Old Rum Barrel in Basement

[BeerFst]

I was going through my older Homebrew stuff and I found a 10g Rum barrel that I never used. It has been down there for years, sitting in the box, unopened. I just opened it today and the barrel was just in the box with some paper shipping materials around it, not in a bag or anything. It is still plugged, but has clearly dryed out a decent amount sitting down there. I imagine there are some gaps and it would not hold liquid, though i do not see any glaring holes in the thing. There's no external evidence of mold, but I have not opened the bung to check inside. I am not hopeful.

Am I correct that this thing is a goner?

I have no plans to use it for decoration or otherwise, it will more than likely go in the trash if it is no good.

If anyone reading this is on Long Island and has any interest, brewing or otherwise, I would gladly give it away.

Thanks

 

[Dr_Jeff]

My bet is that it could still be used and is still good.

Fill it up with boiling water to expand the wood, have a block of paraffin or gulf wax, if it leaks start filling the leaks with the wax, by rubbing the block back and forth over the leak until it stops.
Leave the barrel full until you are ready to fill it with beer, then dump the water and fill with beer.

 

[BeerFst]

I checked the box, it was shipped in November 2015.

If I popped the bung and didn’t see any mold, you think it’s be fine? After expanding staves of course

 

[Miraculix]

Why not? If it's not mouldy, no problem? Maybe not so much rum aroma anymore.... But that might be a good thing for beer.

 

[BeerFst]

Why not? If it's not mouldy, no problem? Maybe not so much rum aroma anymore.... But that might be a good thing for beer.

I had assumed that once the alcohol had evaporated, whatever remained was a suitable environment for potentially harmful bugs, or perhaps mold might have formed and then died off, but any toxins might remain.

as for uses, 3 of us had planned a cinnamon toast crunch inspired beer, most of it being rum barrel aged. Though i have a 15g megapot, I was the only brewer of the 3, and it was rather daunting to brew 15g+ to fill the barrel and have some top up volume at the end. This was also a plan made before I had kids and now I have 3...

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Often times, what goes into a barrel at a distillery is a whole lot higher proof than what is sold.
So when they sealed it up, is was "safe", just alcohol had been in there, no worries about mold.

 

[kmmuellr]

If I was closer, I'd come get it and try to revive it. Wonder what shipping to 48170 would be? I happen to be fermenting some molasses right now!

K

 

[BeerFst]

Hi all, thank you for your input. I reached out to Reddit, Northeast Barrel Company and Midwest Barrel Company as well. Their responses mirrored all those here, my concerns are overblown. As such, I've actually decided to attempt to swell the staves and get the thing to hold water. If that works then I'll get a beer in there!

If it doesn't work, @Hoppy2bmerry has dibs as she messaged me first.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

I usually brew a really big beer for the first one in, typically a RIS.

Don't know what you like, but my schedule on barrels has been;
RIS 3-4 months
Old Ale 6-8 months
Belgian Quad 1 year
Belgian Golden Strong sample after a year and assess
Saison TBD

Enjoy

 

[Wigglebutts Brewery]

For a lark we had an old nail keg, about 4 gals and totally dried out. We put it in a larger container and filled that container with water so the keg was soaked inside and outside. After a couple weeks we drained everything and filled the keg on the patio. It held with no leaks, amazing.
I'd put your keg in a small trash can and do the total soak for a couple weeks.
Then option one is to burn sulfur sticks in the barrel to wipe out bugs (winemaker trick).
Option two is to pop a couple bands off and carefully remove one of the heads and put the bands back. Light up a propane weed burner and re-char the interior.
Finally I'd pour some cheap rum in the barrel, close it up and roll it around for awhile.