Sanitizing a barrel

[Rakhal]

I have a couple of well used neutral oak 60 gallon barrels that have been sitting empty, and I would like to use them as fermentation vessels. What’s the best way to sanitize them?

 

[BarrelMonkey]

I see you're in Santa Rosa... if you can befriend someone who works at a local winery with a steam generator, your best bet would be to steam them. They'll probably have a 'wand' attachment that's designed to sit in a barrel and deliver the steam.

What sort of shape are the barrels in? If they smell good, they may be OK to use as is, but there's always a risk of something that you can't see hiding in there. In the absence of steaming I would add some proxycarb and fill with hot water (also a good way to check that they don't leak...) After an overnight soak, drain and then fill with water/tartaric acid to neutralize any remaining peroxy, then drain again. (You could use citric acid to neutralize instead of tartaric - it's cheaper - but I would then probably do a second rinse with water to make sure it was all gone)

 

[ibglowin]

I would follow this protocol.

https://www.sachomewine.com/citric-acid-and-so2-cleaning-barrels/

 

[Rakhal]

I see you're in Santa Rosa... if you can befriend someone who works at a local winery with a steam generator, your best bet would be to steam them. They'll probably have a 'wand' attachment that's designed to sit in a barrel and deliver the steam.

What sort of shape are the barrels in? If they smell good, they may be OK to use as is, but there's always a risk of something that you can't see hiding in there. In the absence of steaming I would add some proxycarb and fill with hot water (also a good way to check that they don't leak...) After an overnight soak, drain and then fill with water/tartaric acid to neutralize any remaining peroxy, then drain again. (You could use citric acid to neutralize instead of tartaric - it's cheaper - but I would then probably do a second rinse with water to make sure it was all gone)

Thanks for the advice! I will ask around about the steam generator and also use the proxycarb.

 

[Cap Puncher]

You can buy a small steam generator for bending wood for like $75. I use it on my 15 gallon barrel and it does a nice job. The whole barrel heats up on the outside to the touch. Not sure how deep it penetrates but it seems decent. Making friends to use one at a winery is probably better.

Earlex SS77USSG Steam Generator, 1.3-Gallon Capacity, 12' Hose, Steamer for Wood Bending on Amazon

 

[rahulbr]

Has anyone barrel fermented hybrid grapes (rose or white wine), or have general advice on barrel fermentation?

I'm in SE Michigan, and can borrow freshly dumped 53 gallon barrels fresh dumped Bourbon and Rye barrels. Not allowed to cut the tops off, so red wine barrel fermentation is out of the question. I'm definitely going to age Marquette, Regent, Noiret, or a blend of the 3 in one barrel, but am thinking to get a 2nd barrel to barrel ferment a rose or white wine.

Has anyone had a good experience barrel fermenting (or heavily adding oak for primary fermentation) the following? And if so, any suggestions / tips?

• Marquette rose
• Noiret rose
• Arandell rose
• Regent rose
• Vignoles white
• Cab Franc, Dornfelder, Saperavi, and Zweigelt rose (have 1-2 vines of each, survived better than expected)

I've also got 50+ vines of aromatic whites (NY 81 (Aravelle, hybrid of Riesling), Kerner, Traminette, Gewurztraminer, Riesling) but want to avoid barrel fermenting them as that's not typically done and I prefer to keep them low oxygen exposure, cooler and slower fermentation in garage, and to bring out the aromatics along with preserving residual sugar where possible.

Appreciate any experience or advice you can share!