Kegs for Disaster Kit

[I_B_Mongo]

Just wanted to get everybody's ideas on this...

I've been working on putting together an emergency preparedness kit. Not an "End of Days" thing, just a tornado/snow storm/etc thing.

I've been buying extra canned goods, batteries, flashlights, etc.

"They" say you should have a gallon of water, per person, per day x3 days.

For my family, that would equal 12 gallons of water.

I'm not able to brew often enough to fill all of my kegs (22), so I thought about filling up 3 of them with tap water, sealing at 30 psi, and putting them in the basement. Would be a lot easier than lugging around 12 one gallon jugs of bottled water.

Does anybody see an issue with this? Is tap water okay, or should I fill with bottled water?

 

[passedpawn]

Great idea! We have the hurricanes to occasionally prepare for down here (hunker down!). Filling an empty keg or a few cornies with water is a good idea. Thanks.

(although, for my own purposes, I'll be drinking the flavored water that is already in my kegs).

 

[I_B_Mongo]

I'm with you passedpawn. Our little shelter area is in the basement...right next to daddy's keggerator. There'll be some special kegs for me, but not too keen on the idea of my 2 year old and 6 month old getting into the the "good" kegs.

I actually have 4 sankes. May just dedicate one to the emergency area. Just fill it in place...don't feel like moving that more than I have to.

 

[audger]

tap water should be fine, but if you could, i would heat the water up to 180*+, and then fill the kegs with it while still hot to sanitize the inside. that way once you seal them, they will stay sanitary (almost) indefinately.
good idea.

 

[day_trippr]

tap water should be fine, but if you could, i would heat the water up to 180*+, and then fill the kegs with it while still hot to sanitize the inside. that way once you seal them, they will stay sanitary (almost) indefinately.
good idea.

+1 on the idea of sanitizing any water put up for long term storage. Doesn't matter how you do it but you should do something beyond just filling kegs with water if you're actually going to depend on the water being useful in the distant future.

And as long as you're thinking of such matters, it's not a bad idea to buy a bottle of water purification tablets to store with the kegs, just in case the water runs out before whatever calamity that caused you to use them has been mitigated and you have to go out and refill the kegs...

Cheers

 

[passedpawn]

Long term storage not a necessity here. I've got a 20,000g reservoir of chlorinated and meticulously maintained fresh water behind my house, just in case. I tastes pretty dang good, and will work in a pinch (until we start bathing in it, which is what I did the last time we had extended power outages due to huricanes).

 

[I_B_Mongo]

Well, it looks like I'll be headed to passedpawns house come Armegedon. Nice pool!

 

[sanch]

thats a great Idea. will the water be slightly carbonated ?

 

[Ozzfest05]

Long term storage not a necessity here. I've got a 20,000g reservoir of chlorinated and meticulously maintained fresh water behind my house, just in case. I tastes pretty dang good, and will work in a pinch (until we start bathing in it, which is what I did the last time we had extended power outages due to huricanes).

Am I invited over if I bring beer passdawn?
nice freaking place.

 

[passedpawn]

Am I invited over if I bring beer passdawn?
nice freaking place.

Thanks. Of course!

 

[mikeal]

You can fill any empty carboys as well. If you are using tap water, add 1/2 tsp of unscented bleach per 5 gallons. If it is surface water or if there is a boil advisory, filter it if necessary, bring it to a rolling boil for one minute and add 1 tsp of unscented bleach per 5 gallons.

 

[audger]

add... bleach

not if you are using stainless steel kegs.

bleach + S.Steel = corrosion

 

[DamageCT]

not if you are using stainless steel kegs.

bleach + S.Steel = corrosion

Not to be rude, but i do not think carboys are made of stainless steel. :cross:

 

[mikeal]

not if you are using stainless steel kegs.

bleach + S.Steel = corrosion

I'd forgotten about that. Is it safe at any concentration?

 

[passedpawn]

You can fill any empty carboys as well. If you are using tap water, add 1/2 tsp of unscented bleach per 5 gallons. If it is surface water or if there is a boil advisory, filter it if necessary, bring it to a rolling boil for one minute and add 1 tsp of unscented bleach per 5 gallons.

I'd forgotten about that. Is it safe at any concentration?

Forgotten about what? Did you mean cornies? Carboys are bleach-safe.

 

[mikeal]

Forgotten about what? Did you mean cornies? Carboys are bleach-safe.

My original post was a bit unclear. I meant to say that water could be treated with bleach for storage in kegs and that you could also store water in carboys. It was pointed out that stainless steel corrodes when it comes into contact with bleach (which I had forgotten about) and I was wondering if that was the case in all concentrations.

 

[passedpawn]

My original post was a bit unclear. I meant to say that water could be treated with bleach for storage in kegs and that you could also store water in carboys. It was pointed out that stainless steel corrodes when it comes into contact with bleach (which I had forgotten about) and I was wondering if that was the case in all concentrations.

Aaaah. I see. Thanks. Lots of great suggestions here.

 

[audger]

Not to be rude, but i do not think carboys are made of stainless steel. :cross:

where did i mention a carboy? i said stainless steel keg.

to address mikeal's question- the rate of corrosion is proportional to the amount of chlorine present. so a little bit of bleach is going to cause a little bit of corrosion. there is no amount of bleach that causes zero corrosion.

but that was partially my fault- i glazed over the "You can fill any empty carboys as well" part...
yes glass is perfectly safe to use bleach with.

 

[DamageCT]

where did i mention a carboy? i said stainless steel keg.

to address mikeal's question- the rate of corrosion is proportional to the amount of chlorine present. so a little bit of bleach is going to cause a little bit of corrosion. there is no amount of bleach that causes zero corrosion.

but that was partially my fault- i glazed over the "You can fill any empty carboys as well" part...
yes glass is perfectly safe to use bleach with.

I know, sorry, I got confused since the only meantion of bleach seemed to be when talk of filling carboys happened.

My bad