Time for a new pressure barrel?

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goodhead20

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Hello - this is my first post here and I would like a bit of advice.

I got into basic brewing using kits and two plastic pressure bottles about 5 years ago and it was going mostly ok. I was doing it mostly because it is cheaper than buying beer from the supermarket. I'm a bit of a tightwad. :)

But then I had a brew that went off - vinegar taste - about 20 pints through. So I chucked it and bought a brush from the local brew shop and gave the inside a bit of a scrub with sanitiser. The next batch was even worse - it went off almost straight away. A really horrible vinegar taste. And I gave up about a year ago. Couldn't bring myself to look at it, let alone drink it, and it sat there for a year. I bought Banks bottled bitter instead for 89p a bottle at Aldi.

But today I was clearing out the utility room and thought maybe I should have another go. I drained the year old beer - which by now smells like pure vinegar.

My question is - is the barrel probably beyond redemption? Could I conceivably give it a really good clean inside and rejuvenate it. Or should I just chuck it away and start over. I do actually have another plastic barrel which was ok and could just use that. But I don't like throwing things away.

Any advice appreciated. Remember I am extremely tight fisted, so am ideally after practical cheap advice! :)

Thanks in advance.
 
Give insides and cap a really good clean with your brush, and thoroughly rinse out .
Half fill with water then add some bleach (cheap stuff).
Leave it 24 hours rolling round occasionally.
Scrub with brush, rinse and repeat.
Then if its a 5 gallon barrel half fill with water add about 75 g sugar and some yeast (any will do) cap off and leave for a few days in a warm place.
This is an inexpensive way of pressure testing your PB and secondly you will have a good idea if it is still tainted by tasting the liquid you draw off from the tap (its only slightly alcoholic sugary water after all).
If you think PB is OK brew a cheap kit (say.Wilko Hoppy Copper) and put that in it.
If its still OK fine.
If its not then you may as well chuck it.
 
What terry said, plus take the tap off, take it apart as much as you can and bleach it, the backnut and the rubber o-ring while you've got it off the barrel. Rinsing the lot with water that's had a campden tablet dissolved is a very effective way of neutralising the chlorine that was in the bleach. Between brews always store barrels that have taps fitted with them removed and in bits if they are the type that will dissassemble.
 
Between brews always store barrels that have taps fitted with them removed and in bits if they are the type that will dissassemble.
There's good and bad in that advice.
Good because you ensure kit is fresh when you come to use it.
Bad because every time you disassemble and re-assemble you run the risk of the re-assembled bits leaking especially if you have taken a tap to pieces. If kit doesn't leak I tend to leave it. That said OP might be advised to replace all the seals after the PB has been proven clean and good to go.
 
Thanks terrym and foxbat for your advice. That was exactly the kind of help I was after. Ok. I'm getting the bleach out.
 

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