I have both stainless steel tanks (old milk tanks) as well as some IBC totes (I know stainless is better...) as I'm sure a lot of you do as well. How do you clean your tanks for the end of the season, both stainless and plastic?
Sap tank cleaning
I have both stainless steel tanks (old milk tanks) as well as some IBC totes (I know stainless is better...) as I'm sure a lot of you do as well. How do you clean your tanks for the end of the season, both stainless and plastic?
2016 - 2 x 4 Randy Worthen built arch and pans 11 taps; 2.625 gallons of syrup!
2017 - 29 taps; 11.625 gallons of syrup!
2018 - 30 taps; 98 pints bottled! New sugar house being built, new equipment coming!
2019 - 125 taps; 50 gallons made! New 2x6 Smoky Lake Corsair arch, drop flue pan, auto draw. Smoky Lake filter press and Steam Bottler
2020 - 173 taps; only 35 gallons made.
2021 - 242 taps; New record! 50.5 gallons made!
2022 - 321 taps; New record! 80 gallons made!
Plenty of CLEAN water...hot if you have it. Just a little bit of bleach (regular, unscented). Scrub the sides with a brush or use a pressure washer. Rinse copiously several times. Invert if you can.
Same for the totes. If they're portable, put hot water with a little bleach and drive around with them on the truck for a bit. If not, scrub (you may need to get inside). Alternatively use a pressure washer. Rinse copiously several times. Drain as best you can (turn up on side if possible). Cover loosely.
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
https://mapleresearch.org
Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu
We do as Dr. Tim suggested. Except in the IBC totes, we coat them with Sani-clean, the low foaming product. Works great, the only ones that have anything in them the following year are the ones we cut a hole in the top and are not airtight. Hot water rinse again the following spring before we put the totes back out.
305 taps on 2 Shurflo's, 31 taps on 3/16" and 229 taps on gravity. 565 in all
Mountain Maple S3 controller for 145 of the vacuum taps
2x6 Darveau Mystique Oil Fired Evaporator w/ Smoky Lake Simplicity Auto Draw
Wesfab 7” filter press
This is my first season with hot water at the sugar shack, What a difference that makes when cleaning tanks! Looking back at washing with cold water, it was just never enough to get the tanks as clean as i wanted.
6th season solo sugar maker in a young sugar bush of mostly red maples
320 taps
2x6 self built arch, Flat pans w/ dividers
New 12x16 sugar house
CDL hobby 250 RO
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