Electric Water Jacketed Bottler

[Johnjenner]

So just a question on using a water jacketed canner. How long does it take to heat syrup up to bottling temp with an electric WJ canner

[RileySugarbush]

A very long time since it heats at 212°F max. Better to start with hot syrup.

We heat with propane to over 200, add DE and filter through press straight into the water jacket bottler, tweak the density and bottle. Even then, the filter process can drop the temp below bottling temp and we need to wait a few minutes to get it hot again.

[DrTimPerkins]

How long does it take to heat syrup up to bottling temp with an electric WJ canner

It depends upon how cold the syrup is to start with, how much syrup you're heating up, and the capability (wattage) and number of heaters in the unit. Can take several hours if syrup is cold, you can a lot of it at once, and/or you only have a single low wattage heater.

[maple flats]

My 16 gal WJ bottler has 1 heater 4500 watts. I heat syrup in my finisher (2x6) to 205-210F+ then send it thru the filter press and into the bottler. If the filter press is still hot from filling a SS barrel, the temp in the WJ bottler will be at bottling temp in just a few minutes if not immediately. Once in the bottler, If I heated the WJ water first, it only takes 30-45 minutes. If the WJ water started cold maybe 2 hrs. Then if I don't finish bottling the contents I have 2 options. #1, I leave the unit hot (185-187F) and put my homemade insulated cover over it (made of 1" rigid foam) and it is ready to bottle when I return. #2. If I turn the heater element off, it can take 3-4 hrs to raise the temp to 185F, the more syrup in the bottler the longer it takes.
The beauty of a WJ bottler is that the t-stat maintains the perfect temperature once attained.
Mine is a Smoky Lake WJ bottler, I see they now offer a steam heated bottler, I suspect that would be faster (and it is lower cost) Also my friend has a SunRise WJ bottler with propane heat under it and 2 4500 watt elements. I think he said that holds 35 or 40 gal. I understand he uses the propane to heat the WJ faster (and the syrup), then the burner gets shut off and the electric does the rest. That might be the best of both worlds.

[wdchuck]

I can a barrel a week on average in a 40 gal Lapierre unit with two heating elements. I've got it set up on a timer so I usually have it turn on at 4 am, and even in the cold of winter its up to180 degrees and ready to package in no more than 4 1/2 hours- a bit less in the summer.