Small hand pump filter press or a vacuum pot

[norman]

Hello all,
I am looking at purchasing either a 5” or a 7” small filter press or one of those stainless steel suction pots that filter through orlon by using a shop vac.
Do any of you have thoughts on that subject? I make 30-40 gallons of syrup per year and am sick of gravity orlon cone filters. Messy and very slow.
Help!

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Either a vacuum filter or a press of some sorts would be a big improvement. There is a member on here named Daryl that makes and sells a 5” hand press. If you already have a shop vac available then maybe the vacuum filters make sense. I don’t know much about vacuum filters but others will chime in. Like anything, it’s probably going to be about how much you want to spend.

[Ghs57]

This is my first season with a new filter press. I've tried many Orlon gravity methods in the past, put they can't come close to a press. It was a big investment, but I'm not looking back. Mine is a short format, manual pump, which is working fine for my syrup quantity. It weighs in at 60 lbs - solid SS construction. And I can add plates and a pneumatic pump when I need to. I've not done a vacuum assist on an Orlon setup, but I watched some videos. Thing is, it's still not as good a filter as a press, and the vacuum may force more particulate matter through the Orlon.

[motowbrowne]

I waited until we were making over 200 gallons a year to buy a press. All gravity through orlon before that. All I can say is, why did I wait so long!? I love my press!!

It's probably more than you want to spend, but a 3-4 frame 7" with an electric diaphragm pump would be my choice.

[Ghs57]

I waited until we were making over 200 gallons a year to buy a press. All gravity through orlon before that. All I can say is, why did I wait so long!? I love my press!!

It's probably more than you want to spend, but a 3-4 frame 7" with an electric diaphragm pump would be my choice.

I could not imagine doing that quantity through Orlon. Your customers must be very loyal.

[SeanD]

My hesitation with jumping to a filter press is not understanding how it works into the process of a nightly boil. Right now I gravity filter right off the rig and my filtering is pretty much done when my boil is.

If I understand it, with a press, I would collect all my draws into a bigger tank and reheat that (or not?) at the end of the night. Then I cycle the syrup until it is clear, pack it, then break down and clean the press. That seems like a lot on the end of a night.

I kind of feel the same way about this as I do with bottling during or after a boil. When I'm done boiling there's all the cleanup and it's time to hit the sack. How much extra time does using a press add to a night? Is it really fast?

[motowbrowne]

My hesitation with jumping to a filter press is not understanding how it works into the process of a nightly boil. Right now I gravity filter right off the rig and my filtering is pretty much done when my boil is.

If I understand it, with a press, I would collect all my draws into a bigger tank and reheat that (or not?) at the end of the night. Then I cycle the syrup until it is clear, pack it, then break down and clean the press. That seems like a lot on the end of a night.

I kind of feel the same way about this as I do with bottling during or after a boil. When I'm done boiling there's all the cleanup and it's time to hit the sack. How much extra time does using a press add to a night? Is it really fast?

You can do that. Are you trying to bottle the same night you're cooking? If so, ideally you'd have some type of heated bottling unit. You could filter through the press right off the rig and into the bottling tank where it will maintain the right temp. As you have time, fill bottles.

Or, you can do what I've been doing for the last four seasons. I bottle on days when I'm not cooking. Forget about filtering off the rig. Just draw off syrup and cool it. I draw into cream cans and pour into buckets for storage until I bottle. When it's time to bottle I reheat as much as I want and run it through the press into my bottling tank (mine isn't heated). My press is big enough that I've only had to break it down once during bottling. We usually do 40-70 gallons at a time when we bottle. Generally when I'm done bottling I suck some sap or distilled water through the press to reclaim the syrup in there, then walk away. The next day I generally break it down and rinse it off.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

We only ran our press 4 times this year in the 40 gallons we make. We have 2- 15 gallons stainless pots we put the syrup in as it comes off the evaporator. I’ll check each drawoff and have a pretty good idea if it will be a medium or a dark syrup and will separate the between the 2 pots. We leave it in the pot until the weekend, sometimes maybe a couple weeks before we beat it back up to filter and bottle. We also don’t try and bottle while we are boiling. Too much going on leads to mistakes.

[GotSap?]

I would choose the press over the vacuum filter. This year I used a vacuum filter for the first time. It worked great for very small batches (under 2 gallons) or syrup that had been previously filtered, but was horrible for regular usage. After about 15 gallons or so, we gave up on it and went back to gravity. With the vacuum, once the filter becomes clogged, you're stuck with whatever syrup is still in the upper chamber. With gravity, you can layer pre-filters and peel them off as they get clogged. There's no way to do that with the vacuum filter. The 3rd time we used the the vacuum, it took 2 hours to filter 6 gallons. We tried with DE, without DE, with pre-filters and without, we finally gave up and will be getting a press for next year. The vacuum filter would probably be great for re-bottling previously, gravity filtered syrup in small batches, into glass containers.

[SeanD]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I don't bottle while I boil or even the same day. It's too much to do and often well into the night and I'm tired. I bottle or really hot pack 5 gallon containers on separate days.

I was asking about the time it takes to filter through a press after a night of boiling, but backwoods, you sound like you filter on different days than boiling days. Can the syrup be run through the press cold or do you heat it up?

[bill m]

What is the most you make in one day? 10 gallons? That will only take a few minutes to filter using a press. You do want to filter your syrup hot.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

I was asking about the time it takes to filter through a press after a night of boiling, but backwoods, you sound like you filter on different days than boiling days. Can the syrup be run through the press cold or do you heat it up?

The syrup has to be hot to run through a press. Problem is, if too long between drawoffs it will plug up or be so slow that you will want to break the press down and start over. And ours holds about 3/4 gallon of syrup so it doesn't make sense for us to try and filter off the evaporator. So essentially, we batch filter and bottle when we have a minimum 10 gallons of syrup. We heat it back up to 211 to check density, add DE and run it through the press. You lose heat running it through the press but typically if we get it to 211 it is perfect for bottling at 185 after the press heats up. You know it's hot when all the plates are hot. And we check the temperature of what's coming out of the hose before it goes to the bottler. The bottler also has a temp gauge on it and sits on propane burners so we can run a low heat if needed to keep the syrup at bottling temperature. That's the nice part about water jacketed bottlers - they will hold the temperature for you......maybe some day. Anyway, once the syrup is up to temperature, our 7" gear pump press will run 1.5-2 GPM so it does not take long at all to run 10 gallons of syrup. It takes longer to break the press down, clean the plates and put in new papers for the next run than it does to filter 10 gallons of syrup.

[Ghs57]

I have to agree with the comments about filtering at a different time from boiling. I'm a one man show, and there is no way I want to juggle bottling and boiling in the same session. I understand the desire to process syrup hot off the evaporator as I have that desire too. You can try to do this with gravity filtering, but I found that the syrup cooled too fast before it was bottled. Now I do do a preliminary gravity filter at the draw-off, which removes some of the gunk. But I have conceded to reheating bulk stored syrup (on propane burners), filtering, adjusting the density, then bottling in a separate session where I can devote my undivided attention to the task. I can also maximize the amount of syrup run through the press on one set of filters/filter aid and minimize the clean-up.

[Wolfcreek Maple]

We filter at the end of every boiling session. We draw off into a large stainless steel round container, to keep syrup warm we use a cast iron burner under the pot.We keep flame low as it requires very little to keep it hot.Once we are done boiling and evaporator is cooling we set the filter press up,we keep press pieces warm on top of hood.We adjust density then filter syrup into stainless pails.After done filtering we filter the syrup pan then we filter the flue pan I feel we lose almost no syrup this way.We then clean press with hot water.We typically filter 15-20 gallons per session.This works good for us as all of this is done in the shack,and we then put syrup into our water jacketed canner.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

It really depends on how much syrup you make in a boil as well. I suppose if we were wood fired I might try and do something after we were done firing and waiting for cool down. But being on oil we have no cool down so when we’re done it’s just some cleanup, plug the pans, maybe drain and soak the syrup pan and go home.

[VTnewguy]

My hesitation with jumping to a filter press is not understanding how it works into the process of a nightly boil. Right now I gravity filter right off the rig and my filtering is pretty much done when my boil is.

If I understand it, with a press, I would collect all my draws into a bigger tank and reheat that (or not?) at the end of the night. Then I cycle the syrup until it is clear, pack it, then break down and clean the press. That seems like a lot on the end of a night.

I kind of feel the same way about this as I do with bottling during or after a boil. When I'm done boiling there's all the cleanup and it's time to hit the sack. How much extra time does using a press add to a night? Is it really fast?

What we did was purchase a second canner that we use as a big drawoff tank. When it's time to filter, kick on the burner to warm it up, double check density with the murphy cup, add DE and send it through the press. We make on average 8-15 gallons per boil. Once it's shiny clear we move the hose over to the canner and we are ready to bottle. It doesn't take long maybe 10-15 minutes. Before the press we use to do cone filters and then flat filters, never again! All time and headache saved in not dealing with messy orlon and prefilters makes it woth it.

[claystroup]

We make 30-40 gallons of syrup a year which I know isn't a lot. I bought a used D & G 7 bank 7" filter press 2 years ago used for $900 and would never go back to Orlon filters. This year we filtered and bottled twice during the season saving up syrup bulk in SS milk cans. Syrup comes out crystal clear as we bottle only in glass. Worst part is cleaning the press when your done. I sit it on a stand I built outside the shack to clean it because "juice" goes everywhere when you break the plates down.

[motowbrowne]

We make 30-40 gallons of syrup a year which I know isn't a lot. I bought a used D & G 7 bank 7" filter press 2 years ago used for $900 and would never go back to Orlon filters. This year we filtered and bottled twice during the season saving up syrup bulk in SS milk cans. Syrup comes out crystal clear as we bottle only in glass. Worst part is cleaning the press when your done. I sit it on a stand I built outside the shack to clean it because "juice" goes everywhere when you break the plates down.

Do you have a gear pump? I ask because I also have a d&g 7". Mine has an electric diaphragm pump. After I finish filtering syrup and then suck some sap through, I leave the pump run for a couple minutes. I'm always amazed when I break it down, there's hardly any liquid in it at all, sometimes none. Is there lots of space between your DE cakes? If so, you could try using fewer plates when you filter. Just thinking out loud.