Stainless steel tanks

My math is off. I used an online calculator for a cone rather than a cylinder. 15"x36" tubes are closer. I think. Am not a math whiz.

Jestar,

Unless you have a top for these tubes they will be useless to store wine. Plastic food grade barrels are the best way to store wine cheaply if your getting up to 35 or 50 gallon batches. Below that, more carboys are the best. I think you'll find that if you have 35 gallons of carboys you will always use them even if you go to larger batches.

To answer your question - Yes there are food grade stainless steels.

Check

for more details.

Cheers,

Bruce (bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)

Doubl,

I plan to have the tanks with floating lids for variable capacity or if with fixed capacity I would go with nitrogen gas to top off. I have heard that plastic barrels oxygenate the wine over extended periods(and sellers of these barrels will tell you that's a good thing- when you have lemons, right?). I have 3 6-gallon, 15 5-gallon and 4 3-gallon carboys with 5 1-gallon jugs on the floor right now and it is becoming awkward to deal with them. I have 5 cultivars in the carboys that I want to blend and even with the 5 5-gallon carboys I have left empty, I can't blend with any consistency if I want to have say 26 gallons of one blend, 12 of another and 16 of a third. And besides, empty one carboy and then you have to clean it right away to reuse it. When you get to this volume, carboys are a pain. That's why I want to go to stainless. If I have 6 or 7 variable capacity tanks I can ferment, age and blend a lot more easily and with consistency. The only thing is, I don't want to have to pay $3000 to buy tanks!

Thanks, Bruce in Bangkok. Just what I was looking for.

jestar

You seem to have plenty of carboys. So your going to have custom variable lids made for your tubes? Not sure if that would be inexpensive. I can say that from personal experience,t plastic barrels are great to store a fixed amount of wine. If you top them up and screw the bungs tight, they will store wine better than anything I can think of , even screw top bottles. I went thru the same thing with carboys. Eventually your tired of picking them up and putting them on a table to rack them. I found the 5 gallon ones were the most manageal \ble. The 6 gallon ones started to get to the point of being too heavy especially on certain days. Some days they felt light and others they felt like a ton of bricks.

Sep 25, 8:29 pm, jestar wrote:

One more thing. I advise against using gas to top up. There is no substitute for topping up with wine. There is too much room for error using gas. Don't do it.

Check out this source. I have never used them but it may suit your needs:

Paul

I use stainless steel with lids that sit flush on the surface of the wine. your concept is not new and works well. be sure to have your maker add an air bladder that expands to fill the gap and you are good. no gas need. no head space. no oxidation.

stainless is stainless.

ted

Hi:

I have no idea of your budget. That said, there are stainless steel, variable lid tanks available from 25 to 100 gallons (100 to 400 liters) at reasonable prices. Reasonable is a personal matter. (Stainless tanks come in all sizes, but I am referring to the most likely ones that a home winemaker might consider.) However if you consider that when cared for stainless tanks will last as long or longer than you, they are a good investment. In addition to allowing fermentation, settling, storage and various wine making activities to be done easier, more sanitary and more efficient, variable lid tanks allow you to reduce oxygen exposure to almost zero. There are many manufacturers. Marchisio makes good ones, as do many others. St. Pat's in Texas sells them at reasonable prices, especially during the off season. One note of caution - be sure to order tanks that have the fittings and valve options you feel you will use both now and in the future.

Regards

Jerry - Winemaker De Angelis Wines