Testing 55 gal barrel burried

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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