Cleaning burnt stuff

[bison1973]

My syrup pans got burnt a little this last season and I haven't totally cleaned them yet. At first I sand blasted. It would work but it took the shine off so I quit. Is there any thing I can use to let it soak so the burnt areas will come clean? Let me know what "tricks" you use.

Thanks,

Tim

[royalmaple]

I have tried a vinegar and water solution. No specific ratio, just depends on the size of the pans. Heat it up or when you mix use hot water. Let it soak and it does an amazing job. Just rub with a non abrasive sponge and should do the trick.

[davey]

we blasted them with sodium bicarbonate rather than blasting sand and that cleaned them without as much dullling. After a good burning though to replace the shine I think you are going to be doing some polishing.

[Russell Lampron]

I use the pan cleaning acid that maple suppliers sell. It lifts the burnt stuff right off with dulling the shine and without any scrubbing.

Russ

[bison1973]

Well, I actually did use the pan cleaning solution. I'm trying to get off what the soluton didn't remove. Also, as for polishing after sandblasting, what's the best way to shine it back up?

Thanks,

Tim

[fred]

you could buy CIP acid from the dairy industry it is the exact same thing and a lot cheaper

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

vineigar worked great for me.

RICH

[Sugarmaker]

bison1973,
I scorched the front pan 50% of one compartment and used the vinegar soak for several days and some mild scrubbing to loosen the burnt on syrup. The pan cleaned up very well using about 2 gallons of vinegar and 2-3 gallons of water.
If your pan doesn't leak and its not too warped then you have done about as much as you can do to save the pan. Shine as best you can, and look forward to the coming season.
Regards,
Chris

[Maplepro]

This is just a question that that I have had in my head for a long time for you guys that have burnt your syrup pan can you ever get the taste of burnt syrup out of it? the reason I ask is that years ago when I was small we bought a brand new 5X16 my father was laid up that spring and my grand father was doing the boiling he burnt one of the middle sections in the syrup pan he cleaned it up and it looked almost new again but he couldn't get the taste of brunt syrup out of it we bought a new syrup pan the next season and I still have the pan in the storage shed but I was just wondering as we haven't burnt another pan since.

[maplecrest]

My rigs front pan is very hot and the niter will scorch easily. have gone days with burned niter on the bottom of the pan. when boiling when the sap or syrup starts to act slow or bubble different i know i need to change sides. the burnt niter will affect flavor over a long time between switching sides. i quess my question is, is the pan that still has burn taste a cross flow or reverse flow. mine is as you gathered reverse flow, which will clean itself as you boil upon switching sides that seems to help not have that burn flavor taste.my pans also have a red and blue staining in the stainless steel of the pan where they have gotten hot and burned. that is there to stay along with some bubbled solder

[bison1973]

I got some vinegar from a grocery store. I let it soak in the pan for a few days but it didn't do anything. The vinegar I bought says 5% acidity. Is there another, more concentrated, kind you can buy?

[Sugarmaker]

bison1973,
Using regular store bought vinegar too. probably the 5% stuff too. Can you get this solution heated by filling the rest of the evaporator with water and getting a very low boil going then shut it down and let it simmer? It may still need some scotch brite pads and elbow work.
Hope this helps.

Chris

[Father & Son]

A little different cleaning problem. The evaporator I bought had some heat/burn marks on the arch. The stainless on the arch was brown on both sides of the firebox. I was told to try "Bar Keepers Friend". This product comes in a gold container like Comet. It is a powder also. I dumped some into a small plastic container, added water, and stirred making a thin watery paste. I was a little concerned this would be too abrasive so I tried it on the inside of the arch first. I poured some on a cleaning pad and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed and it did not take the shine off the stainless. Now satisfied it would not scratch things up I went to work on the burn marks. With a little elbow grease the stain was completely gone in no time at all with no dulling.

I don't know if this would work for scorches in the syrup pans but it worked great on the outside of the arch.

Hope this helps.

Jim

[brookledge]

Jim
Iv'e also been told of using acid pan cleaner on the outside of your arch to return it to original shine with out having to scrub. I've never tried it myself though.
Keith

[Father & Son]

Keith,
I'll keep that in mind too!. I'm just glad that the burn marks came off. The rig looks brand new!

Jim

[ibby458]

I've burned a couple pans, but they cleaned up right nice. I boiled vinegar in them, then let sit overnight. (Boiling concentrates the Acetic acid in it.)

Them I used a Mouse sander with steel wool, then scrub pads. (No sandpaper) They come back pretty shiny, and have never put any off flavors in the syrup.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I found something that works good for cleaning. I figured it would and decided to give it a try. I dump about 1/4" of vinegar in my syrup pan last night and let it set overnight and the deposits and sugarsand on the bottom of the pan just melted off. It was still in place just like it was before this evening, but if you just touched it with your finger, it was like water. I had a couple of spots with a little black from too much sugar sand close to the draw from the last boil and basically it did the same for it also. I added a few inches of water to the syrup pan and flue pan and put 2 gallon of vinegar in each one and heated them up to 200 and will let them set overnight to clean the sides and the divider.

Give pure vinegar a try next time and let about 1/4" set for 24 hours, it will take about all the work out of it.

[bison1973]

Pure vinegar- where does one get it?

[Dave Y]

The grocery store.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Sams club is a good place if you have one. You can get 2 gallons for between 3 and 4 bucks. I use 2 gallon in my syrup and 2 more in the flue pan on a 2x8.

[hard maple]

vinegar
cheap and does a great job, that's all i use.
My pans look like brand new.

[bison1973]

To those who say get PURE vinegar in a grocery store- where? I've only seen the 5% stuff as I said in earlier posts to this thread.

[H. Walker]

Vinegar from the grocery store is "pure". What you are reading as 5% is the acid content. You can get cleaners with a higher acid content but they are more expensive, more dangerous/complicated to use and quite often have to be diluted anyway.

[markcasper]

Why not just dump some muratic acid (hydrocloric acid) on the burnt spot? Be careful, do not allow yourself to breath the vapors.

Use rubber gloves and scrub with a stainless scouring pad. After the muratic treatment, the pans will dull. Then sprinkle some Comet, the stuff in the green cardboard can, on the bad spot and scrub some more. Its a good idea to rinse, then reapply some Comet again. The Comet seems to really shine them up. Rinse, rinse, and rinse again well.

Note: I have done this for years and seems to work pretty well. If you have black etched on and especially near the drawoff, then I have used a big screw-driver to help scrape it off.

I tried vinegar last fall, after reading everyones posts and eventually gave up and went back to what I have always did.

My problem is that I'm running twice the amount of syrup on mine as what a "normal" producer would, therefore there is that much more deposit.

You can get muratic acid from Fleet Farm for sure. Wausaw would probably be the closest, eh?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Mark,

I think why people like vinegar is that it is food safe and you can drink the stuff. Drink muriatic acid and you are likely dead and comet would mess you up bad. Try dumping a couple gallon in your syrup pan, just enough to cover the bottom and let it soak for a day or two. I ran almost 5,000 gallons thru a 2x8 last year which is more than a normal producer.

[RileySugarbush]

My old rig was steam table pans set down in a block arch and the hot sides would scorch black every year. Muriatic acid, diluted to about quarter strength, would completely loosen it all so you could rinse it off like in a dish soap ad on tv. Those pans were never shiny so I didn't notice any dulling. The acid rinses away completely with water and contamination was never a concern to me.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

vinegar has worked good for me

RICH

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I know muriatic works good. I have a stainless flat pan one year I dumped it on full strength with the pan tilted at an angle and it ran off and everything with it in about 2 seconds. That is everything other than the stainless. It works great!

[jemsklein]

what i do is let hot water soak in to it for about a week then boil it and the bubbles lift off all the burnt maple

[SeanD]

Do people generally clean the bottoms and sides of their pans? I brush and hose the loose soot off so it doesn't get all over me, but they are still black.

The inside of my flat pan is dulled but not blackened anywhere, just polka-dot marks all over the bottom from the bubbles in the boil. Should I try to scrub those out and restore it to its original shiny luster?

[mountainvan]

I get the creosote off the pans with a brush every day before I boil, the black stain does'nt do any harm. Careful spraying the pans, you're making lye, which if left on the pans can corrode them badly. I've seen several flue pans with pin prick holes all over from the fire side getting, and staying, wet.

[SeanD]

Yikes! Thanks for the tip.