Food safe plastic barrels for fermentation vessels

[k-brews]

Hello,

I am looking at getting some more fermentation vessels for my setup so that I can have multiple beers fermenting or aging at once. I am currently in college with 3 roommates + whoever comes around on the weekends so we go through 10 gallons pretty quickly at our place.

A local restaurant is selling 14-gallon food-safe barrels for a really good price. I have attached a couple of pictures below, and I would drill the tops so that a stopper and airlock would fit in them. They were previously used for spices, so I understand the possibility of flavors leaching into the beer depending on the spice, how well they are cleaned, etc. Would there be any other factors I should be worried about before pulling the trigger on a couple of these?

 

[RPh_Guy]

Would there be any other factors I should be worried about before pulling the trigger on a couple of these?

Some method of getting the beer out of it?
Temperature control?
Sanitation? (i.e. whether it's scratched or something).

 

[Dog House Brew]

I’d have no concern at all, other than what was mentioned above. I use similar and can ferment 12-13g without blowoff.

 

[SanPancho]

If you move from fermenter into kegs quickly then you’re ok. If that beer sits in there for any substantial length of time you’ll see oxidation. Hdpe is way more permeable than glass or pet. This is also a concern when you crash, although our experience with the barrels that have metal rings for the lids is that they’ll hold a few psi. So the problem can be addressed if you want to make the effort.

 

[k-brews]

Thank you for the replies, I normally move from primary within 2ish weeks into sanke kegs for conditioning. I didn't think about the inside of them already being scratched so that is something I will try to look for beforehand. If they are scratched up and are too small to see I can always use them for grain storage (after a test batch). At $15 a barrel, I'll probably go ahead and go for it