55 Gallon Ordinary Steel Drum System

Certainly not cheerleading here, but drinking beer is also "bad" for you, depending on who you talk to, which reference you read, etc... Personally, I work in the health care field, and would not use anything close to the set-up that he has going, but whatever floats his boat. Sorry OP, but I would not drink any of your brew either. We have made scientific advancements in materials' safety for reasons.

Stevo2569 said:

Bobby_M said:

You're right. I concede that it's a great idea now that I see the pictures of the still in use rusty barrels and the fact that he is still alive to post. If only all ideas could be measured in terms of whether it kills you in year or not.

Click to expand...

Applause! Thats F in hilarious. But So True.
:cross:

Click to expand...

I hate to be , but I agree with you, Stevo! Regardless of the pettiness of all his typical sarcasm, I do always find myself laughing at him.

Just go buy a STAINLESS STEEL DRUM. Yes they do exist.

I dont really want to join the Rusty Craft Beer Movement nor do i want to join the OMG There is Rust League either just a story of sorts.
When i was a kid on my grandfathers farm we had a spring fed creek that came down the holler behind the barn and my grandpa kept a rusty tin can hanging on a tree limb next to it and when he was thirsty he drank from that thing with that rusty cup never gave it a second thought.

FAK! Seriously??

Could send it to a lab and have it analyzed for mineral content.

As the Civil Engineering credo goes, "The solution to pollution is dilution."

I know if I had rust in my BK, I'd buy a new one, but I only do 5 gallon batches, so the ratio of surface contact with the rust to the total volume of beer would probably be higher (I did the math and I would have about double the contact). In short, I don't know which side I'd fall on until the data comes back from the lab and tells me if I have significant levels of any minerals.

food grade epoxy resign is sensitive to heat, not a good choice

Food grade linings in tin cans also contain BPA. Not sure if this is the same lining, but I guess that doesn't matter anymore since the lining is now gone and rust is the new lining.

If you're looking for a name for your brewery, can I suggest "Rusty Barrel Brewing"?

Wow...

Oh God.

and I get freaked out when I see a speck of rust on my stainless pots.....

I have to side with many of the others here. If you want to brew in a rusty barrel and drink the resultant beer, be my guest. But if you are serving that beer to others (and thinking of joining a beer co-op?!?!), you should really get that beer tested for mineral content. If you end up in the hospital, it's your own damned fault. But what if someone else does? Would the people getting your beer from the co-op get a photo of the rusty BK and sign a waiver? Yeesh...

At the minimum I would serve each beer on a rare earth magnet coaster.

Hey guys! You need to lighten up, maybe the OP needs more iron in his diet.

Wow! Just when I think I've seen everything, I see someone brewing beer in rusty barrels. This ranks within my top 5 dumbest things I've heard homebrewers do. I'm surprised your beers aren't exhibiting any metallic off flavors. Consider your self lucky one day it's going bite you in the ass, whether it's a metallic tasting beer or poisoning yourself or others. Sorry guy I wouldn't drink your beer.

If you are interested in 55 gallon stainless steel drums try Bubba's Barrels, Barrels, Kettles, and Brewing Hardware.

The best things in life are not free, VD is free but I don't necessarily want it.

Now I know why I'm not a beer judge or swap beers.

They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but damn....

Holy crap. Seriously. There's cheap, and then there's just disgusting. Everything about that setup is foul.

mlyday said:

At the minimum I would serve each beer on a rare earth magnet coaster.

Click to expand...

lol

Ridebreck said:

They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but damn....

Click to expand...

Iron Man?

From OP's profile:

Last Activity 10-05-2011

Click to expand...

I think he succumbed to tetanus.

Lol..

I will just leave this here.

I just have to laugh...


Who the hell would brew in a RUSTED 55gallon drum?


it's... RUSTING..... I know it's California.... But damn...... it is rusting....


He should be locked up for serving ANYTHING made in that drum to ANYONE.

Please please don't ask the op to see his brew pump, it might be a sewage sump pump he pulls out of his septic tank.

As long as he puts one of these on each bottle, it's all good!

I thought it was a fuel pump from a Pinto?

I've read a lot of threads on here, from guys starting Nano breweries to "is my beer infected?"..... This one might be the the most epic!

Epic thread, maybe. But not in a good way; HBT is generally more helpful and a lot less insulting than this. While I would never brew with a setup like this, I couldn't criticize him either, since I don't know that it's actually bad.

I'm not a medical professional, or even know much about it, but I am skeptical about anything just assumed as common knowledge. So, a bit of googling turns up a few more facts:

- Iron, as posted earlier, is poisonous if too much is absorbed.

- Rust however is first insoluble and second not particularly harmful. Iron welders have a huge exposure to it from breathing in iron oxide fumes, and OSHA has concluded that's not very harmful.

- Cooking acidic foods in cast iron has been shown to leach in trace amounts of iron, usually considered a good thing unless you're one of the few people who already have too much.

All I can conclude is nation would be far worse off if he polished all the rust out of the kettle. But even in that case it's not clear there's anything to worry about; wort is only slightly acidic and nations large brew volume reduces the surface area.

Perhaps one of the more technical people here could run a few calculations on iron leaching rates based on a worst-case contact area, acidity, and boil time. I can't, but would be surprised if it turns out to be high enough for anyone to be worried about.

Again, I would never use a setup like this, and would happly suggest ways it could be improved or things he should worry about. But I wouldn't criticize unless I actually knew he's doing something dumb or bad.

this thread should be locked

CCBrewer said:

this thread should be locked

Click to expand...

Agreed

tenbricks said:

Epic thread, maybe. But not in a good way; HBT is generally more helpful and a lot less insulting than this. While I would never brew with a setup like this, I couldn't criticize him either, since I don't know that it's actually bad.

Click to expand...

How would you feel about being served food that I dropped on the floor pre cooking or stired with my penis before cooking?

if you really wanted to do this with a plain steel drum what you would do is set a fire inside and burn off all paint/lining then repaint it with some food grade/ high heat enamel or ceramic coating ( expensive stuff but will survive a direct nuclear strike) and slap some high heat paint on the outside. also I would look into that gold phenol coating they use for food grade paint cans

This is terrifying.

Haha I forgot about this thread. If anyone is wondering if this is a good idea just take the fact that the OP disappeared from the forum right after he started using the system and never returned.

Yo man take it easy. The guy was only asking a question. He was looking for answers and constructive comments, not useless insults.

Cheers

Wow. I think I've exposed myself to mor poison reading the comments on this thread thanthat guy has in his beer. Too much iron is bad for you. But your body will also die from too little iron.

He could do worse and brew using some truly toxic metals like aluminum or copper. But nobody is THAT stupid.

There is probably more iron in chili cooked in a cast iron pot. If you think the seasoning will protect you forget it. Just rinse the pot afterwars and see how much seasoning is left.

BlackJaqueJanaviac said:

Wow. I think I've exposed myself to mor poison reading the comments on this thread thanthat guy has in his beer. Too much iron is bad for you. But your body will also die from too little iron.

He could do worse and brew using some truly toxic metals like aluminum or copper. But nobody is THAT stupid.

There is probably more iron in chili cooked in a cast iron pot. If you think the seasoning will protect you forget it. Just rinse the pot afterwars and see how much seasoning is left.

Click to expand...

You would REALLY drink beer from that came from this thing?



You are crazy.

kzimmer0712 said:

Yo man take it easy. The guy was only asking a question. He was looking for answers and constructive comments, not useless insults.

Cheers

Click to expand...

Are you from San Fran???

Is that you nation???????????

You would REALLY drink beer from that came from this thing?

Click to expand...

No. But not because of "rust". I would be more worried about the integrity of the coating. From the photo it looks like the coating has small cracks or holes which is allowing moisture to get underneath it. Is the black mildew or rust?

If that is what is truly going on, then you have micro environments where botulinum bacteria can fester. Botulinum produces a toxin called botulin which will kill you even though you killed the bacteria by boiling. Thats why you do not eat canned food from bulging cans. Cooking it will not save you.

If the OP wanted to do it right he would actually strip out the "food grade" coating. But then I would trust the experience of tradition in that the beer would taste bad. I am sure someone tried it at some point and that is why we see aluminum, copper, and SS as the metals of choice.

Keep in mind that you do not necessarily have to absorb the metal for it to affect the taste. I have read that copper boilers make superbly flavored beer. I would hope it is not because of any copper content in the beer though.

Just stop everything! stop being a cheap ass and save for another month, your medical bills alone could cover the cost of a large brewery.

Rusty beer. Now I've seen everything.