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Anybody purchase and of the 15G Flextanks? They have caught my eye. I want the Micro Ox!
Anybody purchase and of the 15G Flextanks? They have caught my eye. I want the Micro Ox!
Flextank
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derekjames100
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I have one. I do like it but my all in one wine pump doesn't work with it so racking is a pain. Also a slight leak from the spigot. But it is amazing with how little space one can store 15 gallons.
Thats a great question, how do you know where the sediment line is when you can't see it or do you just wait till the wine is clear before long term bulk aging?
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I know some people use the Allinonewinepump to pump into flex tanks - I believe it was commented on the review section.
I would definitely go with a 1/2'' racking cane setup to keep the vacuum lower and the flow more.
Please PM me if you have any questions
JohnT posted this -
They are a lot more sturdy than you might think.
I have handled them for over 20 years and have always vacu-racked them. I never once had a problem.
2-11-2014
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derekjames100
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Racking out of the tank into carboys is obviously no problem. Racking back into it carefully using the all in one caused it to implode. I considered using larger tubing but didn't want to ruin the tank given the effort it took to get it back to close to normal.
As far as how I do it-- I rack into glass carboys from the flex.
This makes it easy to see and also you can lift them to rack by gravity back into the flex tank later. Once I get close to the bottom of the flex tank and notice the wine becoming cloudy I stop. The first 2 carboys are clear (10 gallons) and you can split the last 5 gallons into two 3 gallon carboys, the last of which has any sediment that may have been picked up. After a day or so it separates out and you can rack the top layer back into the tank with the other two carboys by gravity.
Do they make a floating lid of sorts in case you only have say 14G in a 15G tank? Definitely looking into a couple of these to try out if it can provide the micro oxidation of a barrel.
derekjames100
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Mine is not variable capacity. I don't believe any of them are
I believe they do have a floating balloon-type.
I just emailed them with a few questions including the availability of a floating or balloon lid. Its not a show stopper but sure would be nice to have in case you only had 13 or 14 gallons. The nice part is that there would be no more topping up every two weeks so just check SO2 levels every so often and rack. Trying to find out how long you can store a wine in a 15G Flextank in order to achieve the same amount of micro-oxidation as a small barrel.
derekjames100
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They don't have variable lids...I tried that a while back. They also said there is a limit as to how long wine should stay in them...i don't remember exactly but it was not as long as I hoped. Let us know what they say
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stickman
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My understanding is they take the surface to volume ratio and then tweak the plastic formulation and wall thickness to achieve an oxygen permeation rate similar to a second year 59 gallon barrel. I'm not sure if they were able to do this with the 15gal model, but that is what they have claimed down to the 30gal model. I too am interested to hear what they say, my guess is there will be considerably less oxygen permeation through the flextank vs. a small 5gal barrel.
Well so far not impressed by the response time. LOL Emailed them using their online form yesterday morning and still no response as of this morning. Might be a busy time of year for them. I currently use 23L Vadai's and was looking to give a 15G a try and see how it compares as far as micro ox. I usually leave wines in the barrel for 6 months as that is plenty of micro oxidation then rotate another in keeping the barrel full 365. It would be nice if the Flextank would be slower so they could stay in for a full year, you then could rack back to carboy for another year and then refill with this years wine. Rinse, repeat.
They were prompt in responding to my email a while back.
I agree they may be really busy as other wine equipment manufacturers. As a matter of fact, I emailed Lafitte about the corks last week (TWICE) and yet no response.
Let us know what you find out from FlexTank. I think you may want to give them a call.
I agree they may be really busy as other wine equipment manufacturers. As a matter of fact, I emailed Lafitte about the corks last week (TWICE) and yet no response.
Let us know what you find out from FlexTank. I think you may want to give them a call.
I suspect Lafitte is busy as well. I believe I called them and immediately got transferred to a sales rep who helped me start the ball rolling by sending out a huge box of cork examples for my inspection. Like about 10 each of everything they offered. NOTE: the corks are not waxed so you can't insert them/use them, they are just to show the differences in cork quality and its difficult to (accurately) judge with only a single sample as you might get a good one or not so good one.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
I had response from Lafitte within an hour or two. (from an email inquiry)
I emailed the Flextank VP of Operations this AM and got a quick response back. Seems my online form submission went into the round filing cabinet.
"Our EM15, 15 gallon Eco maturation tank, has the O2 permeation of a second use / second year barrel. They are engineered for a permeation rate of 17mg / liter / year with an average cellar temperature of 55 F. They do need to be kept fully topped off unless you keep the head space regularly topped off with an inert gas such as Argon or Nitrogen. They are easy to clean compared to an oak barrel with the 6'' top opening and staining can be removed quite easily with an overnight soak in a 2% caustic soda. Aging time in the tank is equal to or less than the barrel."
Like Peyton Manning says in that new Nationwide commercial....... "I like it" LOL
Going to spring for a 15G to try out this year and if it works as advertised get another next year. Ground shipping was a little pricy for a "plastic jug". $49 from the West coast to the soon to be West coast. LOL Lets get this party started!
"Our EM15, 15 gallon Eco maturation tank, has the O2 permeation of a second use / second year barrel. They are engineered for a permeation rate of 17mg / liter / year with an average cellar temperature of 55 F. They do need to be kept fully topped off unless you keep the head space regularly topped off with an inert gas such as Argon or Nitrogen. They are easy to clean compared to an oak barrel with the 6'' top opening and staining can be removed quite easily with an overnight soak in a 2% caustic soda. Aging time in the tank is equal to or less than the barrel."
Like Peyton Manning says in that new Nationwide commercial....... "I like it" LOL
Going to spring for a 15G to try out this year and if it works as advertised get another next year. Ground shipping was a little pricy for a "plastic jug". $49 from the West coast to the soon to be West coast. LOL Lets get this party started!
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