food grade antifreeze in WJC?

[tuckermtn]

we just got a new Lapierre water jacketed canner and I am wondering if anyone else is using a food grade antifreeze in the jacket?

something like this - https://www.amazon.com/Duda-Energy-propgly-Propylene-Concentration/dp/B004KUZ9PM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1483395379&sr=8-2&keywords=food%2Bgrade%2Bantifreeze&th=1

[FDA]

more info? How big is the canner ( approximate gallons in the jacket ) ? I drain mine when I'm afraid of it freezing, What does a Lapierre canner have for a drain?

[Super Sapper]

Just remember to not use it straight. It is very poor at heat transfer and needs to be cut with water. I am not sure what the freeze point is at different percentages so you will need to find that out if you use it.

[maple flats]

I'll just drain mine when finished (just ordered it, should be in later this week from Smoky Lake). I don't want to lose any efficiency in heat transfer. Besides that, peace of mind is far better with nothing left in the jacket.
What does Lapierre say?

[Tweegs]

Color me confused.

Is it a big pain to drain/fill the water jacket?

The stuff you linked to is propylene glycol which has a boiling point of 370* F.
A 50/50 mix of the stuff is sure to raise the boiling point of the water, which would kind of defeat the purpose of the jacket, wouldn’t it?

Not being sarcastic here, I’m genuinely curious.

[wiam]

Color me confused.

Is it a big pain to drain/fill the water jacket?

The stuff you linked to is propylene glycol which has a boiling point of 370* F.
A 50/50 mix of the stuff is sure to raise the boiling point of the water, which would kind of defeat the purpose of the jacket, wouldn’t it?

Not being sarcastic here, I’m genuinely curious.

I see the boiling point as a non issue. The jacket temp in mine is set by thermostat to 185. I find this idea interesting. During the season I watch temps closely. It usually does not fall to near freezing. But I also have a double layer of foil bubble wrap around it. If it gets real cold I will back thermostat to 45 and leave it on.

[Tweegs]

Ah, I see.

I was recently looking at smaller scale units that were not thermostatically controlled.

That’s what was running around in my head.

[1arch]

Haven't thought of freeze protection on the water jacket however what I do prior to each bottling session is add hot water off my steam away into my water jacket. Primarily for efficiency reasons since my water jacket is electric element heat.

[ennismaple]

Our sugar camp is unheated and we have only water in our water jacketed canner. We turn the thermostat down to about 60 F overnight and then turn back up for canning the following day. If we had an extended power outage we'd need to get it drained before it froze but otherwise it's OK sitting on low heat for days between boils.