Filtering later?

[TIMIKE]

Start with this is a great site that I have been following for a few yr now and have got a lot of great info from. Now I have 2 questions. First is this will be our first yr with 15gal drums and we can finish 8-9gal of syrup on our finisher pot....so can we put 8-9 gal in the drum and then finish the next batch right away and fill the drum will it sell this way? Next is can you bottle syrup up in 5 or 15gal with out filtering and filter when you go to break it down to qt, pt and what not a month or 2 later?

[jmayerl]

Yes I hot pack into 30 gallon drums and that took me about 4 hours last year. They keep just fine(still have one in the basement that hasn't been opened yet. And yes you can filter later but I will tell you the syrup could develop a bit of a off flavor. Many people actually filter this way. If syrup is allowed to settle out much of the crud will sink to the bottom, but if left sitting on that crud for many months it may get a slight funny taste.

[SWEETER CREATIONS]

I am wondering when you get to your buyer does he take your word as to whats in the barrel ? Mine doesnt he opens the barrel and takes a sample, I have sold to at least 3 different buyers and they all did the same ! So what happened to the hot pack? Now I still hot pack every barrel because I dont always sell bulk syrup,but in big crop seasons its a bonus for us. 90 % of our syrup is sold retail in syrup or value added products. To answer your question yes you can heat 8-9 gallons from yesterday and hot pack with todays syrup to fill the barrel. I suggest that you filter it every time before you put it in the barrel , (did you ever try to clean a barrel with nitre and such in it ?) Filter, filter , filter .

[TIMIKE]

Thanks for the info guys. I should of said that we do plan to filter most of the syrup right away but was just looking to get someone else thoughts on filtering later. We were just thinking of on the days when the sap is flowing great and things get hectic to bottle on those days into drums with out filtering and make sure we get to those drums first to bottle in smaller sizes. We don't sell bulk but have decided this yr to go to 15gal to keep and break down as we need them. Just to make sure we can take 8gal warm to 180-190 put in drum and right away warm then next batch up and top off drum and it should be good?

[jmayerl]

Yes..........