What is the value of this wine barrel?

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if it has not been kept in good condition by a winemaker it has no value to wine making. once a barrel has been emptied it need to be replenished with wine in order to keep bacterial activity to a minimum plus keep the oak supple so to speak. any off odors developed wile empty will also make use of he barrel mute for wine making.

alternatively some have cut the barrel in half and used it for planters and landscaping.
 
At this point in its career, it's most likely well beyond the ability to hold wine, nor would most winemakers want to chance putting their wine into it. Used wine barrels are pretty easy to find / buy at $50 and less.
 
Can't find them anywhere in this neck of the woods (NM, CO) for less than $125 and that would be for decorative purpose only.

I see them posted in WA State (east of the mountains usually) quite often for around $100 each. Some could be re-used (recently taken out of service) but most have been sitting outside for a year or more so decoration only.

At this point in its career, it's most likely well beyond the ability to hold wine, nor would most winemakers want to chance putting their wine into it. Used wine barrels are pretty easy to find / buy at $50 and less.
 
Can't find them anywhere in this neck of the woods (NM, CO) for less than $125 and that would be for decorative purpose only.

I see them posted in WA State (east of the mountains usually) quite often for around $100 each. Some could be re-used (recently taken out of service) but most have been sitting outside for a year or more so decoration only.

In the top photo, the seam in the head appears to be open. In the bottom photo, the staves appear to have shrunk with gaps and uneven seams. Those things indicate to me that the barrel hasn't been maintained and isn't useful for wine storage. I see some (not for wine) online for a hundred bucks, but have seen them cheaper at Walmart and Home Depot, and yes, the barrel appears to be usable only for decorative purposes, that was kinda my point.
 
I would definitely use that barrel for decorative purposes if I could snatch it for $50! They don't seem to have anything at either Walmart or HD around these parts. Guess our state is just too darn poor for the most part..... I did spy a beauty several years ago at a HD out in SOCAL while we were visiting the kids. I couldn't get it back on the plane however so had to walk away...... :-(

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Hi Savannah - and welcome. Just a quick thought. The replies to your post all argue that because the barrel has not been maintained to hold liquid over the years it is now almost certainly less than fit for that job (barrels deform, staves "leak" and all kinds of bacteria and strains of yeast make their home in the wood once used to store wine. But your initial post suggested that you wanted to learn more about using barrels. What is it that you want to learn more about? The answer to that question may take you down a slightly different path. I myself don't use barrels but barrels can provide a number of benefits to a wine; the barrel itself allows for micro-oxidation (air does get into the barrel), provides additional flavors from the oak - often thought of as vanilla-like; and will provide flavors from previous batches that were stored in the barrel (which is why distillers, with some exceptions, like wine barrels). But the thing is that the "flavors" that are extracted from the wood itself can only be extracted so many times before they are totally depleted. If a barrel was used to age wine three or four times that barrel no longer will provide any real oak flavor.

But here's the thing: You say that the barrel your mother received was 60 gallons. Sixty gallons for most home wine makers is huge. Most home wine makers make perhaps 5 or 6 gallon batches, sometimes 3 gallon batches and if they don't make wine from kits they may make single gallon batches. And often because of the relatively small amounts of wine home wine makers make rather than put their wine in barrels they stand that idea on its head and put barrels inside their wine. By that I mean they buy toasted oak cubes or spirals of oak or staves and stick etc and they add these bits of wood to the wine in their glass or plastic carboys. Barrels can cost a lot of money to maintain - and a great deal of time and effort - but oak cubes cost pennies.
 

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