Wine went to vinegar in barrel!

[nubeedubee]

Hi All,

I stupidly put some questionable wine into an oak barrel. That wine has since turned into vinegar in the barrel.

The oak barrel still has some life left in it and I wonder what I need to do to make sure nothing bad happens to the next batch of good wine I age in the barrel. Do I need to clean it out? Is it safe to just put the next batch in without doing anything? Any advice is welcome.

One of those weird questions that I hope someone here has dealt with before!

Cheers,
Nubeedubee

 

[Johny99]

I'd turn it into furniture. The wood will be saturated with acetic acid bacteria. I don't know anyway to get it all out. It hurts, but why risk more wine? Been there. Mine is a base for a coffee, read cocktail table, up on the upper deck. I ruined first year. Got something bad growing in the wine, dumped it, shed a tear and retired the barrel.

Now all that said, how's the vinegar?

 

[nubeedubee]

That's what I was afraid of which is why I thought I'd ask. On the bright side, I have 5 gallons of decent vinegar and the barrel didn't have much left in it anyways! Thanks!

 

[NorCal]

Yup, it's done.