Cleaning with vinegar

[TheMapleMoose]

Do those of you who use white vinegar to clean your pans, do you dilute it? My pans and steamaway hold 80+ gallons. I'm assuming we would dilute it out so that I don't need to buy a tractor trailer load of vinegar, but at what ratio?

[Haynes Forest Products]

yes you wil fill your evap to the level you want to clean and pour it straight from the bottle

[tcross]

I do a 50/50 mixture and it works well. not as well as it does as Haynes suggested but it works. a little more scrubbing.

[Haynes Forest Products]

If I want to clean the bottom of my finish pan I will dump in 4-6 bottles and let it soak and then use it in my evap with it up to the highest level. I reuse it also by storing in 5 gallon buckets. Keep in mind that its a mild acid that dissolves the minerals and holds it in suspension so the more minerals you dissolve the less effective it is.

[buckeye gold]

I still do the rotten sap method....it cost nothing but the last sap of the season.

[Dennis H.]

I use vinegar during the season when I need a quick clean that spotless is not needed.
I'll use a 50:50 mixture for my syrup pan to try and get those hard mineral build up off, or at least most of them. Then I will fill the flue pan to the level I want with water and add 3 gal jugs of vinegar.
The flue pan I found doesn't need as strong a mixture as the mineral deposits are not as hard.
Now I only have a 2x5 evap.

Then at the end of the season I will use milkstone remover in both pans. That really gets the mineral deposits off the syrup pan.

Remember both vinegar and milkstone remover are acids so be careful on how you get rid of them.

[minehart gap]

I typically use 4 parts hot water to 1 part vinegar, fill pans to level I want then bring to a decent boil. Let it set until just cool enough to get my hands into and wipe everything down. Don’t underestimate the power of hot water and time. Pans usually are clean as new when done. Might have to use a little elbow grease on the corners that don’t get as much heat.