Prepping a Oak Barrel

I have a question regarding preppeing a oak barrel that was used to store 15 gallons of rye whisky in. I am able to pick these up for pretty cheap locally from a distillary ( tuthilltown ) and I know alot of homebrewers use these barrels to age in. My question is this I don't like whisky infused beer and I actually want to use these barrels to age Sours like the Flanders Red I am brewing this weekend for the year long nap so I really don't want whisky in flavor in there. So is there any other way to get rid of that Whisky element while retaining the oak flavor ? Like hot water or metabisulfates or anything ? thanks for any input

I don't think it is really possible to remove the whiskey flavor from a freshly dumped barrel. You could let it sit with a solution of citric acid and potasium metabisulfite, but I think that would also strip oak flavors.

Your better off either using oak cubes or giving the barrel to someone else to fill with beer. Aging times in a small barrel will be fairly quick, and after a few drains and refills the whiskey will be greatly diminished.

That's kinda what I figured its a trade off by stripping the whisky I loose the oak. I really don't need much oak flavor I want to use the barrels more for oxygen permeability for a Flanders red. But also don't want a whisky Flanders red. Maybe I'll just pony up an buy a new barrel.