Assessment of Absorption Property for Five Species According to Soaking Conditions for Manufacturing a Cask for Ripening Traditional Liquor

To study the suitability of chestnut as a cask for ripening traditional liquors, the absorption property for pure water, liquor with 30% alcohol content and ethanol with 95% alcohol content were investigated for five species. Oriental oak had the greatest amount of liquid absorption while chestnut had the smallest amount. The absorption amount linearly increased with increasing soaking time. The absorption amounts for each section were greatest in RT plane, and the difference between LR plane and LT plane was very small for all soaking conditions. The anisotropy of absorption amount for five species was greatest in Japanese cedar and was smallest in white mulberry on the whole. And the change of absorption amounts according to soaking conditions tended to decrease in softwoods and increase in hardwoods, and the difference among wood species was not clear. From this result, it was found that chestnut with a small absorption amount, regarding of soaking behavior, was a good material as a cask for ripening traditional liquors, whereas small diameter oriental oak with a great absorption amount was not suitable in this purpose.