Help with next step in filtering

[Reister]

Hello, just looking for people's opinions on the next step in filtering. I have 300 taps and I would like to move away from the cone filters. I like the filter press, but I'm thinking since I don't have a proper bottler, maybe I should be looking at a CDL or Smoky Lake vacuum filter/bottler. Looking for Pro/Cons to both.

Thanks in advance

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

It really depends on how much much you want spend and how you want to bottle. You have enough taps to run a 7" filter press. If you "batch bottle" like us and most small producers, wait until you have 5+ gallons and bottle it. We generally bottle 12 or so gallons in a batch because that is the size of our stainless pot. If you prefer to do smaller batches, a vacuum filter might be a better choice. I say that because 7" presses will hold 1/2g to 1g of syrup in the plates so no since in charging it up if you only have a couple gallons of syrup to filter and you want to do it right away. You can retain the syrup in the press plates so you don't lose any (until the last run). Not sure you bottle now, but I wouldn't worry too much about that.
If money isn't a huge concern, you can find shortbank 7" presses for under $1,000 used. You'll have half that in a vacuum filter. I don't have any experience with a vacuum filter but I know I love our 7" press. People often say the RO is the best investment made but I vote for the filter press.

[wvfdc4]

I ran for 2 seasons on a 9” cdl unit, running 35 and 60 gallons through in batches of around 12-15 gallons. I bought a smoky lake steam bottler with their vacuum filter this past summer and used it to bottle 21 gallons yesterday. If you can swing the price difference, the smoky lake unit is definitely faster to filter and in my opinion easier to clean.

[ecolbeck]

As an owner of the CDL vacuum filter, I would say it’s best for hobbyists only. It definitely works, but not nearly as quickly as a filter press does.

[ebliese]

We have a Smoky Lake Flat Filter Finisher/Bottler (with electric element steam tray), the non-vacuum version. We finish on our evaporator and draw-off directly into the unit, running the syrup through the filter. After we have a decent amount (around 4-5 gallons) then we carry the unit up to the house and heat and bottle there. This method works for us though we do find we put the bottler in the car usually and drive it up to the house as syrup can be heavy, especially a 7.5 gallon batch we bottled this season! We do like the ease of use with the flat filter. It gives us good results. We do bottle in glass and sell our syrup.

I have no experience with a filter press but lots of people have great things to say about them. I don't think you could go wrong either way.

[maple flats]

Much of the answer depends on your growth plans. Are you planning to keep adding taps? If yes, a filter press will be in your future, if you don't plan to add very many taps, the filter press maybe yes, maybe no. If you get a bottler, either water jacketed or steam, they have an option for a filter tray. the trays use the same material as the cone filters, but you use flat ones, big enough to extend up the sides as well as cover the whole flat surface. Then you also get flat pre filters and lay 3,4,or 5 on top, then you add the hot syrup to fill the filter in the tray. Those work a lot better, because you can keep the pan and tray hot while you filtr, then as a prefilter gets clogged up, you carefully dump it into the next prefilter and continue filtering. This method if far superior to cone filters because you are not concentrating the niter at one spot, the point. If you plan to grow, you can still go with the flat filters, then in a year or 2, buy a filter press, or a vacuum filter, both work wonderfully.
When I bought my filter press it was on sale in a spring sale in the off season, I bought a 7" short press (3 sets of plates). I think at the time I had almost 400 taps (as I graduated from flat filters in the top of my bottler) or so. AS I grew later on I ordered 2 more sets of plates (a set is one waffle plate and one hollow plate) so I then. With that my filter press was as big as I could get without buying longer plate support rods. At my largest I ever tapped I had 1320 taps on that filter press, plus I bought sap, at times processing over 2000 taps worth of syrup, all on the then enlarged filter press. As I got older and had a lot fewer taps, I still use the 5 plate filter press, but I now do it on what will likely be 200-300 taps next season and rather than the gear pump it started with, my filtr press now has an air powered diaphragm pump, huge improvement.
I suggest whenever you do get a filter press you get one with an air powered diaphragm pump, you get far easier control of the filter.