by Chocko6969 » Sat Oct 12, 2019 5:30 am
Hi all, just thought I'd breath a bit of life into this thread with a different question.
I acquired a fairly old 20ltr barrel that was originally used for port. In the past I've filled with neutral from turbos (before I knew better), just to draw out the port flavours in preparation for a BWKO. I emptied this last year so filled with water to keep the wood tight and not leaking, I fear this was my first mistake, this and the 12-18 months of time and fluctuations of temperature and seasons. Just checked to see how the water level was and there was only about 8ltrs left, obviously evaporation and the wood has taken it up but I have a bigger issue I think.
Although it had no smell, what I could see through the top hole looked pretty manky, so I'll pour into a bucket later when the sun comes up and see what's there and post a photo.
After all of this, is there any safe way of 'cleaning' the insides of a barrel without damaging or tasting the oak, or, as they say in the classics.... "it's rooted"
Cheers,
Chocko