Filtering for those without a filter tank

[eustis22]

I splurged this year on a set of Bascom cone filters/pre-filters because the dishtowel just wasn't doing it for me. But I don't have a filter tank so my question is: what is a cheap workaround to support the filters? Do I use one pre-filter at a time or do I run 5/6/7 into the cone filter? Could I use a big stainless pot with a lid to support the filter AND keep my syrup somewhat hot?

Yes, these are the things my mind wakes up to vs Jessica Alba. Weird, I know

[Paddymountain]

I use an old 48 cup drip coffee pot to suspend my filters in. use about 4 pre's and your synthetic. drop a probe thermometer in and you'll be able to monitor how hot it gets. bottle your syrup right out of the tap. we filtered/bottled about 9 gallon last night in 3 hours

[eustis22]

wow...excellent idea

[umpwood1]

We are using 2 flat pans on the evaporator. 1 is 24 x 30 and a 18 x 30 front pan. After pouring the back into the front to finish, we fill it with water. After the front is finished we pour it through cheese cloth into a s/s pan. Then we have a s/s pan setting in the boiling water in the back pan with a 16" piece of s/s flue pipe standing in the pan. This flue pipe has a thick cone filter and about 5 prefilters inside of it. Then we just pour the hot syrup into the filters and keep removing the prefilters as needed. Sit back smoke a cigar and drink a coffee. Works great for us.

Regards,
Woody

[Flat47]

We use a 5 gallon stainless stock pot to draw off into, and a stainless collender to hold one synthetic flat filter and 2 or 3 pre-filters. I soldered brass fittings onto the stock pot to mount a dial thermometer and valve. We can draw off and be bottling in 10 minutes. Works great.

[Ecnerwal]

We used filters that were very similar to the cone filters (possibly the same, hard to be sure) but they were sold as "jelly bags" for filtering hot jelly, and they had a ring supported by three legs that clipped to the top of a pot, so the bag was suspended over the pot. You might be able to work with that idea...the stainless stovepipe is fundamentally similar.

[valleyman]

Here's a setup I made to hold a filter.

5327

[adk1]

yeah, this is one thing that I have not totally figured out yet, filtering. I bought 2 synthetic 5qt cone filters and a dozen prefilters. Other than that I have nothing done.

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

I get the prefilter sheets and the synthetic sheets from leader. I have a stainless steel sink and i put cookie cooling racks in there to keep it off the bottom. then i put the synthetic filter on top of it. Then i put another cookie cooling rack to seperate the filters. And a prefilter on top. With 2 clean filters it will filter through as fast as you can put it in.

No Need for a filter press this way:D gets it nice and clear too!

[chuck240z]

I cut the.bottom out of a bucket and clipped the cone filter to it. I use pre filters in the cone. Sit the.bucket on you stainless pot.

[Bucket Head]

Be on the lookout for stainless steel milk cans. The cone filters/prefilters fit in them perfectly. We set up four cans before we start the evap. That way we can draw off right into one and when that one is full, we swap another in, and then another... After years of filtering experience/headaches we have determined that there is no better way to filter syrup if you have to use the felts/cones- style filters. The syrup is hot, the cans hold the heat which keeps the filters warm and filtering continues, no fumbling with filters during boiling, you wash them later- again, the best way to filter syrup without a filter press. Try it.

Steve

[eustis22]

they're pricey on ebay

[Bucket Head]

I'm sure they are, so stay away from e-bay. Ask around and see what comes up. Watch your local classifieds, they pop up once in a while. Go ask around at any defunct dairy farms. I got two of mine at flea markets. And just so were clear here, I'm talking about used, former in-the-barn/milkhouse duty, 10 gal. milk cans. I know new ones are outrageous and I think Dominion and Grimm carry new milkcan-like cans, which are also outrageous, like everything else in the sugaring catalogs. Theres still a lot of old dairy equipment out there that can be repurposed for sugaring, at a fraction of the cost of new, and it saves it from being scrapped and sent to China!

Steve