Homemade pressure filter

[b_mclarty]

I bought an old pressure cooker on eBay that had an interesting set of canning grates. They were full of perforations and stood on metal legs. I thought that I might be able to adapt it to a (low) pressure filter unit.

I drilled out the "pot", had a 1/2" npt bung welded into it and added a ball valve. I replaced the pressure control unit on the lid with an air valve. I made a custom-fitted filter from some filter material. The pressure is supplied by a plastic air pump that I found at a local bicycle shop.

The unit still has the safety plug in the lid but I don't plan to heat it under pressure. My thoughts are that I will set it on the pan dividers to keep the syrup warm and, when I have enough syrup in it, move it to a counter, put the lid on and pump up the pressure with the small air pump.

My first test, with some left over syrup that we had trouble filtering, seemed to work like a charm. It's not for high volume production but I thought that it might be useful on those days when the syrup doesn't want to go through the filter cloth.

I'm interested in any comments or suggestions about the unit from some folks with more experience in syrup making.

I've posted some photos on Photobucket at the link below...
http://s662.photobucket.com/albums/uu349/bkm_photos/Small%20batch%20pressure%20filter/?albumview=slideshow

[Haynes Forest Products]

I like it just keep the relief valve in place and try filteraid small amount from homebrew shop:) :) :) :)

[lpakiz]

Here's a gizmo a member built. I bought it after he decided to move back to
Texas... go to this site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maple2008/

[Clan Delaney]

hmmmm.... will you be able supply a continuous supply of needed pressure with just that bike pump? At the very least you may want to try an electric pump.

[b_mclarty]

... try filteraid small amount from homebrew shop:) :) :) :)

Thanks for the suggestion. Should I use a prefilter and my final filter with the filter aid?

[b_mclarty]

hmmmm.... will you be able supply a continuous supply of needed pressure with just that bike pump? At the very least you may want to try an electric pump.

This might be my inexperience showing but my thinking was that...

1) I didn't want to raise the pressure so high that I forced contaminants through the cloth filter and

2) Since I am only doing small batches (1 - 2 quarts) at a time, I thought that providing a few pumps once in a while would not be a problem.

I appreciate the suggestion... I have a portable 12 volt compressor that I could substitute if it turns out that I need to boost the pressure.

[vermaple]

1) I didn't want to raise the pressure so high that I forced contaminants through the cloth filter

The filter aid will prevent that.

[swierczt]

I like the setup too. Where can you get a small qty of filter aid for a setup like this? I looked at a local homebrew shop and could not find it.

[swierczt]

...also how much filter aid should be used for small qty filtering? I'm talking no more than a gallon or two at a time?

[KenWP]

The filter aid at the homebrew shop is called bentonite by the way. Glorified cat litter but don't use cat litter what ever you do. You can buy a big bag from the maple equipment suppliers but it would last you a life time. A small bag of the stuff from the homebrew shop will do 5 gallons pretty easy and I mean small.

[Haynes Forest Products]

try Ebay (Diatomaceous earth ) they sell it in small amounts get the pool filter type. Im not sure if there is a size differance. Make sure that your filter is small enough as to filter out the filter aid MICRON SIZE.
Under high pressure the filter can blow out if its not supported so keep that in mind when building the set up. When you start the filtering prosess mix in the filter aid into the HOT syrup and start filtering ASAP

[vermaple]

Be sure that the filter aid(diatomaceous earth) that you buy is food grade. I would not use pool filter.

[Haynes Forest Products]

they have DE for your garden and that will work. its food grade. Its used to kill insects and bad things in the garden.