Ringing The Syrup Out Of The Cone Filter

[valleyman]

I always seem to give in to the temptation of ringing the filter to get more syrup out of it.

The other day I filtered off the block evaporator this past cool rainy monsoon Saturday. During previous boils the near syrup went through fine. This time the drip came to a halt quick. I dumped it out of the 1st prefilter and then out of the 2nd and so on down to the orlon filter. By this time the syrup was barely coming out so I gave in and rung her out. Niter city. Obviously it would have been a lot worse if I didn't filter. The filters were damp but not warm.

Should I always refrain from ringing the Orlon Filter out? Being one of the small time guys, every drop seems like gold and I just cant seem to help myself frmm being stingy.

[tappin&sappin]

valleyman,

I use 3 prefilters and the wool filter. I keep spare prefilters handy so that I can add them as required, thus always using prefilters and never relying solely on the wool filter.

That should keep you from having any syrup hang up in your wool filter.

- Jake

[JuniperHillSugar]

I had the same experience with the last batch. A very black, very fine "stuff" that plugged everything. I think it's a late season thing.:confused:

I wring the filter into a cup for the house. I hate to waste anything too.

[valleyman]

Yeah Juniper, same thing down here in CT. I'll buy that. Sure wish I had a shot at another batch. I'll pulled the plug on the season.

[TF Maple]

I let my filter sit on top of the coffee maker I use for canning to help hold the heat and steam in. The filter is usually drained pretty good after canning. If you ring it out into a separate container, just let it sit so the nitre goes to the bottom and pour off the syrup as best you can.

[Russell Lampron]

Wringing out the filter will stretch the fibers in the fabric and will let more nitre through. Make sure your syrup is good and hot before you try to filter it.

[40to1]

I've been in the same position.
The prefilter and filter slow down as the filter becomes clogged with suspended black powder.
With the filter slowing down and about a pint or two of syrup trapped in the filter, I "coaxed" the syrup out. It wasn't worth it. The syrup I bottled was a cloudy mess.
I would have been better off to either pour the unfiltered syrup into another clean filter or toss it out.
Think of it this way: If you toss out the trapped syrup in the filter, you're wasting the syrup. If you bottle gross syrup you've wrung out of the filter, your wasting a good bottle.

[KenWP]

I figured out not to wring a filter from doing jams and jellys years ago. I let it run until it stops or finishes and then scrap out what dosn't go thru into another smal container. I rinse the filters out in hot water and then use that same water everytime until the end of the season. I then add all that together and reboil until syrup temps and filter one last time and throw away the dregs and am done. That way only a small amount gets wasted and I have some black syrup for myself. I must have Scotch ancestery.

[Gravel]

I let it drain out of the filter until it wont drain anymore, then I rinse it out in the pan to get all the syrup out of it and I will get it next time!

[Mackdaddy]

You can never use too many prefilters. If you layer them say three or four on top of each other, pull one off at a time as they get plugged. Another trick is to make sure that you keep a cover on the filters to hold the steam in. This keeps the temps up and makes sure that your syrup is not thickening up which will slow it down as well. Lastly, be careful with wringing, you could loosen the fibers and cause them to come loose and float in syrup. Doesn't look too good in glass bottles.

[BradWilson]

First timer here. So we buy some equipment and the owner offer to "help" us out. He shows us that he draws off thru a prefilter and a wool filter and then cans it immediatly, while it's hot. He made sure to remind us to squeeze the wool filter to get as much syrup as possible, just don't ring it out. Well, everyone has always told him that his syrup is cloudy so we thot we'd add another set of filters. So, we draw off the same and while it's warm filter thru another paper and wool into our "canning" can and reheat the "batch" at the end of the night for canning. Here's what I noticed. The syrup was nice and clean until we squeezed the last of the syrup of of the wool.

Lesson learned: Let the filters do their job and don't squeeze them out into the finished product. Now our syrup is the clearest it's ever come out of that equipment. Thanks to all on this site and the friends that we've talked to that got us started in our first season. It would have been a helluva lot harder without you. Hope your season is as good as ours.

[maple flats]

Wringing out a filter does more than streatch the fifers, it breaks them. After wringing the filter will never do as good a job again. Do as a few others have suggested and rinse it with good water and save the sweatened water to make more syrup. Then on the last boil just let the filter hang and collect for several hours. You won't loose very much and your cone filter will not need to be replaced. After the final drain you can rinse again and boil the wash water to density and just use it your self unfiltered. No waste.

[brookledge]

You can squeeze it but don't wring it like others said. Been ther done that many years ago. One thing you can do is to hold it up to the sun light or a bulb and look to see if you can see any thin spots. If you have wrong it out to much the fibres stretch and tear leaving you with spots that will let the nitre through.
Keith