Lazy mans way to clean pans

[Old Farmer]

I don't know if this is a unique way to clean pans, or even if it has been discussed on here before, but here goes. I was asking my dad how he gets his plans clean at the end of the season and he told me that I wasn't being lazy enough. He said that an old sugar maker in his area told him how to clean the pans. All you have to do is leave the last of you sap in the pan for a few weeks, making sure that you keep adding water to keep them full, and everything cleans up really easily. What happens is, the sap ferments and the bacteria eats all the sugar from the pans. It than changes to vinegar and that loosens the calcium buildup. I tried it this year and it worked great. It took only about 5-10 minutes of scrubbing and the pans were as bright and shiny as they have ever been. Has anyone else tried this?

[mapleman3]

I did that a few years ago and abandoned the idea because the sugar house is close to the house and let me tell you... the smell coming from the sugarhouse was pretty bad.... now I just put 4-5 gallons of cheap vinegar in for a few days and the pans come out real nice.

[Old Farmer]

Mapleman3, you are right, it does start to stink. My evaporator is a ways from the house and outside so it doesn't matter too much. If it was in a building, it might be really bad.

[peacemaker]

yes it does stink bad but it did really work well did it last year as well and this year was vinigar

[Russell Lampron]

I had the same experience with the odor. It lingered long after the pans were washed and rinsed. Now I use the Waterloo powdered pan cleaner.

[cheesegenie]

Just be careful, don't leave it too long. My friend had his eat some pinholes
in the pan.

[VtSugarhouse]

Leaving sap in the pans to ferment is what the old timers used to do and it does work very well. My grandfather and greatgrandfather did it that way and they made the best syrup you have ever seen.
At the moment I use vinegar but not the type from the store. It is a concentrate which works very well and I get it from the maple suppliers.
A 5 gallon pail will cost you about $75.00.

Thats what I do!