Steel barrels

[Ale-in-France]

Hi all

I have in my possession - long story - about half a dozen metal barrels. They are proper pub ale barrels with a hole in the top and a hole in the middle. Might be a silly question but can I use these to store and condition me beer, and how would one seal them as I believe the openings are unthreaded.

Thanks for any advice

Stewart

 

[hedgerow pete]

so before the kegwatch guys jump in

the holes are not supposed to be tapped, so dont panic the hole in the middle of the barrel needs a shive bung for it as it sits on the top of the barrel and the hole at the end needs a wooden tap knocking into it

you use a wooden tap on a metal barrel and metal tap in a wooden barrel, taps are about a fiver on fleabay and are easily cleaned and reused, the shives are basicly plastic corks which get hammered in and stay there after you have filled the barrels up with booze and are a pain to remove afterwards,

and then all you need is a stand of some sort say two poles length ways with four small wedges holding the barrels still.

but bewarned barrels in the uk normally belong to someone else, re kegwatch. you can legally own them but is not normally who people come by them

heres a few links for you to try

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KEG-BEER-TAP- ... 3a6558c623
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ABBOT-SINGLE- ... 3a6550894e

 

[Ale-in-France]

Thanks Pete

That's brilliant thanks. Presumably the pressure issue isn't the same here as with plastic ones and the corks won't pop out. Back in my pub-working youth I remember having to spike(?) barrels before use presumably to allow inflow of air.

The kegwatch people are welcome to come and get the barrels back - I got them from an fellow expat in France (no idea how he got them) and I'm not shipping them back to the UK. I look at it as an overseas development programme for the British beer industry. :rofl:

 

[Mr BR]

The kegwatch people are welcome to come and get the barrels back - I got them from an fellow expat in France (no idea how he got them) and I'm not shipping them back to the UK. I look at it as an overseas development programme for the British beer industry.

well said that man remember people keg watch are a company employed by the brewerys to be a point of contact for people to phone if they find kegs ,or are tipped of somebody has kegs they then have to get the police to recover them they have no powers to seize anything themselves or enter private propert the only people that can do that are police and customs and excise, just to keep you all informed :)

 

[Moley]

Whatever powers they do or don't have, they are probably confined to the UK and are unlikely to go chasing kegs on the other side of the Channel.