Reusing old barrel

[anotherbeerplease]

I have a barrel that I never rinsed after the last beer, then it sat empty for several months.

Assuming I can get it to hold water again, can I reuse it for my next beer? No signs of mold or infection (that I can see) and the beer hopefully going into it is 20%abv so I'm not too concerned about anything other than off flavors.

Also how many times can you use a 5 gal barrel. This would be the 5th beer going in....

 

[505-Brewer]

Rinse w warm water (up to 180F) then soak/swell till it stops leaking. Purge well with CO2 before filling.

Should be ok. Ive done the same but next tine I will at least purge w CO2 if I cant get to the bbl right away.

 

[IslandLizard]

I think you can soak with K-meta to kill possible lingering infections and wild yeasts, maybe even Brett too. Then rinse out well with hot water, and soak until it's watertight. Empty out and maybe pickle it with a few handles of Bourbon, Rum, etc.

 

[505-Brewer]

Ah yes. Treating w booze for 1-3 days is also a good practice.

 

[anotherbeerplease]

So how many Campden tablets would you use for 5gal barrel? I think my 20% abv beer might actually sanitize the barrel itself haha... but might as well try the campden thing first right

 

[IslandLizard]

It's an ounce per gallon, IIRC. I use K-meta instead of Campden, but either is fine.
After a few initial rinses with hot water, a gallon of Meta solution should be plenty for a 5 gallon barrel. Just shake or rotate it for a few minutes. Repeat every few hours. I'd say a total contact time of 24 hours with the Meta should do it. Dump, rinse out well with hot water and soak again with plain water until it's tight.

Your 20% beer surely will be quite resistant to invaders, but we've had a barrel with a 10-11% Old Ale go acetic after 6 months. That barrel had been sitting empty for a few months, and was not properly cleaned and gassed beforehand, we had just pickled it with Rum for 2 weeks before racking the beer into it.

Fill it up as much as you can. Headspace (Oxygen) is detrimental. Flushing whatever little headspace is left with CO2 certainly won't hurt.
Depending on how long you keep it in the barrel, you may want to keep some of that beer behind to top up the angel share or after taking samples.
A 5 gallon barrel has a lot of surface relative to volume, so keep an "eye" on the progress, it may be done much faster than you think.

Best is to refill the barrel with another beer right after. If it has to sit idle, fill with water with some K-meta added.

 

[anotherbeerplease]

Rinse w warm water (up to 180F) then soak/swell till it stops leaking. Purge well with CO2 before filling.

Should be ok. Ive done the same but next tine I will at least purge w CO2 if I cant get to the bbl right away.

Is there a problem with using boiling water to rinse? I have done that before... why do you say up to 180F

 

[SW Ohio Keith]

What about a barrel that hasn’t seen wine in about 30 years. Worth messing with?

 

[IslandLizard]

Is there a problem with using boiling water to rinse? I have done that before... why do you say up to 180F

I've read the 180F before, I'm not sure why that would be an upper limit. It cools off pretty fast on contact anyway, probably down to 180F, unless you use gallons of it.
Barrels are also steam cleaned, so there's some serious heat involved there.

 

[IslandLizard]

What about a barrel that hasn’t seen wine in about 30 years. Worth messing with?

Has it been stored dry all that time? If so it probably needs to be soaked, or partially submerged even, to get it anywhere near leak free.
Wine barrels tend to have Brett in the wood, but after 30 years of dry storage I'd say they're not viable anymore.

There's a good book on usage of wood and barrels with beer, and their maintenance: Wood & Beer by Cantwell and Bouckaert.

Instead of whole barrels, you can also use chunks cut from (old) staves, cubes, chips etc. They give you more variety and you can control exposure better. Smaller barrels have a relative large surface area compared to their volume, so wood effects are much faster noticeable. Depending on the beer a week in a fresh 5 gallon barrel can be way too much already, so you may end up blending it back.

 

[ITV]

What about a barrel that hasn’t seen wine in about 30 years. Worth messing with?

Best cut up and used for smoking wood unless you want your beer to sour.

 

[505-Brewer]

Is there a problem with using boiling water to rinse? I have done that before... why do you say up to 180F

Too hot and the crllulose wood structure can break down. It will cool w boiling watet but wood is a good insulator so i doubt it will cool that fast. Steam will work do but its bot full so the bbl doesn’t heat up as much.