Pan cleaning w/ white vinegar

[Jmsmithy]

Hi All

Been awhile…. Question if you’ve used white vinegar to clean your pans do you do the baking soda rinse afterwards like with pan acid???

[NhShaun]

I have been soaking/cleaning my pans with white vinegar for the last 6 seasons and just rinse thoroughly with water afterwards. I supposed it wouldn't do any harm to take the extra step and use the baking soda after.

[Greg MacWilliam]

We just rinse and go

[Pdiamond]

I always just rinse with just plain water.

[TapTapTap]

There are two purposes of adding baking soda to any acid pan wash:

1. Neutralize the acid mix for discharge into the environment
2. Neutralize the acid that might be left behind in the pan.

For discharge into the environment, I think that you should target a pH of 6 to 9 which may require you to neutralize the wash water. You should ever discharge directly into a wetland or waterbody.

It is also good practice for all hobbyist, and required of a commercial operation, to have a Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for all chemicals used in your operations. That could include vinegar and especially commercially available pan cleaners. The chemical specific SDS sheets provide information on a variety of things related to handling, storage, disposal, and exposure. I keep my SDS sheets in a binder in my sugarhouse since it needs to be readily available. If you have employees, it is required by OSHA under the Hazardous Communications Standard which includes other labeling and training requirements. And just because you have volunteer help doesn't mean that your exempt. I don't think you would need to worry about an OSHA inspection - unless you had a serious accident involving a follow up investigation.

Organic and other certification programs require the sugar maker to manage their chemicals properly, including following the Haz Com Standard.

Ken

[Arctic Fox]

How should I go about pan cleaning during the season with white vinegar? Does the white vinegar/water solution need to stay in the pan for many hours, or does it work in a relatively short time (about an hour) when heated and stirred?

[MISugarDaddy]

We generally finish our daily boils in the early or mid afternoon, so in the evening the syrup pan is cooled down enough that I can drain it. I pour in 1.5 gallons of straight vinegar and let it sit overnight. The next morning I drain the vinegar out and save it for the next cleaning. I then rinse out the pan with lots of clean water and dry it out before adding the syrup back into it. I do not heat the vinegar, I just let it sit overnight.
Gary

[Arctic Fox]

Thanks for the reply!