Dirty Taps ?

[Dave Puhl]

I take my 5/16 lines rinse them on the trees then take them down every year and store them in lid covered 55gal barrels in the shed. So now when season comes I drag them around the trees though the snow to get them stretched tight then tap. With talk about how much bacteria reduces sap flow. what types and where is this bacteria come from.. would dipping the tap in alcohol just before tapping help to keep taps cleaner?

[tuckermtn]

bacteria comes from everywhere. the semi-pourous plastic used in taps means that the bacteria impregnates the plastic and then re-infects the new tap hole each year. the sanitary extensions are the best way to put "clean" taps in your trees every year. the improvement in yield will outweigh the additional cost of sanitary extensions.

[DrTimPerkins]

.....would dipping the tap in alcohol just before tapping help to keep taps cleaner?

Simply dipping for a few seconds will not accomplish much. Most sanitizers have a minimum contact time requirement. If you want to wash the spouts (and/or drops), I would suggest soaking in a dilute bleach solution for a minimum of 30 min (assuming your spouts are not metal), followed by a water rinse, then drying. This will get them "close" to the performance of a new dropline and spout.

As far as alcohol goes, while ethanol or isopropyl alcohol will kill the vegetative forms of molds, fungi, and bacteria, it is almost completely ineffective against spores, an is also not terribly effective at penetrating biofilms or other organic debris. Many of the things that grow in sap do form spores.

[Dave Puhl]

I was hoping Dr.Tim would reply thank you and also tuckermtn

[DJ Lasell]

Simply dipping for a few seconds will not accomplish much. Most sanitizers have a minimum contact time requirement. If you want to wash the spouts (and/or drops), I would suggest soaking in a dilute bleach solution for a minimum of 30 min (assuming your spouts are not metal), followed by a water rinse, then drying. This will get them "close" to the performance of a new dropline and spout.

Thank you Dr Tim for the info on the bleaching plastic taps.
Sometimes in the past, I have been lazy in cleaning my metal spouts. (just stir them in a bucket of soapy water and rinse)
Will I see an advantage (in sap run time) if I clean them with a pipe cleaner and bleach? Is it worth the extra effort?

thanks DJ

[1arch]

I sample tapped 2 trees two weeks ago practicing zero cleanliness bacteria free practices. These two uncleaned/used clear leader cv taps with drop line taps were pulled last spring and reinstalled this spring. (Looked kind of yellowish) Although these two healthy looking trees could be duds the production in comparison to others in the area have already been roughly half of others that have been cleaned from previous use.
I always use brand new cv taps on our lines. Single taps with jugs are the only areas we reuse cleaned taps.

[BreezyHill]

what types and where is this bacteria come from.. would dipping the tap in alcohol just before tapping help to keep taps cleaner?

Where does it come from: bacteria is all around you, on your hands, mouth, gloves, tools, trees, etc.

In the medical field a few moments of scrubbing with an alcohol prep pad and the needle goes in. Sure longer will kill more but how much more is being killed with longer contact..now that would be some interesting data.

Our operation has washed taps since the mid 1970's with bleach solution. Since 2012 we did vacuum in the solution and brush out the spouts...total time of contact between initial contact and a second to flush out any debris brushed loose would be 90-120 seconds. During that procedure we have had as much as .47 and as low as .34 gallons of syrup per tap. The low was last season and it hardly ever ran due to the wind and frozen trees...then it turned into the 60s for three four days. We got most of our sap in a two day long run.

Now I clean with hydrogen peroxide solution. End of season I did the same procedure of a few ounces into the tap, brush the spout inside and out a few more ounces by sucking at the top of the container to mix in air for turbulence and done.

If there was any discolor in the tubing from growth it got more to kill or flush it out.

Then I was recommend a procedure of: Vac off and pump solution into tubing and wait at least 30 minutes or just let the sap flush.

I did this by use of a hand held sprayer and a 35 gallon tank on the wheeler. Youngest son and wife did all the taps one afternoon in the late fall while middle son and I were filling cages of fire wood.

When we started tapping we waited for above freezing weather and drained of the solution from the full drops. Smelled like the solution, and the drops were spotless. The main that I was concerned about that had some dark film filled the sap filter with flaked off debris. It was dried up looking.

With the few runs we have had we are on track for a good season. After the first few hours the filter has been clean and the lines look like new.

While you may not kill every last solitary bacterial agent your cleaning efforts are not wasted nor in vane but do help in at least reducing some of the bacterial levels.


The use of gloves is rather pointless as they are contaminated as soon as they are put on and the first tap is touched unless you change them from spout to spout.

[Ghs57]

How about the use of a sanitizer such as Star San, which is used for many commercial food preparation sanitation purposes, and in home-brewing/winemaking. The active ingredient is dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid and phosphoric acid. Must remain in contact for at least one minute. Air dry, no rinse required. It's comes concentrated and is fairly inexpensive.

I use this for sanitizing my home wine making equipment. I used it this year on all my old taps. So far, so good. For maple sap; maybe it doesn't kill the right agents? Anyone have an opinion or experience with this?