Barrel with Bunghole on Head

[cbsquared]

Just acquired a whiskey barrel and oddly, the bunghole is on one of the barrel heads rather than the side.

This is inconvenient for storage, but even more importantly, it seems like the pieces of the head are drying out and separating slightly.

Has anyone run into this? Is it realistic to "plug" the bunghole on the barrel head and drill a new one on the side?

Thanks guys!

 

[microbusbrewery]

I've never seen one line that...is it a small barrel? The hard part about cutting a new bunghole yourself is they're usually tapered. If you use a regular hole saw, you'll get a straight sided hole...may or may not cause issues. You could probably patch it a number of ways, but if it's water-tight, I'd probably consider using it as-is. Kind of like a mini foeder. To rehydrate, fill it at least 20% full with near boiling water and do the same with the heads (bung the one of course) and that should seal up everything.