Keeping it clean

[parsissn]

So now that the weather has turned to summer in just one day I have a new question. How do you keep things clean when the weather turns this warm? Here in Ohio it was good syrup weather, but yesterday and today it hit 70+. Our trees are still running but of course the sap is turning bad (yellow / cloudy) before there is enough to do anything with. I don't mind dumping the bad sap but am wondering how do you keep your spiles, tubing and even buckets clean so as not to start massive bacteria growth and spoil any new sap that may come along (assuming it gets cold again)

Mark

[brookledge]

I wash my storage tanks when I get a chance. I usually will use chlorine and then rinse it out good afterwards. As far as my feed tank. It is a pain in the neck to clean so I have a 30" UV light hanging over it. It works good as it keeps the tank clean. It never gets slimmy on the sides.
If you are a small operation you could wash your buckets but for most that is not pratical
Keith

[maplehound]

Like I have said in other post, Here in Ohio ( at least in Mahoning county) we often get 70 deg weather in mid season. When that happens we try to start at the tap work our way back to the evaporator cleaning everything. When we had buckets we took garbage cans of water to the woods to clean them now we take a tank of water out and pump it backwards up the tubing. At least trying to get the main lines rinsed if not all the branch lines as well. Then we clean the zero bulk milk tank we use instead of a releaser. Then the pump line to the hualing tank gets flushed through the sam pump we use to fill the tank. Back at the sugar house we clean all holding tanks and the feed tank. Then it is time to drain the evaporator and run all sweet sap/syrup through the filter press and back to the evaporator after it has been rinsed and front pans (at least ) cleaned. It is alot of work but it does keep the grade in an acceptable levels.