Whisky barrel bungs

[dave]

How the devil do you remove them?
I bought some ex whisky barrels to mature my cider in. Of the eight, 4
of them had bungs in the tops, 4 didn't. They all have bungs in the
sides. Is there a technique to getting them out? I resorted to
screwing some self tappers in and using a crowbar to pull on the screw
heads. This doesn't do the bungs much good.
Next question is about making a bung/spile. I read somewhere that a
length of apple wood is as good as anything, long enough to dip into
the cider. Is that the best thing? I did consider drilling a hole big
enough to use a cork bung of demijon size.
Of the barrels already filled there is some mould growth where the
cider has leaked out slightly. Is this a problem, should I just scrub
it off or not worry too much? They were filled a couple of months ago
now.

[dave]

Well, today I decided to drill a new hole in the top of one of the
barrels. If anyone has ever used a hole saw you will know that once
the hole has been made it is a bit of a task to get the piece of wood
out of the saw. Not today, the blasted thing fell out and went into
the barrel. Sods law I guess.
Peering through the hole in an attmpt to locate the bit that fell in I
could see there were 4 old bungs in there, plus the piece of wood I
just lost. So I found the answer to my "how do you get the bungs out
question". You don't, you knock them in!
I then made a new bung out of some apple from my log shed. Tomorrow I
will fill the barrel with fermented cider. I do like that job, because
it won't all fit in and I will have to do something with the
remainder. Can't think what.