Draw off to package

[Brian Ryther]

What order do most of you go from drawing off to packaging? Do you go from evap. filter press tank to filter press then to finishing pan then to package? Or do you finish then filter press to package?
If you are packaging in drums do you fill the drum all ot once, or can you do five gallon batches at a time?

[Fred Henderson]

I go from the evap to filter to canner. When the canner is full I chek it again to make sure it is right then we can it.

[Brent]

after four years of finish boiling in the kitchen then filtering and canning we're going to go at it differently this year after learning this work flow method here.

We're going to try to boil just a little heavy on the evap, pour to the finisher,
keep it warm, add water/sap until we thin it to the correct density, pump through the filter to the canner and put some in the jars and some in tanks according to time available. Like Theeeeeron we've got a whole new set up this year, but on a smaller scale so the adrenalin will keep us going the first couple of nights. After that ?????

[maple flats]

Same as Fred Henderson

[Brian Ryther]

Bret,
Like you and Theeron I have also up sized. I have gone from 200 taps to 1500 and vacuume. A new 6x15 wood fired, lots of tanks, filterpress, the works. The only missing link for me is the finishing process. I have the press and a home made 5gal finishing rig. I want to know If I should buy one of the leader filter press tanks to draw off into or should I invest in a larger finishing rig and us that as my drow off container / filterpress tank / finishing rig.

[maplwrks]

Why don't you go from evaporator, to the canner? When we are boiling, I get the syrup to right density right off the evaporator, pump it through the press, into the canner. My loving wife, then cans what we need and puts the rest into a barrel. I am against putting sap into heavy syrup, as I've seen too many cans blow up or get moldy by sap not getting boiled enough to get bacteria out.

[Brent]

Its a pretty big stretch for me to go from a Half Pint on the back porch to all the stuff I'm trying to get working this year, let alone give you any meaningful thoughts on the size of operation you and Theeron ( +eeee) are working on.

The principal of not trying to keep a second pan boiling to finish seems to me to make life a lot easier. The math to dilute over thick back to 66 seems simple.

But I'm looking at a max of maybe 500 gallons a couple times on BIGSAP days so my perspective is a little different.

[VtSugarhouse]

I take my syrup off the evaporator at about 215-217 degrees then to a 20X30flat filter. As soon as it goes thru this filter it is piped directly to a 3 burner 65,000 btu gas finisher (2 bay with float box). This is where it is finished to 219 degrees and to 31 1/2 density. (always a 1/2 point light) from here with a cone pail and a hydrometer in it. This syrup is piped directly to the filter press. At this point I put all the syrup into stainless steel drums, and sealed up.
The only time I put syrup into a canner at the sugar house is when we have open house weekend. Other than that I have a canning room in my house with stainless steel counter tops etc. This is where I do most of the canning, maple cream making and candy making.
It works for me.

[Riverdale]

I draw off the evaporater around 2 degrees under syrup, usually take off about 4 gal., run it through a flat filter, then finish it in a 16 x 32 propane finisher. Run it through flat filters again into the canner and package it. If things are going well there's another batch ready to come off the evap when I'm done canning the prior.

[H. Walker]

with a 6 x 15 set-up you should be able to take the correct density right off the front pan. If you have problems getting syrup consistantly I would buy a auto syruper before I bought another arch for finishing.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I draw mine off a little heavy, reheat back up within 2 to 4 weeks and usually dilute with the last batch of water I ran thru filter press after filtering to flush out all of the syrup out of the press and then run correct density thru the press into 16x24 canner and then bottle from canner into quarts and pints. I sell about 3 quarts to every 1 pint and I bottle everything up when canning and store in deep freezer for long term storage as I don't wholesale anything and only bottle quarts and pints in plastic.

I agree with Mike, not a good idea to put raw sap or barely cooked sap into heavy syrup to dilute it. If you need to dilute it, use something from the syrup pan that has been at least cooked and pasturized good.

[Brent]

I guess if you are going to come off the evap heavy and dilute, a laddle of near syrup taken from the point of transfer from flue pan to syrup pan would be a good source. Well sterilized but thin enough to make the finished stuff the right density.

[Fred Henderson]

I use the distilled water that comes off the preheater. We collect about a qt in a very clean container and sit it aside.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Fred,

Good idea and glad you brought that up. I have used that before, but forgot to mention.

[brookledge]

Brian
With a 6X15 you better get something bigger than a 5 gallon homemade rig.
Your evaporator is big enough to do continuos filtering. You should invest in a heat lamp and hang right over your press to keep it hot. You will be boiling over 300 gal/hour so that is about 7-8 gal per hour of syrup. If I had that size evaporator I'd get a tank to draw off into about 20-30 gallon and either have it on wheels or a suction hose off the bottom going straight to the press. This tank can be used to mix in the filter aid and charge the press. Then the question you have to answer is how are you packaging it? If you plan on canning into pints qts. 1/2s etc. then you would be better off with a minimun 16"X24" and better yet a 24"X48" canner. If you are going straight from the press to barrels then a large canner like a 24"X48" is not so important.
But remember this with that size evaporator if something should go wrong in the filtering or canning etc. you better have a place for the syrup coming off the evaporator or else you'd have to shut down.
It all comes down to how many people you have working also. If you have someone just taking care of filtering and canning having a large canner is not so important. But if you are like me doing it all yourself keeping the fire stoked keeping the feed tank full watching the syrup pan and drawing off you will be suprised how fast time goes buy and all of a sudden you realize you got no where to put more syrup.
Just my thoughts
Keith