madcapstudios

Recipes 

I recently bought a new house. Behind the shed on the property is a 55 gallon barrel. It appears to be stainless steel (magnet will not stick to it) with a welded fitting on the side. Very very heavy. The real estate agent mentioned that the old man who previously owned the house may have had some brewing purpose for it in mind but never got around to it.

It's dirty but seems to be structurally sound. There's some slight surface rust/oxidation on the interior but it doesn't look deep at all.

The markings on the bottom of the barrel are as follows...
304
16-55-72
USS

Pictures are below.

My question is... Does this barrel have a use in a homebrewing set up and if so, what would that be? I'm a simple extract brewer and have never done all-grain or built a rig, so I can guess but couldn't say for sure. Would it be of use? Does the rust out-and-out disqualify it? Does it have value? What do you guys think?

__________________
On Tap: Spam Adams, HopGoblin IPA, Summer Wheat
In Keg:
In Secondary:
In Primary: Oatmeal Stout, Belgian Wit


BrewerShirts.com - t-shirts for home brewers, zymurgists and beer snobs

leboeuf

Recipes 

Hmmm I'm thinking that in Lynchburg, VA that guy was going to use this to distill 55 gallon washes... I suppose you could do the same

Displaced MassHole

Recipes 

Even if you dont use it for anything brewing related, its gotta be worth a few bucks in scrap.

__________________
Worthless Brewing Co.
The name says it all

Boerderij_Kabouter

Recipes 

By the looks of it, it is already in use as a fecal matter depository. I would not have a use for that. eww....

__________________
2P-Twent-E Simple Brew DITCHES 1 DITCHES 2 Fermentolagertaporator side-by-side ferm Twelve Hopostles Labels

RedIrocZ-28

Recipes 

If you have no use for it, I'll pay shipping costs to have you send it my way. lol!

Clean it up and use it for BIG batches.

madcapstudios

Recipes 

No worries. It's mud and leaves. It's raining here in the 'Burg.

__________________
On Tap: Spam Adams, HopGoblin IPA, Summer Wheat
In Keg:
In Secondary:
In Primary: Oatmeal Stout, Belgian Wit


BrewerShirts.com - t-shirts for home brewers, zymurgists and beer snobs

FSR402

Recipes 

Clean it up and it could be a nice kettle or MLT for 1bbl batches. That's what I did.

__________________
TWO FISTED BREWING CO.

Buy Two Fisted Brewing gear

Sawdustguy

Recipes 

I bet the 304 denotes 304 Stainless Steel.

__________________
Guy

Brewery URL: Black Dog Brewery NY

BBQ Team URL: Two Fat Polocks BBQ Team

anemic

Recipes 

It is 304 s/s

Almost all process equipment is 316 but it will fine for homebrewing

Even stainless steel will surely rust, it's compatible with everything. Hydrochloric acid will burn it right up. Probably your rust is stuff that is on the surface, and that is corroding in the elements.

Get a 30 gallon recipe !

freddyb

Recipes 

16-55-72
steel gauge - volume - ? maybe circumference?
Just guessing here.