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Thread: Fine sediment in bottom of syrup bottle

  1. #21
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    I have been making syrup 9 years now and other than an occasional blown paper etc in the filter press never had a sediment problem till this year, seems everything I bottle in glass has sediment and it's really frustrating. I always heat the syrup then run it thru the filter press and then into the bottler and only heat it a little with burner very low to maintain temp as needed but I'm getting very fine sediment and really irritating me!
    11x29 sugarhouse
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  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by markct View Post
    I have been making syrup 9 years now and other than an occasional blown paper etc in the filter press never had a sediment problem till this year, seems everything I bottle in glass has sediment and it's really frustrating. I always heat the syrup then run it thru the filter press and then into the bottler and only heat it a little with burner very low to maintain temp as needed but I'm getting very fine sediment and really irritating me!
    I had the same problem and it was enough for me to finally make the jump to a steam pan a month ago. The problem is that little patch where the flame hits the pan. The temp probe might read 185, but that spot right above the flame is way above 190 the whole time. I had better results when I stirred the warming syrup the whole time it was heating up. Then when I got to 185, I'd shut off the heat, bottle all my glass then switch to bottling plastic when I had to turn the burner back on. It was labor intensive, but I was able to get better results from a traditional pan.
    Woodville Maples
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  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by n8hutch View Post
    Only problem I can see with that is you have the potential to contaminate your filters with whatever is floating around in your sap pan, including dust/debris/I get a fair amount of niter in mine. Are you wetting your felt with boiling sap also?
    Good point. I was not wetting the felt filter. Just the pre-filters.

    Maybe that was causing my slow filtering problem.

    Mark
    Mason 2x4 w/raised flue pan, 240 gal. sap tank, 80 Reds on 5/16 tubing and Lunchbox releaser/pump, 20 sugars on buckets

  4. #24
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    I keep my Felts and prefilters boiling in pot of water on the back of my arch I do not remove them from the water until I am ready to filter. I just give them a good hard shake before I put them in the filter tray.

    Think of a Dry Felt like a wool coat when it first starts to rain it just beads off and it takes a long time to soak in. It's the same idea with a Dry Felt and syrup
    Last edited by n8hutch; 07-30-2017 at 07:25 AM.
    Nate Hutchins
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  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by SeanD View Post
    I had the same problem and it was enough for me to finally make the jump to a steam pan a month ago. The problem is that little patch where the flame hits the pan. The temp probe might read 185, but that spot right above the flame is way above 190 the whole time. I had better results when I stirred the warming syrup the whole time it was heating up. Then when I got to 185, I'd shut off the heat, bottle all my glass then switch to bottling plastic when I had to turn the burner back on. It was labor intensive, but I was able to get better results from a traditional pan.
    Well today I finally bought a water jacket canner that holds 20 gallons so hopefully this will be the solution. As for those with water jacket bottlers do any of you reheat without refiltering? I hate losing a half gallon in the filter press every time but absolutely had to with the niter formed in the finishing pan of course
    11x29 sugarhouse
    2x8 airtight arch homemade with waterloo flue pan, welded syrup pan and parallel flow preheater hood
    250gph cdl ro
    1100+ taps for 2014, approx 1000 of them vac
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  6. #26
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    No need to refilter if you keep the temperature under 190 which is where niter can start to form again. Bottle at 180 +/- 5 degrees.

  7. #27
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    Maybe that's been my problem too, I shoot for 190 and even with a steam tray for indirect heat occasionally drifts over 190
    11x29 sugarhouse
    2x8 airtight arch homemade with waterloo flue pan, welded syrup pan and parallel flow preheater hood
    250gph cdl ro
    1100+ taps for 2014, approx 1000 of them vac
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crowh...5582993?ref=hl

  8. #28
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    Water jacketed bottler is the way to go. We’ll worth the investment. I use mine every tim I bottle but it got warped
    Anyone have any ideas how to unwrap it ?

    2020: 317 taps, 2021: 360, 2022: 350 2023: 300, 2024: 230 (getting smarter)
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  9. #29
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    So what is safe bottling temp, many books say 180, yet seminars I been to often said to remember it needs to be 180 when the cap goes on and recommended a bottling temp of 190 which I always strived for and wondering now if that's what gives me so much trouble, can I really have my syrup at 180 and be ok?
    11x29 sugarhouse
    2x8 airtight arch homemade with waterloo flue pan, welded syrup pan and parallel flow preheater hood
    250gph cdl ro
    1100+ taps for 2014, approx 1000 of them vac
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crowh...5582993?ref=hl

  10. #30
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    Oneida NY
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    I set my WJ bottler to run at 185-187. There seems to be no issue that way.
    Back before I had my filter press, I used an orlon filter topped with 5 or 6 pre-filters. As the flow got slow, I carefully removed the top pre-filter and then I hung it from above to drip into the next one. As I finished I usually had 2 or 3 pre-filters left, but it would not be an issue unless you get down to no pre-filters.
    Some producers use DE with flat or cone filter set-ups. They say it helps. The science of how it works is that the DE can not pass thru the orlon filter, so it forms a filter cake, it is that filter cake that actually does the filtering. DE is one of the best filters you can get. When the filter cake forms, it traps the sugar sand throughout the cake, not just on the surface like it does without the DE. Then the DE is the filter.
    Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
    Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
    Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
    After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.

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