Every year I go through 300-500 lbs of grapes and ferment in a few plastic buckets. I just received a small bonus from work and am feeling a little extravagent. Thoughts on spending a bit on stainless? The tank itself is affordable, but peripherals? What other factors should I be considering?
thanks,
blindly spending too much money :)
That's not really enough fruit to wet the inside of a stainless tank. I suggest that you buy some 30 gallon widemouth and narrowmouth food grade plastic drums instead. The narrowmouth ones are excellent neutral storage and the widemouth ones make great fermenters for reds.
Another thing you can spend money on is a nitrogen cylinder and regulator. Very useful for purging the headspace in a not-quite-full container to prevent spoilage. You still need to keep the sulfite up in the wine, but getting rid of the oxygen is important.
A good transfer pump (and hoses) is also very useful.
Tom S
Ok. Let me ask this; I actually do use 30 gal plastic, and I have a CO2 tank. I've never attempted to blanket an un-sealable container with CO2 (I do have lids, they just don't seal). Can I do that?
I was looking for a way to consolidate (limited space) and maybe increase production a little, as well as use for extended maceration. A 500L tank, as a primary, would accomodate just the right amount of fruit for me.
thanks for the tips. Any pump suggestions?
First off, I wouldn't use CO2 for gassing headspace because it dissolves in the wine, creating reduced pressure in the vessel and sucking in air if there's a leak, as well as making the wine spritzy. Use either nitrogen or argon. You need an airtight seal to do this right.
Then go for one with a floating lid (variable capacity).
There are several on the market. I use a Jabsco, but it's expensive. Flojet makes a plastic bodied one with garden hose fittings that's a lot more affordable.
Tom S
For what's it's worth, a 200 L stainless variable capacity tank will run about $300, I think, from Criveller, and they're very nice tanks. I guess you might need two for fermenting in, and then you could switch to just one for aging.
I keep a bnuch of them at work to keep topping wine in, and am very glad to have them.
Dave
**************************************************************************** Dave Breeden snipped-for-privacy@lightlink.comPatrick, Another option might be old beer kegs. They are cheap and high quality stainless. Most people remove the guts and use an airlock in it's place. Just remember that the as the tanks get bigger the need for a pump becomes more pressing, even a beer keg is pretty heavy to lift for gravity racking. If you have a pump, you can add a filter at some point too.
Above all else, enjoy your bonus, I'm sure you earned it. Regards, Joe
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