stainless is awesome, but we just can afford it. so far the plastic is good. we have a few soft scrubbers to clean them and it takes a little time. i will say though, the primaries are not as suitable as they will bow out with more than 150 gal in them and they are supposed to hold 240 gal. this means we cannot ferment two larger batches at once. not an issue right now, but might be if we expand. that said, i hope we can afford a nicer ss tank to ferment in that can do 300 gal. also, the 300 gal are not easy to clean from the top due to being taller.
we have about 600-700 gallons going right now. i'm not sure on the exact number, but in that ballpark. i will announce the starting lineup closer to opening. i would hate to have a competor beat us to the punch, as there are 7 wineries close, 2 not too far and i hear more might be opening.
that said, all batches have gone well and i've even changed up some of normal yeast variants per batch due to wade and others ravings of the red starr brand. we used to use them more (about 5 years ago), but stalled batches converted us to using lalvin. now we have a better understanding of wine, better tools and more control over fermentation, so we are trying a few new/old (?) things.
in this economy i could see getting some good used tanks, but i'm not sure if our AVA area is being hit so bad. so there might not be what we need in this area for pickup.
On a side note, my aunt brought her own honey from her hives in the country and we've made our FIRST mead. Considering all the other wines we've done, i'm glad we're trying mead as i do like it from what i've tasted. Her bees were working on wild prairie, so the taste is a very complex flowery (<is there a word for it?) taste and aroma. Very impressed with the honey and i wish we could get good honey commercially for a descent price. We will look into that after this batch is finished.
Grapeman, i like your active role in critisicms and feedback. It's good to get some real feedback from people with knowledge and experience. New ideas are always welcome!