Recanning drums

[Kh7722]

Hey All,

Making drums of syrup this year instead of bottling a whole years worth off the evaporator (due to more volume). What has everyone figured out is the fastest and best way to reheat a drum for canning. Really dont want to put cold syrup into water jacket canner, or use a pot and turkey fryer. The less time the better for this process meaning that time is money.
Thanks
Kevin

[BAP]

What kind of volume are you talking? How many gallons are you trying to heat up at once because you are talking about reheating drummed syrup but then mention using a turkey fryer. Reheating with too much heat too fast can lead to scorched syrup or going past 192 degrees, and having to refilter.

[maple flats]

Most of my barrels are 26.5 gal but sometimes I do a 40 gal. I use a silicone barrel heater band to get it warm enough to pump easily, then I pump it to my finisher. The finisher then heats it on low flame (propane fired) to about 170-175. I then send it thru my filter press again (I always filter as I fill a drum). I just like the extra assurance to have it sparkle. Then it is pumped to the WJ bottler. I do batches in the bottler up to about 15-16 gal batches. The bottler brings it to 185-187 , I recheck grade and density, adjust density if needed, then I bottle. When the bottler is down so the thermometer probe is out of the syrup, I bring the remaining syrup up to the 170-175 again and filter it. That finishes a 26.5 gal bbl, a 40 needs 3 batches. On each batch I verify density again because having it warm in the finisher changes the density and also because when I pack a barrel I often don't recheck density, my auto draw set point is according to my Marcland boil meter, which gives me a very close density, often .1 or .2 high.
I used to heat it back up in the finisher to 205-210 like I do when I filter as I fill a barrel, but I found that can darken the syrup quite a lot, enough to lose 5-10% light transmission and result in a darker grade. I sell dark very well, but very dark not much.

[Kh7722]

What kind of volume are you talking? How many gallons are you trying to heat up at once because you are talking about reheating drummed syrup but then mention using a turkey fryer. Reheating with too much heat too fast can lead to scorched syrup or going past 192 degrees, and having to refilter.

Recanning anything from 15-30’s. I do refilter all syrup out of drums. Alot of guys just heat into water jacket canners, which i feel takes WAY to long (hours). Looking for advice other than turkey fryer burners. Im into being efficient even if its buying a nice piece of equipment that will make life easier.

[maple flats]

Look for a finisher, used if you can. I used a 16 x 34" finisher for a few years, (bought used) then I found a 2x6 used one which I still have and use. It will heat syrup much faster and with good control than other methods. But on the barrel band heater it will heat even a 40 gal barrel (electric) up to 160 or more, just get the proper one, mine will go up to 250, but of course I never heat it to over about 160. That you just need to plan a day ahead. I throw a large moving pad blanket over it to help it heat faster, I just make sure the blanket does not touch the heat band.

[tcross]

i have a question about filling a drum. hope it's ok hijack this thread a little? if i need to hot pack a 30 gal drum do i need a way to heat all 30 gallons up at one time to 185. or if all i had was a 15-20 gal pan to heat my syrup up in, would doing it in two batches be enough to seal/sterrilize the drum? so, heat up 15 gallons to 185, put it in the drum, than repeat? or will it cool off to much in between?

[saphead]

We do 40's where I help out and we rarely end up with a full 40 gal. drum and no more to filter.Sometimes it's 10 gal. in a drum sometimes it's 35. As long as the drum is clean,the syrup is hot enough and @ the proper density just cover the hole and add when there's more to add.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

You'll get opinions both ways I'm sure. What a lot of bigger operations do is fill barrels until near the end then they start doing 5 gallon jugs to finish the boil. But, I know quite a few guys that will partially fill a barrel then top it off next boil. You may or may not end up with a little mold doing it that way but that happens with syrup.

[GeneralStark]

What a lot of bigger operations do is fill barrels until near the end then they start doing 5 gallon jugs to finish the boil.

This is what I do and am not very big... I use 15 gal. and 5 gal. barrels and will fill whatever combination makes sense given how much syrup I'm making during a boil. Anytime there's less than 5 gal left it stays in the canner until next boil. I use the canner (12 gal.) to hold syrup off the evaporator and density check before filter pressing.

There has been lots of discussion about this through the years and there are many opinions. If you're comfortable filling a barrel with syrup that is below the ideal canning temp. then by all means do it.

[maple flats]

I never tried a partial drum and add more later. I have a few times packed a partial barrel, tip it when packed to get the whole barrel hot. I only do that if it's the tail end of a grade and I can see a new grade coming thru the pan. Even then it is rare.