# Go big or go home... Right?



## JoshDivino (Aug 29, 2012)

Well I just got done with my taxes for the year and my return will be about $900. With that money my plan is to buy 4 carboys (3-5gallon and 1-6gallon) an 8 gallon fermenter, a straining bag, and a red mountain trio kit. All of this totals to about 400 dollars. My plan is to use the 6 gallon for my kit then let it age in the carboy for a year then bottle and age for another year. While thats going on I want to do several batches of skeeter pee, and many other less time sensitive wines. What do you guys think about this plan?


----------



## Rodnboro (Aug 29, 2012)

Sounds like a good plan to me. But wait, you still have $500 left!


----------



## JoshDivino (Aug 29, 2012)

Rodnboro said:


> Sounds like a good plan to me. But wait, you still have $500 left!



Yeah I'm going to save that for whatever comes next, maybe even the all in one wine pump


----------



## SmallTown (Aug 29, 2012)

I vote for a Floor Corker...


----------



## tchuklobrau (Aug 29, 2012)

SmallTown said:


> I vote for a Floor Corker...



+1 floor corker definitly a good thing to have.


----------



## JoshDivino (Aug 29, 2012)

I actually like using my handheld double lever, at least while I'm young and can bottle that way ha


----------



## spaniel (Aug 29, 2012)

Check local wine stores...one near my work rents a high quality floor corker (the kind it is hard to even find any more) for $5/day. So I bottle once per year...far better than owning one.

If you are looking for other equipment to buy I would think of...do you have space/interest in starting vines/trees, or perhaps testing equipment (pH meter etc).


----------



## JoshDivino (Aug 29, 2012)

spaniel said:


> Check local wine stores...one near my work rents a high quality floor corker (the kind it is hard to even find any more) for $5/day. So I bottle once per year...far better than owning one.
> 
> If you are looking for other equipment to buy I would think of...do you have space/interest in starting vines/trees, or perhaps testing equipment (pH meter etc).



Yeah I think PH equipment will be first then a corker, won't have space for vines or trees for about 5 years


----------



## Deezil (Aug 29, 2012)

Skip the 8 gallon fermenter and get a Brute or Roughneck trash can... 32-33 gallons.. If its over 6 gallons, it'll fit in most cases for the home winemaker.. They're only about 20 bucks, couple bucks more than you'd pay for that 8 gallon fermenter

Check out the Vinmetrica SC-300 before you spend the other 500

Floor corkers are so easy though, its hard to not have one


----------



## keena (Aug 30, 2012)

You might find it handy to have a second 6 gal carboy for racking purposes.





Deezil said:


> Skip the 8 gallon fermenter and get a Brute or Roughneck trash can... 32-33 gallons.. If its over 6 gallons, it'll fit in most cases for the home winemaker.. They're only about 20 bucks, couple bucks more than you'd pay for that 8 gallon fermenter


Wait, WHAT!? are those food safe? I totally want to do 30 gal of skeeter pee! Where you get them?


Edit: like this? Seems too simple.. Lol

http://m.homedepot.com/p/Rubbermaid-Roughneck-32-Gallon-Trash-Can-Black/100656030/


----------



## Deezil (Aug 30, 2012)

Should be... I have a rectangular, green, 33 gallon roughneck

They arent wine-safe for long periods of time, but primary fermentation isnt usually a long amount of time - not long enough to worry about the acids leaching anything out of the plastic in any amount that'd hurt anyone..

It's worked just fine for me in the past, with no ill effects

Grapeman has a picture around here somewhere where he has like half a dozen brute trash cans when his vines put off more than he expected, he had to come up with more fermenters fast & they worked out for him as well


----------



## Boatboy24 (Aug 30, 2012)

I'd be tempted to go with 2 five gallon carboys and 2 sixes; instead of 3 fives and 1 six.

If you find a Red Mountain Trio, please let me know. Mine is clearing now, and I'm wishing I had another.


----------



## UBB (Aug 30, 2012)

Don't buy your straining bags from a wine shop. Just go to your local home improvement store ie Menards, Lowes ect ect and buy the 5 gallon paint straining bags. You can get a 2 pk for about $4. Sanitize and you're GTG! Much cheaper option.


----------



## southlake333 (Aug 30, 2012)

keena said:


> Wait, WHAT!? are those food safe? I totally want to do 30 gal of skeeter pee! Where you get them?



 Genius! 

But I bet my wife would kill me...


----------



## keena (Aug 30, 2012)

Haha, yea that ones a bit tough to hide, but I think I'm gunna go for it


----------



## JoshDivino (Aug 30, 2012)

keena said:


> Haha, yea that ones a bit tough to hide, but I think I'm gunna go for it



wooh! Good luck, let me know how it turns out!


----------



## Dend78 (Aug 30, 2012)

well if your going big might as well make it 4 sixes or 5 if your getting a 32 gallon trash can err uh primary


----------



## keena (Aug 30, 2012)

Haha, I don't think josh is goin to do the trash can idea. I have roughly 10 carboys in the 5-6.5 gal range. And about half are empty, I know I know... What's wrong with me. Haha


----------



## JoshDivino (Aug 30, 2012)

Yeah Im not ready to do the 32 gallon primary yet, it'll be some time before I have that kind of space.


----------



## Dend78 (Aug 30, 2012)

i hear ya 32 gallon primary, could you imagine a bad batch


----------



## JoshDivino (Aug 30, 2012)

Dend78 said:


> i hear ya 32 gallon primary, could you imagine a bad batch



oh man, that would be so heartbreaking. You'd have to really master your wine on the small batches before feeling comfortable to bulking 32 gallons!


----------



## Dend78 (Aug 30, 2012)

you would have to use the shop-vac brand wine pump to transfer


----------



## Deezil (Aug 30, 2012)

It not necessarily for putting 30 gallons of liquid in it... But what else are you gonna stuff 100+ pounds into when you want a good 10 gallon batch? The trash cans come in handy for decent sized batches of fruit wines with lots of solids...

Tom basically called me crazy when i made a 112lbs batch of red raspberry that yielded about 12 gallons.. But it fit wonderfully, was only about 2/3 of the way full & its one of the best wines ive made so far...

I only have 2 fermenters, a 12 gallon for anything under about 8 gallons and hte 32 gallon for anything over..

You can make 30 gallons of pee in one, and Lon did so, but it has a lot more options y'all havent considered yet... Just wait til you find that deal on fruit and you cant walk away from any of it (like 28lbs of frozen red raspberries for 25 bucks)... It'll happen to Josh, here in WA.. I promise that.


----------



## Deezil (Aug 30, 2012)

JoshDivino said:


> oh man, that would be so heartbreaking. You'd have to really master your wine on the small batches before feeling comfortable to bulking 32 gallons!



Large batches are generally more forgiving than smaller batches... It's easier to notice the flaws in a 1-gallon batch of wine than it is in a 30 gallon batch of wine...


----------



## jswordy (Aug 30, 2012)

keena said:


> You might find it handy to have a second 6 gal carboy for racking purposes.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 

The Brute is food safe and has the food safe symbol on lid and can. It is safe for acids, etc., or it could not earn the symbol The Roughneck is not food safe. I have a 20 gallon Brute. Marvelous.


----------



## keena (Aug 30, 2012)

Darn, the brute its alot more expensive. But I'll def go with it if I'm doin skeeter pee. Time to start searching! What's the symbol that your talking about?


----------



## Deezil (Aug 30, 2012)

Pretty sure they're made of the same grade of plastic (the number in the triangle on the bottom of the can).. There's a thread on here some where about it, i had pulled up charts describing the differences between the numbers on the plastics used.... 

If they've since-added the food safe symbol in the last 2 years to the Brute cans, its news to me 'cause thats the first ive heard of it

Edit: I'm assuming the price difference is mostly because A) Brute cans are a bit thicker plastic than Roughnecks & B ) the extra testing they employed to get the nifty little stamp...


----------



## keena (Aug 30, 2012)

My google search is telling me I want a number 5 in the triangle. Is that correct?


----------



## Deezil (Aug 30, 2012)

Pretty sure you want a 1, 2 or a 4...

1 & 2 can be used for long term storage - think Better Bottles - i think they're a grade 1 (PET plastic).. 4 is okay for short-term storage / primary fermentation

My bottling bucket is a 2 (HDPE)
The roughneck is a 4 (LDPE)
Cant look on the bottom of my other fermenter right now, its full of peaches but pretty sure its a 4 too


----------



## JoshDivino (Aug 30, 2012)

Yeah I'm sure your right deezil, but I just don't have the space for that big of a batch right now!


----------



## keena (Aug 30, 2012)

When I searched I found a chart for them and the example they have for a 5 was beer crates, maybe that's just the case that holds the beer cans or something. Ok so I want a type 1 or 2 plastic preferred but a 4 is ok. 

Also know that the number has nothing to do with food grade. Its just the type of plastic it is. Most people think certain numbers are food grade because they see these numbers on their every day food containers. These just tell you what type of plastic the container its made off. To be sold as Legal food grade containers it must be a certain type of plastic and brand new materials. The trash cans are most likely recycled material, but personally I don't see a problem with recycled plastic anyways. Brute trash can, here I come!


----------



## JoshDivino (Aug 31, 2012)

Very interesting! If only I had the space for a 32 gallon bucket...


----------



## Deezil (Aug 31, 2012)

Pretty sure it said on the rubbermaid website that they didnt contain any recycled plastics but im by-no-means an expert on any of this, just sharing what i learned doing my own research roughly 2yrs ago

But you're right, "food safe" is a classification of its own, and if brute trash cans have earned that approval thats great but food safe also hints at long-term storage, in order to actually have the amount of time pass to worry about the leaching effects on the contents... Not something we'd generally have to worry about unless we fermented a white wine / mead for several months

The numbers do have everything to do with what chemicals & the rate at which they're leached though, which makes all the difference in the world... So while it doesnt have much to do with "food safe", it does have something to do what we're trying to accomplish


----------



## JohnT (Aug 31, 2012)

A rather late "weigh in". 

for $900, you could easily afford a 300 liter stainless steel variable capacity tank. Why go big when you can go huge?


----------



## saramc (Aug 31, 2012)

If you want to use the trash can sized containers and worry about food-grade, just buy some food grade liners. They are easily found at restaurant supply stores (onsite and online), and clean up is a SNAP---remove liner, quick wash/sanitizing of container and you are done. (and if you ever work with fresh elderberries, the liner attracts the famous green goo). I have two rectangular lugs, and I cannot recall the volume off the top of my head but I know they easily hold 55# of grapes plus 10 gallons of liquid.

I would recommend having at least 1 three gallon carboy in your inventory, it comes in handy because some kits are only three gallons, plus you never know when you will need it for your own recipes..when you think you will have a six gallon yield but end up with nine, etc. And do not forget to have an assortment of smaller glass bottles (1 gallon, 1.5 liter, etc)--they work well for the overage that many of us create to provide a "topping up" wine of the same batch. Also remember that if you ultimately plan on using vacuum pump, you will want glass carboys, not Better Bottles---though you can find a balance of use between the two styles of carboys.

Hope your plan comes together!!


----------



## keena (Aug 31, 2012)

That liner sounds great, not because of the food grade issue, more so the clean up! Im going to have to look for some!


----------



## Deezil (Aug 31, 2012)

I'd probably use a liner myself, when working with a cool-fermenting white or mead (if i wanted to achieve weeks in fermentation, 55F-ish) because of the extended time in contact with the plastics.. sounds like a hellovan idear


----------



## JoshDivino (Aug 31, 2012)

Deezil said:


> I'd probably use a liner myself, when working with a cool-fermenting white or mead (if i wanted to achieve weeks in fermentation, 55F-ish) because of the extended time in contact with the plastics.. sounds like a hellovan idear



Yeah it sounds like the liner is definitely the best way to bulk batches of wine


----------

