Beer Barrel HELP!

So, I won a 15g barrel in a competition earlier this year. I've brewed a RIS, a Wee Heavy, a DIPA, and a Brown Ale that all aged in the barrel. Following the Brown Ale, I figured I'd use the barrel for sour beers, but haven't had the time in my schedule to make a 15g batch to put in there. I boiled 15 gallons of water and put that in the barrel to sit until I could get around to it, but now it's been close to 2 months...and there is fuzz on then bung hole I can only assume it's mold...

Is there anything I can do to save this barrel, or is it pretty much done for? My goal is to use it as a sour barrel anyway, but not sure if it's even safe to use if mold is present in the barrel.

Sorry you lost me at fuzz around the bunghole

volktc said:

Sorry you lost me at fuzz around the bunghole

Click to expand...

haha!

volktc said:

Sorry you lost me at fuzz around the bunghole

Click to expand...

Thanks for the constructive comments

If the fuzz is only around the outside of the bung sealing the bunghole, you should be fine. The inside of the barrel is a much more hostile environment for bacteria and mold than the outside is. Open the barrel and smell it. No off smells and you're probably fine. Plus, you're about to add all kinds of weird bugs to barrel intentionally...