Northern Ontario 2022

[4Walls]

I will get some pics up soon and maybe do a detailed write up in the homebuilt section. I basically got a 8 gal stainless brewing kettle from Toronto Brewing. The go on sale sometimes and cost 1.3 maple units (130$) The thing is beautiful and has a really heavy bottom, 2 welded 1/2 inch ports, a thermometer and a stainless ball valve. I then found a cheap stainless pot from Walmart that fits perfectly and snug in the top. Drilled a bunch of small holes in the bottom of the cheap pot and made filter pads with synthetic felt. The bottom filter is 2micron Orlon from the CDL store. Used some clamps and stainless screws to hold it air tight. Made a hole for the vacuum port and it was off to the races.
I rigged one up last year and it worked really well. I wanted to make it prettier and out of all stainless. I have filtered gallons of syrup with the cone filters. 5 Gallons would take me the better part of 2 hours, multiple filter swaps, a sticky mess and a whole lot of cursing. The one I made last year takes about 5 minutes for the whole 5 gallons and filters better. I am excited to try this one with the real sandy syrup this year and see how well it works.

[Swingpure]

I will get some pics up soon and maybe do a detailed write up in the homebuilt section. I basically got a 8 gal stainless brewing kettle from Toronto Brewing. The go on sale sometimes and cost 1.3 maple units (130$) The thing is beautiful and has a really heavy bottom, 2 welded 1/2 inch ports, a thermometer and a stainless ball valve. I then found a cheap stainless pot from Walmart that fits perfectly and snug in the top. Drilled a bunch of small holes in the bottom of the cheap pot and made filter pads with synthetic felt. The bottom filter is 2micron Orlon from the CDL store. Used some clamps and stainless screws to hold it air tight. Made a hole for the vacuum port and it was off to the races.
I rigged one up last year and it worked really well. I wanted to make it prettier and out of all stainless. I have filtered gallons of syrup with the cone filters. 5 Gallons would take me the better part of 2 hours, multiple filter swaps, a sticky mess and a whole lot of cursing. The one I made last year takes about 5 minutes for the whole 5 gallons and filters better. I am excited to try this one with the real sandy syrup this year and see how well it works.

I have one of those kettles!

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0deY...fc_i_0JUVqbP7m

I planned to use it as my bottling pot, but I guess it could do double duty as a vacumn filter, then reheat the syrup and using the ball valve to feed the bottles.

I look forward to your pictures and further description. This is something I might be able to do.

[Swingpure]

I will get some pics up soon and maybe do a detailed write up in the homebuilt section. I basically got a 8 gal stainless brewing kettle from Toronto Brewing. The go on sale sometimes and cost 1.3 maple units (130$) The thing is beautiful and has a really heavy bottom, 2 welded 1/2 inch ports, a thermometer and a stainless ball valve. I then found a cheap stainless pot from Walmart that fits perfectly and snug in the top. Drilled a bunch of small holes in the bottom of the cheap pot and made filter pads with synthetic felt. The bottom filter is 2micron Orlon from the CDL store. Used some clamps and stainless screws to hold it air tight. Made a hole for the vacuum port and it was off to the races.
I rigged one up last year and it worked really well. I wanted to make it prettier and out of all stainless. I have filtered gallons of syrup with the cone filters. 5 Gallons would take me the better part of 2 hours, multiple filter swaps, a sticky mess and a whole lot of cursing. The one I made last year takes about 5 minutes for the whole 5 gallons and filters better. I am excited to try this one with the real sandy syrup this year and see how well it works.

If you use a shop vac for the vacuum, does it suck in any of the syrup?

[Swingpure]

Interesting DYI vacuum filter where the vacuum fitting comes from above.

https://youtu.be/efTNStdVV1w

[Brien]

Dang, It's cold outside. -31c this morning. -19c tonight. Brrrr, It's properly cold out. I swear, it is the extreme cold that we get up here that makes Northern Ontario's maple syrup some of the best in the world. Trees are somehow tougher. Sap is somehow sweeter. We are more remote and the sweet taste of the good stuff tastes that much better after the long and cold winters. There is some reprieve in sight. Days are getting longer. Seeing the neighbours's coming out of hibernation. Rink on the lake is perfect for skating and I'm dreaming of steamy days and nights in the sugar shack.

So I'm slowly getting ready. Have some plans to expand out to more taps. Made a few mods to the rig. Sold a few extra pans and pails. The biggest thing I am doing is getting ready for the season and navigating the lack of bottles and packaging that was available last year. I just want to put it out that there is a source for the 500ml Kent bottles. Those are my best sellers. The local farm stand crowd prefers to buy in glass and first time buyers like the 500ml size to try it out. I have tried the 1L and 500ml plastic jugs. They used to be ok in the past but the new square shaped "milk bottle" style jugs are crap. Seem to be weak, deform and don't hold up as well as the last iteration. That's why I go glass. Last year was brutal for finding glass. This year is not much better. My Normal CDL supplier in Barrie is limited on 1L glass and has absolutely no 500ml stuff. Local hardware and some of the local suppliers are the same thing. Do not despair. I found a shop that has pallets of 500ml Kent bottles. Not a plug. I have not affiliation to the shop. But if you are looking for that size give Kidd's home hardware a call. Ask for Neil. He is the local guru. They have hundreds of cases. I got mine today before they are sold out.

Anyway, getting prepped because things happen fast when the sun keeps climbing. Money is going out but no syrup coming in yet. Keep warm and good luck this season.

I asked a friend to check some bottle prices when he was out in powassan HH, they wanted something like 2.50$+tax for a 500ml glass jar. That seems pretty steep. I think I will just stick with the mason jar again. I just bought 12 for 10.99$+tax, so much more reasonable. How was the price when you bought them?

[aamyotte]

Since I don't sell my product I use mason jars as well. Much better pricing for sure. Even better priced when I use my Canadian Tire points.

[4Walls]

Mason Jars are 100% legal for sale and look good too. The country harvest budget brand from ball are normally about 10$ a dozen with lids. For commercial sale, the regulation states that it has to be a new, plastic or glass container, so new mason jars fit the bill. They look not too bad once labels are on and such.

Don't know how to do a proper quote so
"I asked a friend to check some bottle prices when he was out in powassan HH, they wanted something like 2.50$+tax for a 500ml glass jar. That seems pretty steep. I think I will just stick with the mason jar again. I just bought 12 for 10.99$+tax, so much more reasonable. How was the price when you bought them?"

I got them for 1.39 per bottle including the lids. But I bought 30 cases of them so I got a bit of a bulk rate. I think I saw the price listed at 1.79 if you bought a case or maybe a bit higher if you get them individually. There are certainly more expensive glass jars. The leaf shaped ones are pricy. The standard "Kent" style bottles are what people like and they pour nicely, don't break when filling if they have been pre heated properly and are a thin profile to let lots of light through.

[Lanark]

I'm making a vacuum filter press for myself this year and it sounds like yours, bought 2 brewing kettles from Ontario Beer Kegs and I'll be fitting a steamer pot with holes in the bottom into an aluminum top rather than ruin my stainless steel top. Picked up some stainless steel fitting which will be in the lid for the shop vacuum at CDL today. I also bought some filter aid which I've never used. My question to you is did you use any filter aid last year? And if so, did it solve nitre problem?

I'm tired of using the gravity filters just to find nitre and have to filter again which seems to waste about a litre of syrup every time.

[Swingpure]

Since I don't sell my product I use mason jars as well. Much better pricing for sure. Even better priced when I use my Canadian Tire points.

I have 8 dozen Cdn Tire Mason jars, mostly 1 litre jars, but some 500 ml jars. I did pick up a dozen 1 litre and a dozen 250 maple leaf shaped bottles from CDL, in the summer, but do not remember the price. I also have about 20 donated 1 litre bottles.

[Swingpure]

Up until this year the name of the game in February and March was ice fishing. I always thought of February as a winter month and March as a winter month, that had nicer winter days as it progressed.

The current long range forecast is pretty disappointing from a maple syrup perspective, but from an ice fishing perspective, pretty stats quo.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/075E..._78AATd5YqoIIQ