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Thread: Cleaning up old spiles?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Geauga County, Ohio
    Posts
    20

    Default Cleaning up old spiles?

    Hello all. Newbie here. Been backyard boiling for a few years with a friend. This year we are stepping up with a new arch and more taps. Anywho...we have about 500 old spiles from my friend's great grandfather's syrup operation. They are pretty rusty, so we are trying to figure out the best way to clean them up. Any suggestions? Thanks ahead of time.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Deposit, NY
    Posts
    105

    Default

    Vinegar may cut thought the rust for you. I use a vinegar/water mix to shine up my stainless pans at the beginning of the year.
    100-110 buckets
    Leader 7.5" 3 Bank filter press (2023)
    RO Bucket RB10 (2017) upgraded to RB20 (2020)
    Homemade oil tank arch
    Homemade stainless pans
    12x16 Sugar Shack (new 2020)

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    NE PA
    Posts
    1,564

    Default

    If it were me I wouldn't use them at all. Some older steel spiles may contain lead. I wouldn't want to risk that in my syrup. New plastic spiles are cheap especially in bulk. Many newer spiles both plastic and metal are smaller in diameter and less damaging to the tree as well.
    “A sap-run is the sweet good-bye of winter. It is the fruit of the equal marriage of the sun and frost.”
    ~John Burroughs, "Signs and Seasons", 1886

    backyard mapler since 2006 using anything to get the job done from wood stove to camp stove to even crockpots.
    2012- moved up to a 2 pan block arch
    2013- plan to add another hotel pan and shoot for 5-6 gallons
    Thinking small is best for me so probably won't get any bigger.

  4. #4
    lpakiz Guest

    Default

    I agree in principal with Happy Thoughts.
    But If you want to remove the rust, didn't Coca-Cola cut rust in grade school science? Maybe the same process as the vinegar.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Sanford Michigan
    Posts
    182

    Default

    Old taps rusty?

    Well I would use them. I would likely go to the hardware with a tap. Find a wire adapter that fits into my drill. That is long enough and buy about three of them. Then I would buy a couple more sit down and drill out the taps with the wire brush. Then go over the outside of them with the other one. Ending with a nice vinegar water bath.

    At end of season do the same we do with our muzzle loaders. Wash them out with a small bottle brush with really hot water soapy water and then rinse with boiling water. Lay them on a dry cloth and the heat from the metal will dry the taps complete so you will not have rust again. Store in a dry place to avoid surface rust in the future. A bed of rice in a bucket with a lid would help keep moisture out.


    Again I admit I do things a tad different then most.
    43.6728° N Sanford MI.

    2015 100 3/16 taps/buckets. 540 gallons of sap = 12 gallons finished. grill side burner (propane)
    2016 100 3/16 taps/buckets 315 gallons of sap = 11 gallons finished Turkey Fryer/ grill side burner (propane)
    2017 100 3/16 taps /buckets 797 gallons of sap = 8 3/4 gallons finished. Home made brick arch (wood)

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Geauga County, Ohio
    Posts
    20

    Default

    Thanks for all the input. Lots of good ideas. As for how safe they are? If we run them, we will submit our results for a lead test for sure.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    S.Central NY
    Posts
    437

    Default

    Hello George,
    It would be a little late then, wouldn't it? What if your syrup tests positive for lead? All that time and work wasted and worst of all, no syrup!
    I'm with happy thoughts. Don't know how many you need but bite the bullet and buy new 5/16 plastic spiles and maybe some tubing for drop lines. The smaller holes are better for your trees and they will last forever and never rust. Those old rusty spiles could be 100 years old. I wouldn't mess with them... but if you do you should have them tested for lead before you use them.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Brookfield, Nova Scotia
    Posts
    250

    Default

    I wouldn't use them either. New taps are $0.15 each and much easier on the tree.
    2'x4' Smoky Lake Hybrid Pan
    Copper parallel flow preheater & hood
    17'x12' Sugar Shack
    130 taps
    Two chocolate labs to help collect sap
    Brookfield, Nova Scotia

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    il
    Posts
    62

    Default

    Yes but can you hang a 5 gallon pail form them? Your talking over 40# when full.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Geauga County, Ohio
    Posts
    20

    Default

    Thanks all. We ordered new spiles and decided to pass on the old ones. It's just money, right?

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