Barrel Preperation

[John Pursglove]

I got a 5 gallon rye whiskey barrel for Christmas. I brewed an imperial type red ale about 9%. I had a few questions about getting the barrel ready to use.

I know some people say to fill with water. Should the water be hot or boiling?
Supposedly the whiskey was not dumped too long ago but not sure if I should include citric acid and KMeta in the water.
Should I put some rye whiskey back in the barrel for a few days before racking the beer.

The beer is done fermenting and can be transferred at any time.

 

[Matt Talbot]

Saw this was mostly answered on Facebook, and those answers looked accurate to me.
Basically, if it's freshly dumped/still wet it should be good to go. But you can dump any residual, fill with boiling water, empty, and fill.

 

[zar]

I got a 5 gallon rye whiskey barrel for Christmas. I brewed an imperial type red ale about 9%. I had a few questions about getting the barrel ready to use.

I know some people say to fill with water. Should the water be hot or boiling?
Supposedly the whiskey was not dumped too long ago but not sure if I should include citric acid and KMeta in the water.
Should I put some rye whiskey back in the barrel for a few days before racking the beer.

The beer is done fermenting and can be transferred at any time.

Filled my 5 gallon bourbon barrel with 180 degree water (2.5 gallons), sealed the leak within minutes
Just transferred the stout into the barrel.

 

[John Pursglove]

I ended up boiling about 5 gallons of water poured it in the barrel and on the outside. The oak soaked it right up and the outside dried quickly. kept the boiling water in there for an hour or so and dumped. Racked the beer in shortly after and had no leaks.