45ltr ex food container barrel

[Jack Hackett]

Hi folks
What are your thoughts on turning THIS into a boiler
Previously used to contain food flavourings so it will pay to leave it for a while for the flavours and odours to go away, I have plenty of time :) Would just filling with water and leaving it do the job or would I need to add any chemicals to help get rid of the smell / flavour?

Or these

Regards
Jack

 

[tubby_shaw]

Great find Jack :thumb:
I would email the seller to see what type of plastic it is, ideally you would want it to be Polypropylene to help withstand boiling temperatures :thumb: It'll be an ideal size for 25L brewlengths without the fear of boil overs :)

By the way I am going to get one of these to convert into my new mash tun :party:
I've been looking for a 40L bucket for a while and 45L is even better

To clean it and get rid of the odours dump 2KG of SODA CRYSTALS in the bottom , fill it with hot water and leave for 24 hours, rinse well and the smell should go :thumb:

 

[Vossy1]

It will also be O.K if it is marked HDPE

 

[crowds]

I got one of those last week (the first link) I emailed the guy to ask about the products it was used to store and he said it was food flavourings but that they had been contained in smaller packages within the barrel.
They do have an odour but I would say it was of the plastic not a food product. I have not given it a clean out yet but I would say leaving the lid off and letting it air has seemed to help.
I have just nipped to the shed to check for any mark saying it is HDPE but cannot find anything
Is this no good then ?

 

[tubby_shaw]

There should be a triangle symbol on it somewhere with the recycling code ?
But if you've looked and can't find it I guess it hasn't got one :thumb:
So long as it is sturdy it'll be fine
You could answer me a question if you could please, do these things have a flat bottom or is it domed ?

 

[crowds]

Well it's not domed as such but not entirely flat.
It does have two indentations that stick in which I will have to be careful of when putting the elements in.

The only markings i can find are these (not a great image)

It's a bit blury, I used the compact rather than the dslr b ut it has a ring of numbers like a clock face with an arrow pointing to 9.
Hopefully i will have it made by the weekend and I will give it a test boil.

I dont as yet have any proper kettle leads just normal pc iec leads.
Do you think I could get away with it for now ?

 

[crowds]

Just noticed your post about using it as a mash tun.

Well you wont be able to use a false bottom strainer because of the two indentations but a standard copper pipe one should be doable (albeit not in the standard configuration).

It was actualy the 50ltr one I went for (not that I have measured it's capacity to seeif it's 45 or 50)
Here

 

[ano]

Never known what that code is. If you find another one check here. It's fine if it's a 2 or a 5.

I use PC cables but you need to make sure they've got a 13A fuse in them and they do get a little warm so aren't really advisable. The actual kettle leads are twice as thick (in terms of the copper) and are to be recommended.

 

[Vossy1]

Well you wont be able to use a false bottom strainer because of the two indentations

You could, by resting the fb on the indentations, and taking the take off tube through the fb, so it sits just above the bottom of the barrel :thumb:
You'd have to use more mash liquor to account for the 'dead space' under the fb.

 

[tubby_shaw]

Never known what that code is.

That's the month of manufacture, it was made in september :thumb: Fairly standard marking method in injection moulding and diecasting

 

[ano]

Well I didn't pretend to be an injection moulding and/or diecasting expert :P

Why does anyone care what month it's made? And why does the one on my tub only go up to 7?

 

[jamesb]

And why does the one on my tub only go up to 7?

Because you didn't fit a Spinal Tap. They go all the way up to 11.

 

[tubby_shaw]

Well I didn't pretend to be an injection moulding and/or diecasting expert :P

Why does anyone care what month it's made?
It's all part of the QC process, so that the date of manufacture can be traced in case of faults
And why does the one on my tub only go up to 7?
Becaue in the case of your tub they are tracing the machine/tooling it was made on and they only had 7 :thumb:

 

[ano]

And why does the one on my tub only go up to 7?

Because you didn't fit a Spinal Tap. They go all the way up to 11.

Epic :rofl:

Thanks for the proper answer tubby =)

 

[tubby_shaw]

And why does the one on my tub only go up to 7?

Because you didn't fit a Spinal Tap. They go all the way up to 11.

Epic :rofl:

Thanks for the proper answer tubby =)

James's answer was the proper one :lol:

 

[crowds]

I tested this out last weekend but didn't go to the full boil because I only had one lead so couldnt use both elements. Also I tested outside (Just in case!) and it was taking ages to heat up. Got it to around 96c and everything was ok.
it did go a little soft but not that bad that it was in danger of leaking.
Will give a proper test next week when I do my first AG :)