West bend coffee urn for bottling - need help!

[bcarpenter]

Ok I got a good deal on a 30 cup west bend coffee urn and saw earlier that some people were using it for bottling. Would someone who uses this machine for bottling post some step by step instructions on how to use it for syrup. I intend to finish syrup in house on my stove but I am a little confused as to when people are putting the syrup into the urn.

I have read on here that I need to run a brew cycle with the urn using water and than I dump the water out and then i add previously filtered syrup or after I dump the water out do I filter into the urn? Also do I leave the thing plugged in the whole time?

I will probably have upwards of a gallon of syrup that I will be looking to bottle tomorrow night so any help ahead of time is appreciated. Hoping to get rid of the old way of using a funnel and filters and move into the big time with he urn!

Thanks
Bill

[psparr]

7294
Here's a similar setup to what I do. Dump the water, throw the bucket on and start filtering as quick as possible. I leave mine plugged in till its just about out of syrup then just use the leftover syrup for personal use. Put some sort of lid over the bucket to keep the heat in.

[wnybassman]

I fill the urn with water and start the brew cycle just before I expect the syrup to be completely finished on the stove. Timing a bit tricky, but usually come pretty close. Make sure urn is plugged into an extension cord so you can move about the kitchen with the urn. You don't want to unplug it once it finished the brew cycle because it will reset and start another cycle. You just want it in the warming mode. I dump the water and set the urn on the stove right next to my pot of finished syrup and quickly clip 3 or 4 prefilters to the top of the urn. Oh yeah, I drop a temp probe in before I clip the filters, have to make sure I am bottling between 185 and 195. I ladle syrup right from the pan into the filters. Once the urn gets a 1/3rd full or so I start bottling while syrup is still filtering through. I just jump back and forth between ladling and bottling until everything is gone, pulling a prefilter now and then if clogged.

Just using the prefilters my syrup ends up pretty clear. Clear enough where even I'm impressed in glass bottles.

The biggest batch I did at one time last year was a little over two gallons and the smallest just under one gallon.