Question about cleaning stainless pan

[R A Powers]

I am just cleaning up after the season, all 28 days of it, lol and I used an acid pan cleaner on my syrup pan. It cleaned all of the sugar sand off of the bottom of the pan very well but I still have a thin white scale on the sides the last section of my pan. It is well above the level I run the evaporator at so it must be coming out of the foam when we are boiling. The liquid level I used during cleaning was well above the scale but the acidic pan cleaner didn't touch it. Any ideas what it is or what to use for a cleaner?

[slammer3364]

put some water in with wite vinager just fire up enough to heat it up a little get one of those little green srugies made to clean stainless and it will lift right off

[seclark]

I've had good results using white vinegar full strength and let it soak three to four days then scrub with a sponge that has a rough side,I guess it's a scrubby or something like that.I then wash it good with plenty of hot water a few times.The following year I wash it again with hot water to be sure it's free of any residue that I may have missed with the sponge.I don't know how deep your pan is but with my 3x3 pan I used three or four gallons of vinegar.I filter the vinegar through a cloth and save it for the next season.

[R A Powers]

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

[Quabbin Hill Farms]

I fill my pans with sap at the end of the year and let it sit for a couple of months doesn't smell good after awhile but when you drain it off you can take a garden hose and wash your pans and they are just like new

[RollinsOrchards]

I have had luck cutting that thin white powdery scaley stuff with an Orange Oil based stainless cleaner. Spray it on the sides and let it soak for a few minutes and scrub with a wet green nylon pad. Rinse well. I used a mild clorox solution after that as I was going right back to boiling and wanted to make sure that my next batch didn't have an orange aroma ;)

[adk1]

I used the vinegar solution first this year, heating it up and letting it cool down etc..scrubbed and scrubbed. didnt touch the brown layer of sugarsand on the side.. I only have a few spots of it. then I used the Leader cleaner, bringing that up to a simmer for about an hour then scrubbed. it still didnt remove it all. crazy..the level I run the sap in is lower than this. it must come from the foam or something. cant beleive that that acid didnt take it off. I too have the white haze stuff on the sides of the channels in the syrup pan. the acid didnt remove it nor the vinegar really. I used EZ off oven cleaner on the bottom and outside of the pans. real shiney now!

[johnallin]

ADK, I've had good results with the Leader pan cleaner.

I fill the syrup pan about 4" deep, add the cleaner, get little fire going to warm it all up, and then just let it sit for a day or so. For me anyway; the pan cleaned right up.
Maybe you need to use more cleaner, deeper water depth or let it sit a while longer? The stuff on the sides is nasty and difficult to get off - having the water deep enough so it's soaking should help. Straight vinegar on a scrubby might help too. Good luck.