Cleaning an older barrel

[SGFBeerBuzz]

A few years ago, I was given a full-sized wine barrel (56 gallons, I believe) which had been used to age red wine. It has been emptied a couple of times for moving, and this past time (about a year ago), I forgot to fill it up with the solution to save the barrel.

It has been sitting for a year. I've never filled it with beer due to the expense and trouble of brewing that much in a short period of time, but I am thinking about it now.

Is there any way to sanitize this barrel and make it safe for aging beer without losing all of the benefit of it having been a red wine barrel? I think I may try a solara system in the barrel.

Should I even try, or should I work instead at scoring a new barrel and just let my dad cut this one in half to use as a planter?

 

[weremichael]

I would turn that barrel into a planter or rain barrel. Get yourself a freshly emptied wine barrel and go for your solera from there. 59 gallons is a lot of beer to put into any one vessel and you better be damn sure that it is going into an environment you can trust. There is no way to sanitize a barrel and I am sure that your barrel is dried out and would need to be recoopered even if you wanted to use it.

 

[SGFBeerBuzz]

That's pretty much what I figured. My Dad's a woodworker, so maybe he'll make some crazy bar table out of it or something.

Thanks!