Anyone use a Stainless Steel Primary Fermenter - for 3 or 6 gallon kits?

[winemaker81]

@rahulbr, for the amount of vines you're growing, you're thinking WAY too small.

Fall 2022 I purchased 19 lugs (684 US lbs) of grapes. I fermented in four 4 lug batches and three 1 lug batches for reasons of manageability. The large batches were in 32 gallon Rubbermaid Brutes, where I could have probably done 10-12 lugs, but my ability to manage would have been seriously reduced.

Consider how much volume of grapes you are producing, and think it through from there.

 

[rahulbr]

@winemaker81 thank you very much for the wake up call! I need to increase capacity by a lot. I've got 1/3 of a garage to work with, but let's see. Time to get planning and purchasing.

 

[szap]

I just transfered out of this fermenter from Anvil brewing to a carboy. This is my first use and everything seems to be going good. It is sure easy to clean.

https://www.anvilbrewing.com/7-gallon-bucket-fermenter

 

[Rice_Guy]

If I was starting a vineyard, my first big purchase would be a grape press. I don’t see an efficient way to juice what one gets from 80 vines.

I am an industry person so I really like stainless steel. It lasts and one can hit it with a fork lift and survive. I also like plastic since it is cost effective.
? What does wine require? Well oxidation is a biggie. That said the folks that I know who do big volumes have floating lids and if they are really picky they hav a floating lid and overwrap the top with a plastic lid and bleed nitrogen into the top. The cheaper version I have seen is to have HDPE plastic tanks and pressurize them with nitrogen to one or a half psig. I question if the cone bottom will let you adjust head space.

Have you visited some of the small wineries that sell most of their wine via a tasting room? There is a lot to be learned by copying what is usual in wine. One that is a size up from Bryan’s note is a local winery using a HDPE tote for the primary and then moving to SS with a floating lid.

 

[rahulbr]

Thanks as well @Rice_Guy I've just bought this wine press Marchisio Fruit Press | Wine Press | Ratcheting Basket Press | #35 | MoreWine and am considering a bladder press last minute, if it's just not enough. My hope is it will be enough, if I stagger pressing of whites and reds.

I've actually got 160 vines (~80 red, ~80 white) that reach their first full harvest this year, so doubly taking your and @winemaker81's advice. There are a few small vineyards near me in Southeast MI so I'll definitely visit and learn what they do.

Right now, I think my top bottleneck is just having enough fermentation capacity.

Am considering increasing fermentation capacity with these:
Speidel 7.9 gallon HDPE plastic fermenter

Klarstein Stainless Steel 25 liter: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Klarstei...me-Fermentation-Kettle-Beer-Brewer/1233731941

 

[Jim Welch]

I'll throw my 2 cents in based ony very limited experience take it with a grain of salt. I made wine from grapes last fall for the first time. I used a big 80 quart stainless steel pot that I have for other purposes. It worked well but my only concern was the temperature of the must got into the upper 80s and because the pot was aluminium clad on the bottom I think it may have retained heat more easily, especially closer to the bottom of the pot which could create warm pockets and potentially be too hot. I may try a plastic fermenter this year for that reason. But again, this was my first time working with grape so I'm learning as I go.

I don’t think the aluminum clad bottom has very much effect at all on heat retention, aluminum conducts and radiates heat much faster than stainless. Plus heat rises naturally.

On the occasion where my red wines have gotten too close to being too hot I’ve had great success cooling the fermenting must by wrapping the fermenter as tight as I can with a towel, spritzing water on the towel with a spray bottle, and then using a fan to circulate air to hasten the evaporation of the water from the towel.

It takes a surprising amount of energy to evaporate water and that energy comes right out of the must and cools it considerably.

They key is to have good contact between the towel and the wall of the fermentation vessel.
I’ve successfully used this technique with both plastic and stainless fermenters btw.

 

[Paulie vino]

That's a good tip about the towel. I'll keep it in mind. Thanks