Cleaning Inside of Flues

[tappin&sappin]

I know most people clean the outside of their flues w/ a brush...

What about the inside of the flues?

I drain mine down, but can only get a sponge down there a couple inches.

Whats everyone else do?

Thanks,
Jake

[Haynes Forest Products]

Depends whats stuck to the flues? If its just the scum that floats on the sap as you boil you dont need acid to remove it. I stand my pan on end spray with oven cleaner and power wash. If you dont have a power washer spray it down with cleaner take it to a car wash just dont Canuba wax it when your done. Rinse well before using. I found some nice brushes at a home brew shop for getting down in the flues they just dont last.

[802maple]

Most maple equipment dealers sell special brushes for that. Use white vinegar with water and let it soak for a few hours, srub with the brush and then just rinse with a garden hose.

[Big maple]

They call them inside flue brushes. You can get them at any equipment dealer. Ours is nylon and it has lasted a long time.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Vinigar works well on sugar sand but not on oily residue. Im thinking scrubbing bubbles removes mineral deposits and soap scum and it makes SS shine.............next time

[maple flats]

I suggest you don't use a car wash to clean it. Most car washes re circulate wash water and there could be any number of things in the water that you would not risk having in your pans. If you are talking about regular cleaning, get the proper inside flue brush (sometimes called "sap side flue brush) and use it daily before the boil starts. I usually do mine while my fire is getting started. I do it just a few minutes after lighting the fire. The flues heat quickly, which seems to aid cleaning. I just brush it (about 5 minutes for my 3x6 flue raised flue pan) and then let it boil. I do this every day at the start of a new firing. If you have something nasty to remove try putting enough water to get the entire flue pan flues under water, light a small Fire and let it simmer a few minutes then brush as above. If you need more try the same thing with straight white vinegar and brush. If it still does not come clean you might need a pan cleaner for your pan. Use the one recommended by who ever made your pan. Good luck!!

[802maple]

If you have oil in your in your pan you have more of a problem then just cleaning, you need to look at your operation as a whole.

As Maple Flats said use a brush often and try vinegar, if that doesn't work than go to cleaner that is recommended for the job. Never go to a car wash as this is a food product and I know I wash off a lot of stuff from my truck that I wouldn't want in my pancakes.



Vinigar works well on sugar sand but not on oily residue. Im thinking scrubbing bubbles removes mineral deposits and soap scum and it makes SS shine.............next time

[Haynes Forest Products]

802 maple: So what problem would you say I have. I read that some people use a little piece of Bacon as a defomer..........OIL . I have farmer friends that use cream right from the barn...........OIL . I use Veggy OIL
All defomers work on the same principal Breaking the surface tension of the liquid and 99.9% of the time its done with a oil base additive. Non dairy creamers .....OIL. Glass of beer starting to foam over stick finger in it to stop it poor mans defomer..OIL
So we are saying that if you take a storage tank, Evaporator,steam hood down to the local car wash and power wash it and rince with clear water and then bring it home and clean again with clear water there is a danger...BS
I would then say do not use a garden hose from your house to clean it either because you filled a weed sprayer with that same hose. Did you ever use that hose to clean crap of your feet.
I would put my sap shack and cleaning methods up against anyones.

[802maple]

Yes you can you those and they are highly not recommended to use by the department of ag and health department as there has been proof of them spoiling syrup. I have seen many a time that you can taste the rancid flavor left behind even from Atmos. I am not going to say that I haven't used these same products.

As mapleflats said there are very few car washes that don't recycle their water. I know I wouldn't drink any of the water that comes out the end of that hose at our local car wash. Sure if you rinse when you get home you might get all the residue that comes out of it. I know that I have made syrup for along time and I have never felt a oily residue down inside my flues, there probably was some up in the very top around the hood and that would usually come right off with very hot water and towel. I would never think about using a hose that I have run pesticide thru, and I may have used a hose that I cleaned the crap off my feet with, but I didn't use one I ran crap thru.

I certainly am not saying you don't have top notch operation. I am saying we make a food product and we have to be very careful what we use around that product. We all have boiled in leaded pans, stored our syrup in galvanized drums, used plastic garbage bags as liners for our buckets and now a lot us have put syrup in metal containers that came from China that left a chemical in the syrup ( maybe you don't know about this but you will), it still doesn't make it right.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

If you have an oily residue in the flue pan, I think you are using too much oil or whatever you are using as a defoamer.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Lets step back a second its not like my flue pan looks like I cleaned out a grease trap or washed out a french fryer. I call anything left in my flue pan after I have cleaned it with a water base cleaner such as vinegar oil film. I have filled my flue pan and added 6 gallons of vinegar and boiled and scrubbed and it always left a film after its drained. I use what works and when Im done its food safe and squeaky clean...........you could even eat off it.

[802maple]

I wouldn't be afraid to eat off your pans at all Haynes as I am sure they are very clean. I have tasted syrup off some pans that a pig might walk away from though. I have about 150 sugarmakers that I buy from and either Al or myself have to taste test every barrel that they sell me and believe me I would rather not at some sugarhouses, but I can't remember getting sick at any of them. All I am saying is we just have to be careful, if it doesn't get in the pan to begin with then we don't have to worry about getting it out.

A couple of years ago I thought most regulators were nuts about all of this crap that they were putting us through, until one day when our company was giving a tour to a potential customer that was looking to buy 25,000 plus gallons a year. Well the first sugarhouse that we went into the customer said, "I have one question,I noticed this sugarmaker wasn't wearing a head net, do all sugarmakers not wear them? " When he was answered that no they don't, he said he had seen enough. Just for not wearing head nets we lost that order. I thought he was nuts, but later I had to admit that he was the customer, and the customer is always right whether we agree or not.



Unfortunately this is the world we live in, whether we like it or not.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I think we all try real hard to always improve our operations. I use more water than a brewery when im in full production. I also shave my head so im one up on you. I think all this back and forth is great and really never take offense because we always have others learning from our conversations. I do believe that its important to defend what we do otherwise we would not be leaders but followers.........sugar on

[802maple]

Most of the time mine is shaved too or next to it and I have never been acused of being a follower.

Have at it