I just did the same type of coffee pot rig for my first "mass" bottling last night; and here I thought I was being crazy! The only difference is I took a hanger and made 2 "W" shaped pieces to put the filters on top of. Poor man's "filter optimizer". I will say I never filtered the other way, but I love the word "optimizer" and did not love the idea of spending money on it (given that i'm already in over $1,000 for this hobby just this year...). Seemed to work well. Syrup was hot when I poured it out. Almost scalded myself a few times. Rookie....
2021 Spring- 70 red maples, 2 sugar maples, homemade RO, 2 pan cinderblock evaporator.
2020 Fall - tapped 8 "waste" maples to practice on evaporator for spring '21. 1/4 gallon of syrup.
2020 Spring - 8 taps on droplines into buckets, stove top boil, < 1 gallon syrup