Re-racking in a Buffalo Trace whiskey barrel

See this question: Keeping a barrel

Our club put 55 gallons of Russian Imperial stout in a Merlot barrel a few weeks ago. We pumped 20 gallons of boiling water into it to sanitize.

I sent an email to Russian River a few weeks ago. Here's what Guy, an assistant brewer, said:

Hi Dean,

We always try to get the wine barrels straight from the winery and fill them as soon as possible. Sometimes we hot rinse them and sometimes we don't. It depends on the winery, how soon they had been emptied, and what the barrels smell like. If they do sit or seem pretty dry, we use a pressure washer-type device with a jet-like attachment that goes up through the bunghole and we blast hot water into them for 3-5 min. With the Sudzers barrel we just heated a bunch of water to "sanitizing" temperature and filled it halfway or so, let it sit a bit, then plugged the hole and rolled it over to expose the rest of the barrel to the hot water. Rinse and repeat as necessary. Also use your nose to make sure there are no strong acetobacter/vinegar aromas. We don't use any barrels at RR that have that smell, but we rarely get any that do because they don't sit long. We also fill them with warm water to allow the wood to expand and look for any leaks before filling. Even if they do leak a little...or a lot...letting them soak for a day or two and keeping them topped up usually cures it. We don't use any chemicals.

Good luck,

Guy

I emailed Russian river, Avery, Boulevard, The Breury, and Lost Abbey

From Vinnie at Russian River

The first thing you’ll need to do is make sure the barrel is water tight, try cold water first, after that if it still leaks you’ll need to revert to hot water, the hotter the water the more flavor will leach out so start with warm water and work your way up with the temperature of the water.
At that point, let the barrel dry and smell it, if it smells clean than move forward. If it smells off, you most likely won’t get the off character out of the wood as it is porous. Good luck, Vinnie

From Tyler King at the Breury

Hey Derrick,

4 months is a long time for a barrel to sit empty. You have two major issues at hand; if the barrel was stored empty it will most likely not hold any liquid (it will leak from the staves and heads), secondly, if there is any bacteria or wild yeast in the wood there's nothing you can do. Before you fill the barrel you will want to soak it with water to make sure it will hold your product. You can fill the barrel up with warm water and let it sit till it seals (this will strip flavor from the barrel) or you can turn the barrel on its heads and soak it with water (flipping the barrel and soaking the other head every other day) till it is sealed from the outside in (this is what I do.) Once the barrel is sealed you can fill it. You can't effectively sanitize a barrel, if anything is living in it - it WILL be in your product! Any intelligent brewer who has worked with enough oak barrels to know will tell you this, you cannot kill all of the microbes living in the wood. I personally don't sanitize any oak barrel before I fill it, if the barrel has a funky smell and/or look it is made into a planter.

From Tomme Arthur at Lost Abbey

Derrick

Thanks for the email about the barrel you guys are planning on filling. If the barrel is >new and has been bunged for the 4 months, you shouldn't have any issues with stability >(alcohol in the wood is still present and a great sanitizer). If you're concerned about >the barrel condition, you can always roll a bit of bourbon around to wet the wood on the >inside. My one concern would be the taughtness of the barrel and how tight the seal >between the stave is. If it were me, I'd roll the whiskey around just to get an idea of >how well the barrel is sealed.

Good luck and best wishes on an amazing beer

Tomme Arthur

Sorry just got to this. Looks like you have some great info from some of the best people who would know.

Did you have this barrel for 4 months or you got it after it was sitting for 4 months? Either way for future reference. If you aren't going to use a barrel for a few months you need to either burn a sulfur stick in it or fill it with a sulfur solution. This will help keep the barrel from getting funky. You always want to keep the barrel sealed tightly with a wooden bung. If its only a few weeks just burning the sulfur stick and sealing it will be fine any longer than that you want to fill it with the solution, that way it keeps the barrel conditioned and keep it from leaking.

Good luck!!

Oh, out homebrew club is about to fill a 60gal used Merlot barrel in a similar fashion.

-Jeff Porn

Send an email to the folks are Russian River. Tell them your situation and I am sure they'll give you some advice. You may even get a response from Vinny himself.

If the barrel has been stored dry, you may want to recondition it with some water. First to make sure its water tight still. Secondly, if you use boiling water this will help sanitize the barrel.

I'd look up barrel upkeep and maintenance for how a barrel is supposed to be stored. Pretty sure you want it wet inside.