# Aging in HDPE Tanks from Speidel?



## NorCal (May 31, 2016)

I have a 30g flextank and love it. I found some used 31 gallon Spiedel's for cheap. Can I age wine in these for a year? I can't find any manufacturer info on them.


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## Double Daylo (May 31, 2016)

" The high density construction is highly resistant to oxygen ingress, making these suitable for long term aging of wines up to 12 months."

This is direct from Morewine website. Link below. Never done it myself or owned any of these so I have no personal opinion.
https://morewinemaking.com/category/speidel-plastic-tanks.html


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## NorCal (May 31, 2016)

Thanks Daylo. None of the Speidel documentation that I have found will attest to the suitability of long term aging. I guess I'll just have to give it a go.


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## ibglowin (May 31, 2016)

You might want to see if you can get a model # or serial # and give them (Speidel) a call. IIRC when these tanks first came out the formulation was not quite right and they tweaked the formulation for better long term storage. Might be why they are so cheap.. Just a thought.


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## NorCal (Jun 1, 2016)

Dear Ken,

thanks for your inquiry.

You can use our plastic containers for wine, yes.

We do have a confirmation of conformity for them.

Here the address of our distributor from the US:

MORE FLAVOR

More Flavor Inc.
701 Willow Pass Rd, Suite 1
CA 94565 Pittsburg
United States
Phone 1-800-600-0033
[email protected]
www.morewinemaking.com

I would have liked to see some empirical info to back the claim, but it looks like this is the best I'll get.


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## ibglowin (Jun 1, 2016)

Don't put the "good stuff" in them the first go round.


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## NorCal (Jun 1, 2016)

It's all good stuff ....or so I'd like to think


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## ibglowin (Jun 1, 2016)

I hear you on that!


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## NorCal (Jun 4, 2016)

Done deal. 2 year old, $50 ea with airlock.


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## NorCal (Jun 4, 2016)

1 is going to 4Score.


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## ibglowin (Jun 4, 2016)




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## NorCal (Nov 29, 2016)

I thought I would follow-up and give a half time report. After pressing this year's ton of Grenache, it settled for 24 hours, then racked it into the Speidels. After mlf was completed, they were racked again and topped.
They did great through mlf. They accept an airlock, they'll were ideal for the task. I love how easy they are to clean. Easy to remove top and wide enough opening to take care of business. 
I don't like the seal of the opening, as it is not as tight as a flex tank or barrel. I notice the wine will push past the seal when topped off and I'm assuming it is from the expansion of the liquid with temperature change. Maybe a few tablespoons, but it shows the seal was compromised.


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## fafrd (Feb 22, 2017)

NorCal said:


> I thought I would follow-up and give a half time report. After pressing this year's ton of Grenache, it settled for 24 hours, then racked it into the Speidels. After mlf was completed, they were racked again and topped.
> They did great through mlf. They accept an airlock, they'll were ideal for the task. I love how easy they are to clean. Easy to remove top and wide enough opening to take care of business.
> I don't like the seal of the opening, as it is not as tight as a flex tank or barrel. I notice the wine will push past the seal when topped off and I'm assuming it is from the expansion of the liquid with temperature change. Maybe a few tablespoons, but it shows the seal was compromised.



If I understand correctly, you have experience with both FlexTanks and Speidel plastic tanks.

I've got a few weeks to decide on what my maturation solution is going to be and would appreciate any insight you can provide.

Any sense of whether the Speidel tanks mature wine better/worse/equally to Flextanks? You have experience with only 30 gal Speidel, correct?

Presumable a 15gal Speidel is going to have the same sidewall thickness as a 30gal Speidel, so micro-oxygenation should be faster with the smaller tank (compared to Flextanks which are supposed to get thicker as you go smaller to maintain microxygenation rate).

Any experience/observations about how wines develope in your glee tanks versus speidel tanks?

I'm looking for a way to mature wines over 6-18 mos without resorting to oak barrels and hoping to get some microxygenation on the way (cab blends). Any advice/insight appreciated.

P.s. I spoke with Flex today and they pretty stringly advised planning for full tanks despite the existence of the skins. So I'm currently thinking if a 30-gal and 15 gal tank instead of a single 50..


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## NorCal (Feb 22, 2017)

Yea I have personal experience with the 30 gallon flex and 31 gallon spiedel. For your application, no question flex is the way to go. Better seal, thicker wall. I don't like floating skins, very risky, keep it full.


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## fafrd (Feb 22, 2017)

NorCal said:


> Yea I have personal experience with the 30 gallon flex and 31 gallon spiedel. For your application, no question flex is the way to go. Better seal, thicker wall. I don't like floating skins, very risky, keep it full.



Thanks. So the flex tanks are worth the modest premium over the Speidel tanks.

Flex 30s thicker than Speidel 30s, which presumably means faster maturation in the Speidels.

If you've ever matured any heavy reds (Cab, Bordeaux blends) in either your flex or your Speidel. i'd appreciate any insight as to the timeframe a heavy red can be stored in either tank.

You've pretty much convinced me to go for a 30gal flex over a 31gal Speidel, but I'm also going to need a 15 gal tank. Smaller FlexTank for that or is there any reason to consider a 15 gal Speidel?


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## hounddawg (Feb 22, 2017)

Not near that big but in the past I bulked in some HDPE containers some/most were for a year but several I had my pear/apple blend for two solid years and wine was great, 
Maybe I was just lucky but I have no problem doing again if I over my glass. Compassaty, I still keep six HDPE's in case, I got to slow down on making different kinds, getting to crazy, but there is so many different berries and fruits I wish to taste, if the lord allows me enough days I still got a bunch in line for a try, I guess instead of 6 to 7 kinds a year I could up it to 10 or 15, naw no rush if the lord calls first maybe he'll have a small glass or two, after all he was fine with wine just not being drunkard,, and a glass twice a day would be heavenly, I hope he stocks country wines or at least sweet white grape wines,
BTW mine are not super thick, they are thick but I figure as big as your talking they'd be thicker, 
Best of luck,
Dawg,





QUOTE=NorCal;609384]I have a 30g flextank and love it. I found some used 31 gallon Spiedel's for cheap. Can I age wine in these for a year? I can't find any manufacturer info on them.[/QUOTE]


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