[quicksilver]

Hello,
I am planning on using a 55 gallon polyethelene barrel for distillation of wine.  I would like to know the best way to sterilize such a large obect... I do not have access to an autoclave.

ty in advance,
quicksilver

[gluedudeguru]

What was in the barrel before?

Bleach perhaps initially but you need a human ingestible cleaner like MBS that you can buy from a DIY beer/wine shop,  dont know how much it would take but

[Stepan]

PE barrel for distillation?

[gluedudeguru]

Did i mean SBS, sodium bisulfite.  Yup, oops, dont use MBS, it would turn out badly.

[quicksilver]

PE barrel for distillation?

Why not?

Did i mean SBS, sodium bisulfite.  Yup, oops, dont use MBS, it would turn out badly.

Thanks, I'll look into this. 

[gluedudeguru]

I better get some of this polyethylene wine...

[quicksilver]

:p

I hope to have a tester batch ready for November... and hope to be 100% homegrown by next spring when the grapes are ready.

[Ballistic]

I think the safe campden tablets for wine contain sodium metabisulphite (from memory hope I'm right) but there are loads of proprietary chemicals.

In the UK "YOUNGS" cleaner is found in Wilkos - it contains a mix of 3 chemicals. Everyone uses it.

I use beer line cleaner which is found in 5 litre solution in Makro.

Another common one is VWP, just google it - I would love to know what chemical it contains.

[PolymerKnowHow]

Do you mean fermentation?

Anyways, I have homebrewed for several years. Bleach requires rinsing and iodine types can lead to off flavors. Therefore I recommend some stuff called "OneStep". No rinse. Very popular and availale through many homebrew resources.