Getting smell out of 60 gal pickle barrel

[kmmuellr]

I'm looking at buying a 60 gal pickle barrel from https://www.ghbarrels.com/.

Free delivery for $30.

I assume boiling water and my DIY PBW, and/or straight sodium percarbonate, plus a soak in the sun (although its still cool here in MI) will take care of the smell. Anyone have any experience that would say DON'T buy one of these pickle barrels? Seems like an awesome deal for a good sized fermenter. I'm currently fermenting in 1/2 bbl kegs, so would like to have a big batch fermenter vs having to do three separate ferments.

Thanks!
K

[Alcophile]

Soaking in a bicarbonate of soda solution works well for getting many taints out of plastic. Well worth a try as it's cheap! Use plenty of bicarb.

[Deplorable]

You have a solid plan. Fill it with bicarbonate solution and let it sit a few days, then out in the sun for a week. Should be GtG.

[seamusm53]

I am anxious to hear of your success. I have tried numerous times to rid pickle jars of the smell without much luck.

[RC Al]

Hot dunder is free and dose an awesome job for many cleaning tasks around the home distillery

[LWTCS]

Best wishes.
Took me forever to get the smell out of gallon glass jars.

[kmmuellr]

Hot dunder is an interesting idea.

Lots of comments on having a hard time getting the smell from pickle jars. Hmmmm.

From the sounds of it, w/ 85 views and 5 replies not many people have used a pickle barrel?

I'd love to hear some success stories before I order!

K

[goose eye]

Ole boys was getting black ones that had gerkins and from India.
You find a farm auction they usually got some. some places they go $8 a barrel or if you near a pharmaceutical plant they ship some type stuff in them. If you near cigarette factory they ship flaverin in em. If you get barrel ain't sure what it had in it don't mess with it. A lot of farm chemicals come in em.
Get some clorox and wee bit of unscented diswashin soap add put in the barrel . Same time you can put your used cannin jugs in the barrel to. Leave em shut up for a week or two . Will take most stains out of jugs except beans.
Don't want to do all that then take top off an leave em age a year outside face up. Sun an time will get it gone.

So I'm tole

[ezlle71]

I've found after a couple fermentation cycles the smell seems to dissipate. Hot dunder would be a good idea as suggested.

[v-child]

I doubt that a pickle smell (dill) would effect the fermentation process at all. I use 15 gallon vinegar barrels myself and any odor is gone after the first fermentation.

[LWTCS]

Yeah was using my gallon jars for storage only. Woulda been a built in pickle back. Never did understand that?

[Bee]

You could try Oxyclean too.

[StillerBoy]

Took me forever to get the smell out of gallon glass jars.

The smell from gal glass jar, come not from the jar itself, but the lid.. the lid need to be soaked in vinegar for a while or out in the sun light.. or buy new lids..

Mars

[kmmuellr]

I doubt that a pickle smell (dill) would effect the fermentation process at all. I use 15 gallon vinegar barrels myself and any odor is gone after the first fermentation.

This is GREAT to hear!!

Any more comments? I'll order tomorrow I think, unless there is someone who has specific experience and says not to!

Maybe a rum ferment for my first run though w/ the big fermenter!

K

[Baxda]

I use a 45gal pepper and 60gal pickle barrel. Washed them good put them to use, no smell after they are in use.

[jonnys_spirit]

I wonder why they don't reuse their pickle barrels? Good price though! I might order two!

Cheers,
jonny

[jonnys_spirit]

Free delivery for $30.

Had to chuckle at that lol...

Oops! It's for local delivery only!

Cheers,
jonny

[kmmuellr]

Free delivery for $30.

Had to chuckle at that lol...

Oops! It's for local delivery only!

Cheers,
jonny

Free delivery (within certain areas of Michigan) for $30.

Oops!

Ordering today.

K

[kmmuellr]

FYI, in case anyone is thinking of ordering. I did, and asked if they were dill or spiced or anything, and the response was, "There are no spices or dill added. They contained cucumbers, vinegar, and salt" I feel much better about it, and I'll update after I receive the barrel.

K

[Yummyrum]

I have bought a few over the years for use in out property as water storage , compost bins etc . Yes it is initially hard to clean the pickle smell out .

If you are expecting an instant smell be gone , it ain’t gonna happen . That pickle smell will hang around for quite a while . ... but it will go . Ones I bought 20 years ago have no smell now

OK .. to be fair .

A while back , I forgot to clean my pickle barrel fermenter ( which had no smell ) after a wash had been drained and the flys got into it and it was full of maggots and basically down right Friggin disgusting . ... way worse than the original pickles smell .

But hit it with the high pressure cleaner and heaps of PSR cleaner ( the pink stuff from the home brew shop )

The stench of maggots still remains . But ... as soon as I start to fill it with a fresh wash ( and there have been about 6-8 since then ) the smell goes and there is no hint of maggot smell in either the wash or the distillate .

So , my conclusion is , that those barrels seem to have the ability to hold onto a stench but it doesn't seem to affect the Product you Ferment in there .

[kmmuellr]

The stench of maggots still remains . But ... as soon as I start to fill it with a fresh wash ( and there have been about 6-8 since then ) the smell goes and there is no hint of maggot smell in either the wash or the distillate . I'm not sure I'd re-use after a maggot infestation. You've got a stronger stomach than me!

So , my conclusion is , that those barrels seem to have the ability to hold onto a stench but it doesn't seem to affect the Product you Ferment in there. This is GREAT news! Thanks for chiming in with real-world experience!

K

[v-child]

The dill is the smell in a pickle. The vinegar is a good disinfectant. You'll be OK.

[kmmuellr]

Barrel received earlier this week, and I opened it today. Basically no smell. I'm going to hit it with soap and water, rinse well, and give it a quick hit w/ sanitizer before putting in a sugarhead of two keggle, BOP, bourbon mashes that have finished fermenting. I don't expect any issues at all w/ smell carry over since there ISN"T any smell!

K

[Yummyrum]

Good score Happy fermenting

[kmmuellr]

Follow-up:
Once rinsed and wiped out, the only smell was that of cucumber, not vinegar or anything else. I've got a wash of bourbon spent grains, 50# sugar, 3 gal backset, and 27 gal water in there right now fermenting nicely. Ph was a bit low, so I threw in some shells this morning. I'm out of town next week, so this will be fermenting for at least two weeks prior to me thinking about running.

The barrel is crazy big. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to scoop out all of the grains. My kegs get scooped out with a 4 cup measuring cup, but I think I need the longer handle of a sauce pan or similar to get to the bottom of this barrel. I'll figure it out in two weeks!

K

[HDNB]

instal a 2" valve and a false bottom. get another barrel. next time you go away drain the one in t'other. by the time you get back you got clean wash and dry grain.

[kmmuellr]

I bought a little fountain pump from Harbor Freight (like $10), 3.5ft head, 158gph. I wrapped it in a SS scrubbie and then a paint strainer bag, and stuck it in the barrel. First I kept it above the settled grain, but then said screw it and buried it. It pumped out wash until the level of wash was well below the grain. I hand scooped (w/ one of my wife's sauce pans) the grain/liquid out through another paint straining bag and a ass-press bucket. Super easy.

30gal H2O, 50# sugar, sugarhead grain from a bourbon (still kinda wet). This yielded nearly 35gal of 8.4% wash to strip! I like this big barrel!

Oh, and no smell at all.

K

[Deplorable]

Thats impressive ass pressing if you got 5 gallons more liquid out than you started with. I'm sure you meant 25 gallons to strip from a 30 gallons ferment?

[kmmuellr]

Thats impressive ass pressing if you got 5 gallons more liquid out than you started with. I'm sure you meant 25 gallons to strip from a 30 gallons ferment?

No, I think I had a shitload of liquid from the AG wash that I did that I recovered w/ the sugarhead. 30gal of water plus the sugar is more than 30 gal volume, plus the add'l liquid from the grain that I got out. I definitely did more ass-pressing w/ this one than I did w/ the AG.

K