Getting sap out of Plastic Barrels used for olives

[valleyman]

HI,
I have a great resource for 50 gal plastic barrels. It's a company which makes antipasta. They're not the typical barrel. Has anyone used these type of barrels? There's no bung. The top has a lid with a large threaded band or ring to secure it.

I looked at a hand syphon pump or a plastic tap. If I use the tap, is it just a matter of drilling a slighltly smaller and let it "self tap"?

Any suggestions?

Thanks

[Fred Henderson]

I have two of them in the shed. When I first started I did not have enough storage and I used those two. The sap was fine. When my overhead tank got low I just put my sump pump in and pumped it up. They now make good storage for made up tubing drops.

[Sugarmaker]

My neighbor Keith uses these as storage tanks that he dumps gathered sap into along his drive. I have been picking up the sap for two seasons, I use a Rule 2700 gph 12 volt pump to empty the barrels into the pickup holding tank. If he gets his pans made he will be making his own syrup in 2010.

Chris

[KenWP]

would be simbple to install a plastic tap in the bottom and drain from that. I plan on putting a plastic tap in the bottom of a couple of barrels useing a plastic tap and holding it in safely with a plastic PVC fitting screwed onto the tap fitting on the inside as a sort of nut to hold it tight and also to keep it from leaking.

[Mark-NH]

I used a couple 4 or 5 of these olive barrels for years. As a matter of fact, they are still around. Found them pretty versatile.

I used one for the collection tank on a 25 tap line. Just drilled a hole in the cap the same size as the OD of the 5/16 line and pushed the line through into the barrel. With the 2 piece screw off cap I could secure the top and take it off to empty the barrel.

For emptying the opening is wide enough to fit a 5 gallon bucket through, submerge, withdraw and repeat as needed.

I also strapped a couple-3 into the back of a pickup for collecting remote locations. Once again the wide opening and 2 piece top proved useful. You could actually just friction fit lid in without the screw ring. This allowed me to limit spillage while moving down the collection line without wasting time screwing the lids on and off.

Lastly, the wide tops allowed me to drop a sump pump into the barrels back at the sugar house for easy pumping. The barrels have worn like iron through the years and the olive smell dissipates within a couple years and never affected the taste anyway.