Stainless Steel 304 55 gallon drum

[flatrockbrewing]

Anyone use SS 304 55 gallon drums for boil kettles?
A friend of mine has a drum with 1.2mm top/bottom and .9mm sidewall thickness. Too thin for a 35-40 gallon boil?

 

[501irishred]

What was the original use for the drum? Don't think I'd try to make a tip MT out of it, but should do fine for a boil kettle. What a find!

 

[SpikeBrewing]

Thickness is fine but make sure it wasn't used for anything that you wouldn't want to ingest.

 

[flatrockbrewing]

What was the original use for the drum? Don't think I'd try to make a tip MT out of it, but should do fine for a boil kettle. What a find!

It held tomato paste in a food grade plastic bag. Doesn't smell like anything inside. Just wondering if the bottom would be too thin for boiling lighter beers like a kolsch without scorching.

 

[TrainSafe]

You could always go electric by adding some heater elements and a controller. No worries about scorching then.

 

[Jaybird]

It held tomato paste in a food grade plastic bag. Doesn't smell like anything inside. Just wondering if the bottom would be too thin for boiling lighter beers like a kolsch without scorching.

You will be fine...Killer find!

Cheers
Jay

 

[Bobby_M]

Most stainless pots are 1mm or less anyway. You're good to go, but you'll still want to use a burner that spreads out the heat pretty well.

 

[iaefebs]

We used to put a paper cup filled with water in a fire and bring to a boil. The cup would burn down to where the water level was but the bottom was fine. I wouldn't put an empty barrel over the heat source but filled with wort it should be fine.