Start by rinsing/dampening all the filters. Dampening will help start the flow of maple syrup through the filters. The filters should NOT be dripping wet because you do not want to introduce water into your syrup. Squeeze out excess water but do not wring. Next, lay the dampened base filter (made out of a material called Orlon) in the filter tray. Lay the four prefilters directly on top of the base filter. You will note that the filters form a bowl shape in the filter tray because they are larger than the floor of the tray. This prevents impurities from sneaking around the edge of the filters.
Pour HOT syrup through the filters. The clean filtered syrup will collect in the basin beneath it. NOTE: Cold syrup can plug up the pores of the filters.
When the top-most prefilter clogs, shimmy it out, keeping all the sediment on top of it. (Roll it up and put it aside for now.) The syrup will then flow freely through the remaining filters. When the next top-most prefilter clogs, shimmy that one out, and so on.
We recommend marking the top side edge of the Orlon base filter so that you always lay it into the filter tray with the same side facing up. Otherwise, if you were to use it upside down, sediment that had been caught in the filter previously could become dislodged and flushed back out into your finished maple syrup.
Hint: You may want to use a clothes pin or binder clip to hold the filters at the corners of the filter tray. This will prevent the edges from falling into the filter tray and syrup.
I just purchased a steam bottler system with the vacuum option. I used it once and could not get the unit to seal properly between the machined aluminum vacuum frame and the tank that it sits on, which created an air leak. The shop vac keeps pulling syrup through the plastic tube. The 2 o-rings were placed properly in position but couldn’t stop the air leak in one front corner. With the top lip of tank not being flat all the way around, I don’t see how an o-ring could seal on that surface. Maybe you can help…
First off, keep in mind that the vacuum applicator main body will never make a 100% seal to the bottler body. It’s not our intent and we don’t need for it to make a 100% seal. The Welded corners of the pan are inherent air leaks which we CAN afford. Vacuum size is everything, if the vacuum is underpowered, the unit will not pull tight enough.
For syrup to get pulled out the suction line, there has to be a larger amount of air allowed to enter somewhere else. It could be that the air is entering around some imperfectly cut filters, or it could be that one of the o-rings is not being employed or it’s not seating properly. One easy way to diagnose is to use a wrap of electrical tape to seal the main body of the vacuum applicator to the 16″x16″ pan, and another piece to seal the filter tray to the vacuum applicator. What I am suggesting is not intended to be a fix, but it will help you hone in to where the air is leaking in, and it might give you a good idea of how the system is supposed to work which will help you to ascertain what needs to be done in order to perfect the process.
It is also important to note that the clasps that compress the filters between the filter tray and the pressure frame should feel pretty tight as you cam them down. The whole set of filters must be used for proper pressure.
We have the vacuum tray hooked up to the flat 14” propane filter and have used it for 1 season. It’s a great upgrade but we’re trying to figure out how to avoid excessive change in the Brix. We draw off a hybrid pan right at target brix or just slightly above. By the time we filter and test again we’re a good bit over density and have to dilute with bit of distilled water. Is there anyway to reduce this? Or just draw off a lot lower? We only run the vacuum when needed but it does run a bit to get 8-10 gal through in a day which includes a couple filter changes. We follow all the recommendations on wet filters, etc. We also don’t run the bottler heater until the end so we don’t create excessive steam the vacuum will pull off. Thx.
Hi Greg Thanks for reaching out. If you want to avoid additional evaporation, I would recommend putting a lid on your pan(s) and bottler. Just remember that when you take the lid off the pan, any condensation that is on the underside of the lid should go back into your syrup where it came from. Don’t let that condensation drip on the table or floor. Alternatively, yes, I suppose you could draw off of your evaporator a little lower brix. However, perfecting density by adding sap or distilled water is much more efficient than having to potentially boil a second time. It sounds like you are on the right track. You can learn more about finishing in our Barrel to Bottle video series: https://www.smokylakemaple.com/barrel-to-bottle
We are a small producer with between 80 and a 100 taps. All Sugar Maples. Collection of bags is done by hand and we cook off with wood. All our syrup is used personally or given away as gifts we do not sell any of our product. Our biggest issue to date has been filtering and bottling. We are hoping this new 16” x16” electric steam bottler with the vacuum filtering system will expedite that end of our production.
9 Comments
Bob
Thank you for the support you provide for the little guys who are starting up. We have so much to learn.
Angela
Hi Bob! Thanks for the feedback. We are so glad you found this helpful. Cheers to you.
Todd Stensberg
I just purchased a steam bottler system with the vacuum option. I used it once and could not get the unit to seal properly between the machined aluminum vacuum frame and the tank that it sits on, which created an air leak. The shop vac keeps pulling syrup through the plastic tube. The 2 o-rings were placed properly in position but couldn’t stop the air leak in one front corner. With the top lip of tank not being flat all the way around, I don’t see how an o-ring could seal on that surface. Maybe you can help…
Angela
First off, keep in mind that the vacuum applicator main body will never make a 100% seal to the bottler body. It’s not our intent and we don’t need for it to make a 100% seal. The Welded corners of the pan are inherent air leaks which we CAN afford. Vacuum size is everything, if the vacuum is underpowered, the unit will not pull tight enough.
For syrup to get pulled out the suction line, there has to be a larger amount of air allowed to enter somewhere else. It could be that the air is entering around some imperfectly cut filters, or it could be that one of the o-rings is not being employed or it’s not seating properly. One easy way to diagnose is to use a wrap of electrical tape to seal the main body of the vacuum applicator to the 16″x16″ pan, and another piece to seal the filter tray to the vacuum applicator. What I am suggesting is not intended to be a fix, but it will help you hone in to where the air is leaking in, and it might give you a good idea of how the system is supposed to work which will help you to ascertain what needs to be done in order to perfect the process.
It is also important to note that the clasps that compress the filters between the filter tray and the pressure frame should feel pretty tight as you cam them down. The whole set of filters must be used for proper pressure.
Gregory Watts
We have the vacuum tray hooked up to the flat 14” propane filter and have used it for 1 season. It’s a great upgrade but we’re trying to figure out how to avoid excessive change in the Brix. We draw off a hybrid pan right at target brix or just slightly above. By the time we filter and test again we’re a good bit over density and have to dilute with bit of distilled water. Is there anyway to reduce this? Or just draw off a lot lower? We only run the vacuum when needed but it does run a bit to get 8-10 gal through in a day which includes a couple filter changes. We follow all the recommendations on wet filters, etc. We also don’t run the bottler heater until the end so we don’t create excessive steam the vacuum will pull off. Thx.
Angela
Hi Greg
Thanks for reaching out. If you want to avoid additional evaporation, I would recommend putting a lid on your pan(s) and bottler. Just remember that when you take the lid off the pan, any condensation that is on the underside of the lid should go back into your syrup where it came from. Don’t let that condensation drip on the table or floor. Alternatively, yes, I suppose you could draw off of your evaporator a little lower brix. However, perfecting density by adding sap or distilled water is much more efficient than having to potentially boil a second time. It sounds like you are on the right track. You can learn more about finishing in our Barrel to Bottle video series: https://www.smokylakemaple.com/barrel-to-bottle
brian
Greetings, when using the flat vacuum filter, are you able to add DE
Angela
DE is not required for the Vacuum Filter. However, yes, some folks have reported using it for that application.
Matt Hinton
We are a small producer with between 80 and a 100 taps. All Sugar Maples. Collection of bags is done by hand and we cook off with wood. All our syrup is used personally or given away as gifts we do not sell any of our product. Our biggest issue to date has been filtering and bottling. We are hoping this new 16” x16” electric steam bottler with the vacuum filtering system will expedite that end of our production.