I finally stopped talking about it, and I did it… I put underground a 55 gal barrel, and I added a wifi temp monitor so I can now get good data of what the temps are in the barrel. My hope is I can store grain in vacuum sealed food saver bags in this for long term storage. My main concerns is moisture, so I will be checking on this to make sure there is no moisture, from condensation. I put the barrel in the ground, then I put a trash bag over the top for additional moisture barrier, then a top of a 55 gal barrel, then more dirt. I liked the temps information I have seen so far. Just under 80 deg with no covering.
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At last! it has been over 2 months since I put my data logger int the ground. I now have humidity and temp data over 5000 readings. This is the 55 gal barrel I buried under 1 foot of dirt. I shown a flash light in the bottom there was no water on the bottom. The only water in the barrel it seems was he humidity in the air. From this data I believe I am safe to store my food here, and looks like great temperatures to ferment food.
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Hi Mart , no expert here so if this sounds stupid then , how about a valve on your lid so that once your barrel is filled you can use a vacuum pump to empty the barrel of any oxygen , well as much as u can before it implodes .
Dave
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I decided against pulling a vacuum on the barrel because of the stress on the barrel is something it is not designed for.
That said, I then considered replacing the air in the barrel with inert gas, like nitrogen or co2… I could do c02 with dry ice, or with baking soda and vinegar… But I decided against this as I am storing grain, which I have vacuum sealed in food saver bags, is enough to protect the grain.
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This is what I came up with to put the grain in the barrel, I took shopping bags and then used a cut off cord to lower the bags in, I plan on making a stick with a hook on the end to lift the bags out.
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It seems like it should be cooler then that… You might have to go deeper or mound dirt/put insulation over it. I would also look at putting pea gravel under it. For seeds I think you want to be under 45F and they do need a tiny bit of moisture to stay viable, but not so much they mold/rot or germinate.
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This would be true if I was living up in an northern climate, but being in Florida it does have a higher average temp than other locations.
I have also found that water level underground also makes a difference, as the height of the water table.
For my needs, the storing of grain, and food these temps are better than the temps inside my home.
I would go deeper however, deeper means more time to dig up, and much harder to reach the bottom of the barrel when you need to fish the food back out… So having it 1 foot down is ok for my needs.
Seeds vary per type of plant, but my friend keeps his in the freezer.
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