I have a 6 gallon aluminum pot that I wired an electrical heating element into. It appears in my first post on this blog, Homebrewing on a Potbelly Stove in 2015. I’ve used it with success to boil maple sap into syrup.
This year I went to lend it to a friend for syrup making and they expressed concern that the aluminum pot might contribute off-flavors to the final product. A quick search confirmed that indeed, this belief is widespread in maple syrup-making posts online – they say an aluminum pot is inadvisable due to the syrup’s acidity.
As a longtime beer brewer, this claim seemed questionable. Citation needed! Off I plunged into a rabbit hole. In short, here’s why I don’t think this risk can be real: