Theakstons OP Cask

[Lugsy]

So, yesterday I was given a wooden cask of Theakstons Old Peculier. The bad news is:

1) It's empty.
2) It's been empty for the best part of a year.

All the plugs are in place but I guess the cask has dried out too much to be watertight and even if it is still watertight it'll be horribly infected. I'll be checking it tomorrow by filling it with water and if by some miracle it still holds water is there any way I can sanitise it? My current thinking is that this will become an ornament at best, or maybe I can chop chunks off it, steam the hell out of them and then use them to give a nice oak-aged flavour to some beers.

What do you reckon?

[leedsbrew]

I had one for Xmas last year (but mine was full!) Unfortunatly it was infected straight out of the brewery! Had to have it replaced! How did you manage to get one of the casks? We had to return ours to get he money back! They didn't seem too keen on letting us keep it either!

[Lugsy]

The company I work for is Italian, the owner has a fondness for OP and my MD gets him a pin every year and isn't worried about losing his deposit due to his bottomless bank account I assume. Looking at the cask, I was thinking the deposit they charge was a little on the low side - I wouldn't fancy making one of those for that much money. Maybe I should get in touch and see if they want it back.