Steam bottler vs water jacket bottler?

[S Wright]

For a small bottler like the Smoky Lake, there's nothing wrong with a steam pan, the biggest trade off would just be having to refill the tray. I have one of their earlier versions of the finish/filter/bottling pans with a steam pan. Thankfully it looks like they have since added a port to be able to add water without removing the pan. I warped my steam pan the first time I used it because I left it over the propane too long and unknowingly ran it dry. I still use that as my finishing pan without the steam pan under it. The thing that I always hated with it was that it was hard to keep my temperature steady with it on propane. At the time I bought it they didn't have the option of the electric element. 2-3 years ago I moved up to a 29 gallon water jacketed bottler with dual 230V heating elements, and I would never go back to bottling over propane. I have a mark on the knob that corresponds to my preferred bottling temp and I can have my wife go out and turn on the bottler a couple hours before I get home from work and when I get home my syrup is nearly up to temp but not a degree over without ever touching it again, and it doesn't usually fluctuate even 1/2 degree from start to finish even if it takes me a few hours bottling 29 gallons by myself. I add some permeate to the water jacket a couple times throughout the season and other than that there's nothing to it. So, I don't have any reason to steer you away from a steam pan style for a bottler that size, but I highly recommend going with electric.

[Ed R]

check out the honey bottlers/wax melters from honey supply stores like dadant, maxant, and Walter E Kelley. I have a used maxant 10 gallon and like it a lot. Last time I checked they were cheaper than maple suppliers.

[lyford]

wnybassman, Do you have the propane or electric version that holds well at 192. Also I'm not sure which size bottler to go for. Sometimes I filter only 2 gallons at a time, other times it may be 8-10, is the larger bottler overkill?

[thomashansen871]

I am not sure if you have purchased one yet, or not.

but there is a company, https://badgerlandmapleworks.com that is owned by smokylake, which is where i got mine from. I got the electric one, it is a 13 gallon and it was $700 bucks. looks amazing. i did order the tomlinson valve from smokeylakemaple.com because i do not like the idea of using a ball valve to fill bottles and jars.

[lyford]

Thanks Tom, I ended up getting the larger propane model last spring. Looking forward to using it for the first time in the next couple months.