Press by Daryl

[Daryl]

Howard,
I see a problem that could cause the syrup to not filter good.
The DE needs to be from a maple supply as the filter aid that you are using may be food grade , it is not for filtering maple syrup. This is something that I have found out talking to maple suppliers.
Filter papers are not all the same and that can present problems. Our maple assoc had a run of papers made to save $ for the producers and they would not filter as well as the original suppliers papers.

[HowardR]

Daryl,

What filter paper supplier do you recommend?

[Daryl]

I have papers and CDL also has the papers. They are the same papers.

[Dennis H.]

Daryl are you saying that there are different food grade filter aid?

[maple marc]

I have been using Daryl's 5" press for three seasons. It really does make your syrup sparkle. We bottle into glass, and in my experience, attempting to get crystal clear syrup without a filter press and a water jacket canner will bring you a lot of heartache and frustration. Howard, thank you for the notes on the pump upgrade--very interesting, and I look forward to hearing more from Daryl on this. But buying an entire new pump doesn't make a lot of sense, especially at a premium of $150 over the regular one. I have a call in to Bosworth to discuss parts.

But Howard, if you are reboiling your syrup after you filter, you are defeating the purpose of the filter press. Why go to the expense of the press if you aren't bottling perfectly clear syrup? You are destined to created niter during the re-boil. Even simply re-heating to bottling temperature of 180 in a stock pot on a burner usually leads to formation of niter--your clear syrup is ruined. Might as well put it in plastic. Why do so many producers use plastic? It's really easy and it hides a lot of sediment. Plastic is also a lot cheaper. Our premium glass pint bottles now cost more than $3.

But back to the 5" press. I'd like to exchange ideas on how to get more out of this little press. With my late season syrup, I can't get more than about 4.5 gallons through it. I heat it to 200, charge the press with about 1.5 cups of DE in a gallon of syrup, then add about 1/3 of a cup per gallon of syrup to the batch and pump. It's really frustrating to have the pump stop when you still have more syrup in the pot. Taking a hot press apart is a real bummer. Forcing the handle to try to get more through sounds like a bad idea. "Don't force it," my dad taught us as we were growing up on the farm. Best advice he ever gave me. That's why I don't understand a longer handle. Easier to pop the diaphragm? The new design to help the clevis travel more vertically is a good idea, though.

Hoping to hear from more folks. Thanks for sharing ideas. I've learned a lot here, and I'm glad to give back.
Marc

[HowardR]

maple marc,

I appreciate your input very much. I hope other users post also, maybe even someone who has figured out how to get more than 4.5 gallons of late syrup through the press without problems. Maybe I'll even experiment with it myself!

The new pump could be the solution for four reasons:

1. The handle is longer, permitting more force.

2. The vertically-traveling clevis spreads the force more evenly over the diaphragm.

3. The new black diaphragm material can take more force.

4. The new pump pumps a larger volume of syrup in each stroke, making the job faster. I can't explain why, but if I pause for a minute in the middle of pumping a batch through, when I return the pumping is immediately harder and slower.

[Dennis H.]

I have one of Daryl's filter presses but I had it converted to a gear pump.
Before converting it I upgraded the hand pump with the cast aluminum top ring that holds the handle. The old plastic top ring would flex and it started to pull out one of the inserts at the handle pivot end.
That solved that problem right away. But I still had trouble with blowing the rubber diaphragm, the filter aid and hot syrup just takes it toll on it.

Now the question about late syrup. Even with a gear pump with a bypass I am currently only able to get about 5 gals thru it before it is done. The sugar sand and niter is just so bad right now. When I tear it down the plates are nice and full of filter aid but the filter is a very dark brown from all the niter.

[HowardR]

Dennis H.,

In the great minds think alike department -- the new pump top solves the plastic-ring-pulling-away problem the exact way that you solved it -- with a metal ring! Perhaps the black diaphragm material will solve the deterioration problem with the white silicon diaphragms. Bosworth reports that the black diaphragms were much more durable in their tests.

What is the recipe that you use when you run the filter press with a big batch of syrup? Do you do what maple marc does (1 1/2 cup of DE in the charging fluid; 1/3 cup per gallon of DE in the syrup) or do you do have a different recipe?

By the way, your post and maple marc's post have encouraged me to give filter pressing syrup (not just pressing almost-syrup) another try.

[nymapleguy607]

I have one of Daryl's 5" presses as well, the most syrup I have ever pressed through was 8 gallons and that was mid season. 2 years ago at Verona maple school Wendall's maple did a presentation about operating the filter press, one thing they suggested was to not fill the pump fully with syrup, instead let the pump suck a little air. The air acts as a bladder and seems to keep the pressures lower letting you put more syrup through before the DE and papers plug. I have been doing this with my press and it really helps, it takes significantly less force to filter this way and you can definitley get more syrup through at a time.

[beltechc]

A number of people have posted here about using 4 cups of DE. Is that the maximum that Daryl's press will hold? It seems like there would be an upper limit based on the space in the plates. How much DE do you guys use for 4-5 gallons of syrup. I am having a hard time getting it all through. Should I use more DE, will that help? But there does seem like there would be a max.