New to filter press question on how much DE to use

[claystroup]

At the end of last season I purchased a used D & G 7" 7 bank filter press that I found for a reasonable price. This is my 4th year sugaring and I didn't want to use orlon filters anymore. I am tapping 110 trees this year and would estimate I will be filtering between 3 and 5 gallons of syrup per filtering session. I have set the press up to run only 3 banks which I think will be sufficent for my 3 to 5 gallon runs. My question is how much DE should I use for this volume of syrup to filter?

[maple flats]

Early in the season until about 2/3 thru, start with 1 cup DE, mix it in with about 2 gal of syrup, then pump it thru the filter and back into the mixing tank to coat the papers. When the syrup flowing out of the discharge hose looks like it sparkles, move the filter discharge hose to your bottling unit or to a bulk container for storage. Pump the balance of that 2 gal thru. Then run the rest of the unfiltered syrup into the mixing tank, add about half as much DE as that first batch per gallon of syrup. You can guess the syrup amounts, it is not that critical. Each time you add DE, mix it well before sending it thru the filter. Late season you may need more DE. Just observe how it is doing. In late season you start to get even more niter, the more niter the more DE it needs. Try to filter syrup at 200-205F then do not reheat to over 190 to bottle, but not under 180.
I like to filter at 205-210 and then I bottle at 185-187F (I use a WJ bottler with an electric heating element, which holds that tight range. Before, when my bottler was propane fired I tried to keep the temp between 184-190)

[DougM]

I'm not disagreeing with Dave's answer above, but as an alternative we've had really good success the last couple of years using 1/3 cup of DE per gallon. We got in the habit of doing smaller batches in the past, but this year we've been waiting until our finisher is full (around 10 gallons) and it's worked well with any size batch. We use basically the same method Dave describes, but mix all the DE into the batch in the finisher before running it through.
As Dave mentioned later in the year you'll need more DE, and definitely keep an eye on the pressure