Cleaning and sanitizing a huge water jug?

[Bettacreek]

So, my mind has been reeling, I want to tap trees, but have no money to buy supplies. I found some hard plastic water pipe scraps in the basement (it's maybe 1.5' long and .5" diameter). I should be able to make a few spiles from this. I was thinking long and hard about how do to a bucket and tubing and remembered the 5g water jugs (like that go on the cooler despensers) that the neighbor trashed in the woods. If they're still good, I'm going to snatch them up for my fun project. I just need to be able to clean and sanitize them. Anyone have an idea on how to do this the best way?

 

[SKR8PN]

"IF" you are absolutely certain that they have ONLY had water in them, I would take them to the local car wash and use the high pressure hose, soap first then rinse twice. Bring them home, let them dry and rinse again just to be sure. You should be positive that they haven't had anything else in them.............

 

[Bettacreek]

Awesome idea! I'll have the bf call them and see what they had in them. If not, I can suck it up and buy the 5g buckets from Wal-mart for a buck.

 

[SKR8PN]

Make sure that when you drill the tree for the tap, that you drill UP. In other words you want the outside of the tap to be lower than the part you pound in the tree. Also drill on the south side of the tree.
Are you going to just set the bucket on the ground under your taps??

 

[Bettacreek]

Make sure that when you drill the tree for the tap, that you drill UP. In other words you want the outside of the tap to be lower than the part you pound in the tree. Also drill on the south side of the tree.
Are you going to just set the bucket on the ground under your taps??

Yes, I'm hoping to seal everything up and have tubing going from the tap to my container to keep out contaminants. The tubing is 10' long and just under $4. I'm hoping that this will be enough. I honestly don't even know how many trees I plan to tap. Buckets and time will be my biggest hurdle.

 

[SKR8PN]

If the tree is over about....2.5 ft in diameter, you can tap it twice. That may help your output a bit.

 

[Bettacreek]

If you double-tap a tree, do you have to space the taps out? Can you use one bucket, or would you treat each tap as an individual that needs its own bucket (for collecting times). Thanks!

 

[MorelCabin]

From what I have heard, baking soda is the best cleaner for water holding vessels of any kind. It is recommended for cleaning holding tanks in campers and such...

 

[Icu4dzs]

Just washing it with soap and hot water and then add a little chlorine bleach diluted 1:16 will do just fine as long as it was not used for petro-chemical of any sort.

 

[Wifezilla]

I can not emphasize how handy it is to own a carboy brush. I have 2.