Help with Galvanized barrels...

Ugh, In our haste to finish our sauna before winter, we bought a double barrel woodstove on craigslist.  
This stove is a place holder, to dry the cob walls,  the eventual stove will be rocket-ey, but it will be the first one we build and may take some time.  We set the chimney and then noticed a sweet smell coming from the double barrel... ah dang it's galvanized.  needless to say we uninstalled it, coated it in a paper mache newspaper and clay slurry.  Going to attempt to get it hot enough in a bonfire that the yuck will burn off.  I've read it can be removed with a weak acid (although it has to be scrubbed to remove the zinc oxide)  I'd prefer to not do that, as galvanization includes lead and making dust seems like not a good plan.  

My question is:  Is the 'burn the yuck off the barrel' technique only for removing the paint?  would you experienced rocket mass heater folks use galvanized after it gets red hot?  Or just scrap it and start over?
Thank you!

Annie Daellenbach wrote: Going to attempt to get it hot enough in a bonfire that the yuck will burn off.  I've read it can be removed with a weak acid (although it has to be scrubbed to remove the zinc oxide)  I'd prefer to not do that, as galvanization includes lead and making dust seems like not a good plan.  

My question is:  Is the 'burn the yuck off the barrel' technique only for removing the paint?  would you experienced rocket mass heater folks use galvanized after it gets red hot?  Or just scrap it and start over?
Thank you!

I don't know why this burn off would be necessary if the barrel is galvanized.  I have read that galvanized is okay because it will not get hot enough to damage it.

I hope some of our experts will speak up and give a better answer.

Hot dip Galvanized barrels: the outer layer of zinc iron coating will begin to scale away from the inner layer @ 400 deg.. temps greater than 500 deg it is not recommended for Galvanized coatings. Personally I would keep looking for a clean barrel that will not have off gassing issues. john

Can be done, fumes are toxic; which is why most recommend grinding/sandblasting or other abrasion methods to remove galv coating from steel.

I frequently use hydrochloric acid (sold as muriatic) to strip zinc plating from bolts, screws before I reforge them.
I dilute the acid at least with 3 parts of water. After stripping, the acid is still potent, so I pour it back into bottle and save for the next stripping. With a barrel it would be more complicated, because it can not be wholly immersed in an acid bath and would have to be done in sections. It would be easier to get non galvanized barrel, or not even use the barrel and build a pretty masonry bell.

Hi Annie;
I just noticed that you are in Sandpoint, howdy neighbor!
We are 60 miles east of there, 28 miles over the border off hwy 200 in Montana.

North 40 in Ponderay sells barrels with removable lids, they were $30 the last time I bought one.

You can burn off the galvi but it is toxic while it burns off.  
Once it is gone, it is safe from then on.

Has this stove been burned before?
If it's already been at operational temperatures and the covering persists, maybe it's fine as is.

I've burned the galvanization off of ducts in open fires, no problem.
I prefer to spray painted metal with an oil and/or accelerants when I'm treating it, with flame,ensuring it burns and created a coating.

Just a curiosity thing, but I have never seen a galvanized barrel, what were they used for?  

Down here there are so many barrels, that if you pay over $5.00 it would be to much,  This includes, thin, heavy bung type, as well as those with removable lids, in the heavy variety..   I am spoiled.

Again, no advice on how to deal with it, but sure sounds like a better thing to deal with a painted barrel.

My understanding is that galvanizing offgases toxic fumes when heated the first time; after that the coating is converted to a stable form that is safe to have fire in.

Thank you all, for the comments suggestions and advice.

Update: we burned the barrels in a crazy hot fire, with a leaf blower assist, and got them mostly red-hot.  However, after we put the barrel stove back into the sauna we till have that weird sweet smell.  I do see some small amount of rust on the metal, but am not convinced we removed all of the galvanized coating.

We almost have everything gathered to build the rocket sauna stove, I'll be adding pictures as we attempt it!
The sauna has been heated to keep the walls drying, and because we keep thinking maybe the galvanization isn't that big a deal... but then we both seem to get mild headaches after we are working in there (even with some air flow)  So, the verdict is: stay away from galvanized stuff.  haha.  

I am so grateful to all of you who weighed in.  I have some kind of hesitation to just start experimenting with RMH stuff, even though I've watched all the movies and have some great books.  It just feels like its out of my lane.    
I want to come to the event and get hands on learning (I have young children, so haven't made it yet.)

Once we get the hang of it I want to build a bunch of them!  everyone in this town will get dragged up here to see ours!

here's a few pictures of the walls, sauna and the stove after we tried to cook off the zinc