What to do with the pans...

[JP Quality Maple Syrup]

First year using my own evaporator. I have the Lapierre, Waterloo, Small 24 x 60 and loved it. I had made inquiries and compared others but they just didn't have the quality I got with this one. So now my first year is done and I don't have any left over sap to try other methods mentioned in the forum so what would be the easy way to clean the pans. A buddy of mine says his friend uses bowl cleaner.........what?? :o Then a good rinse. I'm thinking no kidding but thought I would ask in here. Always a great place to get good answers. I know there are chemicals out there for the job but wondered if there was a more natural way.

[unc23win]

A lot of people myself included use vinegar. I use vinegar during the season and use pan cleaner (acid) at the end of the season. I like it heat mine up and do some scrubbing and then let it soak overnight then scrub it some more as needed and then rinse it really well.

[Tweegs]

We put 2” of water in the pans, add vinegar (roughly 40:1), heat until it just starts to boil, shut it down, let it cool overnight.

While things are heating up, we’ll use a brush just to slosh things around a bit getting all of the surfaces wet.

Next morning drain and rinse…very little scrubbing involved.

[Big_Eddy]

I fill mine to double the usual boiling depth, add 4l of vinegar to the syrup pan and to the flue pan, and let them sit for a few weeks, then drain and pressure wash. I checked my syrup pan on Saturday after a week of soaking, and almost all the nitre is flaking off. Sometimes it takes a bit of work in the corners with a green scrubbie to get the very last nitre off.

Some people use oven cleaner on the bottom to remove the soot. I just use the pressure washer and live with some black left on.

I think toilet bowl cleaner may have chlorine in it - keep chlorine away from stainless.

[motowbrowne]

I tried vinegar but I have hard water and limited patience so I started using pan cleaner. It's simply food grade muriatic acid and works really well. That's what I'd recommend. Only problem is that you can't get it shipped, you have to buy it in person, at least in my experience.

[maple flats]

I use white vinegar, during the season and after the season. My method is to drain the pan and then add 1 gal of white vinegar and 2 qts of water. I then use a plastic spatula to stir it to have a uniform blend. Then I use a weed burner torch to warm the pans just enough that I see a vapor (no where near hot enough to be steam) and then I let is set overnight. I usually don't even need to scrub, I have a long handled scotch bright pad and a quick swish is usually all it needs. After the season I let is set 2-3 days. Then I drain the pan (3x3 syrup pan) and rinse with plenty of water (I use permeate, but any clean water is good). I have only used pan cleaner a couple of times over the years and then only if the white vinegar won't get it clean. Vinegar works beautifully all most all of the time (unless you burned the pan).

[PerryW]

I tried vinegar but I have hard water and limited patience so I started using pan cleaner. It's simply food grade muriatic acid and works really well. That's what I'd recommend. Only problem is that you can't get it shipped, you have to buy it in person, at least in my experience.

I also buy Pan acid at my local sugaring supplier. I fill the back pan as full as possible w/ water, dump 1/2 gallon of acid in, and get a fire going and bring the temp up to almost boiling. All the nitre peels off in less than 30 minutes. I put the other 1/2 gallon in the front pan (also full of water) and let it sit overnite. The heat it back up and drain it gradually scrubbing the sides as the level lowers. I still end up using scotchbright pads for the tough to remove nitre.

[adk1]

U need to be careful with the tru pan cleaner if you have soldered pans

[motowbrowne]

U need to be careful with the tru pan cleaner if you have soldered pans

Very true! Actually, you need to be careful with that stuff no matter what. I only leave it in for a couple hours max, then drain, rinse, rinse, fill with water and lots of baking soda, drain, rinse, rinse, call it a day.

[JP Quality Maple Syrup]

Well I knew I came to the right place in here. Going to use the vinegar trick and see what happens with my rig. As I also have found out in here there are many, many choices and the trick is to find the things you try that works for each of us. I thank everyone for their advice, Jack

[maple marc]

My niter is a special compound that may be the hardest material known to man. No amount of acid will remove it. I must resort to elbow grease--massive amounts of scrubbing. I have learned that the best scrubber is a copper pad. Scotch Brite will leave scratches on your stainless--the copper pad does not.