DIY brew closet/kegerator build

[BitterSweetBrews]

Haha I'm glad you noticed...
And that's funny cus I had a battle with the smell. But as of now it's pretty much gone

I filled it with water and added a hefty amount of bleach and closed the lid and let it sit for a few days. And then washed out with soap and water and the smell was still there but not as bad. Then I made a 5 gallon batch of star-San for a brew one day, poured it in the fH bucket, and it sat in my brew closet for a good 2 months, then the smell was practically gone once I poured the sanitizer out. The smell is just ever so slightly there. I'm considering making a batch of PBW and letting that sit for a bit and seeing if that gets the last bit out

Thanks for the reply, that's good to hear. I bought one a couple weeks ago. I left it open in my basement to air out and it smelled up the whole place in about an hour. I like pickles, but that was nasty!

I put some Dollar Tree Oxiclean in it for a couple days and it didn't seem to do too much. It still stinks. Given this, I don't think PBW will do much. I think I'll try some bleach then StarSan. Any more than that is not worth it.

I did do some googleing and found a recipe at: "http://www.solarsurvivors.com/free-5-gallon-buckets-with-lids/" apparently supplied by Firehouse Subs to get rid of the smell. They say it works well: 1/3 cup bleach, 1/3 cup murphy oil soap, 1 gallon hot water. Rub the inside of the bucket well and let it set for a few hours.

I wasn't sure what I would use the bucket for when I bought it, but the price and cause was right. At this point I think I am probably going use it to mount a soon to be purchased corona grain mill. So a little residual smell shouldn't matter, since the grain will only be in it for a few minutes.

 

[HealeyA87]

Yea I understand. I won't ever use the bucket to ferment anything because of the smell. But I will definitely use it to sanitize or hold dry goods.

 

[HealeyA87]

The kegerator has been running for a couple days now on the coldest setting, Temperature is around 25°f, so it's safe to say it's working.

I'm ready to sand and seal the counter top but I currently have a grapefruit IPA fermenting in there. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1452228311.304862.jpg

 

[BitterSweetBrews]

I did do some googleing and found a recipe at: "http://www.solarsurvivors.com/free-5-gallon-buckets-with-lids/" apparently supplied by Firehouse Subs to get rid of the smell. They say it works well: 1/3 cup bleach, 1/3 cup murphy oil soap, 1 gallon hot water. Rub the inside of the bucket well and let it set for a few hours. QUOTE]

It has been soaking with this mix for 4 or 5 days. I shake it when I see it and think about it. I opened it up yesterday and it still smells like pickles, maybe not quite as potent but still there. I think I'll rinse it out tonight and see.

How did you flavor the grapefruit IPA? I had a Sam Adams one a few weeks back and it was OK. I was thinking of experimenting too.

 

[HealeyA87]

Oh cool. Well one thing I did notice from when i let the sanitizer sit in the bucket, it still had the heavy smell, but when I dumped it. It was the actual sanitizer that smelled, then the bucket wasn't nearly as bad, so that made me feel that it was actually pulling it from the plastic. Maybe that's what it's doing, once
You dump it and clean it, let it dry and see how It is. And save a sample of the used solution and see if it absorbed any smell

 

[HealeyA87]

Had some extra wood left over. Decided to make some home brew art. Still not finished, but I think it'll look good.

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[iijakii]

Makes me want a Guinness! Although what doesn't...

 

[HealeyA87]

It's been a while
Since I've posted on here. Mainly Cus I've been busy with life. I did end up making a ferment chamber out of a heat freezer I have in the garage. So the closet will be used a lot less for fermenting. I currently have an IPA in there now but only because it's in a plastic big mouth bubbler and I don't have a harness to lift it in and out of the chamber. I still need to stain and seal the bar top. I've already had one spill happen that ended up being soaked up
In the wood so I need to fix that before it happens again.

 

[HealeyA87]

I found a wall mounted light at Goodwill for about $5, and I've hated the look Of the light that was in the closet so I figured why not. The goodwill light has never been used, still wrapped in the plastic so that's nice.

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It had a pull chain on it but I didn't need it and didn't like how it looked so I took it apart and flipped the light housing around to hide the hole from where the pull chain was

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And just for fun I added a wall mounted bottle
Opener that I recently got for free. (I love being thrifty)


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[HealeyA87]

Dang, almost a year since Ive posted on here.

Anyways. Took a shot at staining the cabinet today.

The color it came out to be is not what I had in mind, not what the sample color looked like. But I'm gonna let it dry a couple days and see what it looks like. And if I want it lighter, I'll just sand it down some.

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