Bulk packaging drjms

Hi all,

I see a lot of photos of people drawing off into a tank then running the syrup through a press into a drum. I was always told not to pack syrup below180 deg. How are the smaller producers making this work with smaller batches? I know some who actually add to a drum that wasn’t full on another day? Does mixing the syrup that is cool in the drum with fresh hot syrup off the press affect it’s ability to keep properly. Jut trying to figure out how this works and what is safe.

Bruce told me last week they will stop accepting 5 gal pails next year. We want to pack in 15 gallon ss drums.

Thank you and I hope you all had a good season.

I'm at a similar scale to you and I use my water jacketed canner to hold syrup off the evaporator and keep at 200-205F. Once it is about full I adjust density (I draw off a bit heavy) then add the DE and run the syrup through the press in to 15 gal. ss drums. I also use some 5 gallon barrels if I'm not going to fill just one or more 15 gal. barrels or for the rare occasion that I make less than 15 gal. during a boil.

I do not like to partially fill drums as my goal is to be able to store syrup for as long as possible. If you're packing to send off to someone else for bulk then maybe it doesn't matter as much. The only bulk I ever sell is commercial so not sure how Bruce or other buyers feel about syrup that was not hot packed in barrels...

If your bulk buyer opens the drum to test it (ours doesn't we provide a sample for each drum) then the seal has been broken anyways.

Smaller producers will put syrup from one day into a water jacketed tank and add with fresh syrup the following boil to hot pack a drum. We always end up with a few drums we don't completely fill one day and have to add 5 more gallons the following boil. If you add until the syrup is right into the threads of the bung that helps prevent spoilage. We'll always re-package those drums first.

We use 15.5 gallon kegs. We have a sanitary tee on our draw off that will fill 2, 20 gallon pans depending which way it is pointing/leaning. I welded up a stand with a sliding burner (turkey fryer) that way you can select what pan you would like to heat. Once one is filled we start filling the other and light the burner on the first pan to heat the syrup or keep hot. When the second pan fills both are usually hot enough to filter and fill 2 kegs. Then we just start the process over and leave what may be left until the next boil. If there is 10 gallons left from the night before it does take a little time to reheat, the first draw will usually help warm it a fair amount though.

We use an overflow and fit ~15.6 gallons per keg and always fill them full.

I have never packed a drum in more than one packing. In other words I have enough to fill a drum when I start. But some producers do fill a drum partially one day and fill it the rest the next day.
I hold any that would result in a partial barrel in my finisher. Then I send it to a barrel when I have enough to fill a drum.

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Originally Posted by maple flats

I have never packed a drum in more than one packing. In other words I have enough to fill a drum when I start. But some producers do fill a drum partially one day and fill it the rest the next day.
I hold any that would result in a partial barrel in my finisher. Then I send it to a barrel when I have enough to fill a drum.

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I've never intentionally done this - just sometimes my guestimating on how much concentrate is left to boil is off by a few gallons! The half drums are obviously much easier and now that we have some of them in stock I'll finish a boil with one of them plus a few 10L jugs instead of hoping i can completely fill a full drum.