# what size barrel???



## kendo (Aug 12, 2011)

What size brute barrel for 7 lugs of grapes=250lbs...do i need 20 or 32 gallon? going to use to ferment..thks


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## winemaker_3352 (Aug 12, 2011)

270#'s of grapes yielded about 15 gallons initially. I have 2 20 gallon brute containers - got them from Home Depot online - pretty cheap and was free shipping.


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## ibglowin (Aug 12, 2011)

Two of the 20G for sure will do the trick nicely. Like Jon said, White ones can be found online, only Grey available in stores.


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## winemaker_3352 (Aug 12, 2011)

You need to read to make sure that are food grade. Some grey ones are and some aren't.

http://www.nsf.org/Certified/Food/Listings.asp?TradeName=brute&CompanyName=rubbermaid&PlantState=&PlantCountry=&PlantRegion=&Standard=&search=SEARCH

This link will point out which ones are food grade. The ones I got was 2620 i think.


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## ibglowin (Aug 12, 2011)

US Plastics has a nice selection of them. I ended up getting the White cans from Home Depot as they had the free shipping offer but they didn't carry the lids so I got my lids from US Plastics. They were pretty cheap to ship.


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## kendo (Aug 12, 2011)

ok..would 1 32 gallon fit 7 lugs??...


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## winemaker_3352 (Aug 12, 2011)

1 20 gallon would handle that - 32 would handle it as well.


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## ibglowin (Aug 12, 2011)

You saying (1) 20G Brute would handle 250lbs of crushed/de-stemmed grapes?



winemaker_3352 said:


> 1 20 gallon would handle that - 32 would handle it as well.


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## kendo (Aug 12, 2011)

why ibglowing will a 20 gallon be to small ???


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## ibglowin (Aug 12, 2011)

IMHO, yes, way too small for that quantity. I put 100lbs of crushed/de-stemmed grapes into each of my 20G Brutes last Fall and that filled them sightly more than halfway (I used these to pick up my grapes from the vineyard and they JUST barely fit into the Brute uncrushed/de-stemmed). 

I had a good 6" cap form on top of that during fermentation. I could see perhaps going up to 125 or 150lbs but I don't see any possible way to safely ferment 250lbs in that size container. It would slosh out all over the place on punch downs and would also be a beast if you ever needed to move it sloshing even more.


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## winemaker_3352 (Aug 12, 2011)

you can get the larger one - which ever you feel more confortable doing.

But the 270#'s that i pressed gave me 15 gallons of juice - fills the 20 gallon about 3/4's full.


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## ibglowin (Aug 12, 2011)

The important word being "pressed". 

250lbs of unpressed but crushed/de-stemmed grapes would never fit into (1) one 20G Brute for fermentation.



winemaker_3352 said:


> But the 270#'s that i pressed gave me 15 gallons of juice - fills the 20 gallon about 3/4's full.


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## kendo (Aug 12, 2011)

is that with the cap at 3/4 full??..i want to make sure i have room to punch down with out over flow...


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## winemaker_3352 (Aug 12, 2011)

ibglowin said:


> The important word being "pressed".
> 
> 250lbs of unpressed but crushed/de-stemmed grapes would never fit into (1) one 20G Brute for fermentation.



Yeah - that's right.. unpressed would not fit.


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## winemaker_3352 (Aug 12, 2011)

kendo said:


> is that with the cap at 3/4 full??..i want to make sure i have room to punch down with out over flow...



Are you going to cold ferment?

If cold fermenting you should be fine - the fermentation will not be as vigorous therefore not creating a huge cap.


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## robie (Aug 12, 2011)

I figure that 250 lbs is around ~ 15 gallons of "wine", but much bigger in volume than 15 gallons while still mixed with all those grape skins and pieces of remaining stems.

A lug is 36 lbs; I think 3 lugs (108 lbs) makes between 5 and 6 gallons of wine.

Is that about right, Mike?


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## ibglowin (Aug 12, 2011)

Depends on the varietal as they say but you should get 6 gallons from anywhere from 80-100lb of grapes. I got over 6 gallons with mine last year. Also how hard you press obviously!


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## robie (Aug 12, 2011)

ibglowin said:


> Depends on the varietal as they say but you should get 6 gallons from anywhere from 80-100lb of grapes. I got over 6 gallons with mine last year. Also how hard you press obviously!



Yep, lots of factors to consider - freshness of grapes, size, variety, ..etc, but that seems like a good ballpark figure.


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