Home made canner

[Samuelvw1]

Looking to get suggestions on a new style of canning for the maple syrup like a water bath but I don't want to shell out the big bucks for new professional one I'd rather have it home made currently I'm using a coffee urn and I'm afraid there r hot spots bringing the temp over 190

Thanks Sam

[Cedar Eater]

I assume that you mean something like this water jacketed wax melter. http://www.ritehete.com/waterjacketedmelters.htm

Unless you do your own welding with stainless steel parts, I don't see any way of making one.

[VTNewbie]

I know this is an old thread, but has anyone had any luck with the water jacket wax melters vs water jacket from cdl/smokey lake/ leader? They seem to be quite a bit cheaper than the ones sold by maple supply stores.

http://www.ritehete.com/waterjacketedmelters.htm is the one cedar eater linked and looks interesting

vs.

https://www.smokylakemaple.com/product/water-jacketed-bottlers/

[bmbmkr]

I bought a 4 stockpot set from Ollies, it came with 8, 12, 16 and 20 qt stainless stockpots and lids. I think it was $29. For the canner- I put the 12 qt inside the 20 qt, , marked, measured and drilled a 5/8 hole through both- pilot hole then step bit. I used a 1/2" bulkhead fitting from brewers supply. It is a threaded nipple about 3 1/2" long, $10. I bought a few extra nuts, washers and silicone gaskets. The hard part was puttin the extra silicone gasket and nut in between the outside( 20 qt) and inside( 12 qt) wall. Under the 12 qt are 3 end caps for 1" copper pipe. I cut notches in the sides of each with a grinder so they wouldn't trap steam and explode. Then I put a 1/2" SS ball valve- butter fly or gate valve would probably be better fr bottling, but mine works. I fill the space between the pots about half full of water and set it on the burner- run the water up to 190-205 F. I've been using this for 3 years, holds 3 gallons. I have about $60 in it. The only thing I need to fix is when I have more water than syrup the inner pot wants to float- I keep meaning to put some some stainless screws around the top to hold the pan down.

The 2 leftover stockpots- I used them as well. I took the handle off the 16qt lid, set the 8 qt pot on top of it and traced it with a scribe, cut it out so the 8 qt pot sits inside the 16 qt lid. I cut the bottom out of the 8 qt pot. Set the 8 qt pot and 16 qt lid on top of the 16 qt pot ad this is my filtering rig- I put my cone filter and prefilters in the 8 qt set it on a bucket next to my draw off valve and draw off into it. It works pretty good as far as cone filters go- this year after running 450 taps through the RO, and evaporating off an 18"x72" franken rig, I've learned the limitations of cone filtering. A filter press is on the list for next year.

Bottom line, you can make a canner without welding if you put your mind to it.

Ben

[Zucker Lager]

I made an electric one using sheet metal for the water jacket and a stainless baine marie (sp?) then a steam table pan for filter tray. Jay

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?31226-Hobby-Water-Jacket-Bottle-Filler

[mudr]

I used a 16x20 steam pan. Drilled it and installed 4 stainless bolts to hold a cookie rack as a filter rack. Drilled 2 more holes, one for a selfless bulkhead I bottle off from and one for a thermometer. Let's see if I can figure out how to attach pictures...

Can of beer for size references purposes19889