nationslargest
Member
I picked up a few food grade "ordinary" steel drums. They have removable tops, crimped bottoms, and are coated with something that looks like epoxy.
There are lots of posts saying you can't mash and boil in ordinary steel but I haven't seen one from somebody who has actually tried it and has experience, versus speculation, with the failures.
I was concerned about the crimped bottoms leaking or failing when I apply direct gas heat but a test should answer that question. Possibly putting 3 inches of boiling water on the brew house floor but answering none the less.
I am also concerned that when heated the epoxy (or whatever) coating will fail in some nasty, toxic way. If the bottom crimp doesn't fail in the test, I will examine the water and the coating to see if there are any off flavors. (Might give some to the neighbor's cat too just to see if its safe.)
I got some advice the other day that water was such a good heat transfer fluid that for the most part the interior surfaces won't get above 212 F. Seems reasonable. I'm not concerned about any of the materials at that temperature.
The drums were the right price (free) and the test should be easy.
Any experience out there? I'll post some photos and updates from the test.
There are lots of posts saying you can't mash and boil in ordinary steel but I haven't seen one from somebody who has actually tried it and has experience, versus speculation, with the failures.
I was concerned about the crimped bottoms leaking or failing when I apply direct gas heat but a test should answer that question. Possibly putting 3 inches of boiling water on the brew house floor but answering none the less.
I am also concerned that when heated the epoxy (or whatever) coating will fail in some nasty, toxic way. If the bottom crimp doesn't fail in the test, I will examine the water and the coating to see if there are any off flavors. (Might give some to the neighbor's cat too just to see if its safe.)
I got some advice the other day that water was such a good heat transfer fluid that for the most part the interior surfaces won't get above 212 F. Seems reasonable. I'm not concerned about any of the materials at that temperature.
The drums were the right price (free) and the test should be easy.
Any experience out there? I'll post some photos and updates from the test.