I bought 10 30 gallon food safe epoxy lined steel barrels in feb of '12. They were new and the lining inside the barrels had a strong smell. We didn't use them because we were scared the syrup would pick up the smell. We left the lids cracked thinking that they would cure over the summer. they still have the smell so i called the manufacturer and they said its normal- maybe just test one first. I'm not about to "test" 30 gal of good syrup so my question is, has anyone else experienced this? Is it normal for them to smell when you put syrup in them?