Hand filter press

[Cindee]

Hi,
Does anyone out there have a hand crank filter press? If so, what do you think of it, what kind do you have. How do you use it, do you use the filtering aid with it? I looked at the 30 day outlook and it looks like a good season and a very long season especially the 3rd week in March.

Thanks,

Cinde:)

[treemonkey]

Cindee, I have a 5" press by Daryl bought from Smoky Lake. Great press. It has a hand diaphragm pump, filter aid is a must, Filter HOT, cleans up the syrup great! You won't be sorry if you buy one. I filter about 4 to 5 gallons at a time.

[BreezyHill]

Wes fab...Great unit, currently has hand pump on it, but got a pump of ebay for $70 with a rebuild kit for when it needs. filter aid is a must. We filter with a prefilters on the finish pan.
hot or not is the rule we use. The hand pump gets old when doing 5 gallon jugs. We are changing to 15 gallon drums this season and it would have caused a revolt from the boys hand pumping 15 gallons at one time. Buy a box of filter papers to have on hand. Some days they last great others they plug quickly.

Ben

[backyardsapman]

I work at a fab shop so I bought the hand pump and built my own out of aluminum plate material. In my opinion, it paid for itself the first time I used it - just not having to deal with cone filters that clog quickly. I made 12 1/2 gallons last year and kept each batch in the freezer until I could finish it all at one time. I should have gone this route a long time ago. A filter press is a must have.

[Cindee]

We bought a hand pump yesterday from Maple Hollow. It is $400 cheaper than the electric one and it didn't matter. My husband said I could choose either one because I am the one doing the filtering and spending hours and hours of doing it. We tested our hand pump last night by setting it up and running hot water through it to remove any machining debris. We were able to pump 1 gal per minute....YAHOOOOOOOOOOO! My advice is, if you can afford a press and eliminate the method of stacking filter papers etc...etc...it is well worth it. I am very happy and looking forward to the new season.

[Russell Lampron]

We bought a hand pump yesterday from Maple Hollow. It is $400 cheaper than the electric one and it didn't matter. My husband said I could choose either one because I am the one doing the filtering and spending hours and hours of doing it. We tested our hand pump last night by setting it up and running hot water through it to remove any machining debris. We were able to pump 1 gal per minute....YAHOOOOOOOOOOO! My advice is, if you can afford a press and eliminate the method of stacking filter papers etc...etc...it is well worth it. I am very happy and looking forward to the new season.

You pumped water at 1 gal per minute but that won't happen with syrup. I have a Wes Fab hand pump in my basement. I took it off of my press and replaced it with an air operated double diaphragm pump. I produce upwards of 15 gals of syrup in a boil and using that hand pump got old fast. For your size operation it will work good.

[Mad Tapper]

We bought the Wes Fab hand press approx. 5 yrs ago and run about 250 taps. Every time we use it, its another ah ha moment, wondering how/why we got along without it so long. Until very recently, we used a flat pan and would pull off large batches at a time. We would then pump it through the press right away and it didn't take long. We now have an evaporator so we hook the press up to the finish pan at the finishing step in the kitchen. We can actually hand pump it right into the jars. In short order, you'll get good at using the hand pump to fill the jars nearly full. We'll keep a large measuring cup with a spout nearby for bringing them up the last 1/2 inch or so. Done. Syrup cleans up perfectly. DE is a must. Cleaning it up between paper changes is kind of a chore, but you'll figure out a process so its not so bad. We actually picked up another press (w/electric pump) when we bought our evaporator. Haven't even used it yet because the hand pump works so nice. Good luck.

Mad Tapper