Small Filter Press options

[MapleME]

So i realized how much of a hasstle filtering is- using the cones and pre filters through felt- I guess Im just impatient or something. I only made just over 5 gallons this year and plan to get up to 7 next year with the addition on 8 trees.

What are my options for filter press'? I dont know anything about the technology to know if they would be ok for small, 1-1.5 gallon batch's or not.

I tried all my batches filtering through the cone pre filters and the felt and I ended up getting really messy, loosing some valuable syrup and thought maybe an investment in something like a press would be worth while.

Interested to hear your thoughts ( not on my being impatient, but more on the technology side :) )

MapleME

[Haynes Forest Products]

Dont let your wife see this post........See this is how it starts you make 5 gallons then you plan on 8 and then before you know it you buy that dang filter press and the next thing you know your filtering water just to watch it run. Quick get out before its to late.
Now on the serious side its the best thing I ever got other than that 3rd wife thats 20 years younger than me. find a home brewer and get him to go in with you on a 7" press and your syrup and his beer will be so clean and clear. Then the problem becomes you walking around the house with the first bottle you filter saying look honey theres no crap on the bottom look come on just look at it one more time please. GOOD LUCK and never stop dreaming

[Jim Powell]

Haynes is totally correct. This "hobby" really sneaks up on you. I'd gladly trade golf clubs for a new evaporator! Anyway, it is only my third year, so I'm no expert, but like you I made 5 gallons the first year, and 16 gallons last year and this year. I hated to see how much of this precious nectar I wasted on filtering. I built a filter for syrup with a different approach to minimize waste etc. It is in the home made equipment section under "filter contraption". I imagine with plumbing etc. it is about $450 - $500. I have NO idea what filter presses run, I just wanted something that minimizes loss upon filtering. Good luck.

JCP

[Jim Brown]

Gentlemen; We like you started with maybe 15 gallons the first year(125 this year). Well we filtered it off the rig,we filtered it when we graded it.we filtered it when we bottled it. No niter in our syrup! yet right. Well we left some sit in the cupboard and in 3 month the nasty looking stuff you ever saw was on the bottm of each jar!Gray colored and looked like ashes!. Filter press was the next purchase! We bought a Wes Fab 7" short bank from Bill Mason here on the trader and it was some of the best money we spent. I'm not sure of the cost now but I would venture to guess around $1000 give or take. It will be money well spent if you intend to bottle in galss.
Just our 2 cents!

Jim

[Haynes Forest Products]

How the heck did Jim Powel do all that plumbing without teflon tap. Have you tried filter aid when you filter? they use it to filter beer and maple syrup. It helps to keep your filter from clogging. Its called Dietemashis earth Im sure I spelled that wrong. You mix it in the boiling syrup and then run it thru the filter and its crystal clear. It keeps all the fine sugar sands from clogging the filter. The first time I used it in my press I was thinking this cant be good but works great. A guy down the road is a little skimpy on how much he puts in his syrup and his press is always clogged. Any supplier will have it or try a home brew place.

[325abn]

I think 7 gal a year is not enough for a filter press. Doesnt it take just that much to warm up the press?

Toss to felt cones and buy some wool cones or make a flat filter rig.

As far a wasting the sugar, you should not be waisting any. All of my filters including the pre-filters get dunked back into the flue pan thus extracting all or most of the sugar.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

You can filter as little as 2 or 3 gallon or less with a press if you wanted to. Most of the guys on here have a short bank which is 1/2 the size of a full size 7" press. The lower the amount you want to filter, the less the amount of cake and waffle plates. I guess if you only wanted to filter 1 gallon, you could get by with one cake plate and the 2 end waffle plates and recirculate it a couple of times. It only takes 1 to 2 gallon to get the papers coated and the press warm on a short bank press with a full set of plates.

[MapleME]

Hmm, OK. where can I purchase a short bank press? Are they hand operated or electric?

[MaplePancakeMan]

You can get them in either hand operated or electric. I got my 7" short bank electric for 900 which included papers, filteraid, a canner and a stand for it all to sit on. Could probably find a used hand operated one for 5-600

[Haynes Forest Products]

I have been told that the hand operated press cant be converted to elec pump later. They cant handle the pressure. I think for the extra money elec is the only way to go. My short bank 7" can be added to and it comes from the factory with the bypass valve so you can use it as a transfer pump, you can recirculate back into the finish pan as you filter and then with a flip of the handle you can bulk fill. The hand pump press cant build up enough pressure to overcome the filters when there 1/2 dirty. I run my press at 100PSI if Im filling bulk. What works nice is to draw off into a container with a bottom drain and use your filter press as a transfer pump. Pump to the finishing pans filterd or to unfilterd storage options are endless. Chuck

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

The maple guys carry Lappierre filter presses short and long banks. I have a short bank with an extra set of plates and several of the other traders have Lappierre presses also and I like mine a lot. Has plenty of nice features and came with everything including a bypass hose.

[brookledge]

Contact the Maple Guys they will give you the 10% discount if ordered during their sale. I know that someone maybe Brandon bought one last year from them. As long as they provide us with this forum give them a try first.
As for me I used to uuse cone filter and then about 12-15 years ago when I started making over 100-200 gallons I made my own press out of parts. At the time I made mine the only presses available where Full 7" and 10" the 7" can get about 60 gallons through a set of papers. I knew that was too big for me so I bought the end plates and a few sections and I had a 7" press that could get about 10-15 gallons through a set of papers. I since bought another plate and section and can filter about 20 gal per time now.
As for buying one for a small amount of syrup, thats up to you as to how much money you want to spend on filtering a small amount. If I still made less than 100 gallons I would filter with a felt and pre-filter. It's a lot of $ to shell out for 10 gallons of syrup
Keith

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I did buy my press from the maple guys 2 years ago in the early order season and I know Jim(mapleman3) bought on from the last summer. I have used mine 2 seasons and he has used his one and we both love it. As Keith said, the mapleguys do give a 10% discount during the early order season and will ship you the press if you are too far away. They shipped me mine about 1,000 miles and they don't make any money on shipping and Chris and Kim are both awesome to deal with.

[maple flats]

I also bought mine from the Maple Guys, a LaPierre, and it works great. If you get one, any brand, there were methods i had to learn before I got really clear syrup. What works best for me follows. I put the unfiltered HOT (200 degrees) syrup in my funnel bottom pot. This pot has a funnel built into the bottom and the filter suction hose clamps to the outlet nipple. Without this you could just suck from any pot from over the top rim if needed, but mine is real handy. Then I mix the DE into the hot syrup and then turn on the filter with the bypass hose AND the filter outlet hose both returning to the pot mentioned above. I let this filter until the filtered syrup flowing into the pot looks very clear (may take up to 4-5 minutes, usually not. Then without shutting off the filter I pick up the discharge hose and move it to my canner while catching the discharge in a SS 2qt pitcher I have, after the hose is running into the canner, or the bulk syrup container, I dump the pitcher back into the funnel pot. I found that if I shut off the filter and re start it in the canner or bulk container i get a very slight bit of cloudy at the instant of re starting the filter and my transfer method eliminates that. I also draw off from the evap slightly too dense so I do not need to further boil in the canner which would then require re filtering. I start too thick, test it and then start adding small amounts of near syrup, doing the same process each time, re testing and adding again until it is right. I do always end up by design with slightly heavy syrup, about .5% high, and it is crystal clear regardless of grade, even down to B and my 7 gal of commercial I ended up with at the tail end. I only pack in glass on the light, med, and dark and I bulk wholesale the B and C

[Haynes Forest Products]

I fill all my 1/2 gallons and quart jars right from my filter press. I suck from the finishing pan from the spigot and have the buypass hose back into the finish pan and then the filter hose has a 1/2 copper tube in the shape of a hook so I can hang it on the finish pan or bulk containers. I have no problem using the bypass valve to regulate the flow from full steam to a trickel. you wont get clowdy syrup doing it this way its.