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Thread: Eliminating plastic smell and taste

  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Burnt sap View Post
    Now as an Organic producer of maple syrup is bleach and water still accepted? In the past we just used water and pumped the lines including the droplines and taps.
    Don't quote me on this, but I believe in Maine, MOFGA allows a bleach rinse of the tubing. I am MOFGA certified, but I just use water to rinse, so I am not positive on that.

    I've been thinking a re-rinse in late fall would be helpful. Go through and repair squirrel (and coyote in my case) damage, then rinse out the bacteria that has formed over the summer. Might not have to dump as much sap in the spring to get the crud out of the lines. That might be the time to do the bleach, when the squirrels are less active and have less lime to do damage.
    Steven Abbott
    Over 900 taps on vacuum
    30" x 10' D&G Woodsaver evaporator with Steamaway
    Half acre market garden
    2 farmers in training

  2. #12
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    Nov 2011
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    I ran clean water through my lines plugging from the bottom up. Shut the water off and pulled the plugs. When the water drained I repluged the taps. When we tapped this year I had 3 chewed off taps and 3 broken t's.

  3. #13
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    I ran the sap on the ground as we tapped the line. There is 67 taps on one 5/16 line (my gravety experement) when we were finished tapping I ran sap into a qt. jar and had no particals at all. I put a filter on the end of the line and found nothing hardly at all, mostly wood shavings.

  4. #14
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    Up on Da Border Eh. Upstate NY
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    Thanks Doc, Good sugaring to you.
    Tap'em if ya got'em.

  5. #15
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    Southern NH
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    Dr Tim, I read your article on tube cleaning in the Oct 2012 "Maple Syrup Digest" and it made me wonder if it makes any sense to clean my tubing at all. Is this article something that you can share here or is it copyrighted material?
    Jamie Jones
    2017 - 120 taps, 68G syrup - automated pumping from collection to head tank
    2016 - 118 taps (about half on 3/16"), 60G syrup
    2015 - 115 taps, 58G syrup - new wireless blower switch and remote pump switch from tank to shack
    2014 - 120 taps, 53G syrup - hobby vac
    2013 - 120 taps, 40G syrup - Sunrise Metal 2x6, 12x14 sugarhouse
    2012 - 44 taps, 6G syrup -gravity tube, 4 steam pans on block arch, plastic greenhouse shack - (I'm hooked!)

  6. #16
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    UVM Proctor Maple Research Center, Underhill Ctr, VT
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    Quote Originally Posted by CampHamp View Post
    Dr Tim, I read your article on tube cleaning in the Oct 2012 "Maple Syrup Digest" and it made me wonder if it makes any sense to clean my tubing at all. Is this article something that you can share...
    All our Maple Digest articles are posted on our website at http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/ Look at the right under "Recent Publications."
    Dr. Tim Perkins
    UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
    http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
    https://mapleresearch.org
    Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins View Post
    ...
    Bottom line is that modern maple tubing is food-grade, and most people don't flush their tubing, and the plastic odor will be largely dissipated after the first run. It may reappear at the start of the next year a little, but after that, it's gone. I certainly would NOT take a food-grade material (like tubing) and soak it or flush it out with non-food-grade materials (non-food grade alcohols and non-food grade activated charcoal). Rinse with water if you like. Better yet, let the first bit of sap run on the ground if you are very concerned about it.
    So the first year you're stuck with the plastic taste? I ask because I have 14 taps on a set of lines, and so far I've gotten about 2.5 gallons, all of which I had to dump.

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by RIFoster View Post
    So the first year you're stuck with the plastic taste? I ask because I have 14 taps on a set of lines, and so far I've gotten about 2.5 gallons, all of which I had to dump.
    No, the plastic odor and taste is in the sap, but does not make it through to the syrup.
    Dr. Tim Perkins
    UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
    http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
    https://mapleresearch.org
    Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu

  9. #19
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    Mar 2015
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins View Post
    No, the plastic odor and taste is in the sap, but does not make it through to the syrup.
    Does the heat simply break it down so that it's no longer aromatic, or does it actually boil away into the air? the last thing I want is concentrated (but tasteless) esters in there.

  10. #20
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    Newfane, VT
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    I sat in on Dr. Perkins presentation on cleaning tubing in 2014 and found it to be very informative. My take home was that there was no significant difference in bacterial levels in tubing cleaned with chlorine bleach, peroxide, etc, or plain water. Further, there was no difference between tubing cleaned with any agents vs. uncleaned tubing. I am still amazed that anyone uses any type of chemical to clean tubing when there is no evidence that it does anything.

    That said, I still go through the physically demanding process of running high pressure air & water through the lines after every season. I guess old habits are hard to break...
    300 on vaccum
    300 gravity tubing
    200 buckets

    100 hilltop acres
    16x20 timberframe sugarhouse built in 2010
    3x10 Leader max flue & revolution pans w/ Inferno arch - 2013
    1998 Kubota M5400

    Northwoods Farm and Forestry on Facebook.

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