Scored a great coffee pot with adjustable temp!

[Ocelotsden]

I only make 4-6 quarts per year, but I struggle a bit with the bottling part keeping at 190 degrees while bottling, etc. I had been using a stainless steel funnel and a big soup ladle. Anyway, I've read here about using coffee pots to bottle and I found this really nice stainless steel 60 cup pot. The cool thing about it is that it has a built in adjustable temperature thermostat, so I can just set it for 190 degrees, verify the temp and pour right into the bottles.

It's a little hard to see, but the temperature dial is behind the spout to the left of the green light and goes from 130* to 210*

Ray

21975

[Paddymountain]

Great find! One year we filtered 100 gallons through our coffee pot filter. You will be surprised how much warmer your syrup stays when it is enclosed.

[MapleLady]

That is an awesome find! I have been using a 30 cup coffee urn for the last few years and they do make a difference! Have a good season!

[Pdiamond]

That will work really well, I would only set your temperature at 185 degrees.

[Ocelotsden]

Thanks for the tip. I was debating on a little lower.

[Ryne]

Not sure about yours, but mine does a high heat cycle at first (it's trying to make coffee, after all). This made my first batch of syrup boil again, which released more niter. Now I put a cup or two of water in, turn the machine on, and once the pot clicks and the ready light turns on, I dump out the water and pour in the syrup. Just something to experiment with before your first run.

[Ocelotsden]

Thanks for the advice! When I'm ready to bottle I plan to put hot water in the pot, run it like I'm making coffee, and when it finishes and switches over to keep warm, dump the water and pour in the finished syrup.

[ecolbeck]

Another option is to do some minor surgery and disable the main heating element. It would save you from having to run it through the coffee cycle every time you want to use it.

[wmick]

PS - I ran across another image... to explain how I filter in the Urn... I set up a cone filter right inside the urn... which stays nice and hot with the lid on... I pre-heat syrup to 190 alternating between 2 pots on the electric stove... and transfer it to the urn, as we bottle, so the urn never has a reason to cool down or re-heat. (Just maintains). I think it works really well.

This is a 2nd filtering.... as I filter straight off the evaporator as well.

22005

[wmick]

On mine, the "keep warm cycle" is running both elements in series, and the boiling cycle uses only one of them. When you first fire it up, a latching thermostat bypasses one of the elements, sending all the power to the heating element. Once up to boiling temperature, the latching thermostat opens and stays open... re-routing the power through both elements in series... (creating a lower wattage.... (ohms law)...

In order to rewire mine for syrup, I simply moved (repurposed) the on-off switch in series with the latching thermostat, to simulate the thermostat being open all the time, with the switch open.... If I want to make coffee, I would close the switch.

22006

[Ocelotsden]

I like that! Thanks for the drawing. If I don't have time to see how mine is wired for this year, I'll definitely check on it for next. Mine may be a bit different since it has an adjustable thermostat, but if I do indeed have two coils, the dial should still work for the keep hot function.

[CanterburyMaple]

I just did the same type of coffee pot rig for my first "mass" bottling last night; and here I thought I was being crazy! The only difference is I took a hanger and made 2 "W" shaped pieces to put the filters on top of. Poor man's "filter optimizer". I will say I never filtered the other way, but I love the word "optimizer" and did not love the idea of spending money on it (given that i'm already in over $1,000 for this hobby just this year...). Seemed to work well. Syrup was hot when I poured it out. Almost scalded myself a few times. Rookie....

[Ocelotsden]

I opened mine up last night and it only has one coil. and two thermostats, one fixed, and the adjustable one. I guess the single coil is due to it having an adjustable temperature once the fixed thermostat opens. At that point I assume it just cycles the single coil on and off as needed.

[Hunt4sap]

I only make 4-6 quarts per year, but I struggle a bit with the bottling part keeping at 190 degrees while bottling, etc. I had been using a stainless steel funnel and a big soup ladle. Anyway, I've read here about using coffee pots to bottle and I found this really nice stainless steel 60 cup pot. The cool thing about it is that it has a built in adjustable temperature thermostat, so I can just set it for 190 degrees, verify the temp and pour right into the bottles.

It's a little hard to see, but the temperature dial is behind the spout to the left of the green light and goes from 130* to 210*

Ray

21975

So when you use these to bottle you dump hot syrup into it, turn on, wait to heat up to 190 and does the syrup go up into vertical site glass on front like coffee does to show volume( if it does can you disassemble to clean afterwards?
I'm asking b/c I'd like a way to bottle other than straight from my finisher( propane leader) that I have to turn off flame so doesn't burn bottom b/c I need to tip it at an angle to get it all out b/c outlet on finisher is up alittle high to empty

[Ocelotsden]

So when you use these to bottle you dump hot syrup into it, turn on, wait to heat up to 190 and does the syrup go up into vertical site glass on front like coffee does to show volume( if it does can you disassemble to clean afterwards?
I'm asking b/c I'd like a way to bottle other than straight from my finisher( propane leader) that I have to turn off flame so doesn't burn bottom b/c I need to tip it at an angle to get it all out b/c outlet on finisher is up alittle high to empty

I just used it for the first time to bottle on Sunday and it worked great. So much nicer than keeping the syrup hot on a double boiler and using a ladle and funnel.

To answer your question, Yes, the syrup goes up the glass tube like coffee. Since mine happens to have the adjustable temp, I stuck a thermometer probe into the pot and was easily able to keep the temperature adjusted to around 190. I prewarmed the pot with some water, dumped the water and poured in my syrup which was already hot. Then I just kept an eye on my thermometer and kept adjusting the temp dial as needed. To bottle, I just filled the syrup bottles like I would with a cup of coffee without spilling a drop, put on the lid, lay the bottle on it's side to heat the cap. and move on to the next.

When I was done, I used really hot water to clean it and ran it through the spout to clean that. The glass tube on mine was stuck and I didn't want to break it, so I removed the cap off the top of it and flushed it with hot water.

[Hunt4sap]

I just used it for the first time to bottle on Sunday and it worked great. So much nicer than keeping the syrup hot on a double boiler and using a ladle and funnel.

To answer your question, Yes, the syrup goes up the glass tube like coffee. Since mine happens to have the adjustable temp, I stuck a thermometer probe into the pot and was easily able to keep the temperature adjusted to around 190. I prewarmed the pot with some water, dumped the water and poured in my syrup which was already hot. Then I just kept an eye on my thermometer and kept adjusting the temp dial as needed. To bottle, I just filled the syrup bottles like I would with a cup of coffee without spilling a drop, put on the lid, lay the bottle on it's side to heat the cap. and move on to the next.

When I was done, I used really hot water to clean it and ran it through the spout to clean that. The glass tube on mine was stuck and I didn't want to break it, so I removed the cap off the top of it and flushed it with hot water.
Just picked up same unit, hope I can get to use it!!!