Cleaning an Evaporator

[Farmboy]

What is the best way to clean a burned pan. Someone gave me an evaporator with a 2x3 flat pan with dividers. It looks burned. Also are there any tricks to straighting a warped pan? It is english tin. thanks farmboy.

[brookledge]

Scotch brite pads. You can also get them to fit a dremel or a small drill.
Also you could try single edge razor blades and scrape. No matter what it is going to be alot of "elbow grease"
Remember with English tin it will never shine like stainless does and I thinkscrubbing will be better than acid
Keith

[Farmboy]

How about a pressure washer would that work. Also can someone post a pic of an English tin pan so I no what it should look like. Thanks farmboy

[Haynes Forest Products]

Im not a fan of the razor blade method only because your not scraping a flat surface so all that will happen is it will dig in and make a mess. I had English tin pans and after I tried everything I could to clean them and decided that I would leave the old mottled finish alone and make the best syrup I could. You wont make light fancy syrup but you will make some of the best slightly darker than you might like syrup. Live with it and scrub what you can and leave the rest. I dont think you will ever get them to like new condition.

[maplecrest]

fill them up with all this rain water and leave for a month. get a steel wool pad from a kitchen supply store. and start scrubbing. i have used a puddy knife also to get the black tar off. but acid rain will help

[vermaple]

fill them up with all this rain water and leave for a month. get a steel wool pad from a kitchen supply store. and start scrubbing. i have used a puddy knife also to get the black tar off. but acid rain will help

Use a scotchbrite pad, or plain old steel wool pad, and staying on the fine side with the steel wool will minimize scratching of the pan. If the tin plate is already gone from the pan any scratching will not matter.

[3rdgen.maple]

Farmboy, I have seen and heard of alot of crazy things so please do not take this the wrong way as I do not know how new you are to making syrup, and this is what makes the Maple trader a great place to get answers and knowledge from.
So I gotta ask some questions so maybe we can better assist you.
Are you talking burnt on the inside of the pan or outside? If it is the outside hit it with some easy off BBQ Grille cleaner and the pressure washer. It will clean it up pretty good but not spotless. Now if your talking the inside as you can tell there are many different ways to clean this but none are easy. I take a piece of copper pipe and use it like a scraper and it works good and does not scratch the pan up too bad. Maybe hit it with some fine sandpaper and wetsand after that.
I have heard this one before and well it ended up just being niter buildup in the pan which pretty much looks like a fine layer off concrete in the bottom of the pan. If this is what you actually have then just fill the pan with white vinegar and let it sit for a few days follow up with a scotchbrite pad and it will look good when you are done. This is something you are gonna want to do on a regular basis when you are boiling to avoid burnt spots in the pan during the season also. If you stay on top off it you can just add a vinegar water solution and heat it up and give it a quick scrub between boils. Hope this helps

[Farmboy]

The way you describe it I think it is neither buildup.

[DaveB]

I had a burnt channel on one of my pans and I put vinegar in there and let it sit for a week. Then, I took some stainless steel wool and scrubbed with with liquid still in there. It took about 30 minutes or so, but I got it cleaned up pretty good.

Good luck!

Dave

[3rdgen.maple]

Farmboy if it is niter it wil be tanish in color. If that is the case use the vinegar wash and you are good to go.

[arch e spile]

I would not use acid pan cleaner on english tin. I have a 3x4 king drop flue english tin pan and a 3x4 stainless front pan. I was told that the pan cleaner is bad for english tin.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I came to the conclusion that cleaning English tin is like putting a good old cast iron skillet in the dishwasher. I found that cleaning with acid or strong cleaners that removed the old baked on niter brought out the old rusty niter from 5 years ago and caused little leakes. boil water and scrub and enjoy the pans you have.They aint never going to shine like new or SS.