Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

I bought one of these the other day of ebay , just up in skye for 25 sovs ,
The lid is 2 piece
For doing a big big ferment no use playin around

B


http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/250lt-plastic-drum-water-tank-stock-feed-compost-bin-wine-barrel-etc-/301222726434?

I grabbed two gherkin barrels from a place in Adelaide last week, they look the same as your one, apparently mine are 200ltr though. I swear they'd be the same.
They stink like shit, I tried keg cleaner first but they still stank. BT suggested using napisan, I emptied one today and I think the smell might actually be gone now :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Also bt suggests getting an aqua one aquarium heater too, so I grabbed one of those too, I'm hoping this week to get a 80-90ltr batch down :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Yeah stinks a bit, but napisan will sort that out , Mine also had Gherkins in it , I have the Aquarium one heater already 150w sucker
I am planning on fitting a 11/2 ball valve that i found , Just thinkin about a drain filter to keep the grains on the inside ,, I reckon it will be just the ticket for the big wash fellas

B

Two things to consider,

HBS's specifically Beer Belly in Adelaide sell the active ingredient in Napisan = Sodium Percarbonate. It's about $7 for 500gm, will last years. I use it for Stainless cleaning it's bloody great for cleaning the postmix beer kegs each week.

For the big washes in winter these days I use a Premium Lager yeast from Brewcellar. Usually always do the first generation use in a small ferment as it takes a good 2 weeks and you need the increased volume to re pitch in larger washes.

Second and older yeast re use cos it's well trained to wash will ferment in about 2 -3 weeks for 200lts. Bonus is no heating. happily running in ambient in spare room @ 9c to 15c prefers 12c.

Check your room temp... might save ya $10 -$15 on power.

Yeast cost $5 per winter for about 6 large washes.

bt1

stretch69 wrote:I grabbed two gherkin barrels from a place in Adelaide last week, they look the same as your one, apparently mine are 200ltr though. I swear they'd be the same.
They stink like shit, I tried keg cleaner first but they still stank. BT suggested using napisan, I emptied one today and I think the smell might actually be gone now :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Also bt suggests getting an aqua one aquarium heater too, so I grabbed one of those too, I'm hoping this week to get a 80-90ltr batch down :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Hey mate, I'm assuming you picked them up from Paramount Browns? How are they turning out for you? Any odd flavour carry over? I purchased one a while back and thought it might have introduced a liquorice or aniseed hint of flavour. Any thought?

FWIW The last lot of drums I bought from Paramounts have a grey plastic coating inside, different from the plain black ones. Looks like a food grade coating. I noticed they are around 230-240lt rather than 200lt, I haven't actually measured precisely though.

The steel drums there are ex orange juice and have a food grade PVC inner coating. They smell much better!