Cone filter plugs, won't allow syrup through? (Rookie)

[newhampshirefarms]

I'm new at this, so please let me know what I'm doing wrong. I just drew off my first few gallons of syrup yesterday and was using a new 8qt synthetic filter form the Maple Guys and a pre-filter. I set my collection container (with the filter) below my evaporator draw-off and let the hot syrup flow into my collection container after it reached temp and read syrup on the hydrometer. A little bit of syrup made it through the filter, but then it really started to slow down and I was left with a few quarts just suspended in the filter, not wanting to pass through... Not sure why? Any thoughts?

Matt

[johnallin]

Matt,
Depending on how much you put in there, it may have cooled off, that will slow it down to a crawl. Did you wet the filter first, that helps, and do you have a cover on your tank to keep the heat in?
Also for me 3 paper pre filters work well, just pull out the top one when it clogs and it helps the flow.

[Father & Son]

This is only my 5 th year making syrup and using cone filters but this year it was about impossible to get syrup through the filters. I use six pre filters inside the cone filter and take them out one at a time when filtering slows down. In previous years I could get 2 or 3 draw offs filtered before removing a pre filter. This year it was a fight to get anything through them. The sugarsand was like mud and every draw was a struggle to get filtered.

Jim

[Fred Henderson]

I use one syn cone and six paper pre's when the papers pulg I just pull it and dump the syrup into the next. The paper can be rinsed and used many times.

[PerryW]

Some batches of syrup are just more difficult to filter than others; but keeping the syrup hot is essential.

Before we had a filter/canner, we just built a wood frame out of strips of pine that went around the cone filter and stapled cardboard around it to hold in the heat. And put a cover over the top to keep the heat in there too.


You can carefully put out the prefilter filled with syrup and put in in a clean pot and deal with it later (reheat on the stove and refilter later)

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

If you have some heat under the filtering tank, enough to keep the syrup around 180 to 190 but not too much to develop nitre, the steam coming off of the already filtered syrup will heat the filter and prefilters and help keep it hot and help it filter better.

[newhampshirefarms]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm drawing off the evaporator front pan directly into the cone filter/container which I have under the draw-off spout so its really hot. I do have a cover for the container but the syrup still seems to collect in the cone without filtering into the container. I have at least a quart still in the cone now that didn't drain last night. I'll try adding more prefilters and see how that works.

Can both the paper and synthetic cone filters be boiled to clean the sand out? Can I just toss them in the evaporator rear pan to boil or will that put the "sand" right back into the sap?

Matt

[Fred Henderson]

Do not put them in the rear pan. Wash/ rise them seperately in clear clean hot water.Turn them inside out.

[Dave Puhl]

You can draw off not filtering it...let sit for a day or two or more...alot of the junk will settle out poor off and leave the dregs reheat no more than 185 or so ..then filter and bottle...collect the dregs and let that settle out too...

[Whitfield]

When I first started making syrup I used a cone filter. Got an old washing machine and about 15 or 20 filters. Could never get more than a few quarts through a cone filter and probably rinsed away more syrup than I filtered in that washing machine. Tried a flat filter which was perhaps even worst. Finally bought a filter press. Diatomaceous earth greatly aids in filtering through the pressure filter. Perhaps a little DE might help the cone filters as well. My bush is on a limestone ridge and from my discussions with other maple producers it seems that it produces syrup that tends to be more difficult to filter than many.

If this is anything more than hobby scale I would recommend a filter press.

Whitfield

[buck3m]

Can both the paper and synthetic cone filters be boiled to clean the sand out? Can I just toss them in the evaporator rear pan to boil or will that put the "sand" right back into the sap?

Matt

I don't claim to be an expert, but here's what I do:

I have homemade prefilters made out of old clean sheets, just a little smaller than the milk can they fit in. I draw into a stainless pail, then pour that hot syrup through that homemade filter into the milkcan. The bottom of my filter is attached to a wire. As the filter plugs and the syrup level rises I pull that wire up turning the filter inside out exposing new filter surface. I don't have to wait for filtering as it filters as I am boiling. This gets maybe 80% of the sugar sand out.

If I have time I'll let the syrup sit in the can for a couple of weeks, then pour the clear syrup off the top. If it's completely clear I'll just reheat and filter through a course filter once more, into the canner, to make sure no misc. debris end up in my syrup. I gather the dregs together and let sit for a couple of weeks or more and pour the clear syrup off the top and throw the rest.

Sometimes I don't have time for sedimentation, so I'll use a cone filter with paper prefilters. After use I rinse them in the sap end of the pan keeping them the same side out so very little sand is reintroduced to the pan and I recover considerable syrup that way. I then wash them normally. My homemade cloth prefilters will let too much sand go through if swished around in the sap, so my current way of handling them is to let as much syrup as possible drain through before washing them separately.

[Big_Eddy]

This sounds too hard to me.

I use the cone filters in a stainless filter holder / bottler with lid. They work well, filter well, and I rarely ever have issues with sediment in my syrup, and I always package in glass.

I use 3-4 prefilters at a time - depending on how much syrup I have in the finishing pot.

I steam my filter ahead of the initial use - by either placing it over the finishing pot on the propane burner, or by inverting it over an old kettle for a couple of minutes - I want it warm and damp, but not wet.

Then I pour the batch of boiling syrup into the filter cone, place the lid on and take in to the bottling counter. I fill bottles till it stops flowing out, then tip what's in the prefilter into the next. I have one of the silicone oven mitts - they are useless for most things but work great for syrup. By the time I have used the 3/4 prefilters - 90% of the syrup is through. If there is some left not filtered, I just dump it into the next batch and catch it on the flip side. Usually in a 10 -12 litre batch, I end up with a litre or so that goes back for the next batch.

I know if I let the filter cool off and try to add more syrup later - no-go. Once the surface of the filter has cooled syrup on it - nothing more is going through. I used to hang the filter in the open and pour through it into an open pot below - without the steam to keep the surface hot, a skin would form on the outside and that was that.

I know others place their filter/canners directly under the spout from the evaporator and pour each draw-off directly into the filter - haven't got a spout on my setup, so have not tried that. I would think the challenge would be to keep the filter hot enough that it did not slow down, but I know that it works for several folks around me.

Everyone's syrup is different - The nitre I get is a red "mud" most of the time, but occasionally I'll get the more usual grey gritty sand. Either way - the cone filters have worked out well enough over the years.