Got these 35 gallon barrel's need advice if they are good grade and safe

[Ironbike1]

Friend of mine has a neighbor that sells these barrels. He works for a kosher food company and claims that they held kosher salt. I bought 2 of them for $20 total. Sight unseen. I took their word for it that they are food grade plastic. The only stampings I can find on them are a #2 on one barrel and on the other barrel a PE-HD stamped. I was planning on storing base malts in them out of the bag since they are airtight barrel's. Would you use them for grain or is it not food grade because there is no other stampings? I'm kind of unsure about whether I should use them for my grain storage.
Thanks

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[SanPancho]

pretty sure PE-HD is the same thing as HDPE. which is food grade. those barrels look similar to the ones they ship olives and other food stuffs in bulk. the food grade stuff is usually either blue or black, like you've got there.

they're definitely fine for grains. and you could use them as fermenters or for aging as well if you wanted. (although you might wanna check the oxygen permeability if you do long term aging.)

 

[meatcleaver]

I think I read somewhere that a far as hdpe is concerned, anything #1 or #2 is food grade.

 

[Ironbike1]

So if I store loose grain in these I'd be fine, nothing to worry about?

 

[Ironbike1]

They are airtight. So I'm not worried about moisture getting in but I guess I'm worried about the plastic or something nesting up the grains if that is even possible??

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Wow that is killer. 35 gallons is a lot of grain!

 

[Ironbike1]

Wow that is killer. 35 gallons is a lot of grain!

Thanks. I'm just hoping they are safe to store grains in. I have them soaking right now.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I don't see any problems storing grain. I would do it.

 

[Ironbike1]

I'm thinking there shouldn't be a problem. Honestly I wouldn't know what kind of issue there would be with studying grains in them or any container for that matter

 

[SanPancho]

if you're worried about it you can get some of those little oxygen-absorbant granule packets. its what all the doomsday types use to keep their stuff from spoiling.

but as far as whole grains, i think you dont need to worry about that, you're more likely concerned with maintaining them nice and cool and dry. you can buy some of the moisture absorb stuff at the store, get some of the calcined clay stuff from auto parts store (floor-dry, etc) or just use plain old white rice. its all the same principle, you dry it out in a hot oven for an hour or two, then put it into a breathable container like a strainer bag, etc and put it on top of grains. once its been dried out, it absorbs the moisture in the air. depending on your humidity levels you put it back in oven once a month, etc.

but i'd think unless you live in or store the grains in a really humid place, its probly unnecessary. just keep the lid on.

 

[Ironbike1]

I store all my grain in my basement. Low moisture and temp is always 65. I'm really only worried about storing the grain in the barrels if they are not suitable for food. Is there anything that could be damaging to the grain by storing grain in a non food grade barrel??

 

[normonster]

I wouldn't worry about any toxic chemicals leaching from that plastic into dry grain but I'd stop short of storing or fermenting beer in them.

 

[MaxStout]

I can fit about 25 lbs of malt in a 5-gallon bucket. You should get somewhere around 175 lbs into one of those. That's a lot of malt--I hope you go through it fast.

You could use one as a "vault" for storing several kinds of grains. Put each kind in big ziplocs and stash them in one of the barrels.

 

[Ironbike1]

I like that idea as using it to store multiple bags of grain in one.

 

[Ironbike1]

I can fit about 25 lbs of malt in a 5-gallon bucket. You should get somewhere around 175 lbs into one of those. That's a lot of malt--I hope you go through it fast.

You could use one as a "vault" for storing several kinds of grains. Put each kind in big ziplocs and stash them in one of the barrels.

Plus using one as a"vault" I would not have to worry about the grain being exposed because ask the grains would be in separate bags which all my adjuncts are already. Thanks

 

[Ironbike1]

I can fit about 25 lbs of malt in a 5-gallon bucket. You should get somewhere around 175 lbs into one of those. That's a lot of malt--I hope you go through it fast.

You could use one as a "vault" for storing several kinds of grains. Put each kind in big ziplocs and stash them in one of the barrels.

Plus using one as a"vault" I would not have to worry about the grain being exposed because ask the grains would be in separate bags which all my adjuncts are already. Thanks

 

[Ironbike1]

Plus by using the barrel in that capacity I can store all my adjuncts in there and leave my buckets for base malts. All I will put in the "vault" will be in zip lock bags so it's protected from anything there barrel could do anyway.
Thanks

 

[sandyeggoxj]

What part of the country are you in? Got any more of these things? Those are awesome. I usually keep 3-6 bags of 2 row on hand and I'd love to just dump it into one of these things and free up some shelf space. I should be able to fit 3-4 bags into one vault.

 

[Ironbike1]

Ny