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.
270 taps on 2 Shurflo's, 31 taps on 3/16" and 229 taps on gravity. 530 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
IBC totes in the woods, 800 Gallon CDL bulk tank at the shack
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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