Vacuum Filter and Steam Heat Bottler

[DRoseum]

I am a small hobby producer and wanted a better option for filtering syrup without the high cost of commercial units such as presses, which require far more volume than I produce in a day. Using some info on MT I put together this little vacuum filter and steam heat bottler. I did a test run and am pretty happy with how it worked and the reaults. Once the season starts (tapped today) and I get more runtime with it I will post an update.

https://www.sugartree.run/2020/02/vacuum-filter-steam-bottler-hobbydiy.html

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https://youtu.be/LqHUPicuOfc

[Robert K]

Looking forward to see how it works for you, nice job 👍

[bmbmkr]

That looks good! Do you have a link for the pan gasket and moisture separator? I'm thinking of making one out of my 10 gallon dairy can.

[DRoseum]

I custom made the gaskets using 1/4 inch silicone tubing that I put over 10 guage copper wire. This gives you food grade, high heat seal with enough rigidity to stay in place. I spliced the loop at an angle so the cut ends can compress together. This worked well for a pot that had an internal lip/ledge. Alternatively you could do the same thing but slice the tubing length wise and put it over the lip of your pot.

Link to air/moisture separator:
Neiko 30252A Water and Oil Separator for Air Line, 1/4" NPT Inlet and Outlet, 90 psi https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002GQ3SUA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_E-fpEbPHQZBE3

[bmbmkr]

Great Idea for the gasket. Thank you.

[jdircksen]

The gasket on the 9" CDL vacuum filter I have is just a thick ring of rubber.

Dan - I watched your video and was hoping to see the end. Did all the syrup go through? How much niter was on the filter at the end?

Mine is clogging and I'm still troubleshooting.

[maple flats]

That looks like a great design DRoseum.

[Conococheague]

DRoseum,

I like your filter and plan to do something very similar. I have a question: do you not get leakage where the silicone tubing ends meet on the pot seal or have you bonded these ends somehow? I realize that some small leaks are inevitable and will not degrade the performance greatly but was wondering if there was more to your "o-ring" than you've described. Thanks.

Conococheague

[DRoseum]

I didnt bond the splice but considered doing so. You could easily do that with a high temp food grade silicone caulk. However, my splice is angled top to bottom so when compressed from top and bottom the angled surfaces compress against each other and create a nice seal. Rough sketch provided.
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[Conococheague]

Thanks D. I have another question that would apply to all vacuum filter assemblies. When I filter with gravity through cone filters, I put about 3 pre-filters inside the cone filter and as the niter build up brings the flow through the filter to a crawl, I lift the top pre-filter slowly and carefully out and pour the syrup onto the next pre-filter or back into the unfiltered syrup warming in another pot, trying to minimize the amount of niter going with it. Using flat filters clamped underneath the upper pan, I don't see how this is possible with any syrup trapped by the filters without making a huge mess and having unfiltered syrup all over the top of the lid to the vacuum chamber. Do you just add very small amounts of syrup at a time to the upper pan and remove pre-filters before they become so clogged that you end up with liquid trapped above them? I have seen several videos of the CDL and other homemade versions and I don't see this issue addressed. I could imagine a scenario where the prefilters were in a basket form and sat inside the upper pot but they would have to be sealed to the upper rim of the pot or the air travelling to the evacuated bottom pot would just bypass them and defeat the system. If anybody can shed some light on this, I'd appreciate it. Filtering is my least favorite part of this business and I have 9 gallons to do and I'm excited about making and using the vacuum filter but I'm trying to anticipate things that could go wrong and avoid a big mess. Thanks.

Conococheague

[GotSap?]

Thanks D. I have another question that would apply to all vacuum filter assemblies. When I filter with gravity through cone filters, I put about 3 pre-filters inside the cone filter and as the niter build up brings the flow through the filter to a crawl, I lift the top pre-filter slowly and carefully out and pour the syrup onto the next pre-filter or back into the unfiltered syrup warming in another pot, trying to minimize the amount of niter going with it. Using flat filters clamped underneath the upper pan, I don't see how this is possible with any syrup trapped by the filters without making a huge mess and having unfiltered syrup all over the top of the lid to the vacuum chamber. Do you just add very small amounts of syrup at a time to the upper pan and remove pre-filters before they become so clogged that you end up with liquid trapped above them? I have seen several videos of the CDL and other homemade versions and I don't see this issue addressed. I could imagine a scenario where the prefilters were in a basket form and sat inside the upper pot but they would have to be sealed to the upper rim of the pot or the air travelling to the evacuated bottom pot would just bypass them and defeat the system. If anybody can shed some light on this, I'd appreciate it. Filtering is my least favorite part of this business and I have 9 gallons to do and I'm excited about making and using the vacuum filter but I'm trying to anticipate things that could go wrong and avoid a big mess. Thanks.

ConococheagueI would love to know if anyone has an answer for this as I am experiencing the same issue. The first 2 gallons suck through the filter very quickly, but after that, things slow to a crawl. I use one filter and one prefilter. If I have to break the unit down after every 2 gallons to replace the filters, I'm not sure it's worth it.

[DRoseum]

Yes - this is an issue with vacuum filters. As the season went on I made a couple of adjustments to address this. If you dont, and try to force syrup thru, you will pull the finest niter with it and still get some slightly cloudy syrup.
(1) after hitting syrup, started using a course cone pre-filter to catch really large niter before going into the top pan of the vacuum filter unit.
(2) added more pre-filters on the top of the ones clamped down. These ones you could pull off as they got clogged.

The inner lip of my top pot helped me be able to add those extra filters and still keep a good vacuum pulling. The wetted filters being against that provided a good seal. The CDL units dont have that inner lip from what I can see and i am not sure how far inside the top ring the filter grate starts and if there is enough surface area to create enough of a wetted seal by adding unclamped filters inside or not.

Lastly, I also made a crude wire spring clamp to hold those filters tightly against the ID of that top pot. I could squeeze it to loosen it slightly and pull one filter off at a time. That worked "ok" but definitely will be trying to refine it or stop using it and just cut discs of pre-filters to be exact size of the ID and see how that works.