Stainless Steel Drums - opinion needed

[StevenD (Slainthe) Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close StevenD (Slainthe)]

Folks...

I came across a company in Parow (Cape Town, for all the non-Cape members) who are advertising these 30L drums.

According to the guy, Brenner, their drums that they get in only come from the pharmaceutical or food industries. Usually they flog these things off in one full batch, but he says the guy who usually comes for them, and pays more than the advertised price, hasn't arrived. They have somewhere between 10 and 15 units on the floor at the moment.

http://www.bg-servers.co.za/online.a...view=read&id=7

Anybody got any thoughts on the units? I think they could be good boil or HLT kettles...

[CapeTownBrew Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CapeTownBrew]

Hmmm, they look pretty good, pity they aren't 50L! My only concern would be the thickness of the walls. I assume that because it comes from pharmaceutical or food industries that the grade of stainless if right. I am looking to get something in the 50L range to move to slightly bigger batches, but at that price, it may be worth doing smaller batches more often!

[CapeTownBrew Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CapeTownBrew]

I went over to have a look and managed to get the manufacturers pdf doc on the drums. They are 28L and are a bit smaller than I was expecting. ID is about 27cm, so could theoretically fit an element like the one that Simon got from Amazon, but it is going to be tight. It feels a little thinner than I would like, while this makes it easier to drill/cut, I'm not sure how they will hold up. They are from the pharmaceutical industry, definitely not from the food industry. All in all, I am still unsure.

[StevenD (Slainthe) Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close StevenD (Slainthe)]

Brett...could you email me that spec sheet, please (the PDF doc)?

[StevenD (Slainthe) Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close StevenD (Slainthe)]

Thanks for the document, Brett...

I'm not so sure they will suit our purposes, because I can't find any data regarding the temperature ranges the drums should be used within.

That concerns me because of a point in the document, that reads:

– Body overlapped welded, bottom seamed with injected sealing compound

The "sealing compound" part is, I believe, the dodgy bit. Would anyone know much about these compounds or their temperature tolerances?

[CapeTownBrew Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CapeTownBrew]

I too am unconvinced! I think I am going to hold out for a 50L vessel.