by OzKev » Wed Jul 23, 2014 9:22 am
I got told the rough rule of thumb is if you don't re toast/char the barrel then for every new batch you double the time. The smaller the barrel the higher the surface area to volume is, so a small barrel oaks the product faster.
Volume (liters), Barrel surface area in cm2/liter
20, 195
200, 90
2000, 42
10,000, 24
100,000, 11
The downside is the product may oak faster, but it does not get enough time to mature. By maturing we are talking about things such as converting tannins to acetals, and acetic acid to fruity esters.
So in the case of smaller barrels taking longer to oak from successive batches can be a good thing.