Regular non-water jacket coffee urn?

[Groves]

I know with great happiness many of you use a coffee urn that has the water jacket. Fantastic.

Has anyone tried a regular urn without the jacket? Like a 60cup model or something. I assume you take all the percolating innards out, but is that little heater in the bottom too harsh? Will it always be boiling your syrup at that localized spot and generating ever increasing amounts of niter?

I assume an adjustable thermostat model is the way to go. Seems like a potentially good idea for us small time bottlers...but I'm sure it's been tried before.

Commence the dispensing of wisdom. I'm all ears.

[RileySugarbush]

It can work, but your wording "too harsh" is a pretty good description. The goal is to bottle above 180 or 190°F and below syrup boiling to prevent sugar sand for forming. A water jacket prevents any syrup from exceeding 212°F. With a heating element, local temps right at the element can far exceed that and you may locally boil some syrup and cause yourself some problems.

[bearair]

I bought one of these at Menards. It has a spigot to poor off when the syrup is the right temp for bottling.
I haven't used it yet but, I think It will be just what us "small" bottlers want. I'm going to just let the sugar sand settle for a few hours or even overnight and then use a low flame to warm the syrup.

SAF-T-COOKER®

http://www.menards.com/main/outdoor/outdoor-living/grills-smokers/saf-t-cooker/p-1484889.htm?cid=7727

[whalems]

Is that a stainless steel pot? Pretty nice looking set up if it is.:)

[tstew]

I've used one in the past personally I had good luck with it. I had a long stem digital thermometer in and once it hit 190 I would unplug it and start bottleing. Never a problem getting everything into jugs before it got to cold(180). It was cheap and worked at the time. Just my 2 cents

[Turtlecreek]

I used one last year that I picked up at a yard sale for 10 bucks. Its a 20 or 30 cupper and was barely used. I took out all of the inners, stem basket etc. I then put a bunch of water in and tesed everything it heats to between 180 and 190.

I filter the syrup with a prefilter right out of the evaporator, then I finish it on a propane burner if needed. Then after I finish it I filter through prefilters and a orlon filter directly into the "canner" At the end of the night I plug it in watch a thermometer when it reaches proper temp I bottle it.

I have not had any issue with it, the seals all seal on the jugs, no additioal sugar sand, and the syrup is perfect. So I would say use it, just watch what is going on.

[Dave Y]

I have used two 100 cup coffee pots and neither one will heat syrup past 180.
They work the best when I heated up the syrup on the stove and the poured it in the urn to bottle.I no longer use them,if anyone is interested I would be willing to sell them.

[SeanD]

I had the same problem as Dave. I had a 100 cup urn that would shut off before reaching temp. It became a hassle dealing with a pot and the urn. So I use my homemade steam pan preheater as a bottler. It fits on my stove where I can control the heat better.

It sounds like the smaller cup units do a better job of maintaining temperature.

Sean

[Brent]

If you bottle into glass and use the non-water jacket tanks the syrup in contact with the heater/propane flame area will get hot enough to cause some new sand to percipitate.
How much will depend to a degree on how cold the syrup is going into the tank. If the syrup is cold the element will be on and hot for quite a while making more sand. If your syrup going in is pretty warm then the element will not be on so much and the sand will be limited. Like everything else in maple .... it depends !

[Haynes Forest Products]

I have a friend that does all his bottling on in a elec coffee maker. Adding the syrup into it as hot as possible is the key. Use it as a bottler not a syrup heater. If its making noise its boiling the syrup:mad:

[TF Maple]

I used an 18 cup coffee maker last year and it held the temp at 185* F. I put hot water in and plug it in so it gets up to temperature first. Then unplug it and dump the water and filter syrup into it so it stays hot. Plug the coffee maker in and it is ready for bottling. No sugar sand in my glass jars.