Finishing on Propane Cooker

[NHnewbie]

Last year I would draw off from my evaporator and finish on a propane cooker, but would pretty consistently get niter in my syrup. Occasionally, I wouldn’t, but more often than not I would. I have a compensation cup, once it reached proper density & finished I filter it and bottle, but not sure why I’m getting sand in my bottles or sometimes haze. Any ideas?

[TheNamelessPoet]

I could be wrong, but I THINK each time you heat/boil it, you can get niter.

[DrTimPerkins]

Correct. Any time you heat syrup above 190 deg F, niter will form. Under direct heat you will get hot spots where niter can form even if the temp of the overall syrup stays below 190 deg F. If you heat above that point, and especially if you boil it, the syrup will darken and you will form new niter and have to filter.

[buckeye gold]

I used to fight this as well and I finally decided I needed to filter more. I now draw off through a cone prefilter at 215-216, then put on propane burner to finish, at 217-218 I run it through two prefilters and one final filter (orlon), I then go back on propane and finish to density with a hydrometer ( no more temp readings) and repeat the filtering through two prefilters and one orlon final (all flat/basket filters, no cone). I then pack it in temporary containers and bottle later. when we bottle we reheat in a stainless stock pot and set our burner on med heat. I stay with it and stir on a regular bases. Once it hits 182 -185 we turn off heat and start bottling. I keep a probe in it and when it drops we turn low heat on and keep it 180-185. I rarely have cloudy bottles until the end of season when filtering become a challenge with those last 3-4 boils.

[MISugarDaddy]

We only filter our syrup once. We pull it off the evaporator and use a propane finisher to reach proper density, then we run it through our filter press and bottle it. The syrup almost sparkles it is so clear.
Gary

[NHnewbie]

Thanks for responses, I should have stated, I typically will run through a prefilter off the evaporator, then when I have reached syrup in the pot, I will filter through 3-4 pre filters & the synthetic filter. I realize that I am filtering at higher than 185 F, but assumed the amount of filters would catch any sugar sand, unless, it is forming in the jars after it’s been filtered, since it was filtered too hot?

Should I be waiting for it to cool in the pot to 185 F prior to filtering?

[MISugarDaddy]

The hotter it is, the better it filters. Prior to getting our filter press, we used a synthetic filter and pre filters and would run it through at 218-220 degrees. The cooler the syrup, the slower it will go through the filters.

Gary