Packing more syrup

[maple flats]

Tomorrow I'll pack another 40 gal barrel of dark into jugs. Except for my bourbon barrel aged syrup I don't ship in glass except be special order. At this point I only have 1 more 26.5 gal barrel of dark and one 26.5 gal in amber. After that i'll need to be making more. I also have a 30 gal bourbon barrel aging. It should be ready late Nov or early Dec. That will help have enough for Christmas sales. In the bourbon barrel aged I also have a 5 gal jug ready to pack into flask bottles when I need them. Those will be packed well before the new 30 gal barrel will be ready. That one was put up to be able to bottle more as I see what sizes I need more of. I pack that in 100ml, 200ml and 375ml, but the bigger sizes sell a lot more except near Christmas at which time the 100ml is in highest sales with the 200ml just a little behind in units sold.

[DMF]

Sounds good. We just packed 11 gallons of bourbon aged syrup from our 15 gallon barrel last week, a few months earlier than we normally do. Why only 11 from a 15 gallon barrel you may ask? Well, we came back fro a 2 week vacation and my bourbon barrel sprung a leak and dumped 4 gallons onto the sugarhouse floor.

[maple flats]

Ouch, that hurts. Because I always leave my aging barrels with the bung facing up that can't happen. Whenever I open a bourbon barrel, once I've determined it's ready, I pump it all into my finisher. From there I heat it to 190-200F, and draw off into my draw off tank/DE mixing tank, stir well and then filter into my bottler. I do that until the bottler is full (I have a 14 gal capacity WJ bottler). If I get pulled away for any reason the bourbon barrel aged maple syrup that didn't get bottled is either filtered and in the bottler with the heat turned off or still in the finisher (which is a 2x6). It can hold well over 80 gallons but on BB aged I've never made a batch over 30 gal.
Sorry to read about your loss, the bourbon barrel aged maple syrup is far more value than plain maple syrup. A real loss, which I suspect won't ever happen again to you!

[maple flats]

Another ouch. When I opened the 40 gal barrel it only tested at 65.1% sugar. Luckily it had not started to ferment. I have no idea how it got put into a barrel that low density. I'm now gong to bring it to 66.9%, the density I make all of my syrup. At that point I'm just hoping it will not be too dark and become very dark. If that happens I'd then make it into bourbon barrel aged maple syrup but that would get my inventory of the BBAMS ( bourbon barrel aged maple syrup) to where I wouldn't be retailing it for at least 2 years and likely even 3 years. I now have 5 gal I packed in a 5 gal jug to hold until I knew what size containers I need when bottled. I also have 30 gal aging that will be ready late Nov or early Dec. Thus a 40 gal would not be needed until as long as Christmas 2026 maybe even into mid 2027. I seem to retail about 25-30 gal a year in BBAMS now, but it does keep increasing but not very fast. That being said I do not want to wholesale it, I will retail it myself.

[DMF]

Ouch, that hurts. Because I always leave my aging barrels with the bung facing up that can't happen.

Bung was up. It started leaking out of the staves and ends.

[maple flats]

Wow, I al;so, if I get any seapage spray my barrels with a water mist, it helps minimize leakage. Soe need it more than others. The 30 gal I'm aging now is the rirst to not need any spraying with water. On many I spray daily for a week or so, then every other day for 7-10 days, then every 3rd day then once a week. On ones that need that much I don't ever quits spraying with water. Some get tight faster and I space the spray schedule out more. The 30 gal I'm aging now I think is my first ever that needed no water spray and I rotated the barrel last week to verify, there was no leakage.
I don't know if it was the barrel or the time between dumping the bourbon and when I filled it with syrup. This one was dumped the morning of the day I bought it and I filled it less than 24 hrs later. That may be the important factor. To my knowledge no others have been any where that quick of a turn around. My guess is most are 7-10 days empty before getting filled.
I think I'll try for my next batch to be less than 24 hrs again. I can hold the syrup but I can't hold the barrel.

[DMF]

This one was dumped the morning of the day I bought it and I filled it less than 24 hrs later. That may be the important factor. To my knowledge no others have been any where that quick of a turn around.

I think you're right Dave, the fresher the dumped barrel is the better. Where do you get your barrels that you can get them so fresh if you don't mind sharing?

[maple flats]

I buy them at Old Home Distillers in Lebonan, NY. It turned out that the barrel of syrup I was hoping to pack into retail as dark, Robust ended up as very dark with a light transmittance of 24%, so it will be another batch of bourbon barrel aged syrup. I immediately called Old Home Distillars and asked if the had 2 @ 20 gal, that were recently dumped. The only had 30's which I bought. In the past I sometimes find 20's but far more often they only have 30's or larger. Back 3-4 yrs ago they did more 10's, 15's and 20's but as their sales keep increasing they seem to be making 30 gal plus barrels of bourbon. They also make several other types of booze but I've only ever tried the bourbon so far. They wanted $200/barrel, but buying 2 they charged $350. Well worth it considering how much BBAMS adds to the price. (I get about 4x the per ounce avg. price of what I sell half gals for. as stated in my first post in this thread I sell 3 sizes and the bigger the size the lower the per ounce price. Still even the biggest is very good for me.
i'll have about 39 gal to age, I'm thinking i'll try to make 2 batches about equal size, rather than a 30 and a 9 or whatever it ends up being. This will be ready in about 8-9 months but then i'll likely not need to bottle more yet, so I think I'll pack it in some 5 and 6 gal jugs I have. I have a 30 gal that will be ready late Nov or early Dec and even with that I won't likely bottle it all at one time. I like to do smaller batches to keep my balance of sizes about right.
Have any of you ever partially filled a bourbon barrel rather than fill it? I've always in the past filled them. This time I'll only be putting about 20 gal in a 30 gal barrel. Since I periodically rotate the barrelI'm thinking the taste might be right sooner, more inside surface area per gallon of syrup. I'm woundering if it might be ready at 5 months rather than the 6-7 a typical 20 takes because of the greater surface area to impart the bourbon flavor, maybe even 4 months. Anyone have done this?
In the past I've done 2 barrels xof 5 gal for 3 months, several barrels of 10 gal for 4-5 months, a bunch of 15 gal barrels for 5-6 months and a few 20's for 6-7 months. My 30 now aging is my first ever 30 and I'm gong to sample it at about 10 months. With the next 2 being 30 gal barrels I'll put about 20 gal in each , rotate the barrel every 2-3 weeks so the syrup comes in contact with the entire inside of the barrel so maybe the syrup might be ready sooner. I sample my batches as their time4 gets near, I call them ready when the balance of the taste is about equal between bourbon and maple flavors. Since my first batch my bourbon barrel aged maple syrup has been a top selling item and at a great value added price.