Short bank verses full bank filter press

[ackerman75]

Hello all,
I need some input on what filter press to buy, I have 200 taps and made 72 gallons of syrup this year and I woulf like to speed up my filter process. I read that the long bank 7" press would be good for about 30 gallons of syrup before you need to change filters. So how many gallons do you get out of the 7" short bank filter press ?
Thanks in advance
Jamie

[Three Saps Sugar Shack]

with the nitre this year ive only been able to get about 7-9 gallons thru mine, before changing papers,but i have had slightly better results if i pre charge the filters with 1.5 cups of de mixed with hot water off the hood, and then gradually add two more cups of de to up to 10 gals of syrup

[onthehill]

I'd go with the short bank. Wes Fab has a short bank hand pump press that woudl do you a real nice job. Several sugarmakers in my area are using the hand pump press and are very pleased with them.

[Russell Lampron]

I have a Wes Fab hand pump short bank filter press. I could only get about 5 gallons of syrup through it before it got too hard to pump. I put a 3/8" air operated double diaphragm pump on it and now I can get 15 to 20 gallons through it if the syrup isn't too dirty. It will hold about 7 cups of filter aid.

[kiegscustoms]

Where do you get the wes fab filter presses? Are they cheaper than Lapierre?

[ackerman75]

Wes fab filters and presses........AndersonsMapleSyrup.com......don'tn how price compares.

[tuckermtn]

I have routinely been getting 20-25 gals through my cdl short bank press. Would get more, but thats about what we max out in our two canners. I use the oberdorfer gear pump that came with it. I have put 430 gallons thought our short bank press this year. Very happy with it. Perhaps Theron can chime in, it used to be his....

[Dennis H.]

I bought a 5" filterpress from Daryl here on the Trader, great little filterpress. It is also hand operated. He makes them with a CNC machine.

I would use the number of gals that can be filtered only as a rough guide. I had a ton of sugarsand this year and was only able to get about 3 gals thru the filter, this is with 6 papers.

I still had 2 more sets of plates to use if needed.

[Gary R]

Dennis, I did 5 gal. with six papers with ease. When I draw off the evaporator I filter through a paper cone pre filter. If I made more syrup, I'd go for 10 gal. on the full stack.

[802maple]

You most likely don't need anymore than a shortbank 7 inch. I would think that a 5 inch would be large enough for the amount of syrup you make. I read your post over a couple times and I am wondering if you think that if you were to get a full bank that you would only have to change your filter twice thru sugaring. You will need to change your papers everyday that you boil because once the filter press cools down it is next to impossible to get any syrup thru it next time. It can be done but it takes a while to bring it up to temperature, but most of the time you end up breaking papers.

[Jeff E]

If you want to go with a short bank, I upgraded to a full bank 3 seasons ago and have a the Wes Fab short bank sitting collecting dust. If you are interested in it, send me a email or PM and we could work out a deal.