The only thing that I can offer is: I looked at my Grandmothers recipe for Making Maple Syrup and she used a strainer with the cheese cloth folded up inside the strainer. I don't know if this will help. I will keep looking in recipes to see if there is an updated version!

Nelda

Brendasue, updated version: She used a food grade filter and then she says she smuched it up, (well looks like it might be bunched up)the corners and pressed the syrup through. she said that she used alot of filters and that it gets almost all of the grit out. Brendasue thats all I got--I hope this helps in someway.

Nelda

Thanks Nelda! We're all out of cheesecloth, no food grade filters; we're going to have to order them. I think for this batch we're going to try letting it sit for a while, then process the top. From what I"m reading the grit will settle to the bottom, it's a lengthy extra step timewise.

Geez we are unprepared. I wonder why we can't find cheesecloth this time of year? I'll bet we didn't use enough when we processed the 1st 2.

Brendasue

Can you boil a cotton pillowcase in a stock pot for 10 minutes and use that?

Next time try filtering the boiling sap/syrup when it's still thin, through a wire mesh sieve lined with a piece of cotton sheet, pillowcase or paper towels, then keep boiling. I've been using paper towels - kind of wasteful but I compost them afterwards.

Did you find out what kind of maples you tapped?

Have you tried Joanns, Micheals and Lowes for cheesecloth? One of them sells it and I have used it when I make my Sorrell. I did have to double it though. Paulins idea sounds like it will work too.

Your Welcome Brendasue, Well darn!! :) thats all I had-I hope you get everything you need for the next batch. I can't wait to taste it!:)

Nelda

Come on over next sunday for breakfast, Nelda! Sausage, eggs, hashbrowns & fresh maple syrup!

Yes we tried Joanne's, target, walmart, & grocery stores that normally carry it, not sure what Michaels is. I've never seen it at lowes or HD, worth a shot tomorrow. We did try cotton, no go. We also tried one of our biosecurity coats-it wouldn't go through, thinking maybe guaze might work, but that could get expensive. Maybe felt would work, Joanne's would have that for sure.

Paulns, we strain it twice, once thin then again before bottling? Do you do that or do you just filter when it's thin? We're having the biggest problem when it's thick, will the papertowels work when it's thick?

We'll have to go back & read the directions again, maybe we misunderstood something. No, I have no idea what kind of maples-most aren't even on our property, friend of a friend type thing, I wouldn't know the difference anyways. Ours have green leaves in season, cept the red(sugar?) maples in the boggy area that are too small to tap.

Brendasue

Brendasue, My kind of breakfast!!Yum Yum!!:) can I talk you into pancakes? If so we are on for sure. How long will it take me to get there?

With fresh frozen blueberreis? it's a deal. Indiana? Guessing 48 hours no naps.
Brendasue

ROADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD TRIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!

YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Nelda!

lol!
So, what did you end up using for a filter material? I want all the info I can get on this, please. I may tap a few huge maples around here one year soon (but not this year - unless hubby want to do it.)

I talked to a beekeeper this morning and he said they tried many ways to filter syrup. The only other alternative is to buy a pressure filtration system and he said they are very expensive--he says his family just pours around the grit!:) Thats all I got!! Really :)

Nelda

Your hardware store will have cheesecloth if not in the kitchen section they always stock it in the paint section I used a lot of paint filters for straining things they are a paper funnel with a 10 micron screen in them get a bunch they plug up fast its better to run though a cheese cloth or flour sack hot then into the filter altough I haven't tried it with maple syrup yet

Thank you all for the ideas. We ended up letting this batch sit, and all the grit did settle to the bottom. We poured/scooped the syrup off & reheated it. Looks good.

Yes we did find cheesecloth at a local hardware store. I should have thought of that, as this fall we ended up getting extra canning jars there when we couldn't find them anywhere else! With getting ready for the storm (maybe 12 inches or more expected) it was just easier to let it sit, anyway.

I found out from the owner of the trees that they are mostly Red Maple. Ours are Norwegion Maples according to grandma.

One other tip I can give is to have a good thermometer. Ours wasn't accurate, it was old, then we bought another one & it was hard with those huge pots to get a reading. My brother then bought one of those meat forks with the thermometer in the handle, it's working very well, long enough to reach down into the half empty pots. I suspect by our 4th batch we'll be very ready for processing & get it down pat!

Oh, I didn't know it at the time, but apparently our first batch overflowed, so I think my ratios were off by a bit, that could be why others were surprised by our yield. (It's out on a stove on the backlawn, so I never even knew until I started asking questions about the type of trees & why our yeild was so low).

Brendasue

Sounds like a success, regardless of the problems! Those difficult things usually turn out to be the best and are hard to repeat.

There are good wine filters available but may be too fine. Can you use a hydrometer to make syrup?

Do you know how to make maple sugar? Do you just cook it longer.

I'm glad you started this thread Brendasue because it sent me on a hunt for info on what all could be tapped, which turned up this article.

If you have time, it's really interesting to learn winter wood identification. Twigs all look the same in winter until you look closely and then they're different in fascinating ways. I'm still looking for a good twig i.d. site online to post here...

About maple sugar, my wife likes maple syrup a bit thicker than the way I'd been making it so I started boiling it longer, with the result that a number of jars have big sugar crystals formed on the bottom. Like rocks. Kind of cool.

Here is a link that might be useful: tree tapping

Sorry I have been skimming over threads lately-not enough time in the day!

Runningtrails, yes, you can use a hydrometer-actually we will be getting one for next year. I did look up maple sugar candy recipe, but to tell the truth we don't have enough syrup for the year (especially after giving some away) to make candy.

Thanks for the link, Paulns. I'll be checking it out & probably printing it for tree ID. Not this week, though! lol. Next year we'll be pro's at the syrup thing....
Brendasue

From the sounds of it; you have sugar sand. If you have tapped red maples, you will definitely have it. A cheesecloth is not fine enough to strain it completely. What I use are purchased through maple suppliers. Leader Evaporator and Bascom Maple Products are two great companies. We use something called a prefilter, which is used as named. As a follow up we use a wool filter. These items can be used year after year. Just flush with hot water. NO SOAP! Even with all the filtering you tend to still have some sugar sand. Let product sit for a couple days. Pour off clear syrup, reheat to 180 degrees and bottle. Hope this helps.

Sugar sand is something I havn't heard of. Do you know why red maples are more prone to it?

I still havn't figured out what maples were tapped, I havn't made it there to identify them, there's so much happening and all...This is a busy season soon to get busier!

Brendasue

"It is important to emphasize that good, high-quality maple syrup can be made from red maple sap. However, for sugaring, red maple does have three important weaknesses. First, the sap sugar content of red maple will be less, on the average, than that of nearby comparable sugar or black maples, perhaps by 1/2 percent or more. This lower sap sugar content translates to higher costs of production and lower profits. Secondly, red maple begins growth in the spring before sugar and black maples, resulting in a shorter collecting season. In addition, when the sap of some red maples is processed, an excessive amount of sugar sand is produced. Sugar sand or niter is the salt that precipitates during the evaporation process. Sugar sand can cause several problems during the production process. "

I found this for you and included the link if you're interested in more info.

Here is a link that might be useful: Maple tree identification

Wow! I'm so glad I stumbled across this today. I tried my hand at making maple syrup this year for the first time, and have encountered exactly what you're talking about. My maples are running today, so I'm going to try the coffee filters stuffed with cheesecloth and see what happens. Even with the sugar sand in the bottom, my family still loves this new adventure we're on!

Cool thread! I sure wish you guys would post some pics of the process with a little description... I've never done the maple syrup thing (I'm in California) or seen it done.

Please tell us more about it? :)

Velvet ~:>