One Mans Garbage is Another Mans Treasure!

[Sayvillebrew]

Hey all - So I am driving to a friends house and I see someone put a 6 gallon glass carboy and this 6 gallon oak barrel on the garbage. HOMEBREWER JACKPOT!

Looks like it was used for wine making. The barrel is cracked on the top as you can see in the pics. It has no wine odor....just a nice smell of oak so I am thinking it hasnt been used for many batches.

My question to you all is....what should I do with it?

I am brewing a wee heavy soon so I am thinking I can age it in this barrel?

Suggestions would be great thank you!

Cheers!

 

[brewfun]

The cracked staves are what concern me (insert cracks next to your bunghole jokes, here). They are a place to lose beer.

If the barrel doesn't have any odor, you'll want to sweeten it by filling it with water to make the staves swell. It might leak a lot for a couple of days, but should seal up. Just keep topping it up. You might find a few pinholes from wood beetles, but this is common and can be sealed with small dowels from any hobby or hardware store. Once the staves have swelled, drain the water and use a short sulfur stick in it and leave it sealed for 24 hours.

Eventually, you'll need to replace the cracked staves.

 

[MaryB]

All else fails nice decoration for the brew room!

 

[Chrisl77]

If it doesn't seal you can always cut the staves up into strips and toast them in the oven. You could also put screws through the band on the stamped end in each stave. Cut the end off and use it as a wall decoration or a through wall tap tower.

 

[Roland_deschain]

Perhaps seal the cracks with beeswax in the mean time to allow you to try using it? It may not be perfect but it should seal it enough to keep any nasties out while aging.