Thoughts on canning

[PrimitiveOperation]

Hello folks- I got a couple questions for everyone.

This year I'm up to 175 taps and will top out at 200 within the next couple of years. I don't forsee going any higher. When I started out I would boil down in the evaporator and draw off into a large kettle, eventaully finishing it on a turkey cooker. I would then filter into another kettle that I would bring inside my house and bring up to 180 to can by funnelling into bottles. The most I was finishing was 2-3 gallons .

My problem is I am finishing much more now and carrying five gallons at time inside is a pain and very messy. The wife is much less understanding of late and I don't blame her.

Any thoughts of a proper sized finishing and filter rig that I could use in the sugar house? I've accepted that mapleing equipement is very expensive but most of the units I've seen are about a thousand bucks and probably too big!

What does everyone else with an operation my size use?

Thanks again everyone.

[markct]

for my tiny operation, a 13 by 32 pan, and finishing on a turkeyfrier, i use a coffee pot for canning, and to filter it into the coffee pot i have a coulander that sits ontop of it and i line it with a filter paper, works great and i bypassed the internal thermostat and monitor the temp with a digital thermometer. i am usualy only finishing a gallon or less at a time

[Fred Henderson]

This is what I do. I make syrup right in the evap just a tad or the heavy side and filter it as it comes out of the evap. I then take the filter syrup and put it into my canner which in your case can be your turkey fryer. When my canner is full or near full I heat it to 180 or 190 and check to see it is the right Brix. If it it to heavy which is usually is I will delute it with distilled water from my preheater. When the Brix is right then I can it. The wife is accutally doing all this while I am running the evap. You can have a fitting welded to your fryer that will allow you to put a valve on it.

[tom jr.]

Leader sells a few small stainless pans with draw off fittings and thermometer fitting, even a 16''x16'' small canner. if I were you I would get something like that and use your turky fryer for heat source. that way you have a finisher and canning unit in one, (budget permitting)

[cncaboose]

I think that if you are going to do this for a while get a canner/ filter unit. I really like my 16"x16". It will cost a bit but it will make your life easier and in 20 years will still be worth what you paid for it.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

with 200 taps and then you will find a few more go with the 16 x 16 canner filter pan. you wont be sorry

RICH

[HHM-07]

When i draw off the evaporator it is syrup just a tad heavy, then filter into a ss pail whe i get enough we heat in a pan on the stove check for proper weight then filter agian and can. you should be able to get a real good quality right off the evaporator

[maplehound]

I had a 16x16 pan made and then made my own stand to put it on. I have a H burner under it that was made for a gas grill and I took the controls off and old grill to control it with. Right now I jsut use it to keep the syrup hot when it comes off the evaproator and before I filter it. In the off season I use it to heat the syrup up to canning temp. and then again filter it and bottle out of a 100 cup coffee pot. Making my own stand for a 16x16 pan was easy and cheap.

[softmaple]

we just got a filter press this year and used it today for the first time. its awsome! i thought it was going to be too big for us at 120 taps. it filtered it crystal clear with less waste then all the filtering i did years before. we have 6 gallon polarware pans we got from ocean state for 20 bucks each a couple years ago. and then filter it to our canning pot every few munites when we need it.

[MaplePancakeMan]

I concur, a filter press is amazing and just searching around a bit you can get a great deal. I bought a 7" Wes Fab filter press on a stainless steel cart, Stainless Steel drip pan, 10 gallon leader stainless steel cone filter tank(used as a canner now with a valve and thermometer mounted in it. Additionally the guy threw in a pretty much full 50 pound back of Filter Aid and a case of filter papers. All for 1000 even, pretty good deal when i priced everything out new to well over $2000-$2500

[timbers]

Try a restaurant supply store , we got a 18 x16 x 12 pan that we use to bottle for $20. I made a stand out of stainless with an adjustable shelf it was very easy. Also we used to use a cone filter and with the large increase in surface area filtering goes much faster.
ps 3 years ago we also had about 200 taps and today i think we are going to drill 750 holes so never say never

[PrimitiveOperation]

Thanks for the info

I'm looking into a couple of the suggestions