Oak barrel rinse following sulphur

[SkinnyPete]

I burned sulphur in a used 30 gallon red wine oak barrel about 2 weeks ago (thought it would need to sit longer) and now I need to rehydrate and prepare it for a sour solara. I've rinsed with about 3 6-gallon sloshes of campden treated warm water and there is still a decent sulphur smell. I've read tons of articles about prepping barrels but none are super clear about how to get rid of the sulphur. I'm assuming I should just keep repeating the rinse until I don't detect any sulphur at all and then continue with prep? I intend to do the hot water rehydrate method once it's gone and check for leaks.

 

[TravelingLight]

What about filling it all the way with hot water, letting it sit a couple hours, then dump? Point being, I don't think the 6 gallon sloshes in that big of a barrel is doing a whole lot. I'd recommend filling it all the way.

 

[SkinnyPete]

Thanks. I actually ended up doing exactly that and it still smelled like sulfur. Realized it's the campden tablets. Must not have crushed them enough. I'm going to try again today, crush them up good, and make sure they're completely dissolved before rinsing one more time. Really itching to fill this thing.

 

[TravelingLight]

Thanks. I actually ended up doing exactly that and it still smelled like sulfur. Realized it's the campden tablets. Must not have crushed them enough. I'm going to try again today, crush them up good, and make sure they're completely dissolved before rinsing one more time. Really itching to fill this thing.

Understandable! I'm actually in the process of starting my first sour solera with a 15 gallon whiskey barrel. Got the barrel last month, just put my initial fill in fermenters and will be filling the barrel in the next week or two. I cheated and brewed 15 gallons of extract for my first fill. No way I wanted to do multiple 5 gallon AG batches.

 

[SkinnyPete]

No way I wanted to do multiple 5 gallon AG batches.

I hear that. I've got 32 gallons in a food grade BRUTE barrel. Two double brew days. Four AG 8-gallon batches total. Brutal. Good luck!