Coffee Urn Question

[Marvel26]

I have a potentially silly question....when one uses a coffee urn to bottle do you turn it on or just use it like an insulated thermos? If it is on what temp do they normally go to? I was looking at one at the pancake Tuesday church supper last night and I didn't see a temp control on it.

There were lots of questions when I was noticed "inspecting" it ;-)

[ericjeeper]

I just ladle into mine hot. They do not get hot enough to bottle. Mine reaches 153° I do not plug it in at all.

[psparr]

Here's my way for what it's worth. put a couple inches of water in it. Turn it on. It will go through a brew cycle (get's real hot) Once the ready light comes on, the brew cycle is over. ( Temp on mine holds a perfect 185.) While I'm finishing syrup I get the urn going. I have a bucket with the bottom cut out of it. The cone filter hangs inside the bucket and is placed on top of the urn. There the cone filter steams to allow the syrup to flow better. When the syrup is at density, I quickly dump the water in the urn, (leaving it plugged in or it will go through the brew cycle again) Place the bucket filter setup back on top, and pour the syrup in, and throw a lid in it to keep things hot. Then start bottling, checking after a while on my prefilters and removing one when necessary. When I get close to empty i unplug the urn and save the last bit for personal use.

Hope that helped some.

[Marvel26]

psparr

Would you have a pic or two of your "bottling components"?

Thanks

Rob

[optionguru]

psparr,

I bought a coffee urn last year to help with bottling but my season was so bad I never needed to bottle more than a gallon or so at a time so I never used it. Question, I assume the filters hang down into the syrup, is it difficult to pull a pre-filter out when the cone is still half full and the already filtered syrup is pushing back against the sides from the outside? Any best practices you can recommend, when filtering a gallon at a time in the past, my filters seem to really slow down about 3/4 of the way through. I can't imagine how slow it will be when I try to run 3 or 4 gallons through at a time.

[wnybassman]

Here's my way for what it's worth. put a couple inches of water in it. Turn it on. It will go through a brew cycle (get's real hot) Once the ready light comes on, the brew cycle is over. ( Temp on mine holds a perfect 185.) While I'm finishing syrup I get the urn going. I have a bucket with the bottom cut out of it. The cone filter hangs inside the bucket and is placed on top of the urn. There the cone filter steams to allow the syrup to flow better. When the syrup is at density, I quickly dump the water in the urn, (leaving it plugged in or it will go through the brew cycle again) Place the bucket filter setup back on top, and pour the syrup in, and throw a lid in it to keep things hot. Then start bottling, checking after a while on my prefilters and removing one when necessary. When I get close to empty i unplug the urn and save the last bit for personal use.

Hope that helped some.

This ^

Mine has a pretty short cord so I use an extension cord so it does not get unplugged when dumping the water after the brewing cycle. I keep saying I am going to take pictures but everything is very hectic at that time and I never do.

[psparr]

The filter doesn't sit in the syrup. It hangs in the bucket and stays above the urn. The pre filter I lift and start turning on it's side slightly alowing syrup still in it to flow out through the still relativy clean top of the filter. Then either pour the remainder into the next prefilter or lift it up higher and clothes pin it up so it can continue to drain. If everything stays hot it filters pretty well. Letting them steam a while helps a lot too. If your only filtering a little at a time, a good trick is when your done filtering, put your surypy filters in a gallon size Ziploc bag and toss it in the freezer till next time. Then just rinse them in your hot sap to recover the syrup. I will try to make time tomorrow to take some pictures for you.

[adk1]

I heat my coffee urn up with water, dump water and pour in hot sap to then bottle from the urn. Urn unplugged. I believe the heating element in the urn will form nitre

[psparr]

I made a short video of my setup.
http://youtu.be/9kdVThgyq_M

[optionguru]

Thanks for the video. I think I'll copy your setup exactly.

[adk1]

I filter off into a cone filter setup and directly into a 9QT SS pail. I have several 9 QT pails. I had a small round table that I cut a hole in the middle and used screws to attach the filter to with the filters rungs.

[TerryEspo]

Great video, PS,,,,I read you post before the video and was a bit confused, but now seeing the video it all makes sense. I have a large coffee percolator that I will use if it holds temp. I will go steal it from the camping supplies tote and test it with water.

Thanks.

Terry

[MapleLady]

Thank you for posting your video. So many of us backyard maplers would like to do a better job of filtering without buying expensive equipment. I have used a large cone filter folded down to shorten the length and hang it off of a Jelly stand. That works fine into a large stainless steel pot, but I still have to ladle that syrup from the pot into canning jars -- all the while keeping that syrup hot. I have access to a large coffee urn and will definitely give this set-up a try next month!

[steve J]

I have A 64 cup coffee maker that I bought new and it also holds the syrup at 185. I filter thru a cone filter into a 16 qt pot. I dump that into coffee maker heat till light comes on unplug and bottle works great.

[Marvel26]

Lots of great info! Thanks all....I'm off in search for coffee urns.

[MarkReynolds]

yup i like that set up psparr im going to also copy it, i have a coffee urn but its only 30 cups and doesnt hold at 185 it drops down to around 160 after the heat up cycle so im going to have to look for a better urn.

[Pauly V]

I have A 64 cup coffee maker that I bought new and it also holds the syrup at 185. I filter thru a cone filter into a 16 qt pot. I dump that into coffee maker heat till light comes on unplug and bottle works great.

Hey steve..so after you pour syrup into urn..your running urn on a cycle to heat? then shutting off when cycles done. Any nitre build up in urn?? I have a 100 cup that I will be using.

I ask this because alot of guys run a water cycle and dump..then shut off urn..and pour syrup in.

[5050racing]

I do the same but unplug mine it cooks when it gets low n forms niter nice to find on that didn't but it works great the left over in the bottom comes in and I us it in my oatmeal till cleaned than add water n plug it in and use that last bit as the water for my oatmeal also no lost syrup!! The only thing I have on mine is a tie down strap to the ceiling so it won't get tipped over in the process just a idea,it can get top heavy until some syrup gets to the coffee urn.