I need some advice

[The Maple Men]

this is my first year larger scale. we have a filter press and tonight we drew off for the first time. about 6 gallons. we took a gallon and addded about 1 cup of filter aid andran it through the press which just filled the press then we added about another cup to the remaning 5 gallons put the out hose in the canning tank and turned the press onsyrup ran through fine but upon further inspection the syrup is the cloudess i have ever seen. it seems to be not very dark just very very cloudy all of it. so we figured we had the press toghter wrong took it all apart slowly it it was all right and the papers were full of what looked to be filter aid just syrup colored so after futher inspection of the syrup it looks like our syrup has filter aid in it that is why it appears cloudy should i run syrup through the filter more then once or what am i doing wrong.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I run about 1.5 gallons thru my press with aprox 1.5 cups of filter aid to charge the press and then add a cup of filter aid to every 3 to 4 gallons of syrup as I normally filter and can 12 to 14 gallons each time. After running the 1.5 gallons thru, I then put the hose in the rest of the syrup and run another gallon or two thru the press just to make sure it is perfectly clean and I have never had a problem. You could have had a faulty paper also, but after charging the press, try running another gallon or two thru it and letting it flow back into the unfiltered syrup before changing the line over to the canning unit.

[maplehound]

Sounds to me like you broke a paper. make sure that your syrup is at least 200deg when you run it through and keep an eye on the pressure gauge.

[maple flats]

I run 10 gal or larger batches. I add 3 cups filter aid to 3 gal syrup heated to 200. Run filter and return to source pot. When it is crystal clear, using a ss pitcher I move discharge to canner or barrel, catching flow enroute with the pitcher. I keep it running to keep it the clearest. Then I dump pitcher into source to filter again and put into canner/bbl. I found if I shut off and restarted I got a momentary surge that put some cloudy product into the finished product. Keeping it running there is no surge. Also, I do not let my pressure go above 40 psi. Regulate by using return valve back to source. After initial charge i use about 2 cups/5 gal, prorate for other sizes. This works good until late season when you might use double and sometimes triple that. Note that everything run thru should be at or near 200. I do a batch at one time. I draw off the evaporator into ss pots. When i have enough for a batch I reheat them on turkey friers and then filter.