Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hi Guys,

Quick question...I've picked up 3 of these : http://tinyurl.com/krp2scz

Good enough to ferment washes in?

I'm assuming considering they are food grade plastic it would be fine.

All comments and thoughts appreciated.

Cheers,
FW

They will stink to high heaven when you open them .You will need to spend considerable effort cleaning out the pickle smell .

Yummyrum wrote:They will stink to high heaven when you open them .You will need to spend considerable effort cleaning out the pickle smell .

Yeah heard the same thing yummy and was looking at getting a couple , any tips :-B

1 2many wrote:Yeah heard the same thing yummy and was looking at getting a couple , any tips :-B

Use them as water cooling barrels for about 3 years :laughing-rolling:

I'd be very, very careful about buying barrels from where you're from, Frothy, especially if they smell weird...

Yummyrum wrote:They will stink to high heaven when you open them .You will need to spend considerable effort cleaning out the pickle smell .

Fill them with water, stir in a cup full of napisan, stir it real good.
Allow to stand for a day or 2 (with the solution in) then rinse really really well.
That will/should get rid of the smell.

I have never done it on a pickle drum but my normal fermenters when they get smelly and stained I will them with water then add some bleach and let soak overnight. Make sure it's unscented bleach and rinse really well after :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I have one of these, works great. The pickle is a formidable scent... It stings the nostrils...
Was a little bit of work to get it clean but after rolling it about with bleach in it (left it for a week) and scrubbing it with detergent and using some orange oil it smells great. I did leave a wash in it for about 4 months to season it before I put anything involving a great deal of effort in it but the wash had no pickle smell and neither did the refined product. You'll be fine

I got two 80lt olive drums from tilkeys in brisbane, they stunk pretty bad.
I got some pink powder called sterophos from my hbs worked soaked for two days and came up a treat.
Better after a couple of tpw through them though. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I rolled a considerable amount of bleach around inside them for about half an hour then rinsed them extremely thoroughly. They still have a hint of pickle but are definitely on the up. I think they are clean enough to run a wash so we'll see how we go.....The smell will dissipate eventually...as you've all said.

I use them.. works a treat, just put a airlock in the top and off you go.

I put an airlock on top, but it seems the plastic lid isn't air tight as it is definitely fermenting away, but it's not bubbling at all. I did the airlock pressure test and the water level equalised under pressure...aka it failed.

I'm not terribly worried but it does mean I'll have to keep looking inside every few days to check it's still fermenting.

stillgotit wrote:I use them.. works a treat, just put a airlock in the top and off you go.

Yes I have 4 of these mine are 80 litre ones took them to the carwash first then filled them with a dash of bleach a few rinses out and away you go I just made a new seal out of neutral silicone [let it dry well ]sealing is no problem I also added a 3/4 ss tap 1/2 way up to the first ring as I pump all my transfers
Best thing they are cheap and you can have a few sitting there with a few slow different ferments

washed mine out well with napisan, hot soapy water, sodium bi carb, rinsed and was happy that 99% of the smell had gone.
Week 2 of BWKO ferment and it smells like pickles badly!!!

Thinking I need to drop this and reclean again as it will taste like crap. I assume that pickled bourbon is not something that will taste well as am pretty sure that the flavour will carry through.

Maybe wait til next weekend, run a batch through and see how it goes.??

or run 3 times through the pot?

Did you let the napisan soak above 60deg? I think sodium percarbonate is more active when the water is hot.

http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/ ... onate.html

You can get it in it's pure form from brewshops, (or a mix with sodium metasilicate), or there's an Aldi odourless version that can also work quite well.

I've used all of the above to clean my fermenters over the years, and seems to have done the trick (the hop odour can remain if I soak them cold).

I use 2 of the 200l pickle drums and extra 200l of another type. They all work well. A good scrub with napisan and some bleach is all you need.
Don't bother with an airlock. You don't need them with a fermenter of this size and above. Just don't screw the lid down tight. There's so much CO2 coming off that the gap between the surface and the lid is completely filled with CO2 and has a slightly raised pressure, so nothing nasty can get in. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

i picked up a 200L pickle barrel from paramount Browns in SA a few weeks ago.
The smell was pretty bad at first (it did have pickle juice inside it still), I cleaned with hot water and napisan and the smell was still there but not as bad, I guess cause the juice was gone. I shrugged my shoulders and thought "what the hell" and threw on a 150L TPW. It was in there for about a month (fermented for two weeks, then took me two weekends to distill)
I washed it out again today with napisan and the smell is completely gone!!
I haven't yet tried the hooch as it needs to be distilled again but I highly doubt and flavour will carry through

I use pickle drums for all my main brews. Mine have good seals but i just leave the lid cracked rather than put an airlock. If you want to check the progress put your ear against the side and it sounds like fizzy drink. Brew in one then syphon (make sure you set it up slightly elevated or it wont syphon properly and you wont be able to lift it when full) into the second after clearing (I dont use taps get as they get in the way or break off when kids with bikes hit em). Then bucket/syphon out of the second barrel into the still. I can keep my ujssm barrel clean/sterile by keeping contact to a minimum, start working on the next generation and not worry about the second barrel as its going to be used up inside a day or two. Too quick for an infection to affect it.
But I've also done tonnes of sugar washes in them over the years. The smell doesn't carry and will disappear after a full wash or 2.
Just make sure you really clean it properly and use some sort of sterilizing solution before you brew in it.