goodolarchie
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This was a 55L recently dumped Pinot Barrel that has about 3 beers left in its life. Finding ideal homebrew sizes in the 55L-80L-110L can be tricky but I have made friends with some local winemakers, they do smaller projects in barrels like these. This is my 7th barrel, I've had both used and new so I've developed a process for barrels I don't want to completely fill with water (i.e. not fresh oak):
Since this was sulfured, I gave it a small hot water addition (205F) with a quick swirl and let it steam for an hour. I've also learned that even "freshly dumped" wine barrels dry out FAST when empty, and unless they can give you a dump from the past couple days, you should plan on having to swell or deal with leaks - which are almost always at the heads. Same would be true for spirit barrels.
My standard technique is to swell the heads by standing the barrel on one end, pooling hot water (180f) on the OUTSIDE of the other head. Any pinholes or leaky spiles/staves will penetrate and swell, but you'll get very little liquid inside the barrel. After a couple hours, you can add a bit more liquid, check the level (or just top it up), keep topping off until you see no level drop, which could take a couple days. Then repeat for the other head. Lastly, I always use a 1/8 drill bit to seat a Vinnie Nail. (If you do this for a filled barrel you probably have to use 9/64 bit.)
If you do really have strong leaks at the head, and the liquid is pooling at the bottom in a matter of minutes, don't panic because this is common under so much hydrostatic pressure. Bees/Parrafin wax is my usual go to, I apply and then hit it with a blowtorch quickly, and it really does a good job protecting against too much oxygen ingress. Small dowels and toothpicks with a small mallet can be great makeshift spiles. I've heard garlic can be rubbed, but that doesn't help with the little nooks, and I don't think I want garlic near my beer.
Cheers, here comes another Pinot Noir Barrel aged Biere de Garde!