help with bottling temperature

[shawn fitzgerald]

I am looking for an inexpensive way to control the temperature of my syrup when I bottle it. Does anybody have any ideas? Stove top has not worked out so well for me.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I would get a commercial coffee maker the kind you can get cheap on Ebay. The 30-40 cup type that have a thermostat. Trying to get a temperature to stay stable during the draw off during bottling is tough. The only reliable type I find is a water jacketed bottler because they dont fluctuate up and down and you cant burn the syrup like on a stove. Now dont get me wrong if you run a elec coffee pot low on syrup it can and will boil or burn the syrup. Keeping the bottler 1/3 full during the bottling prosess is the best way to keep consistancy. Gas, electric and wood heated bottlers will boil a very small amount of syrup in the reheating prosess that can lead to sedement so take it slow and low till you reach your intended bottling temp. That little squeaking sound as it heats up is micro boiling nearest the heat source. Its like reheating cold Beans or Chili and after its up to temp you find you burned some in reheating because consentrated heat in a small area.

[TF Maple]

I used a coffee maker last year and liked it a lot. It kept the syrup at 185 degrees F. I heated water in it first to get it hot, otherwise you get the small boil near the element when you turn it on, like Haynes is talking about. Dump the hot water out right before filtering syrup into the coffee maker. Nice spigot at the bottom to fill jars with.

[maple flats]

I also like to preheat glass. During the season I use an oven I made, it hangs on the back side of the base stack. It is like a steel shelving cabinet, with 2 sides, top and bottom solid, a removable door on an end, and it is open to the base stack on the last side. I place glass to be used in it while boiling and it reaches temps too hot to handle with bare hands in about 20 minutes. This makes it so the mass of the glass doesn't lower the temperature too fast. During the off season I use a oven unless bottling in hot weather. Plastic jugs do not need any of this.

[Paddymountain]

I'm planning on using an 18qt roaster oven to put my bottles in prior to canning. You can set them pretty low and keep the bottles about 200 before you put the syrup in. may not be the best for bigger producers ,but should do OK when you are canning a couple gallons at a time. I also use a coffee urn to filter and bottle, it works great.