New Oaking Containers

[Frank]

Hi again AT
yep outside dimensions they are.
Internally it would be approx 36cm long with an ends diameter of 26cm and a middle diameter of 31cm...or something like that anyway....
cheers

[Admiral Toad]

Thanks for the info frank

Been doing a few back of the fag packet/I pad calcs and it kinda blows my theory about surface area to volume to time to mature theory
You may remember I came across the small cask and under 3 month maturing from the guy at the loch ewe mini distillery
He reckoned under 3 months in a 5 litre barrel
Doing the maths in a 5 L there is approx .0314 sq m per l whereas a 10 L is about .02 sq M so you would think that would need half as long again
However as capacity increases the rate of ratio change drops dramatically so that franks area per litre has only dropped to .019
If you go the full hog ( sorry no pun intended)a hogshead which are I believe 1200 x 762mm the area has dropped to .007 sq m per L but that means the smallest barrel is only about 4.5 times greater contact ratio
That would mean whiskey in a hogshead would be ready in about 15 months ! As we all know it's a minimum 3 years and usually at least 10 for a decent malt

So it's more than volume and area maybe it's the distance of the spirit to the wood as well maybe slow convection movement means the liquid passes the wood more frequently in a small barrel

Whatever all I know is that my first attempt was pretty good and a nice colour after 3 months in the 5L ones

[Frank]

AT you must have a big fagpacket or a bloo#y small pencil!
Anyway, great post. cheers for the calcs and I am now keen on finding out more too.

There might be something in this....I was told (via the coopers) that I'd expect to wait 12 months for the whisky to be suitably mature/oaked and, from distant memory, that was referencing a full 25l with 65%ABV contents (if any of this is relevant ).

[Admiral Toad]

Cheers for that Frank

I'm planning on about 6 months for the 10 L the way it's going

It's such a pain to have to take a taste every couple of weeks not!

Will probably acquire another barrel soon as have got more peated malt coming shortly