Fake barrel

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tonyhibbett

Landlord.
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I thought I had done well to pick up what appeared to be a 10 litre oak barrel, complete with spigot, bung and stand. I turned out to be a brilliant fake, complete with rust marks and other signs of age. The actual capacity was barely more than 3 litres. Worse still the convincing looking plastic spigot leaked just like a wooden one! At the other end of the scale, my local Wyvale garden centre had a 50 gallon oak barrel reduced to £45. I was momentarily tempted. On the upside, I found a 20 litre collapsable water carrier, complete with removable tap and carry handle in Aldi for £4, perfect for a 30 bottle kit.
 
Tony

I got a couple of the Aldi water carriers for the same reason, but before putting wine in them I have used it to hold water for a couple of days to see if there is any taste and there is a strong plastic taste and smell.Have tried washing them out but same thing , have you done anything to get rid of the taste ?
 
Thanks for that. There is often a catch. It may be that they are intended for purposes other than drinking. I have not tried it yet, but it may be worth adopting the approach for wooden barrels, old and new. This involves soaking in a hot washing soda solution, which will remove residuals. The other issue is support. It really needs a box to live in. It plops around like Jabba the Hut! My current hot candidate is the bin provided by my local council for the recycling of food waste. It's a concept way beyond most local residents, not helped by the recent revelation that carefully sorted waste is dumped into Chinese landfill sites indiscriminately because the legislation only requires waste to be sorted once. After that, it can be disposed of any way the contractor chooses.
Anyway, there are plenty of these boxes around. I actually use one for composting food waste. The earlier version was not foxproof, but this one is, so far.
The bag is a cube, yet containers are rarely cubes. From the amphora through to the plastic milk bottle.
 
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