Need advice? Picked up a Buon Vino Super Jet Filter and tried it and failed....

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

I have the Maple Guys press and 7 plates. I have researched the Buon vino press to see the differences and a few things popped up.

Ive had my Maple Guys press for 3-4 years now and have filtered over 150 gallons of syrup with it. It works flawlessly.

The wine press and the Maple guys press use different pumps. The viscosity of syrup is definitely different than wine. The Buon Vino press uses different filter papers, the maple guys papers are definietly different.

You must filter hot at 190 degrees and I generally will do 8 gallons of syrup at a time and use 2 cups of DE. that may be too much or not enough, but it works for me.

-Scott

[craig1bc]

Well a new season is upon us very soon. My wife wants to go back to the old wool cone filter and prefilters. I wanting to get more details on how to do this right since I have one more shot before we bail on it.

My press has 3 plates and then 1 end plate and the clamp. how many plates/ filters do you recommend that I use to get this right?

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Someone near Derby, NY please help this man! Craig- check some online videos on how to use a press or better yet see if someone near you can help either by showing you how they operate theirs or coming to your place. Do not give up on the filter press!!

[maple flats]

Craig1bc, the number of plates you need depends on how much syrup you are running and how much sugar sand it contains. My best advice is to use all of the plates until you get it working right, after that you can try to reduce the number of plates to see if fewer work well enough. I noticed you got your filter papers from Vino, is that correct? If yes, ask them which if any are intended for hot maple syrup. If not, order your papers from The Maple Guys. Next is the question of filter aid, is it the right type for maple syrup? You may need to buy FA from a maple supply store. The wrong FA can cause problems.
Once you have the right FA and papers, next comes the filtering. Make sure you have the plates arranged properly, The first fixed plate is a waffle plate and it has the inlet/outlet fittings on the back side. Then a paper, then a hollow plate,paper,hollow etc until you have assembled all of the plates, as you do it, make sure the in and out holes are all towards the bottom. Then put the end plate on, filter paper first, and tighten the stack of plates.
With your syrup at 190 or more F, mix 2/3 cup for the first gallon of syrup, and add 1/3 cup more for each additional gallon of syrup. Stir it well, until well blended. Then run the pump, pulling the syrup from the mixing pot, going thru the filter press and send it right back to the mixing pot. Watch the discharge, run until it sparkles. Then you are ready to send the filtered syrup to your bottling set up. Be careful in the bottler not to over heat the syrup, if you have a flame under it or an electric heating element (like an electric stove burner) you can make more sugar sand just heating the syrup back up. Then bottle it, as each bottle is filled, cap it and lay it on it's side or upside down for a minute or more. Then stand it up and let it cool, add a label and enjoy!
While using a filter press will give you perfectly clear syrup, you must do everything correctly for that to be the end result. Once you master it you will be glad you got a filter press.
After you have run a batch, if the pressure built too high and the hollow plates were not full to capacity, it means you need more FA (or DE ). If the pressure built up and you had to shut down, and the hollow plates were full to capacity, you may have done too large a batch for the number of plates, or you maybe used more DE than necessary. Experimentation will answer that. Once you've followed these instructions, let us know how it worked, if you still have issues, something was not done correctly or I suppose there might be a flaw in the plates, but I doubt that.
If you still have questions, ask more questions. When you do give specifics on what you did.
Going baqck to flat or cone filters is not the correct way to resolve this. One more thing, Look at Proctor you tube videos, they have one on filter presses, it will be a larger one, but regardless of the size the procedure is the same for all.

[Polaris1]

You need to tell us a little more as to what the problem is your having. Everything Maple Flats said is how you run the press. I had 1 first year an filtered 92 gals of syrup. Biggest problem I had was I would try to run more thru and it would blow the outlet hose of the press. What a mess!! I had the Buon press but ordered 4 more plates from Maple Guy's and added longer rods so I could process more syrup at a time. I also used the Maple Guy's filters with DE.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

https://youtu.be/yxxc_roxSO0

Here is a video he made on how to use it.

I use 7 plates on mine and it works great. I use about 2 cups of DE and it will do 8-9 gallons at a time. Thats how big I do my batches, so maybe the system would do more but those are the size of my reheat pan and my bottler.

If you are only using the stock model from Buon Vino, I have a feeling you are not using the right filter papers. Chris at Maple guys is still selling the Filter Presses and the proper papers.

https://mapleguys.wordpress.com/

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Here are the filter papers for sale on Ebay from them:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Filters-for...MAAOSwJfRfyQSa

[craig1bc]

thanks for the tips!

History 3 plates and yes I am using the maply guys filters. And yes I did buy the filter aid from the maple store.I am only doing 1-3 gallons at a time. I will follow the advice of the DE amount when I try it this year. I followed the directions of someone on here how much DE to use last year. I am going to add 2 plates this year to the press.

[craig1bc]

look at the crap in the bottom of the bottle. I see this in all bottles that I filtered.

[Polaris1]

Do you let the press run for a little bit filtering back into the heated syrup tank? It'll be cloudy then it'll clear up. Then you can go to the canner or what ever you're using to bottle. Did you see any paper that were blown thru?