Used empty wine barrel, care and maintenance?

Hi,
I did not see a post specific to Oak barrel cleaning, care and maintenance, so here we go.

I'm getting a used wine barrel, a full size one (60 gallons) yep I'm crazy. As of now I do not know how many uses it had, what Oak type and what wine was it used for. But what I need help with is: what do I need to do to keep the barrel in a good shape until I figure out what to brew for it?

How to store it, what to put in it until then, do I need to clean it first, wrap it with plastic (saran wrap)...? things of this nature. Any advise would help, I do not want to spend $60 for a barrel and end up throwing it to trash.

Thanks

 

not my info but what I plan to use
juicegrape.com

To store Oak barrels using a holding solution, use 2g of Potassium Metabisulfite* and 1g of citric acid for
every liter of barrel volume. The chart below offers some convenient conversions.
Potassium Metabisulfite and
Citric Acid additions by Common
Volume
Potassium Metabisulfite (in
grams)
Citric Acid (in grams)
5 gallon (~19 liters) 38 grams 19 grams
10 gallon (~ 38 liters) 76 grams 38 grams
12 gallon (~45 liters) 90 grams 45 grams
25 gallon (~95 liters) 190 grams 95 grams
30 gallon (~114 liters) 228 grams 114 grams
50 gallon (~189 liters) 378 grams 189 grams
55 gallon (~208 liters) 416 grams 208 grams
60 gallon (~227 liters) 454 grams 227 grams
* Sodium Metabisulfite can be used in-place of the Potassium Metabisulfite
To prepare the solution, first fill the barrel two-thirds with cool water. Next, prepare the holding solution by
dissolving the sulfite and citric acid in warm water in a small glass container. Add the sulfite-citric solution
to the barrel, top it up with cool water and bung it for storage.
For long term storage, it is important to keep the barrel topped-up by checking on a regular (monthly)
basis and adding additional holding solution as necessary. Keep the solution fresh by changing it out
every 3 months.
If the intent is to sanitize for immediate wine storage, proceed as documented above and allow the barrel
to stand with holding solution for at least 48 hours.
Prior to adding wine to the barrel, the barrel should be rinsed several times and allowed to drain well. As
the first sentence of this article suggests, the use of the holding solution is only an option for barrels that
have had 4-5+ batches of wine in them. For new barrels, use sulfur strips or a sulfur candle to produce
sulfur dioxide gas. Doing so will help prevent any bacteria or mold from forming.

 

I believe that is the same advice given by Jay Goodwin on one of the last Sour Hour Podcasts over on the Brewing Network.