How much filter Aid
Curious how much filter Aid other go thru, or how far does a bag of filter Aid take you...I'm thinking we've used 2 1/2 bags for 900 gallons of syrup, kind of seems like alot to me. I think the oberdorfer pump has some wear to it reducing the Pressure which it runs resulting in premature slow flow.
18x30 sugarshack
5100 taps high vac
3x10 inferno with steampan
7'' wes fab filter press
10'' cdl air filter press
D&G 3 post reverse osmosis w/recirculation
I have made 998 gallons and used 2 1/4 bags of DE.
Joe
2004- 470 taps on gravity and buckets
2006- 590 taps on gravity and buckets 300 gph RO
2009- 845 taps on vacuum no buckets, 600 gph RO
2010- 925 taps on vacuum new 2 stage vacuum pump
2014- 3045 taps on vacuum, new 1200 gph RO
2015- 3104 taps on vacuum
2017- 3213 taps on vacuum
3' x 10' oil fired evaporator with steamaway
That is a tough question to answer, there is far too much variation in sugarsand. It is however quite possible pump wear is causing you to use more. Just think of it like this, you may have used $100 or so worth of DE to make 900 gal of syrup. At retail that is about 2 gal worth of syrup, at wholesale bulk it is maybe 5 gal worth, still a bargain.
In the off season look into trying an pneumatic powered diaphragm pump, you will really like how they work.
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.
That's pretty close to the same amount......Originally Posted by JoeJ
Pneumatic power would be an interesting swap, I know the pneumatic barrel pumps work very good.
18x30 sugarshack
5100 taps high vac
3x10 inferno with steampan
7'' wes fab filter press
10'' cdl air filter press
D&G 3 post reverse osmosis w/recirculation
I don't keep track of how many bags of filter aid I use to how many gallons of syrup I filter. I figure the more the merrier to keep the pressure down in my press. My press had a hand pump on it and it wasn't designed to handle the pressure of the air powered diaphragm pump that I use on it now. It doesn't take much pressure to have syrup squirting out between the plates.
I second the air powered diaphragm pump. I took the hand pump off of my filter press and added the diaphragm pump without even looking at the gear pump. It's a move that I never regretted making.
Russ
"Red Roof Maples" Where the term "boiling soda" was first introduced to the maple world!
1930 Ford Model AA Doodlebug tractor
A couple of Honda 4 wheelers
Four chainsaws and no chickens!
We've made 1200 gallons so far this year and used 1 bag of filter aid. This year we've had a hard time filtering and have used more than normal. We have a 10 inch press. We add 6 to 7 cups of filter aid to the initial batch then add about 2 cups every second or third batch through. Those are 5 plus gallon batches. That's this year's protocol. Normally we charge the plates with the 6 to 7 cups and run until the plates are plugged which was usually 2 to 3 barrels.
shrunken producer, from 8,000 taps to 4,000 to 5800 to 9500 to 11,000 vac
5x16 woodchip fired evaporator with 5x10 max flue and 5x6 revolution front pan
CDL 20+ RO
Double 10"filterpress
sp-11, bb2, airtech L63, L160, L230 vac pumps
CDL low profile electric releaser
MES 8000 electric releaser
CDL 4000 tap mechanical releaser
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