Soot on steam pans, is it an issue?

[GoldyCon]

I did my first boil yesterday and when I pulled my steam pans off they were covered in black soot as was the insulation in the arch. Is that normal? I am running a 2x5 with 6 steam pans and burning wood, yesterday was a mix of maple, pine, and pallets.

How do you clean that off and how often do you do it?

[valleyman]

I use a 4 steam pan set up on a block evap heated with wood and at the end of each boil, while the arch is still warm/hot I have all my pans filled with warm/hot water. I add some vinegar and clean the pans. Take out most of the water.

Then lift the pans off the arch, dump remaining water, rinse with clean water and dry. Then I rub the soot off the bottom of pans off in the grass or snow.

Put them back in place on arch ready for the next boil.

At the end of the season I do as above now with the pans flipped over, using the hose with the nozzle on the strongest stream I remove as much loose soot, Let em air dry and store individually plastic bags.