"jason" > wrote in message
om...
> I dry stored my 60 gal oak barrel for the first time. I burned sulfur
> sticks as recommended. I couldn't find any commercial pieces/devices
> to catch the burning sulfur drips. I tried a home-made device but, it
> seemed like I was having a marrionette show inside my barrel and I
> gave up.
>
> So, I burned the sulfur sticks in the barrel and let them drip into
> the barrel. I was advised by a few people that this practice was ok,
> "just make sure you clean it out really good before you use it".
>
> When I cleaned out the barrel a few weeks ago, I could see a few small
> deposits w/ the largest about 3/8" dia. These spots were hardened and
> somewhat fused to the bottom of my barrel like solder. After scraping
> the inside of the barrel with a long rod (w/ and w/o steel wool) and
> repeated rinsing, these raised deposits were reduced to faint spots,
> but, I couldn't get them 100% clean.
>
> So, am I ok? How much sulfur would it take to ruin 60 galons of wine?
> Is the tiny amount that still remains in those little spots on the
> bottom of my barrel enough to ruin all that wine wine?

Jason,
Elemental sulfur in a barrel is OK for aging _clean_ wine. But, you will
probably have hydrogen sulfide problems if you ever have significant amounts
of viable yeast lees in that barrel. So don't use it for barrel
fermentations.
Lum
Del Mar, California, USA