grease filter

[CTsugarMan]

hey all

I was at my local restaurant supply store looking for some stuff, the owner suggested i try a grease filter to filter the syrup after my 219 boiling point. there only 20cents so this would be a cheap solution, has anyone done this before?

[happy thoughts]

I asked the same ? last year and as I remember the answer was not to bother. They kinda work but not as well as the real ones made for syrup, or so I'm told. I make too little syrup, only a couple of gallons, so they aren't worth the expense to me, or the loss in syrup. With the number of taps you have, that may or may not be the case for you, as well.That said, I'm fine with letting the sand settle out over a day or two and then reheating the clear stuff to about 190F before bottling. You probably won't get it all out this way but if you're careful the sand will be minimal. As long as you're not using any equipment with lead in it, the sand won't hurt you. It's mostly just minerals and trace elements.

[Brent]

I'll second the idea from happy thoughts. Get some real maple pre-filters. They will trap 95% of the sand. Any of the orlon or felt filters you'll lose 20% or more
of your syrup in the fabric.

Then just let it stand and settle for a few days. If you want to give some way, decant it to a clean bottle and use the last few tablespoons yourself. You'll never notice the last bit of sand on a buckwheat pancake. After decanting the syrup MUST be refrigerated. It won't be sterile like it was done in a canner.

[Toblerone]

I use them all the time for filtering sap and they work well as a pre-filter. I use them when I draw off near-syrup from the evaporator before I take it in for finishing. After finishing, I use the Orlon cone filters and I don't have any problems with niter.

[CTsugarMan]

ya i tried it twice and they seem to work fine... also a good paper towel (bounty) seems to get all the niter out also, but you need to squeeze the last bit out the back of a spoon to get every drop out...


although with the prefilters, how many should you use, after you get 219F... then filter, how many should you layer up to filter through....

[Toblerone]

With "pre" filters I don't think you'll even get all the niter out no matter how man you use. The only way to get it all would be to use a syrup filter (Orlon), but as Brent says, when filtering small batches of syrup you can lose a fair amount in the fabric. Or alternatively you can store the syrup in gallon jugs and wait for the sand to settle and then decant, re-heat, and bottle.

Also, it may look like those pre-filters got all the sand out but they might not have. If you let a jar settle for a few weeks, a dividing line between crystal clear syrup and slightly cloudy syrup will form where the fine sand starts to settle. Of course, if you pack into plastic containers or don't mind ever so slightly cloudy syrup, then they'll probably be ok.