smokey lake flat filter tips?

[gatzow]

I bought a 16x16 flat filter from Smokey lake and was curious if anyone else has used and has any tips or tricks that they have learned from using one in the past. I'm curious if most people bottle as the syrup filters directly off the evaporator or if you just keep adding all day and then bottle at the "end" of the night. The flat filter that I bought has the steam layer heat option over propane fire. I will be running a corsair 2x4 from Smoky Lake with their hybrid pro pan.

Thanks in advance for sharing anything that you have learned.

Chris

[maple flats]

Back when I used a flat filter set-up, I filtered it in small batches off the evaporator. Then brought the syrup back up to about 185 and bottled it. In the filtering process it cooled to maybe 130-150 or so and it must be at 180+ to bottle it. Be careful not to heat it over 190 or you will form more sugarsand and thus get a cloudy finished product.

[wnybassman]

I have the exact same filter/bottler rig. I pull off the evaporator a little heavy and wait until I have 6 to 10 gallons worth to adjust to correct density (in stock pots on propane), then filter and bottle. That is usually two or three firing sessions to get enough to do this.

The biggest thing I learned this past year is to filter (just using prefilters) as it is coming off the evaporator. This greatly improves the filter speed going into the bottler.

[n8hutch]

Mark your "Felt" filter so you can tell what side is up, you'll want to install it the same way every time so your not pushing very fine sugar sand out of the filter that you missed when you washed it, it doesn't matter with the pre filters.

I stack 5 pre filters on top of my felt, and pull them off one at a time as they plug, I also steam them in boiling water until I get ready to use them, once installed keep the lid on the bottle to hold the heat in. I can usually get anywhere from 5 to 10 gallons through a felt, I just pour it right into the filter tank as it comes off the evaporator.

I am switching to a press this year but I have been filtering 100 plus gallons a year this way and it worked fairly well. Biggest down side is washing the filters.

[killingworthmaple]

You are going to love that 2x4 I have one and its a joy to run.

Nathan

[gatzow]

Thanks everyone. Some good advice that I will absolutely follow. Appreciate it.

[buck3m]

Here's my routine:

I use cone prefilters to filter off the evaporator into five gallon buckets.
Each evening I thin the nearly full buckets to proper density.
On canning days I use a preheater pan to reheat the syrup to 200 degrees, then draw off through cone prefilters again.
I also have my final filter marked so it's always "clean side to the syrup." I start with a stack of about 4 prefilters on top of it. I don't run out of prefilters in the final step because it's already been prefiltered.
I can at 190 degrees into pre-warmed bottles. Note that that temperature is lower than the final filtering temperature.

[MapleWI23]

Gatzow,
I have a few smaller pans and want to alter a pan so I can use a flat filter. How thick is the actual filter? Not the pre-filters. How deep is the filter pan? Also, how deep is the water pan? I have a little work to alter the pans but I want to use the Smokey Lake filters since I have purchased the majority of my supplies from them in the past. This will be a huge upgrade for me. I am sick of the cone filter.Thanks!