I just received a wine barrel that my wifes great grandfather made from Germany. The problem is it stinks to high heaven of vinegar.. Does anyone have any idea's on how to remove the smell?

Baking soda? acid/base

Vinegar is acetic acid so you need a base to neutralize it.

Baking soda should do fine

Any idea how much baking soda to water? How long should I let it sit?

Bleach! It cleans, purifies and leaves white spots all over your good cloths. Try it!

I found this on Google



Lisa

No I don't think so.. This barrel is over 100 years old, and I just paid a mint to get it here.... I need something that wont ruin the wood.... Thanks for paying though..

I would start slow (to see the reaction) with maybe a teaspoon of baking soda you not sure how much acid is there. If there is a good amount the acid/base will react and fizz.
If it is soaked into the wood you may need some water to help swish it around.

I would also rinse after with water (neutral) a few times.

I dated a girl a looooong time ago that used vinegar as a douche. Maybe you could rub a little... never mind.

Thanks Lisa, let's see what odor to choose?????? oooor vinegar..... Boy the house would smell fantastic wouldn't it.....

I see Oh Grey One of Westlake..........you're into dill XXXXX.

Your a sick, sick man howard....... Oh by the way I fould (04 Cambria Julia's vinyard, it's upstairs and empty) a great bottle of wine I will bring some with to RRC, will share a bottle with ya..

the vinegar is probably soaked into the wood (are you sure it's not a vinagar barell?)

Add the baking soda and hot water, then swish (East Coast term for rolling it around over a couple days) it.

Bruce,

I don't know for sure.. I will give it a shot this week. Thanks everyone ..

tomato paste works on skunk odors, maybe try that.

I thought about that, but with everything, I'm afraid of damaging the wood. One problem I have, is that there are two holes, halfway up on the side, and at the top. Standard barrell.... So drainage might be some what of a problem draining it out completely...

Take it to your local Coopersmith. Howard probably remembers Coopersmiths.
Elliot

Wrongo! From My friend the genius:

Dishsoap with some hydrogen peroxide. The sufactant helps solubilize the thiol compounds and the peroxide oxides them to sulfones which don't stick.

Course, my idea was still good....

Actually, Elliot, three guys were involved in barrel making. The smith did the wrought iron hoops, but the cooper planed the wood and built the barrel.

The third guy, usually a retired cooper or smith, too old to do the other jobs, drilled the bunghole. He was so old and creaky he had to sit sideways. He was called a flight engineer.

What are you using the barrel for? Just decoration?

If so, just pound two plugs into the bung holes


KT

He's still got it...and his finger still stinks....from when he frist found it....

BUNG HOLE...

You are right if you wear old clothes no spots....don"t know why it only leaves spots on good clothes...must be osmotic attraction.

Just decoration, but the smell has been in the wood so long, that even with it corked, the smell would fill the house...

I guess you'll just have to store it in your wine cellar with all of the other barrels of wine.

I think the chances of getting rid of the odor are pretty slim. That barrel was probably resued many times and the wood is probably saturated. I was watching a program I think on Discovery Channel and they were explaining how various liquors were made. In the sequence describing how scotch was made, the whiskey maker explained how a small percentage is lost through evaporation as the contents slowly work its way through the wood. Each batch of scotch was aged for four years, or so they claimed.

One interesting tidbit. American bourbon makers use new oak barrels that have been flame charred inside to develope the characteristic bourbon taste and color. They can get the results with only a fresh charred barrel, a single use. What do they do with the one-time used barrels? They sell them to scoth distillers in the UK who then use them repeatedly for aging scotch.

Actually a great deal of the single malt scotch is finished in Sherry or port barrels that have outlived there lives in that realm. The sherry and port flavors add great complexity to aged (12 years and more) that nothing else seems to surpass...I have an old bottle of Mc Callan (33yrs) and the sherry smell in in the aroma but isn't discernable to me at least, in the flavor of the whisky. Lovely stuff. By the bye, they scrape the charring off of the barrels before they use them for aging scotch whisky, at least most do....not sure about all of them. Scotch is our friend....

Hey Jim,
Any chance of you making it to RRC? Bribe attached...