water jacket bottler/canner - how does it work?

[SilverLeaf]

OK, I get the basic concept - the water chamber serves as a buffer between the heating element and the syrup so it keeps the temp more even and less likely to create more niter. But here's what I don't quite understand - doesn't the water in the water chamber evaporate? And if so do you have to keep adding more water to it?, and if so, doesn't that sort of "kill the boil" (of the water, of course)?

[jmayerl]

canner should be set at 180-190F, therefore it does not boil. I'm sure you might have to add a little water throughout the season, mine holds 12 gallons so i think it will be fine.

[SilverLeaf]

canner should be set at 180-190F

So the water never actually gets to boiling temp? How long does it take for the heat transfer to occur to the syrup? Seems like, at that temp, it would take awhile before the syrup got up to 180...

[Haynes Forest Products]

Silverleaf I always heat in my finisher and filter hot into the bottler. I believe that heating and reheating is a waste of time and energy and it can add to MY addage that its all about TIME and TEMPERATURE. Just because you dont boil it doesnt mean your not cooking it. The sooner that finished syrup gets from the evap to the bottle the better for the color and lite taste. Now Me I have people that like me to over cook it until its a nice dark heavy flavor.

[Brent]

Leader's latest rendition of a canner was pretty open all around between the double walls. They even wasted time to cut "LEADER EVAPORATOR" into the front edge, so you would have to keep adding more water as it evaporated out. I asked if they could enclose it and they made one up for me that only has a 1/2 fill hole in the top. Last year I never had to top it up.

[Haynes Forest Products]

On the water jacketed coffee makers the vent hole is very small and is just to keep from blowing it up. Remember its the steam you cant see that hurts the most:o

[SilverLeaf]

Thanks guys. Makes more sense to me now.

In addition to running the finished syrup through a pre & final filter, I'm a "decanter-method" guy, so when I finally go to bottle, I need to re-heat from scratch. Works pretty well for me, although last year I had just the teeniest bit of niter in the bottom of my bottles, I'm sure from the re-heating process. So I've been ruminating for the future, and lamenting the cost of getting into some sort of water jacket setup. Seems like a minimum of $300 if you get lucky and find a good deal on a water jacket coffee urn. And for a "real" setup from Leader, etc, it's a thousand. In either case, out of my price range.

I wonder if anyone's ever been able to build something from scratch cheaply. Maybe I'll post that question....