Beer Fermenters?

[AncoraImparo]

I'm curious whether there's any reason not to use conical jacketed beer fermenters for white wines. They wouldn't be practical for wines on skins. But for just fermenting white juice, it seems like they might be a good option, no? As long as there's an access port of some kind on top?

 

[Rice_Guy]

I use a number of uncommon fermenters. There is no reason to not try it. Now that said a primary frequently is an open top pail. I will try to have a white / country under airlock or with a silicone lid by 1.020 to 1.050. At the one month racking in something with low headspace. , , , ie If you control oxygen it sounds OK.

welcome to WMT

 

[mainshipfred]

I've always thought you have to be careful making beer and wine in the same area with the same equipment do to the brettanomyces with making beer. One winery I belong to that serves both wine and beer doesn't allow beer in the winemaking area.

 

[VinesnBines]

On the other hand, I use the same equipment for not beer and wine. If you make Brett beers though, don’t mix it up. I store wine in stainless beer kegs. Easier to handle than glass.

 

[bloombrews]

@AncoraImparo , I am a beer brewer since 1994, and just recently decided to start making Wine again (last time, 2017)
I had a hard time trying to find if you can repitch new wine must, on top of the Lees at the bottom of the Conical from a batch just transferred to my Brite Tanks. I was worried, since I did NOT see any heavy yeast cake, like you do with a just-fermented out beer. I used Lalvin Bourgovin RC-212 wine yeast. The previous batch of Zinfandel wine, I just purposely stopped the fermentation at 1.007 SG (1.8 Brix), crashed cooled it to as cold as I could, (44F) for 3 days, to drop the yeast out
I then bought 12 more gallons of Pinot Noir juice, from California. I dumped the 12 gallons onto the remaining lees at the bottom of the Coni, Aerated the fresh must good, added some yeast nutrients, and set a new computerized temperature profile to ramp the cold new must up from 52F to 79F, over the next 4 hours.
It was very successful ! The new Pinot Noir started to blow off CO2 in only a few hours.
My Questions still is - Is it "common" not to have a thick, heavy, yellowish/white, yeast cake, at the bottom of your fermentor, like beer.
And #2, is it also possible to repitch new must juice onto the Lees from a previous batch, as long as it still is fresh and not reused more than 2-4 times??
I can not be the only one, that is using Uni Tank, Conicals for fermenting wine.....

 

[AncoraImparo]

See I was just wondering about this. It's so common for brewers to repitch yeast from the bottom of a tank that's just finished fermenting, but do winemakers even do that? Maybe it's not so common because the fermentations all happen simultaneously or very close to one another due to harvest times. Beer, on the other hand, can be made anytime, and you can schedule your brew day based on when the yeast from the previous batch will be available to harvest.

 

[VinesnBines]

You can reuse wine yeast and many people do when making a second run or a Skeeter Pee style wine.

I don’t generally reuse yeast because I’m making different varieties of wines and just pitch fresh. I will however add some pomace or pressed skins back to a fresh batch of grapes but I still add fresh yeast.

As you may know, yeast will change over time and you might not like what you get and saving yeast can be tricky.

 

[back2it]

I have started to add my new mango creation ontop of the lees from my old mango. I will be on my third batch tomorrow but it's only been about a month since No.1 was started so I'm not sure of the outcome yet.

No.2 seemed to be a slower/less vigorous fermentaion. Lets see what happens to No.3. when I rack and pitch tomorrow.

 

[bloombrews]

You can reuse wine yeast and many people do when making a second run or a Skeeter Pee style wine.

I don’t generally reuse yeast because I’m making different varieties of wines and just pitch fresh. I will however add some pomace or pressed skins back to a fresh batch of grapes but I still add fresh yeast.

As you may know, yeast will change over time and you might not like what you get and saving yeast can be tricky.

I added fresh juice directly on top of the fermented wine/yeast/lees, at the bottom of the conical fermentor. The fermented wine was racked off to a brite tank, only an hour before I added the fresh wine juice.
It literally started to ferment in only an hour later - CO2 started to blow off that fast. What was at the bottom of the cone, had NO thick creamy white/yellow, yeast slurry, that I am used to seeing with a fermented out beer. I assume now, that you will not see a thick yeast cake, when making wine.
Yes, reusing older yeast slurry, without washing it, or if it mutates after a few generations, is always a concern if you do not have a laboratory to plate it out and analyze it.
It went from 1.095 to now 1.045 (22.7 brix to 11.2), in ONLY 44 hours!
I will follow up, on the taste of it, soon, to see if it is the same delicious Pinot Noir from the first yeast pitch, a couple of weeks ago. Now getting ready for a Malolactic Fermentation of the first batch