Hobby Sized Filter and Canning Unit

[ducxsterdoo]

I've been looking for a better setup for filtering and bottling my syrup... being a hobby operation, I can't justify the cost of some of the commercial units, and don't produce enough syrup to even make efficient use of them. With the number of taps I'm planning this year, I expect to be bottling about 2 gallons of syrup at a time. I considered the coffee urn setup, but wasn't even sure I'll have enough syrup to justify that either.

Taking a lead from the design mudr posted a while back on the forums, I went the Steam Table Pan route and created a double boiler setup.

I started with a half size 2 1/2" deep pan for my boiling water, cut out the center of a half size lid to hold up my bottling pan. Used a half size 8" deep pan for my bottling pan. I added a weldless ball valve with an elbow for bottling. Added a dip tube (from a bre kettle setup) to get more of the syrup out of the pan that sits below the outlet. Also, added a weldless thermometer.

To hold the filter, I am using a drippings rack that came with my 2 1/2" deep pan and suspending that with some stainless S Hooks. Planning to run flat filters and clipping them to the lip of the pan to keep them in place...and then there's a cover for the top to keep some heat in while filtering and bottling.

I tested it all out tonight and it held the water in the bottling pan right between 185 and 195F.

I have about $180 in it including all taxes and shipping costs. It will hold about 2 1/2 gallons below the filter rack. I plan to use mine on my stove top, but could also easily be used on a propane burner setup. ...and the same design would easily work with full size pans to get more volume.

Here are some pics of the setup.

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[raptorfan85]

Looks like a good setup. Does the top pan seal tight to the bottom pan or is there a gap? I use 28 quart stainless stock pots with stainless ball valves. The only issue is maintaining a constant temp while bottling and the double boiler would solve that.

[ducxsterdoo]

Looks like a good setup. Does the top pan seal tight to the bottom pan or is there a gap?

It doesn't technically 'seal' because I didn't get the cutout perfect and the top pan kind of sits down inside the cutout....but it doesn't allow too much steam to escape. If I were to do it again, I'd probably cut the hole smaller in the lid on the bottom pan so that the top pan kind of sits on top of it, and then it would be a better seal. Keeping a constant temp seemed quite easy to do with my water test.

[Super Sapper]

Looks good and should work well for you. I would caution against having the pans fit too snug. You can cause a dangerous situation with building steam pressure if it can't vent.

[mudr]

Looks good! I think I need to add on the shallow on the bottom to create the double boiler. I just picked up a hand filter press, but will still use my rig for canning. Would be nice to prevent overheating on the bottom when I can.

[maple flats]

That should work well, to get the end of the syrup maybe you just have an oven mitt handy and lift the back end of the pan when the flow stops. Doing that, just be very careful of steam rising from the bottom pan as you lift.
Maybe you could make a lever out of wood, to hook the back of the top pan and push down from the front.

[mudr]

Dave is right. With mine, which is a full size 12X20 steam pan, I have a good 1.5 quarts left when flow stops through the valve.

[ducxsterdoo]

Yeah, mine appears to leave about a quart in the pan. Figured I'd ladle it or tip the pan.

[Pdiamond]

It appears to me you've done a fine job creating a filtering and bottling system for yourself. You may want to add a weldless 90 on the bottom pan pointed up, so you could add water, if needed, without having to lift off the top pan full of syrup.