Best original content in used IBC totes?

[nysap]

What does everyone prefer the original content in the totes be? Lots say food grade but many doubts come to mind when you look at what was stored. Flavorings, iodine, and milk line cleaners to name a few. I have an in to get these 275 gallon totes for a good price but even after rinsing several times, would a used milk line cleaner tote be worth putting sap in? I was leaning towards containers that stored canola oil in. What's everyone's preference and thanks for any input.

[jmayerl]

I have a few totes that had honey in them. I would never get one with a cleaner, or worse yet a oil that can't get cleaned out

[Russell Lampron]

I have some that had a salt based food preservative that is mainly used for preserving ham in them. I don't remember the name of the preservative though. The totes were easy to clean and had no odor after 3 rinses.

[TerryEspo]

I bought a few that had corn syrup in them, one time use then for sale. Very easy cleaning, no stain, no odor, looked brand new.

[Ghs57]

Mine held organic canola oil.

[Cedar Eater]

Milk line cleaners actually don't bother me. They are usually bleach and acids and they rinse out completely as far as I can tell. The iodine teat wash I would avoid. Hydrogen peroxide is another that I wouldn't worry about. Vegetable oils probably come pretty clean. I would avoid soaps and strong spices.

[seandicare]

talking to a few maple guys and farmers, the milk line cleaner "should" be OK, as long as it is cleaned out.......the stuff is pretty much food grade from what the farmers are telling me. high concentrations are not good, (like drinking a couple cups of it straight.) but the milk lines are just rinsed after this stuff is put through, so some residual is left in the lines and into the milk.

a test someone had told me is fill the drum/tank with water and left it sit a couple days, then take a couple gallons of that water and boil it down. see if there is anything left in it.

in my area, the milk cleaners tanks are about all i have been able to find for the most part, unless i want to pay $3-500.

[maple maniac65]

Maple grove in St Jay VT used to sell them that originally held balsamic vineger

[Snowmad]

Many milk line cleaners are just a heavy concentration of chlorine (like Clorox). Acid containers are great too. They would be my first choice to use since they would be sanitized well with that in it. I'd throw in a water hose for a couple of hours to rinse it out well. Any others, I'd sure want to be 100% about what food ingredient was in it. The person that mentioned honey...sounds like a sticky mess. Pressure washer would probably be needed to clean that out.

[mellondome]

CIP milk cleaner is sodium hydroxide based. Not clorine based.
sanitizer is "clorine" based

[Tame Fish Lake]

Mine had soy sauce

[Super Sapper]

Washes can be either caustic or acid based and sanitizers are either chlorine or acid based.

[nysap]

Thanks for the replies so far. Not sure if I'm sold on the milk line cleaner totes still. The terms acid and caustic with something I'd be feeding family and friends doesn't sound to inviting. I would clean any tote I get to death but the definition of caustic is capable of burning, corroding, dissolving or eating away by chemical action. Not something I necessarily want to associate with maple syrup. I'm not knocking anyone who does I just want to inform myself first.

[Cedar Eater]

Thanks for the replies so far. Not sure if I'm sold on the milk line cleaner totes still. The terms acid and caustic with something I'd be feeding family and friends doesn't sound to inviting. I would clean any tote I get to death but the definition of caustic is capable of burning, corroding, dissolving or eating away by chemical action. Not something I necessarily want to associate with maple syrup. I'm not knocking anyone who does I just want to inform myself first.

It's a matter of how well they dilute and rinse out. White vinegar is acid and it is routinely used to clean pans. Baking soda is caustic and it is routinely used to clean pans and neutralize acids. You eat acids and caustics on a daily basis. Bleach and hydrogen peroxide are routinely used to clean and sterilize maple equipment. Your aversion to milk line cleaner containers is strictly mental. If a tote once contained acid and you rinsed it with a baking soda/water mix and it didn't foam all over the place, it didn't contain any more acid. You wouldn't be feeding something to your family that wasn't there. If it contained even highly concentrated bleach and you rinsed it with just water, it would no longer contain highly concentrated bleach, but if you then rinsed it with white vinegar and again with baking soda and it no longer smelled like bleach, you could safely assume that you had covered all your bases. HDPE is very good at containing certain things without absorbing them.

[Diesel Pro]

I was looking at some that had liquid smoke, but they also had some that had contained lactic acid for like $10 more. Thinking the lactic acid ones would be the best choice.

[Super Sapper]

Be careful using an acid in a container that contained bleach, it will release chlorine gas (mustard gas). If it has been rinsed out and there is very little residue and is in a well vented atmosphere it should not be too bad but do not stick your head inside. Plain sunlight will also break down chlorine to salt and water.

[mellondome]

Thanks for the replies so far. Not sure if I'm sold on the milk line cleaner totes still. The terms acid and caustic with something I'd be feeding family and friends doesn't sound to inviting. I would clean any tote I get to death but the definition of caustic is capable of burning, corroding, dissolving or eating away by chemical action. Not something I necessarily want to associate with maple syrup. I'm not knocking anyone who does I just want to inform myself first.

Sodium hydroxide is what most RO membrane soap is. High concentrated powder form.

[BeeRay Farms]

We get them from a guy who handles bulk animal feed. Came from Cargill and had sugar beet syrup in them which is what they often use now to sweeten feed, if you have a feed mill in your area a good place to look perhaps. We steam clean them with a steam jenny then do a bleach and water soak followed by a rinse. They come out as good as brand new, no stains, odors, or anything, and since its a sugar syrup that was in them I feel pretty good about it also. The contents papers and fda stickers were still on when we got them.

[concord maple]

I am looking at a cleaned out tote this weekend that contained NON iodine teat dip. Any thoughts on this as a permeate tank?

[wiam]

I am looking at a cleaned out tote this weekend that contained NON iodine teat dip. Any thoughts on this as a permeate tank?

I would not use it for food.

[Cedar Eater]

I am looking at a cleaned out tote this weekend that contained NON iodine teat dip. Any thoughts on this as a permeate tank?

It depends on what it actually contained. Not having iodine is good, but what is it? I would look at the toxicity section of the MSDS for the contents.