How to clean a steam away without acid?

[Bruce L]

On the last day of boiling I saved 600 gallons of distillate from the steam away. The next day after it had cooled down,I drained the pans,pumped the water into the head tank and fired away hard for two hours. Checked the next day,syrup pan looks like it had never been used,completely spotless!! Steam away however did not clean up as well. This is what has me baffled,syrup pan where the niter becomes the greatest concentration cleans up spotless after a few hours of boiling,yet steam away boiling raw sap doesn't . Don't know about flue pan until we lift the steam away off. Looks brown through the window,but that may be just the niter settled like dust. Have sap I can leave in flue pan to ferment if need be,but Leader said not to leave sap in steam away. Suggestions appreciated,as if I use the acid will have to flush the steam away out quite a few times .

[nymapleguy607]

I cleaned my steamaway out this year using cleaning vineager and premiate from the RO. I let the steamaway soak for a couple hours with the blower on to aggitate. The niter cleaned off with a quick brushing. I think the boiling action in the syrup pan is what loosens the niter and gets it free, where the steamway never truely boils on the pipes and bottom.

[Ryan Mahar]

is there a reason you don't want to use the recommended pan cleaner for the SA?? You only use a small amount, most of it is water..???

[Bruce L]

Ryan,just kinda leery about all the nooks and crannies the acid could stay in,flat syrup pan would be simple to be sure that the acid is all gone

[Ryan Mahar]

can never be too careful for sure!!! I have done the recommended cleaning for years for our SA and don't believe to have had any trouble yet......but to each his own right! Hope you had a good season!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Best way I found to clean steam pan or steamaway is to fill it with permeate or distilled water that comes off of it and let it bubble a couple of hours every day before or after boil if you can spare the time. Every day uncleaned the scale gets worse and any cleaner I ever used was just vinegar with 5% acid. If you can let it bubbled 1.5 to 2 hours day or more and then wash out with water hose makes huge difference in keeping it cleaned and is the easiest I have found.

[Bruce L]

Thanks Brandon,already figured I would get a pump for hot water next year to pump the hot distillate from the tank into the steam away after finishing boiling

[Ryan Mahar]

really like these ideas,.......I have always used vinegar in front pan every night to keep it like new, never thought of using vinegar for SA. I think I will give it a try!!! Thanks!