How To Filter Sugar Sands From Maple Syrup

Maple syruping is a fun activity that dates back for centuries with Native Americans building the first "sugar bushes" and boiling sap on hot stones. Today the Maple Syrup making process has evolved into a wide industry that ranges from large industrial operations to hobbyists making syrup in their ain back yards alongside friends and family. Everyone has their own tips and tricks when information technology comes to filtering syrup so nosotros decided we would share some of ours. This blog mail service focuses on hobbyists and home manufacturing of maple syrup.

Annotation: If syrup is to be marketed, grading and labeling standards are required for retail.

Tap trees using traditional spout and bucket method or modern tubing.

Why Filter Maple Syrup?
You don't have to filter Maple Syrup; even so, information technology is strongly recommended, equally it removes impurities and niter, besides known as carbohydrate sand, from the syrup. This process volition improve the gustatory modality, clarity and color of the syrup.

Note: If the syrup is intended for resale, wellness and safety food regulations must exist followed.

When Is It Time to Filter My Syrup?
When the sap reaches 7.5 F above the boiling betoken of water, it has reached the proper density in which it has become syrup and tin can so be filtered. The first dominion in filtering, is that the syrup must be filtered while hot and through make clean filter material such as wool or Orlon. It is best to filter syrup that has just been drawn off from the evaporator or finisher while it's even so hot. The syrup volition start to thicken as shortly as it cools which will make information technology adjacent to incommunicable to filter.

Sap is transported to a sugar business firm where it gets boiled down until information technology reaches the density of syrup.

Should I Filter Sap Before It Has Been Boiled?
No, sap must exist boiled in gild for the natural minerals to harden into niter, likewise known as sugar sand.

What Types of Filters Should I Utilise?
If you are making a small batch of syrup, y'all can utilise cheesecloth. However, nosotros recommend that you use specially made filters designed for filtering maple syrup.

Note: Your filters will get chock-full after filtering 2-3 gallons of syrup, then it is important that you switch out your filters. Do non try and strength the syrup through the filters as this will likewise force the niter through as well.

Pre-Filters
The design of these filters is to grab the larger impurities and niter which allows the principal (thicker) filter non to become clogged every bit apace. Our reemay pre-filters are made from nutrient class polyester fibers - NOT Orlon.

Our reemay pre-filter cones are fabricated of 100% nutrient grade polyester fibers and can hold up to viii quarts of maple syrup. Pre-filter cones are used in the starting time stages of filtering to carve up the niter. It will also remove any sediment, bugs or twigs. These cone blazon pre-filters are sewn in the aforementioned shape every bit the main (thicker) cone filters which allows you to use multiple pre-filters inside of the principal filter. Saccharide makers tend to stack three-4 pre-filters on top of one another, tucked inside the master cone filter.

Our reemay pre-filter sheets are used when the syrup goes through an additional filtering process before information technology gets transferred to bottles or jugs.

Wool and Synthetic Filters
The wool and synthetic filters are the primary (thicker) filters used throughout the filtering process, which are designed to take hold of the smaller impurities and niter institute in your syrup.

Wool filters tend to do a amend job filtering than the constructed filters, but it is slower. Our wool cones take been autoclaved; a sterilization method that uses high force per unit area steam.

Synthetic filters work all-time when damp and are likewise recommended to be used with pre-filters. Our synthetic cones are made from food grade polyester fibers - Not Orlon.

Layering Pre-Filter Cones inside Concluding Filters
We recommend a two-layer filter organisation; identify the reemay pre-filter cone within a wool cone or synthetic cone. This process will remove actress sugar sand and whatever other substrate that may have gotten in the syrup - ash from the fire (if boiled over burn pit) or bugs that flew in. Pre-filters volition likewise forestall the main filter from clogging upwards, saving you fourth dimension and hassle.

The purpose of the pre-filter is to give an extra layer of filtering cloth and to keep the largest particles away from the 'make clean' final filter. This lets the final filter exercise a better task and reduces the number of cleanings required. The thinner, less expensive and easier to clean pre-filters can be changed easily and more often while the terminal filter is kept cleaner and can be used over a longer menses of time. The bulk of your sugar sand should exist caught in the pre-filter.

Wool and Synthetic cones - layering with pre-filters is optional but highly recommended.

Synthetic vs. Wool
The old-time traditional filter was made of wool; many still refer to them every bit a 'hat' considering they look like an sometime wool hat when turned upside downward. All the same, most sugar-makers accept switched to like shooting fish in a barrel care synthetic filters, which lack the shrinkage and moth bug associated with wool. In any example, all filters and cones are food form safe.

Cone vs. Flat
Cone filters are used in tall, covered filter tanks with hooks at the height to agree the filter tabs, while flat filters are used in filter and canning units with flat wire racks, or in bootleg colander/sieve operations. The apartment filters are only available in constructed fabrics.

Pour the syrup into sterilized containers and bask!

How to Prepare Your Filter
Nosotros recommend that you soak the filters in hot h2o for a few minutes when using for the offset time in a season. This ensures that the filters are clean and that they will non contaminate new syrup with erstwhile leaner, especially from storage between seasons. Your filter will also work amend if slightly dampened in hot water before use

Cleaning Your Filter
We recommend that yous rinse filters by turning them inside out and flushing them with boiling water until the h2o runs make clean. DO NOT use soaps or detergents to clean your filters; this can flavor your syrup. Always handle your filters advisedly when cleaning; never twist, wring or stretch your filters, but gently squeeze the h2o out. We don't recommend machine washing as it volition cause them to get fuzzy and go out fibers in the filtered syrup. Once your filters are clean, they should be laid flat or hung to dry.

Note: The filters should non lose fibers unless they have been brushed, machine washed or machine stale, and the fibers are on the outside surface.

Fun Facts

It usually takes about 40 years before a Maple tree reaches a tappable size.
Coming from the tree, maple sap is approximately 98% water and 2% carbohydrate. When the syrup is finished, it is only 33% h2o and 67% carbohydrate.
It takes roughly twoscore gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.
Nigh 80% of the world'due south supply of maple syrup comes from Canada.
In Korea, sap is usually preferred to syrup.
Celebrities including Beyoncé attribute maple syrup to their weight loss and detox authorities, which consist of consuming only maple syrup, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and water for 10 days straight.
Merely a few types of maple copse produce sap.