What do you do to clean your buckets and short tubing to store it for the year

[sebastian]

I am new at this
What do you do to clean your buckets and short tubing to store it for the year?
Also what do you do to clean the sap tanks ( I have some 275 gallon totes)?

[DuncanFTGC/SS]

I just wash all my buckets with soap and water, let them dry and then store them nested. My tubing and spiles get soaked in bleach water, rinsed well, and allowed to dry really well before being bundled up and stored in 5 gallon buckets. I have some IBC totes, but have not used them yet.

[lyford]

Hot water, a blue 3m scrubber, and elbow grease. All soap leaves a residue, no matter how much you rinse.

[Michael Greer]

Wash them like you wash your dishes...hot water, dish detergent, and rise well. Throw the tubing in the trash.

[SeanD]

No need to throw your tubing away. Sounds like you are using it as a drop to the bucket. Some people replace their drops in 3-5 years. Some go a lot longer. Plastic spiles usually get replaced every year, but metal ones just get a rinse, scrub, and get boiled here.

I give my buckets a hot water scrub and a bleach dip with a triple rinse. Make sure tubing, taps, and buckets are completely dry and you are good to go until next season. If you have time, you can repeat the process before the season, but I usually don't.

Sean

[seandicare]

I usually give them a bleach bath just before the season and rinse real well. air dry then nest buckets together, coil tubing into the top bucket.

[psparr]

For my tote, I hook up a pressure washer to the hot water heater. Works well. For the buckets I just use hot water and a scotch pad and elbow grease.

[buckeye gold]

I also throw my drops and plastic taps away. If I remember right, Dr. Tim's study shows they are a source of bacterial contamination even washed. At a 100-125 taps It is not that much expense and with buckets you need to do everything you can to prolong sap flow. I tried one year comparing new stuff to old washed and sure enough all my old gear taps slowed much faster than the new. You can never be too clean. I wash buckets with bleach wash and air dry then stack and do a bleach rinse when season starts. now if your running vacuum I don't imagine it's as much of an impact.

I also use bags and I bleach wash my bag holders. I have noticed buckets with drops run longer at the end than bags. I think the open tap when sap is not flowing llets in bacteria.

[n8hutch]

I also throw my drops and plastic taps away. If I remember right, Dr. Tim's study shows they are a source of bacterial contamination even washed. At a 100-125 taps It is not that much expense and with buckets you need to do everything you can to prolong sap flow. I tried one year comparing new stuff to old washed and sure enough all my old gear taps slowed much faster than the new. You can never be too clean. I wash buckets with bleach wash and air dry then stack and do a bleach rinse when season starts. now if your running vacuum I don't imagine it's as much of an impact.

I also use bags and I bleach wash my bag holders. I have noticed buckets with drops run longer at the end than bags. I think the open tap when sap is not flowing llets in bacteria.

I couldn't agree more. I have found the same with buckets & drop lines run much longer than a open spout bucket/bag. On 100 taps you can make up new drops & spouts,t's for 100 dollars. That about a 2 gallons of syrup or 1 more Run. You will definitely gain more thanthat.

[johnpma]

Can someone clarify???? I read "throw the tubing away" however I see large operations that leave their tubing up year round including the mainlines what would a large scale operation do differently that a small scale operation wouldn't do?

[psparr]

The drop is the only thing that is replaced, which is cheap compared to the whole system.

[pamelance]

I use a food-grade sanitizer called STAR SAN. It's widely used by homebrew/ wine makers. 1 oz: 5 gallons, and it kills E. coli and staph.
I fill up several 5 gal buckets (either outside or in my tub if it's cold out)- swish it around and re-use a few times in other buckets. For taps and tubes, I fill a 5 gallon container, and use a large syringe (60cc- from my vet, once I told them what I wanted it for) to plunge the liquid through tubing and taps. Once air dry, all is sanitized.
I do this twice: once right before (a day or two) tapping and again at the end of the season, before nestling and storing.
I was using a bleach solution like others, but STAR SAN seems safer somehow? Maybe it's the food service background...