Milton? You need to use a brewing shop recommended substance that has sodium metabisulphite as its main ingredient.
There are several possible reasons your batch went wrong IMO:
1) you didn't sterilise everything properly (barrel, barrel lid, brush, stirring paddle etc) 2) water quality - particularly if the water you used had a high chlorine content. 3) Stability of temperature - when I ferment my brew I make sure the barrel is 'buffered' either by wrapping it in a blanket or putting it into a cardboard box.