Re-using a Bourbon Barrel

[Guido]

This weekend, myself and two friends will be emptying ( bottling/kegging, maybe a few samples) a bourbon barrel we filled with Belgian Quad. The goal is to re-fill the barrel with New England style hard cider. There will be a gap of about a month until we can get the cider in the barrel. Any thoughts on how to maintain the barrel between fillings? I'm thinking it wouldn't hurt to leave a few gallons of the Quad in there to "season" the cider. Do we want to rinse out any of the hops, yeast, trub from the barrel?

[Jidas]

You don't want it to dry out.. but leaving it moist might lead it to molding.. wineries use SO2 gas to prevent that. I would clean out the trub and slosh around some potassium metabisulfite to prevent anything growing while storing. Maybe repeat the metabi every week or two. I'm no expert in maintaining barrels but do work at a winery so have some experience. Keep it wet, keep it sulfured.