Finishing/Filtering as a Batch

[concord maple]

First year on a 2X4 reversible flat pan and was looking for suggestions or ideas on finishing and filtering. What I was thinking was to bring the sap to almost syrup on the evaporator and drain off into a 16" X 16" finish pan with draw off valve and finish on a propane turkey cooker. My first question is would a 16" X 16" finishing pan boil even on a 15" diameter turkey cooker or should I go out and get a square cooker for this size of pan? The next question is once I am at syrup with the finishing pan and am ready to draw off, what is the best way to filter and into what?

[tuckermtn]

most of the turkey friars will put out some serious BTU's- I think the burner that came with my leader 16 x 16 was something like 30 or 50,000 btus.

couple of options for filtering- we actually have two indentical 16 x 16 pans and finish in one, then use the flat filter and screen on the 2nd pan which is set up below the pan used for finishing. It is sitting on a turkey friar burner. gravity is your friend.

if you didn't want to get a second pan, you could get a few pots to pour the finished syrup in- then pour back into 16 x 16 with the filter rack. if you do this, you want to make sure you are pouring back into a clean pan. Also be aware that the cooler the syrup, the slower it filters. Or get a cone filter/bottler to have the finished syrup flow into out of the 16 x 16.

I like the two pan system. has worked well for us- but certainly looking forward to using the filter press we aquired this off season.

[Fred Henderson]

Learn to do it this way. Make the syurp in the evaporater just a tad on the heavy side, filter it when it comes off. The pour it into your canner, when you think that you have got enough to can leaving some space for diluting. Get it up to temp and check for density with your hydrometer. I find that diluting it better than trying to boil it againt and making it darker. I have a chart for various temp and densities, so when its is 165 drg I can just read across and see what the Brix is at that temp. Every batch that we can we take a sample and when it cools we check it again with the refactrometer. Every jug from that batch has an idenifing mark on it so if there is any problems down the road with sales we can check it back. To ee what may have happened. This method has worked very well for us for 10 years.

[Bucket Head]

I'm with Fred on this one. Thats how we do it too.

Its a lot less trouble finishing it a little "past syrup" on the evaporator and adding a little condensate water back to it. Its a time consuming pain to reboil "almost syrup" and make it syrup.

Steve

[Fred Henderson]

I use to use condensed water but now we filter sweet off the syrup side and use that, so we gain as to how many gallons we made.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Concord was also asking about the filtering side of the operation. Unless you go to a press or pressure type filter the thicker the syrup the harder it is to gravity filter.

[concord maple]

Yes I am looking for the best way to perform gravity filtering and have some control to I get used to the unit. That is why I would finish to syrup on a propane cooker. What I was thinking was to finish on the propane with a pan or pot with bottom drain valve, drain off through a filter ontop of the next container that would have a valve to transfer into bottles. Am I on the right track?

[Haynes Forest Products]

Yes I would get it within a point and finish in the FINISHER and then filter and bottle. I know others have differant methods but the end result should be crystal clear syrup in a bottle. Most small hobby guys dont make syrup fast enough to continuosly make syrup to grade filter and bottle in one step never allowing it to cool. Small timers like me that only bottle 50 gallons for personel use and giveaway bottle at the end of the year. Because I have a filter press I fill my 30 gallon finisher and then I bring to temp check density and filter and bulk it in a barrel. Using gravity you have to filter as you go so time can be used wisely so filter before the finisher and filter after finishing into the bottler.

[unclebuck]

QUOTE=unclebuck;90739]I bought a 16x16 filter/ finisher 3 years ago from Leader and have had no problems with the burner. I use this as a finishing pan only.we then put the single cone filter tank under it to filter the syrup. then we remove the finishing pan to clean and put the filter tank on the burner to reheat the syrup to 180-190 degrees to bottle.the onlly down fall is I wish the 3/4 box tubeing was a little longer to accomadate the filter tank ,but if your careful it works fine

Uncle Buck[/QUOTE]
the problem of filtering before the finisher is that when you are finishing the syrup above 205 degrees in temp you make more sugar sand

uncle buck

[Fred Henderson]

I use a cone with 6 paper pre's right off the evap. I have a special stand that holds the filter and a SS pail. When the pre's plug I just dump it into the one under it. I then take the one I am removeing and hang is on a SS wire over the syrup pan. The steam gets all remaining syrup out.

[concord maple]

unclebuck, I just purchased a 15X15 finishing pan that I was going to use to finish the syrup with and then drain off into either a can with cone filter or a pot with flat filters. I am trying to decide on which one to buy (can or pot). Eitherway, I was going to have a valve installed that I could reheat the syrup to 180 on the propane cooker and open the valve to bottle. Is your single cone can a Leader?

[unclebuck]

my filter tank is a small brothers lighting. it's a single cone tank I use a wool filter with a cone pre filter. After i filter i hang the filters inside the flue pan hood to steam all remaining syrup out before i wash them. with the wool filter when washing do not twist it to wring out the water just fold and squeese it out

[Fred Henderson]

I have a old wringer washing machine that I run my filters thru.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I loved my old wringer it was great for all the wet towels and filters Then the trans went and out it went with the filters:mad: FILTER PRESS:) I gave all the flat filters away and burned all the cone filters:)

[Fred Henderson]

When the tranny went you should have kept the wringer and made a hand crank for it. It woild have done the same thing and taken less room.

[Goggleeye]

This is my first year filtering the syrup, and I may be doing a lot more work than I need, but I found that the following is working great for me:

1. Out of the evaporator, I filtered using doubled cotton cheesecloth to take out all the big stuff.
2. I let it sit for 2 days in the stainless milk cans, at about 32 degrees, then poured off the top and stopped just as the sediment rich stuff started moving. The cloudy syrup I poured off into another pot.
3. I heated the clean syrup in several stainless pots on my stove and the syrup with sediment in another pot to 219 (I had pulled it off the evaporator at about 218).
4. I then filtered using an 8 qt synthetic felt cone filter (from the maple guys) back into my cleaned stainless milk can. The top of the filter fits perfect around the rim of the can, and before I put the filter in the can, I pushed the bottom up so my filtering area was the shape of a donut. This allowed me to use all the filtering area of the filter. As I poured more through the filter, I pushed/allowed the center to fall into the can, exposing more clean filter surface. I saved the most sediment-laden syrup till last, and didn't have to even rinse my filter but for about every two to three gallons or so. It filtered in less than a minute, and gives syrup that so far, has no sediment.
5. I then poured the filtered syrup back into the stainless pots, heated (if it wasn't still that warm) to 185 - 190, then poured into canning jars and sealed them.

[sapman]

Sounds like you're doing a decent thorough job of filtering! An old timer told me that they used to use settling tanks for syrup, and not even filter again, as I understand it.

Tim

[Haynes Forest Products]

Settling is the best way to remove sedement its the siphoning off of the clear thats the trick. Just think about how clean the oil looks in that old tractor that sits over the winter till you start it. I think slowly sucking it out of the container from the top and slowly lower the siphon tube as you go works best.

[Goggleeye]

Thanks for the siphoning idea. I think I'll try that with the next batch. An added bonus, I'll have a good excuse to get a snoot full of syrup:lol: I guess I probably shouldn't do that on the stuff I sell, though.

[wnybassman]

Although I don't do much syrup, I have found that letting the sediment settle out works best for me. I bottle it originally in 1 quart mason jars and let it sit for a couple months. Then I open them up and carefully pour off as much as I can without running the sediment out. Reheat and do the final bottling in my fancy bottles for gifts and bartering.

[KenWP]

My project tonight is to try and invent some kind of filter container. I am taking a old SS beer keg that has three holes in it for some reason and cutting the top out. Then I am welding a heavy steel flat plat on top with a 8 inch hole cut in it so I can drop the orlaon filter down inside. Then I have a steel cover which will bolt down on the top with the 4 studs I weld onto the top plate with a rubber gasket for a seal.
I plan on haveing the bottom hole in the keg welded shut with a 1/2 inch tap placed in the hole to drain the syrup out later. My guestion is will the hot syrup inside the keg as I start to filter be enough to keep the filter warm so it keeps filtering. Have no idea how big a keg it is but think it could be 7 gallons if not a bit more. Don't think it could hold 15 gallons.

[markct]

what i do for filtering is take it off the evap a little bit heavy, just a tiny bit tho, then pour it thru the flat filter into my bottler. i usualy use a felt filter and 2 or 3 prefilters. this syrup i either bottle right into plastic jugs or put into stainless containers to bottle later. for the stuff i plan to put in glass bottles i put a hose on the bottler and run it into my 5 gal stainless soda syrup keg, which i tig welded a nipple and valve on the side of about 1 inch up from the bottom. i let it settle for a week or so and it crystal clear in glass bottles, no sediment at all. the first year i did syrup i used only prefilters, and had bottled some in glass, didnt let it settle first, and after a while a little, very tiny amount, of sediment did show at the bottom. this year after an incident that left me without a felt filter for a few days i filtered thru just 4 prefilters, and bottled into plastic jugs, and put a couple in glass just to see what would happen, how much sediment there was with just prefilters. to my surprise after a few weeks a very very tiny bit showed up, not enough to worry about. so i may just use the prefilters for the stuff going into barrels, and then pump/siphon off the top of the barrels later on, and maybe for the stuff going into plastic also just used prefilters again

[Goggleeye]

My guestion is will the hot syrup inside the keg as I start to filter be enough to keep the filter warm so it keeps filtering. Have no idea how big a keg it is but think it could be 7 gallons if not a bit more. Don't think it could hold 15 gallons.

Sounds like your keg set-up should work. My stainless milk cans are 5 gallons, and the steam rising off the filtered syrup was more than enough to keep the syrup in the filter from thickening for quite a while (20 - 30 minutes). I also took the lid off a stove pot and placed it on top of the milk can, as well as had it wrapped in towels, to hold in the heat. I guess it really depends on how much you are filtering at one time as to whether or not it will keep your filter warm. .

The tap at the bottom of the keg is a good idea that would work on my milk cans. I just don't know if I could justify tapping one of my milk cans. But if a person bottled immediately after filtering in such a set-up, I'm sure the temp would remain above 180, and that would save an extra step.