How many carboys before larger tank

[DaveMcC]

For anyone who has switched from glass carboys to stainless steel tanks, I'm thinking about smaller or medium sized variable capacity tanks for primary and secondary/bulk aging.
How many carboys (6 and or 5 gallon) did any of you have in use before it made sense to go with larger tanks?

 

[BarrelMonkey]

This is the 2019 Sauvignon Blanc that I made with my neighbor and a few friends. 1T grapes, primary fermentation in >30 5-gallon carboys. I think we ended up with ~25 5-gal carboys after racking

This was somewhat insane and I don't think I'd recommend it, but it is doable! I think my personal limit would be about 1/2 this amount - even then, a tank (or two) would make things a LOT easier...

 

[winemaker81]

How many carboys (6 and or 5 gallon) did any of you have in use before it made sense to go with larger tanks?

How large are your batches?

From my own experiences, if you have 4 carboys of a wine, it makes sense to go with a single container that can hold 3/4 of that, e.g., I use 54 liter barrels and demijohns. If your tank is variable size, then you don't have my limitation of needing topup wine.

One big advantage of a larger container is that you know you're not gonna move it. I purchased a wine pump and won't do much siphoning in the future.

My back hurts just looking at all of @BarrelMonkey's carboys ...

 

[DaveMcC]

Just two 6 gal. carboys per variety now but planning on expanding in the fall. 6 carboys currently, going to 12 or 15, which seems too many. May look at barrels too. Lots to consider, which is part of the fun.

 

[reeflections]

I have 19 carboys - 2 6G, 3 3G, 14 5G. Several 1G as well. Plus a 10 gallon ferment bucket. I'm still pretty new at this and I only do fruit wines, but since I am experimenting with lots of different kinds of fruit right now, I can't see using tanks yet. Maybe once I narrow it down to where I am making a lot of one kind, I could think about having a tank or barrel for it but would probably still use glass carboys for experimenting with different kinds. Also, because I'm new at it and experimenting, something could go wrong with a batch and losing 5 gallons is bad enough.

 

[NorCal]

I think my favorite mid size container is the 16 gallon Spiedel cube, good for 6 cases and a few more bottles of wine. It is a bargain at $99 with free shipping. It has the screw down top, which provides a good seal. The mouth is big enough to get in and clean. Light, easy to clean, good O2 protection, use for fermenting with airlock or storage with solid screw top. From the 16 gallon Spiedel, I go to a 60 gallon barrel.

 

[balatonwine]

I think my favorite mid size container is the 16 gallon Spiedel cube, good for 6 cases and a few more bottles of wine.

I have quite a few Spiedel containers. And I think the 60 L** is a good size (and it is not a cube (which requires six square faces and squares must be of equal length on each side... Yes, a little math in the forums each and every evening. ), but more a rectangular shape). As is the 100 L. But avoid the 200 L at the top of the photo (difficult to clean out from the small hole on top). Hope this helps.

**Side note: For those in some Commonwealth countries, 16 US gallons is 60 liters***, but only 13 Imperial gallons.... Yes, a little Geography in the forum each and every evening.

*** Side note: In many countries, it is spelled litres. Yes, a little linguistics in the forum, each and every evening.

 

[NorCal]

I have quite a few Spiedel containers. And I think the 60 L** is a good size (and it is not a cube (which requires six square faces and squares must be of equal length on each side... Yes, a little math in the forums each and every evening. ), but more a rectangular shape).

Rectangular cuboid, in the cube family