Cleaning HDPE Buckets

[Andy VT]

Cleaning HDPE buckets....
What is the best way?
That is all.
(Totally cool to just point me to a thread; this has probably been thoroughly discussed)
I'm primarily asking about normal end of season cleaning, as opposed to recovery from absolute disgusting (in which I'd likely throw away, but such deep cleaning could be interesting if different from normal end of season).
Andy

[SeanD]

Depends on the amount. When I had 75-100, I set up a bin of barely soapy hot water and hit them with a nylon brush. Then I would give them a dip in sanitizer and then a rinse. I would sit in a chair with the bin on the ground and do it on a nice day. It's tiring. Plan ahead for a place for them to dry. If you stack them wet, they stick together and can be a bear to get apart next January.

Now I only have a handful on trees and the rest for collection or other tasks around the sugarhouse, maybe 15 total. These I scrub with hot water in the kitchen sink and I have tables in my sugarhouse to pyramid them on to dry. Lots easier now.

[eustis22]

if you don't want to use just hot water you can add a little bleach to the wash and then rinse thoroughly, even excessively.

[littleTapper]

I made a little wooden cart that holds a 40 gallon stock tank for washing buckets so it's at a nice height and can fit quite a bit. Bulkhead fitting and drain in it. I can wash in my shop or outdoors when the weather is nice. On-demand portable LP water heater to make it more enjoyable :) Scrub with bleachy water with a big brush (this year I tried Powder Brewer's Wash - which seems nice). Rinse, stack in pyramids. Once dry enough, use a pump sprayer to hose them with Star-San, then let them dry. Stack them up and they're ready for next year.

Washing buckets in the house in our basement utility sink was a pain. Being outside or in the shop with this tub setup is so much better.

[Andy VT]

I ended up using just water and they look bright white and seem very clean.
Not sure if I'll regret that.
For drying, I had an interesting idea... I have a 6-sided pop-up screenhouse from Costco. The frame has 2 scissors joints per side, so 12 pointy things stick up.
With the frame lowered all the way and only partly unfolded, I can hang 12 buckets upside down on those points plus one more in the middle.
13 buckets is enough to clean per session anyway!

[Aaron Stack]

Andy - I'm only a couple years into my addiction but I'm fortunate to have a double sink in the basement with a hose spigot on it.

Fresh out of the woods the buckets and lids get a full blasting with very hot water and a brush as needed to get them clean and stack them to dry. Over the course of the next few nights and weekends as time allows I'll fill one sink with hot water for a final, full scrubbing and the other has hot water and star san sanitizer (1oz to 5 gallons of water). Only needs about a minute in the sanitizer so while I scrub one, the previous one sits and I spin it a few times while scrubbing then other. I stack them and let them dry for a week before bagging each bucket in a non-scented kitchen trash bag.

I do the same thing pre-season (no bag this round since there off to the woods when dry) and that seems to work well for me.

I've seen bucket washers for sale on FB that have a bucket brush attached to a small motor hooked up inside a cut-out 55 gallon plastic drum that might be interesting to try, but I have the sink and it works.