cleaning manky drums

[Waynes World]

I have 4 30l clip top drums here that i used for used veg oil when i ran my car on veg oil, now as i dont have the car now i was wondering if there is anything i can use to clean these drums up enough to use for brewing?
If not i will just sell them on, i also have new 210l with a tap fitted, take a bit of filling that though with a brew lol

 

[LeithR]

I'd be inclined to take your 30L barrels to a car wash, not the ones where you stay in the car but one where you get out and wash the car yourself. You get a detergent cycle then a rinse cycle. This should be enough to clean them out, at least to a point where you can attack them individually with santiser and maybe some Mr Muscle drain cleaner. If you have access to a karcher high pressure hose then that might work as well.

As to the large barrel, if its one of the blue food quality ones - Oh! that applies to the smaller ones as well, they have to be food quality. You could fit a couple of 3Kw elements and a hop trap to the back of the tap and do some large brews in that, you'd only have to brew a couple of times a year to make that work well for you, especially if you want to BIAB.

There one of the guys on here uses a large mango barrel (I think his may be a 100L one) as his boiler and it seems to work well for him.

 

[Steve]

Just a good scrub down with extra soapy water should do it. Alternatively get yourself a big bag of cheap salt and throw some in each one give it a scrub round as a degreasing pumice solution, leave for a bit then rinse out. I can't image it will be too difficult to get them clean. Once they're degreased leave the lids off until any remaining smells have gone then finish with a sterilising wash before use.

 

[Waynes World]

Thanks guys, i will get them a try as you suggest, i have been looking at new ones, not all that expensive so if they dont clean up enough its not a big deal, i thought they were dearer.