# wine juice by the drum



## olusteebus (Mar 28, 2014)

I found some vendors that ship grape juice in 55 or 60 gallon drums. Seems the cost runs around $950 to $1100 for a drum. I figure (could be low or high) about 100 to 150 for shipping. Thus it would be $1100 to $1250 for a drum. Say it is 60 gallons, that would be $3.60 to 4.40 a bottle. After loosing some, it would be about $4 to $5 bucks a bottle.

That is not a real big savings over the cost of an Eclipse kit. Msybe my assumptions are off. I would like to split a drum with some friends if I could save significant money by buying drums. 

Any comments or suggestions


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## Runningwolf (Mar 28, 2014)

I am in the process of looking into selling fresh juice in pails, drums and totes.


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## pjd (Mar 28, 2014)

olusteebus said:


> I found some vendors that ship grape juice in 55 or 60 gallon drums. Seems the cost runs around $950 to $1100 for a drum. I figure (could be low or high) about 100 to 150 for shipping. Thus it would be $1100 to $1250 for a drum. Say it is 60 gallons, that would be $3.60 to 4.40 a bottle. After loosing some, it would be about $4 to $5 bucks a bottle.
> 
> That is not a real big savings over the cost of an Eclipse kit. Msybe my assumptions are off. I would like to split a drum with some friends if I could save significant money by buying drums.
> 
> Any comments or suggestions


 
I bought 2 drums of Chilean juice last spring. One of Malbec and the other was Carmenere. the price of the drums was just slightly less than the same volume in pails. this year I have ordered juice but all in pails. Handling is the biggest issue. I had to rig a pump to off load the juice and transfer to the wine room. The extra work involved negated any savings.


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## olusteebus (Mar 29, 2014)

Runningwolf said:


> I am in the process of looking into selling fresh juice in pails, drums and totes.



I assume that would be pick up only, right?


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## Runningwolf (Mar 29, 2014)

No we ship totes of 275 gallons but just in infancy stage of looking into shipping pails of fresh juice and concord concentrates right now.


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## MrKevin (Mar 29, 2014)

Runningwolf said:


> No we ship totes of 275 gallons but just in infancy stage of looking into shipping pails of fresh juice and concord concentrates right now.



Dan
See what you can do about shipping to Alaska, PIW charges about 3 times what George charges. 

Thanks 
Kevin


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## Runningwolf (Mar 29, 2014)

Hey Kevin you night be better off finding a suplier in Washington or Oregon. I couldn't even imagine the price to ship there and fermentation would probably start half way up there. I would love to make it up there some time myself, my sil lives in Fairbanks and always sends awesome pictures from there. Plus one of our original members lives up there and still pops in a few times a year.


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## JohnT (Apr 4, 2014)

olusteebus said:


> I found some vendors that ship grape juice in 55 or 60 gallon drums. Seems the cost runs around $950 to $1100 for a drum. I figure (could be low or high) about 100 to 150 for shipping. Thus it would be $1100 to $1250 for a drum. Say it is 60 gallons, that would be $3.60 to 4.40 a bottle. After loosing some, it would be about $4 to $5 bucks a bottle.
> 
> That is not a real big savings over the cost of an Eclipse kit. Msybe my assumptions are off. I would like to split a drum with some friends if I could save significant money by buying drums.
> 
> Any comments or suggestions


 

hmmm.. 

I did some math as well. 

if I need 50 (18 lb) lugs to fill a 225 liter barrel, 
and a good price around here is $26 per 18 pound lug of grapes, 

Then the cost of grapes would be $1,300.00. 

I am surprised. I would figure that fresh grapes would cost less then bucket juice.


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## Boatboy24 (Apr 4, 2014)

JohnT said:


> hmmm..
> 
> I did some math as well.
> 
> ...



Not for me. Grapes are significantly more expensive. I get 6 gallon buckets for about $50. Grapes are typically $28 for Chilean (18lbs) and about double (depending on what you get) for California (36 lbs). Grapes in my case are no cheaper than high end kits.


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## JohnT (Apr 4, 2014)

Boatboy24 said:


> Not for me. Grapes are significantly more expensive. I get 6 gallon buckets for about $50. Grapes are typically $28 for Chilean (18lbs) and about double (depending on what you get) for California (36 lbs). Grapes in my case are no cheaper than high end kits.


 
Jim, 

If you ever wanted to take a 5 hour drive up north, I could show you my guy in Clifton. If you ever needed to do some major shopping, the trip would be worth your while.


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## Boatboy24 (Apr 4, 2014)

JohnT said:


> Jim,
> 
> If you ever wanted to take a 5 hour drive up north, I could show you my guy in Clifton. If you ever needed to do some major shopping, the trip would be worth your while.



Believe me, I've thought about it. As it is, I'm driving two hours north. Haven't been able to find any suppliers in NoVa. Although I'm sure I could get my hands on plenty of local grapes - and I'd like to do that at some point.


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