made.

Taken from the Wiki for Brix:

Degrees Brix (symbol °Bx) is the sugar content of an aqueous solution.

One degree Brix is 1 gram of sucrose in 100 grams of solution and represents the strength of the solution as percentage by weight (% w/w) (strictly speaking, by mass). If the solution contains dissolved solids other than pure sucrose, then the °Bx is only approximate the dissolved solid content.

And later in the same source:

When a sugar solution is measured by refractometer or densitometer, the °Bx or °P value obtained by entry into the appropriate table only represents the amount of dry solids dissolved in the sample if the dry solids are exclusively sucrose. This is seldom the case...In such cases the °Bx value clearly cannot be equated with the sucrose content but it may represent a good approximation to the total sugar content.

Syrup that is measured at 66 Brix is 66% sugar, which is a weight-to-weight comparison. A 100oz solution would contain 66oz of sugar. A gallon is 128oz so there are 84.5oz of sugars (.66 x 128 oz) in a gallon of maple syrup.

Density compares weight/volume. Sugars account for only 98% of the dissolved solids in syrup and density measures all the dissolved solids, so 84.5/.98= 86.2oz of dissolved solids in a gallon of maple syrup. That, I believe, is where the rule of 86 came from.

If you adjust for 66.9% Brix, it becomes the rule of 87 (.669 x 128/.98 = 87.4).

The link below contains a table that lists the amounts of sucrose at different degrees Brix.

1 Brix has 1.002grams of sucrose
2 Brix has 2.012grams of sucrose
3 Brix has 3.030grams of sucrose
12 Brix has 12.558grams of sucrose
66 Brix has 87.280grams of sucrose

So its easy to see that happy thoughts was correct about the math not holding for higher concentrations of sugar.

http://www.boulder.nist.gov/div838/S...able%20114.pdf

[SPILEDRIVER]

this stuff makes my brain hurt so im just gonna keep makeing syrup the way ive allways done it and leave all this scientific stuff to the smart people!!!!

[mtnmeadowmplfarm]

Maple sugar is not exclusively sucrose though, glucose is also present in much smaller quantities. Might that affect the accuracy of the Brix scale as well?