I was reading Jon Iverson's book Home Winemaking when I read on page 54 that
wine in small carboys or jugs might not store safley. Why would the size of
the container matter? It would seem to me that the size should not matter.
Several other books i have read have not made this statment. Can some one
explain or give your opinion either way.

Just a guess, but I'd say he's probably talking about oxygen exposure, at
least as part of the whole.

Most people have the same inch of two of headspace in a 1 gallon jug that
they do in a 6 gallon carboy(depending on shape of particular neck) and same
type of effect comparing a fifth to a double magnum. SO you're looking at a
greater ration of oxygen to wine in a smaller container.

There's also other issues, that slip my mind, same things that contribute to
fact that aging in a larger container can give a better, mellower, msoother
taste.

But I'm also just making things up here, so I could be wrong.

Joel

"Rich Morris" > wrote in message
.. .
> I was reading Jon Iverson's book Home Winemaking when I read on page 54
that
> wine in small carboys or jugs might not store safley. Why would the size
of
> the container matter? It would seem to me that the size should not
matter.
> Several other books i have read have not made this statment. Can some one
> explain or give your opinion either way.
>
>

I think the other advantage of larger containers is greater thermal
mass. A larger container will take longer to adjust to swings in
temperature, hence reducing somewhat the temperature extremes that the
wine is subjected to. Since a constant temperature is generally
preferable for wine storage, this gives some advantage to larger
containers for longer-term storage.

Doug