# Old (food Grade) Olive Drum



## 2much2spend (5/5/12)

hey guys i got some second hand brown plastic drums they had olives in em.
im wondering about how suitable they might be for grain storage?
im going to have a crack at cleaning them with the "Fairy" brand dish wash
liquid (its the only stuff that gets oil and grease off with cold water), then was 
going to hit it with some sodium percarb, then if i still get an odder maybe try
bleach. or should i just look for new ones?

they are food grade, i was planning to maybe leave the grain in its sack inside
the drums.

does anyone concur ?

not sure if this topic would go well in gear and equipment so it ended up in AG. :icon_cheers:


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## Goldenchild (6/5/12)

I assume they are the Italian kalamati barrels? When I worked in a pizza store I thought of using them for a mini fermenter. But geez do those buckets stink.
I couldn't see it ever coming out so never bothered.
The plastic is gunna hold the smell pretty well. i know when ive tried to recycle jars ive had to throw the lids from the olives/pickles as the rubber seal will hold it forever.

but no harm in giving it a try anyway maybe go straight to the bleach.


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## ekul (6/5/12)

or maybe you're talking about the 200L olive drums? I used to use one of these for my grain, didn't get any weird flavours. I kept the grain in the bags though


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## 2much2spend (6/5/12)

Forgot! They are the 80ltr ones. I'm thinking the bleach is looking a good option


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## brettprevans (6/5/12)

A good clean and airing out to get rid of odour and it should be right. U hust don't want odours penetrating ur grain (well maybe hops odours would be ok  )


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## Maheel (6/5/12)

i find putting in the sun full of water with the bleach / napisan helps pull out smells a bit more ?

then empty and leave in the sun some more


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## 2much2spend (6/5/12)

Maheel said:


> i find putting in the sun full of water with the bleach / napisan helps pull out smells a bit more ?
> 
> then empty and leave in the sun some more



ill try, even if there is no sun this time of year!


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## [email protected] (6/5/12)

Ive got a few of them. Takes a long time for smell to go, to help it along a pot of boiling water and some napisan/sod perc does the trick, put the lid on and shake the shit out of it, watch out for any spurting.

They are HDPE so you could use them for anything really. Personally i would never have confidence to ferment in one, kinda like no chilling in one of those black cubes :lol:


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## Wolfman (6/5/12)

I have 5 that I store my grain in without problems. As stated before give em a good clean and airing before hand.


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## ekul (6/5/12)

I've always wondered how they'd go as a big mash tun. Food grade ones can be had for so little, you could use the money saved to set up a herms.


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## 2much2spend (6/5/12)

would washing then out with dish washing liquid first be a bad thing? :unsure:


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## hoppy2B (6/5/12)

I store grain in 200 litre ex-pickle barrels on farm. There was only a faint odour of vinegar to them when I got them. They were still damp when delivered. I dried them out and bit of an airing and they're fine. Grain through them a couple of times and they're perfect.


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## ekul (6/5/12)

do you reckon a bicarb solution would take out the vinegar? Mine didn't really need anything but if they got a real strong smell the bicarb might fix it.


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## hoppy2B (6/5/12)

Bicarb and cleaning vinegar is meant to be pretty good.


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