ChrisMFF
03-22-2025, 01:41 PM
Hey fellow sugar makers,
I bought a CDL 9” vacuum filter last year as I had enough gravity filtering using a gravity cone filtering system for 10 years. I found my syrup was still cloudy and it was hard to get all the syrup filtered. After I bought the vacuum system last year, I read many posts and videos and I was nervous about success, since many people seemed to have issues. I just got done filtering 5 gallons of syrup and it worked flawlessly. Here’s some things I did/observations:
1.) the union for your vacuum hose to the tank is very important. I’ve seen folks use tape and have a sloppy fitting here, but it must seal properly! I made up a fitting using a pool pump fitting and I cut down the tapered plastic 2” pipe that came with my shop vac. Using hose clamps, it was perfect
2.) I did one gallon of syrup at a time mixed with one cup of DE. I used food grade DE bought from a maple dealer
3.) I used only one prefilter each time and discarded after each gallon, but I just rinsed the Orlon filter between uses
4.) amazing syrup clarity is achieved with this thing
5.) on my draw off my evaporator, I filtered into a pot using a prefilter. This gets quite a bit of niter and debris out, before I do my finish boil and filter
6.) for one gallon, it filtered in less than 1 minute.
Truly this thing worked great.
Disclaimer: I have no business or monetary affiliation with CDL whatsoever, but I can attest to a great product they made!
Chris
I bought a CDL 9” vacuum filter last year as I had enough gravity filtering using a gravity cone filtering system for 10 years. I found my syrup was still cloudy and it was hard to get all the syrup filtered. After I bought the vacuum system last year, I read many posts and videos and I was nervous about success, since many people seemed to have issues. I just got done filtering 5 gallons of syrup and it worked flawlessly. Here’s some things I did/observations:
1.) the union for your vacuum hose to the tank is very important. I’ve seen folks use tape and have a sloppy fitting here, but it must seal properly! I made up a fitting using a pool pump fitting and I cut down the tapered plastic 2” pipe that came with my shop vac. Using hose clamps, it was perfect
2.) I did one gallon of syrup at a time mixed with one cup of DE. I used food grade DE bought from a maple dealer
3.) I used only one prefilter each time and discarded after each gallon, but I just rinsed the Orlon filter between uses
4.) amazing syrup clarity is achieved with this thing
5.) on my draw off my evaporator, I filtered into a pot using a prefilter. This gets quite a bit of niter and debris out, before I do my finish boil and filter
6.) for one gallon, it filtered in less than 1 minute.
Truly this thing worked great.
Disclaimer: I have no business or monetary affiliation with CDL whatsoever, but I can attest to a great product they made!
Chris