New to me 15 gallon white oak barrel

[Nutmegmooner]

Bought a 15 gallon charred white oak barrel at a yard sale this weekend ($15) and after about 2 days soaking it is damn near watertight. Lost a couple of cups today but continues to improve. My question is this.
During long term aging do those in the know leave the bung up? or are barrels rotated during the aging process? I have no need to rotate it, and would rather just fill it and put it somewhere safe and walk away, checking occasionally, for a few years. Presumably over time the top-most staves would dry a little, but should that concern me?
I work on wooden boats for a living so I understand the swelling process pretty well, and I have a friend who is a cooper and will advise if I have to ask her but I would like to hear from the folks here.
Thanks!

[bitter]

Nice find! Hope it works out well for you!

B

[Bushman]

Barrel rotating is necessary in larger barrels as the product is sitting for years. In a smaller barrel, the rotation is not as necessary but still should be done for several reasons

1 ) The spirit gives a portion to the angels (evaporation) this is known as the “angel’s share”. On larger barrels it's at about 12% per year.

2) As the barrel pulls the spirits into the wood, some will stay behind and be absorbed into the staves.

This causes the level of the spirit to be lower in the barrel, the longer the spirit sits the greater the air space at the top of the barrel. To prevent the staves at the top from drying out and shrinking thus allowing more air in (which will only increase the angel’s share I would rotate the barrel. For long aging you can also top the barrel off a bit.

[Dallywolf]

1 ) The spirit gives a portion to the angels (evaporation) this is known as the “angel’s share”. On larger barrels it's at about 12% per year.

I think you mean 2% per year

[DFitz]

I just leave my barrels bung up. No need to turn a barrel really. When you emptied it after soaking where there a lot of charred bits?

[Boda Getta]

I rotate my kegs 1/4 turn every week of so. Do you know what was in the keg before you got it? Do you know how many cycles the keg has had through it? These answers could be important; if the barrel has had only a few cycles, leaving your whiskey in the barrel "years" could result in over-oaking; I think if it were me I would first do a fairly small test sample through it to check for any off favors, try to ascertain the char level, ect.
Good luck.

BG

[woodshed]

A 5 gallon barrel loses about 8% to the Angels a year here at Woodshed.

[RandyMarshCT]

I rotate my 5 gallon barrels 1/4 turn per week. I lose about 10% in a year, not including fluctuations in my %ABV.