It should be fairly clean inside of it especially since it will still have spirits soaked in the wood.
The most important thing is to actually hydrate the staves to swell the wood and make it leak tight since it's been sittign dry for so many weeks.
- You'll need to fill the barrel about 20% of the way with CHLORINE FREE Hot water (run water through a charcoal filter or fill a container and let it sit for a few days for the chlorine to evaporate off).
- Once the barrel is 20% full, insert the bung into the barrel and give it a good shake to get all of the insides wet. Some water may spray out from between the staves but that's normal and it should stop as the wood swells.
-Keep turning the barrel on each head (flat portion of the barrel) every few minutes until the leaking from the staves pretty much stops.
-Once the leaking has stopped, fill the outside portion of one of the heads with Hot water and let that shallow area soak for about 20-30 minutes.
- After the allotted time, pour off the water, turn the barrel over (where the soaked head is now on the floor) and do the same thing with the head on the other side and let it soak for about 20-30 minutes.
- Once that's done you can dump all the water, fill the barrel up all the way with water and test for leaks. If it doesn't leak, you're good to go and you can fill it with beer. If it does leak, leave it filed with the water for about 24 hours and check on it again.
If you're not going to fill it with beer right away and will be doing so in the next week or two, leave the water in the barrel to keep it hydrated and ready.
