Cleaning a old oak barrel..

[nvs-brew]

Picked up a 25l old and in bad condition barrel..
It was all shrunk and been left dry for god knows how long..
I filled it with water and got it water tight, then kept water in it for a couple of months..
Just emptied it out and a lot of the gunk and crap came out.
Roy from TWOC said to fill it with water/sodium metabisulphite..
Now how long would you recommend leaving it in there? Till I'm ready to fill it?
I've been trying to get info from google on my phone and its not very helpful..
Google said up to 6 months.. And also said use some citric acid.. I only had some lime so added that..
I'm not confident.. Bloody google

 

[Twerp129]

Citric acid and sulfur would be the best route, it's an old barrel so you wont lose any oak character by hydrating it. If it's bad it may be good to change out the solution after a few weeks, and then replace the solution after every few months there after. Trust your nose with whether it is wine worthy or not after that.