Struggle with new filter press

[Pdiamond]

I forgot to mention that I use my canner on my stove, I have never used the propane base. To me it is easier to control the temperature and it's warmer canning in the house,

[maple flats]

After reading or scanning the responses I have what I think is an easier way. First off, is the amount od maple grade DE, I have an air diaphragm pump powered 7" filter press with 5 sets of plates. (10 papers). I make my initial batch by pulling about 3 gal of syrup off, at 200-210F into my mixing tank. I then mix in 2-2.5 cups of DE (2 in early season 2.5 or maybe 3 late season depending on past history that season) in until it seems to be well mixed. Then my filter has 2 valves, a recirculation valve and a filter valve. I recirculate a minute or more to help mix the DE in, then I open the filter valve and slowly close the recirculation valve until fully closed, all while the pump is running. at that point I have 2 hoses aimed into the mixing tank. I at that point only have flow from the filtered hose. I let it run until the syrup coming out "sparkles" meaning it's super clean. I then open the recirculate valve, close the filter valve and move the filtered hose to either a barrel to be filled or into the bottler, all while the pump is running. As the last of that batch flows into the filtered syrup barrel or bottler, I shut off the pump. I then draw off 6-6.5 gal of more syrup, mix in 1.25 cups DE, mix and recirculate for maybe 40-60 seconds, then I open the filter valve (the hose is still in where I was sending the syrup) and I slowly close the recirculation valve. That repeats until the barrel is full, or the bottler is full or I run out of syrup. That last one only happens if I pumping into the bottler, I never start filling a barrel unless I have enough to fill the barrel. If too little, I let it set in the 2x6 finisher until I have enough to completely fill a barrel.
Sorry for making this so long, but that will work well for all who try it, regardless of the type or size of pump. You only need to adjust DE to filter the amount of syrup being done.
With your hand pump filter you should still be able to pretty much follow this way, but you might need to adjust the amounts of DE. The basic point is that the first pumping on clean papers will coat the surface of the papers with a blend of niter and DE, mostly DE. once the papers are coated and you are sending the syrup to a container from which you will be bottling your sparkly syrup. Additional batches can get less DE mixed in, because the filter cake has coated the papers, note that my added batches only got about 1/2 the DE in 2x the syrup. If you try this I think your experience will prove to work far better.

[JoeJ]

If I understand you correctly, you put all the DE in the syrup at once. Your should start your filtering with a precharge with a gallon of syrup with 1/3 of your total DE (2 1/4 cups for 2 plates which hold 6 1/2 cups of DE). You need to build up new additional layers of DE as you go is to build up clean filtering layers. If you are adding all the DE in one batch, then you are not building up any real layer of DE to filter through and the DE will get plugged and stop the filtering.

[maple flats]

In my case, as I described 2 posts above, I use the most DE on a new set of papers, then I use about 1/4 tah much per gallon on all following batches. If following batches are not soon after the initial, sometimes the next day, I use a little extra on the first filtering session of the day, but not as much as I would on a new set of papers.
I only do a followup filtering on the same papers the next day or two. Longer than that, I clean the filter press and start fresh with new papers.
JoeJ is correct, don't just start with all of the DE in the mix at the start, and add more syrup to it, each new batch needs it's own DE added. I do however as I am finishing the final batch to be filtered, if I'm finishing up all of the syrup in the finisher, to be filtered, I add slightly more DE in that batch, and I raise the off end of the finisher and open both valves to let it drain the finisher while the pump and filter press are working (my finisher, 2x6, has one divider, with a cross over on the end opposite the draw offs, thus I open 2 valves).

[Pdiamond]

Thanks for covering that part Dave, I forgot about the recirculating until it sparkles, then into the canner. I do it, just forgot to type it.

[maple flats]

I purchased the same 7" SL press 2 years ago. I did however, get it with the air diaphragm pump (arm saver).
Had very similar clarity issues to yours initially; but stumbled across one very simple problem and an easy solution. When you load the papers, plate by plate....peek into the two plate windows as you load and make sure the hole in the papers are perfectly aligned with the window holes. Also sticking a finger into the hole helps with alignment. It is possible, as I found out, to have a paper pushed off to one side just a touch, enabling a leak to bypass that plate. And there's your cloudy syrup.
On DE quantity. We usually hold syrup until we have 10-15 gal. batches for bottling. Initially charge the press with 4 cups for the first 5 gallons or so. Next 5 gal. we add 2 more cups DE...and so on. That press is rated for 9 cups max. of DE.
After sorting out my alignment issue, and fine tuning the DE, we see crystal clear syrup every time and love the Smoky Lake press.
Hope the above helps.

Thanks, Bill

I'm not sure about alignment of the holes is that important, yes you want to be close but a little off has not shown to slow the press down. I have noticed that any misaligned hole fix themselves. On my filter press, if I'm off a little, the pump makes the hole round where the paper landed. That does not mean you can be far off, because that would make a leak where one hole ended at least partially in line with the window in the hollow plate, resulting in DE in the filtered syrup. Maybe it's just me.

[220 maple]

Watching Nate Bissell videos he asks everyone if they know how a filter press works, no one has expressed that they knew exactly how a filter press works. I know it took myself and my helper about 15 years to finally figure out how much filter aid to use! Take one of the frames that catches the filter aid lay it on a flat surface, fill it up level, then put it in a bowl or scoop that is how much to use times the number of frames on your press. That seemed to work for us.
Mark220maple

[maple flats]

I never try to fill the hollow plates, it's not necessary, when the plates are full is when the pumping gets much harder or impossible and you need to open the press and clean it to start fresh. Unnless I have a lot of syrup to filter, like maybe 2 barrels worth (My barrels are 26.5 gal SS) I rarely ever end up with full hollow plates when I break down the press to clean it. Some of that depends on the season, no two years are the same, most years the amounts I gave work well, some years I need more. That is determined as I run the mixture of DE and hot syrup, if the filtered syrup takes too long to Sparkle as I run it back into my mixing pot, I add more DE, but that is rarely needed. From there, I close the filtered valve after opening the recirculation valve and I move the filtered discharge hose to either a barrel being filled or to my bottler. Then I open the filtered hose valve and close the recircultion hose valve. From there, I keep an eye on the pressure, when the filtering gets harder I slowly open the recirculation valve sending some of the flow back into the mixing tank. If while filtering I need to open that recirculation valve over 1/2 open it tells me, I need to change the papers and stat fresh after cleaning the press. On my press (A Lapierre from about 2007) the pressure should stay below 40psi or I risk bursting a paper catching the DE. That's what I watch. As I understand it, the Smoky Lake press or maybe it was the clear Leader press or others can run at higher pressures, for that consult your press manufacturer's directions. My only experience is with my Lapierre Press, initially with 3 sets of plates, then with 5 sets as it has now. You need to realize the DE amounts I gave are for my press a 7" Lapierre, other sizes will use different amounts of DE. The larger the press the more DE you need, and vise versa. It all depends on how much surface area your press has, both on each plate and times the number of plates. I'd think it would be simple math. If your press has 100 Sq inches per plate, that 2x whay my press has (49 sq "), I have 5 hollow plates, if you have more or fewer just do the math.