5 gal barrel ?

[Sailman]

Last week I picked up a new used 5-gallon Barrel and I've got some questions on how to sanitize it. The person I got this from said that it had never been used but he is owned it for several years. Since I don't know the history of this Barrel should I be concerned about sanitizing it or should I just soak it in water to swell the wood. If a good cleaning is in order should I use sulfur sticks with this size Barrel?

From what I can see by looking in the bung everything inside looks to be really clean but you can't see an infection. I just want to be safe.

[Deplorable]

What's it smell like?
If it has no off odors, and looks good, leave it dry until you are prepared to fill it. Then fill it with hot distilled, or otherwise clean filtered water, to swell it.
If you swell it then plan for it to be empty for an extended time, you should consider burning a short sulfur strip and storing with the bug tightly sealed to prevent mildew

[Sailman]

Yes everything looks and smells good. I think I'm going to start to swelling up tonight and use the bong that came with it. My plan is to do the last stripping run on my rye bread this weekend then on Sunday do a Spirit Run and fill the barrel. Of course all of that depends on if my would bungs come in by then.

[Deplorable]

Did you order the ones from Amazon? Mine should be here Thursday.

[Sailman]

Yeah I did, its looking like Friday for me. That will give me something to do while I finish up with the spirit run on Sunday.

[Oldvine Zin]

so what we use at the winery to sano barrels is a ozone generator ( peroxide maker) so a quick splash of peroxide and a rinse and you should be good,and fill that barrel.

Stay safe
OVZ

[Oldvine Zin]

and oh forget about the sulfur

OVZ

[MartinCash]

If you're putting 63% ABV into it, then IMO sanitizing is unnecessary, as that concentration of ethanol will kill everything.

[Sailman]

Thanks guys I did a overnight soak and everything looks good this morning. There is one thing I did notice I found out what the p stands for it's paraffin. Actually I did two hot water soaks and I turned it up on end and soaked the heads as well.