Untoasted oak barrel

[jimmyjames23]

Power wash it.
Toast it.
Put it back together.
Swell it with water.
Try the Barrelakleen

Worth a shot.
I've seen way worse.

 

[Rocky]

You got one head off, even better! Make up the k-meta and citric acid solution and scrub the inside and outside with a scrub brusk. Be careful not to collapse the barrel. Let it dry thoroughly and look for signs of mildew. Repeat as necessary then reassemble, tighten and seal the barrel. Burning the sulfur stick would be good insurance.

 

[WI_Wino]

The barrel was last used several years ago, say 3-4. I think it got rinsed, air drained for a little then bunged and set down in the basement.

Power washing will have to wait several weeks at a minimum I think. I'm sitting in front of the woodstove watching the outside temp drop steadily (down to 14 F). Spring what?

I think I'm going to start with hand washing with the citrix acid/k-meta solution to see if that cleans it up. The barrel doesn't smell too funky, kind of musty but also like a piece of firewood.

 

[ibglowin]

Here is my $0.02. Scrub it good on the inside with some Oxyclean and let it soak for a few hours. Rinse well. Reassemble. Fill it with a sanitizing solution made up from four teaspoons of Potassium Metabisulfite powder, and two teaspoons of Citric Acid for every 15 gallons of barrel capacity. Add enough water to fill the barrel, and bung the barrel tightly. Remove the bung every week or so and smell to make sure sulfur can still be detected inside the barrel, replacing the solution if necessary. Rinse the barrel well with water before refilling with wine.

 

[WI_Wino]

Finally got back around to this. Soaked and scrubbed the barrel in Oxiclean. Rinsed throughly with hot water and reassembled. Hammered the loops down so they were tight and nailed in the hoop nails. Filled it full of water and it was leaking something fierce. Hopefully it seals up soon.

 

[ibglowin]

Well it looks good at least! Hopefully it will swell and seal in a day or so.

 

[robie]

Wet it outside and inside twice a day. Just stay with it and it will very likely seal just fine.

 

[WI_Wino]

Well that didn't take long. I soaked the entire barrel in my utility sink for a day. Got home from work and emptied out the sink. Left the barrel full. No noticeable drop in water level after 10 minutes. So I emptied out half the water in the barrel, dumped in a tablespoon of k-meta, sloshed it around, and filled it back up. After an hour or so, no drop in water level. Looking good so far. I'm thinking of leaving it sit in the k-meta for a week or two to make sure it's good and sanitized. Then letting it air dry and burn a sulfur stick.

 

[ibglowin]

Excellent news!

 

[WI_Wino]

Yep, checked again this morning and there wasn't any noticeable drop in water level. Going to leave in the sink for a couple more days then pull it out and set it on a stand so I can really be sure there aren't any slow leaks.

 

[jimmyjames23]

Good job.
Patience and care gets the job done.

 

[WI_Wino]

There looks like to be a slow leak on the bottom. Investigating solutions...

 

[jimmyjames23]

First solution is to keep full and keep hammering down the hoops with a cleat tool if you have it.
Second solution is "splintering". A thin piece of oak to fill the gap. A little more difficult but worth it since you've come this far.
Though the first method will probably work.

 

[ibglowin]

Get some barrel wax or canning wax and (warm it up a bit) and rub it in that problem spot.

There looks like to be a slow leak on the bottom. Investigating solutions...

 

[WI_Wino]

I let it sit for awhile now, still a slow leak. Emptied it out and tried to hammer the hoops some more, no movement. I think this stave might be cracked beyond repair. Ordering some canning wax tonight.

View attachment 8141

 

[ibglowin]

Yea, thats a bad one for sure. Wax is like duct tape. Enough of it and you can fix just about any problem!

 

[JohnT]

Very interesting how that one broke like that.

Any idea on how it might have happend?

 

[WI_Wino]

Not sure if it was like that when I got from my dad. Pretty sure I didn't drop it.

 

[WI_Wino]

Yea, thats a bad one for sure. Wax is like duct tape. Enough of it and you can fix just about any problem!

Wax is arriving tomorrow. How does one actually go about this? Does the wood need to be dry before I rub it on? When you say heat it up, quick microwave? Or double boiler to melt it? I was thinking of starting simple and rubbing it like a crayon on the wood where I think the leaks are. Repeat until successful.

 

[ibglowin]

Did you order Barrel Wax or Canning Wax? I used canning wax as you can find it any grocery store or hardware store (Ace, True Value etc.) with no need to wait on shipping. Barrel wax is a mixture of bees wax and paraffin wax IIRC. Stays semisoft at room temp. Canning wax is just paraffin and hard as a rock at room temp but its nice as you can cut off a chunk and use a sharp corner edge and just work it into the the trouble spot back and forth. Sorta like coloring when you were a kid. You can warm it a bit in the microwave to soften it. Depending on the size of your piece try 5-10 secs. Just enough to soften a bit but not melt into a puddle obviously then just start working it into the crack or spot that has the drip. No, the wood doesn't need to be dry. Just work it in real well into the crack.