Plastic barrels

[BoerBoel]

I have the opportunity to grab a couple of plastic barrels for a good price (used). The are apparently food grade 55GAL plastic barrels that were previously used for Flax seed oil.

Would these still be OK to use for storing sap, concentrate, and permeate?
What would you suggest they get rinsed/washed out with? Since they have 2 bungs/caps it might be hard to rinse/wash so I was thinking of using a pressure washer.
Or would you say stay away from them?

[Super Sapper]

They should be OK once they are cleaned out. I would either cut the top out or trace around a 5 gallon pail and cut that out for access. If you go the 5 gallon pail route, all you need to do is insert a pail into the opening to "seal" it up I cut out the bottom of the pail and use a pail cover to close it up for ones on their side. If you leave it upright and cut out the top, just make a wooden cover for it. I use several for collection tanks and one for a head tank.

[BoerBoel]

Obviously cutting the top out or the 5 gallon pail idea will make it easier to clean out. Any suggestions on what to use to clean out the plastic barrel?

When using the 5 gallon pail in the top of the barrel, how do you get it to seal enough to place the barrel on its side without leaking? Is it just a compression fit?

[Super Sapper]

If you are laying it on it's side, you will be cutting a hole out of the side that faces up. The pails do pretty good as a compression fit to seal it up but are not perfect. As far as cleaning, use a pressure washer or brush with water. At the end of year I will use a little bleach also. Some use a food grade hydrogen peroxide mixture also.

[Zucker Lager]

Obviously cutting the top out or the 5 gallon pail idea will make it easier to clean out. Any suggestions on what to use to clean out the plastic barrel?

When using the 5 gallon pail in the top of the barrel, how do you get it to seal enough to place the barrel on its side without leaking? Is it just a compression fit?
If you make sure that both the barrel and the bucket are the same plastic Typically HDPE get a plastic welding torch (amazon has them) and the same HDPE plastic welding rod, get the bucket to fit as close as possible then plastic weld it in place. Once you get the hang of fusing the weld its a very strong bond and should be water tight. That is the way I do my barrel / bucket set ups. One more thing to consider is a gama lid for the bucket top. Jay

[BoerBoel]

The barrels were gone before I got to them. But now I see some 50 gallon food grade barrels for that were had food grade cleaners in them or acetic acid (vinegar). Would they be OK to use? Should I stay away from the food grade cleaner ones? I would imagine the ones that had acetic acid (vinegar) in them would probably be OK. Thoughts?

[maple flats]

I generally only try to use food grade containers that had very mild flavored food items in them, such as Canola oil, Vanilla concentrate, apple concentrate and such. While vinegar is used to clean SS pans on the evaporator, with plastic being porous it could taint the sap.
I suggest you keep looking, but don't give up.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Paper mills that do food grade packaging have totes that work great. They have a wax solution that is used to coat paper for direct food contact that has no smell taste and it washes out with mild soap.