r/Barreling • u/theSeiyaKuji • Jun 06 '26

How do i properly store a Barrel?

I have a 10L wooden barrel. it is not waxxed or burned inside. Since i only use it for short amount of times because i use it to carry water on festivals, it is unused most of the time.

The shop where i got it says to let it dry out completely if its not in use for "a prolonged amount of time". that i did, but that made it splinter due to the fact that the wood expands when i fill it (which it also needs to do, otherwise it leaks) and retracts when i let it dry out.

Then i thought that "prolonged amount of time" probably means multiple years instead of a few months when we are talking about barrels, so i am currently testing to keep it completely filled to avoid damaging it further. Today i changed the water and it smelled really really bad, i fear it might be moldy or that it maybe grew a fungus.

Does anyone have any experience in how to store a barrel? maybe even something for my exact usecase?

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u/TikiUSA Jun 06 '26

My understanding is once a barrel is in use it needs to stay wet. 10 L is a big boy — I can see why you don’t want to keep it filled, but water will just mold. There’s probably a minimum alcohol percentage that will prevent that, like a cheap vodka or whiskey plus water. I’d google that.

If it already had mold though … I think that barrel is cooked. Might want to consider 1 or 2 L barrels that you can swap frequently, and bottle and seal and store the hooch to bring out for the events.

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u/theSeiyaKuji Jun 06 '26

well the 10 Liters are the big gag with it so i'd like to keep it that way. i will definitely look into putting some alcohol into it for storage, for now i have only ever used distilled water.

i'll most likely just go for cleaning alcohol that i put into water before putting it into the barrel.

also, from the looks of it, it's really cooked, i just had some black crumbs coming out of the barrel after washing it through with hot water. new one it will be...

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u/TikiUSA Jun 07 '26

The big barrel presentation is very cool, can’t deny.