Cloudy sap and cleaning tanks

[ADK_XJ]

It's that point of the year where, if I don't collect within a day, the sap starts to go cloudy in the collection tank...that was the case yesterday when we pulled in about 200 gallons of cloudy but smell-free sap and boiled.

My questions are: at what point do you consider the sap no-good (is it just smell or obvious discoloration?) AND what is your process for cleaning tanks in between collections during this time of year? If you're like me, time is severely limited between work and family commitments, I will run permeate through our head tank and any transport vessel...if they are looking real iffy, I will run Star San rinse-free sanitizer to be safe.

For our collection tank it's more difficult, but I have tried pushing RO water back through the IBCs to give them a rinse. I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes and wonder if it's a waste of time?

[TapTapTap]

For what it's worth -

I don't have a remote collection tank and I don't haul sap. So my situation is different than yours and cleaning the rap sap tank is easy at the sugarhouse where I have hot water.

I usually just do a straight water rinse (no permeate and no detergents) during the season. I have a 3,000 gallon stainless tank and it will get very clean just by a rinse. I realize that there could be something left behind that could multiply when mixed with upcoming sap. However, I don't see that being a concern since the same sap with whatever bacteria load is already in the sap lines waiting for the next run. The rinsed-down raw sap tank should not create a worse condition.

Regarding when not to boil because of sap quality - I'm most cautious late in the season and once the day-time temperatures have climbed into the 60s. I have many black mainlines which make even the cooler days a problem if the sun is out. Late season sap never looks as good as early season sap. I stop boiling once I detect an off-flavor in the syrup which typically corresponds to serious boiling challenges related to defoaming. Since I'm organic, the defoamer's allowed are even less effective during the late season. I usually end my season when the organic defoamer is ineffective.

Good Luck,

Ken

Ken

[tcross]

if you're able to rinse out your tanks each time you collect you should be fine. each of mine gets a 5 gallon bucket of water thrown in it and swashed around after i collect each time and the tanks stay clean. if i have some time between sap runs i may but a little bleach in it and rinse it real good. as far as when to stop boiling or if to boil the sap. i usually stop my season when the sap smells when boiling or the syrup gets an off flavor. it only takes a short time to boil bad sap before you know it by the smell. i know that time is close when the trees stop giving their "normal" quantity of sap when the weather should produce a good run... or my pond has no ice and the frogs come out.

[ennismaple]

Our tanks get a good brushing every time they are drained. As the tank is being pumped out we scrub the entire inside from end to end and that goes out with the sap. We'll sometimes hold back the last 5-10 gallons and do a quick rinse with 5 gallons of drinking water if there's a lot of build-up. The micro-organisms can grow very rapidly if you don't stay on top of them.

The sap and concentrate tank in the camp is washed with the pressure washer every time they are drained. The gathering tank is washed every few days. This year we bought the 20V Dewalt pressure washer to clean the releasers as they are difficult to clean at the far end and above the mid-point of the chamber.

[Ghs57]

My head tank is cleaned after every boil. My holding tank about once a week unless it obviously needs cleaning. Transport tank is about the same, but I like what others do as to rinsing between loads and will start doing that. My remote tank is a different story. There is water available there most of the time, but it's not an ideal situation. I have to use my 12v surflow pump and collection hose, but I can do a decent job. It's due for cleaning today, so we shall see how it goes.

[SeanD]

For me, the head tank, concentrate tank, and sap tank all get a hot rinse when emptied every day. This time of year, the truck tanks get a daily rinse, too. Hot water is fast and effective. When I'm done, they smell clean.

The collection tanks in the woods are a different situation - mostly because of time and lack of any water. That said, when I do clean them a 5-gallon bucket does the trick. Two gallons go in to swish and scrub. Then three gallons to rinse. Not perfect, but really good given how they first look when I stick my head in there.

I don't let off-smells during the boil bother me too much. Off-smelling sap can make excellent syrup. Hard to believe but it's true. I will taste samples of the sap, back pan, and front pan before each boil, though. If they pass, I boil.

[ADK_XJ]

For what it's worth -

I don't have a remote collection tank and I don't haul sap. So my situation is different than yours and cleaning the rap sap tank is easy at the sugarhouse where I have hot water.

I usually just do a straight water rinse (no permeate and no detergents) during the season. I have a 3,000 gallon stainless tank and it will get very clean just by a rinse. I realize that there could be something left behind that could multiply when mixed with upcoming sap. However, I don't see that being a concern since the same sap with whatever bacteria load is already in the sap lines waiting for the next run. The rinsed-down raw sap tank should not create a worse condition.

Regarding when not to boil because of sap quality - I'm most cautious late in the season and once the day-time temperatures have climbed into the 60s. I have many black mainlines which make even the cooler days a problem if the sun is out. Late season sap never looks as good as early season sap. I stop boiling once I detect an off-flavor in the syrup which typically corresponds to serious boiling challenges related to defoaming. Since I'm organic, the defoamer's allowed are even less effective during the late season. I usually end my season when the organic defoamer is ineffective.

Good Luck,

Ken

Ken Interesting, I just have a 2x4 divided pan so the idea of defoaming not working is foreign to me...we just manually sift it out with a screened ladle thing. I'm not sure that I've noticed more or less foam in these last boils.

I do have the benefit of our woods being almost exclusively IN the woods, specifically tucked in among Hemlocks and other conifers that give the trees a lot of shade. That means my season is a little slower to start, but also seems to hang on through the warm periods a bit better.

I will say, our buckets are toast. They were full of mosquitos the last time I tried emptying them and I just don't think they're worth collecting from here out.

[ADK_XJ]

For me, the head tank, concentrate tank, and sap tank all get a hot rinse when emptied every day. This time of year, the truck tanks get a daily rinse, too. Hot water is fast and effective. When I'm done, they smell clean.

The collection tanks in the woods are a different situation - mostly because of time and lack of any water. That said, when I do clean them a 5-gallon bucket does the trick. Two gallons go in to swish and scrub. Then three gallons to rinse. Not perfect, but really good given how they first look when I stick my head in there.

I don't let off-smells during the boil bother me too much. Off-smelling sap can make excellent syrup. Hard to believe but it's true. I will taste samples of the sap, back pan, and front pan before each boil, though. If they pass, I boil. Ha, we also have a big pond behind our house and the peepers have been out for almost a week...however, that time also had one of our largest sap runs of the season so far! It's so hard to know, I'm going to keep boiling what I have for the time being and definitely have a nose for the sour sap smell when it hits.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

We have to truck our sap. This year we made a hose that works with our 1" pump so we can rinse and scrub the tanks after we collect. We have 3 separate woods locations/tanks. With this, only a light scrub is needed. The rinse gets most of it. We mounted a 35 gallon poly tank on our trailer to truck the rinse water around. At the shack, we have hot water so all the tanks and the haul tank get rinsed every boil. Long story short- every tank gets rinsed, every chance we get. It helps. Stainless tanks vs. poly totes is night and day. Stainless is so much easier to keep clean.

Ennismaple- last year or the year before you posted a link to a brush available on Amazon that works great- do you still have that? Just make sure to order the handle with it as it had different threads than brush handles at the local hardware store. That brush really gets the corners of tanks good.

[Amber Gold]

Ennismaple, thanks for letting us know about the dewalt pressure washer. That's a great idea! It makes it easy to do remote cleaning without having to bring the gas powered pressure washer and a large water source. I can see this being very handy.

Last season, I got their battery heat gun. It's not as powerful as my plug-in heat gun, but handier because it's battery powered.

[VT_K9]

We have a power worx battery powered pressure washer. We have two collection/pump points in our woods. Each has a stainless tank. I will scrub the tank each time as the sap is being pumped. Then I used a 5 gallon bucket of hot water with te power worx sprayer to rinse and then srub and major areas I missed during the scrub during pumping. I also wash areas around the tank to help keep the area clean.

As far as color/cloudy/odor goes I pay attention to it. Should the sap be offensive then I will weigh the options (I haven't experienced this). We normally get to smelly sap/syrup during the boil. When it smells like dirty socks we finish the container we want to fill and call it a season. There are faint hints of the odor from the raw sap, but it is not bad until concentrated and boiled.

I don't want to sell bad syrup, but I know some people want the really dark and odorus syrup so I finish the one container then call it because it's likely not worth the fuel to contiune to boil.

Mike

[ennismaple]

Ennismaple, thanks for letting us know about the dewalt pressure washer. That's a great idea! It makes it easy to do remote cleaning without having to bring the gas powered pressure washer and a large water source. I can see this being very handy. No problem. I cleaned all 3 electric releasers and one tank with it yesterday and it is handy. It doesn't generate a lot of pressure but is enough to get the equipment clean. The check valve that goes into the bucket wants to float so I added a couple of stainless washers and secured them in place with a zip tie to force it to sink in the bucket.

[Brian]

The dewalt pressure washer works good to rinse barrels too!

[ADK_XJ]

We have a power worx battery powered pressure washer. We have two collection/pump points in our woods. Each has a stainless tank. I will scrub the tank each time as the sap is being pumped. Then I used a 5 gallon bucket of hot water with te power worx sprayer to rinse and then srub and major areas I missed during the scrub during pumping. I also wash areas around the tank to help keep the area clean.

As far as color/cloudy/odor goes I pay attention to it. Should the sap be offensive then I will weigh the options (I haven't experienced this). We normally get to smelly sap/syrup during the boil. When it smells like dirty socks we finish the container we want to fill and call it a season. There are faint hints of the odor from the raw sap, but it is not bad until concentrated and boiled.

I don't want to sell bad syrup, but I know some people want the really dark and odorus syrup so I finish the one container then call it because it's likely not worth the fuel to contiune to boil.

Mike To the "dirty sock" smell you reference, that's the point I hit this weekend...I tried to squeeze one last batch out of my head tank of concentrate, which was cloudy but smelled fine. UNTIL I finished it to density and then it smelled like I was boiling rats. Gross.

I dumped all the remaining concentrate and think I will make maple sugar with what I drew off for myself (I'm one of those who likes the really, really dark syrup because that's all we had when I was a kid in VT).

Re: Stainless, yeah, I only put in concentrate in stainless tanks for that reason but, for ease of use and transport, I use IBCs for collection and those are an absolute PITA to clean.

[ADK_XJ]

Ennismaple, thanks for letting us know about the dewalt pressure washer. That's a great idea! It makes it easy to do remote cleaning without having to bring the gas powered pressure washer and a large water source. I can see this being very handy.

Last season, I got their battery heat gun. It's not as powerful as my plug-in heat gun, but handier because it's battery powered. I think I missed this post...I love Dewalt tools, I didn't realize they made a battery powered pressure washer. That would be a game changer for me.

[Ghs57]

Re: Stainless, yeah, I only put in concentrate in stainless tanks for that reason but, for ease of use and transport, I use IBCs for collection and those are an absolute PITA to clean.

I bought a 12 inch lid and ring for my IBC totes. I cut away the 6" opening and installed the 12" ring and lid. It makes cleaning so much easier. Some people just cut the tops off of them, but that would not work for my transport tank. The one you need to get depends on the tank you have. some can take the 12", but some can't. I had to buy a couple of different types since my tanks were manufactured by different companies, and the flat area around the top lid varies. You also need a good tank brush and handle so you can scrub the sides. I got a stiff Sparta kettle and tank brush for that. Both of these are on Amazon and other places if you do a search.

[SeanD]

To the "dirty sock" smell you reference, that's the point I hit this weekend...I tried to squeeze one last batch out of my head tank of concentrate, which was cloudy but smelled fine. UNTIL I finished it to density and then it smelled like I was boiling rats. Gross.

I dumped all the remaining concentrate and think I will make maple sugar with what I drew off for myself (I'm one of those who likes the really, really dark syrup because that's all we had when I was a kid in VT).

Re: Stainless, yeah, I only put in concentrate in stainless tanks for that reason but, for ease of use and transport, I use IBCs for collection and those are an absolute PITA to clean.


Me, too - though I only got down to Dark 44% with it. The flavor was unquestionably buddy - burned Tootsie Roll. It's too bad. The tanks got cleaned and the trees are still cranking out a good run. Oh, well - devil's share. I'd be interested in that buddy sap test kit when they work it out.