My girlfriend got me a 5 gallon medium charred oak wood barrel for christmas and as I sit here typing I have a Northern Brewer ESB extract sitting in the primary waiting to go into the barrel for finishing.
Well, here's my problem. I got the barrel with instructions for shrinking it to seal up any of the leaks. The sheet said to pour 1/3 the total volume of the barrel of water in and rotate it every 18 hours or so to seal up the barrel. And further instructions were to let about 1/2 the volume in water to sit in the barrel if not using so the wood wouldn't stretch and dry out. So it's been sitting for about a month with water in it.
Now, while reading yesterday for tips about barreling the beer, I read all these care instructions for wood barrels and how you're not supposed to leave water in them for more then 2 days with fear of growing mold inside and completely ruining the barrel for future use. I dumped the water out this morning and took a flashlight to the bung hole but its sort of small and I couldn't really see much inside. The water I poured out didn't seem to have any mold in it that I could see besides being slightly brown (I'm assuming due to char on the inside).
I suppose what I'm getting at is, should this be alright? If there were some mold spores inside, is there any way to kill them off before racking my beer into the barrel? I really hate to hear that the brand new barrel I got is of no use now besides a great looking home decoration.
Well, here's my problem. I got the barrel with instructions for shrinking it to seal up any of the leaks. The sheet said to pour 1/3 the total volume of the barrel of water in and rotate it every 18 hours or so to seal up the barrel. And further instructions were to let about 1/2 the volume in water to sit in the barrel if not using so the wood wouldn't stretch and dry out. So it's been sitting for about a month with water in it.
Now, while reading yesterday for tips about barreling the beer, I read all these care instructions for wood barrels and how you're not supposed to leave water in them for more then 2 days with fear of growing mold inside and completely ruining the barrel for future use. I dumped the water out this morning and took a flashlight to the bung hole but its sort of small and I couldn't really see much inside. The water I poured out didn't seem to have any mold in it that I could see besides being slightly brown (I'm assuming due to char on the inside).
I suppose what I'm getting at is, should this be alright? If there were some mold spores inside, is there any way to kill them off before racking my beer into the barrel? I really hate to hear that the brand new barrel I got is of no use now besides a great looking home decoration.