Pitching the Barrel

Hey everyone.

About three years ago I restarted the old family tradition of making wine. (I married into a big Sicilian family). My wife's grandfather used to make 50 gallons of zinfandel in old brandy casks. After some convincing I got him to compromise on a 30 gallon medium toast oak barrel, which I got from Kelvin Cooperage.

The trouble is that caring for a barrel when you only use it for 4 months a year is a pain. I also followed some bad advice when I first got it about soda washing. (Way too much soda: way too long a wash.) So as this barrel rides slowly off into the sunset I'm looking to switch to a tank of some kind.

We "need" to make about the same volume as before (30 gallons for the clan ) and we're thinking that a conical could be nice. Does anyone else make this volume and have any experience with larger vessels, and what are your thoughts?

Conicals or other, stainless or other. Any advice would be helpful.

Cheers!

True, a conical would be nice. I'm a cheapskate, though, and for 30 gallons, I'd live with 6 carboys. I currently have 5 gallons in secondary, and 17 gallons in primary. I'll make more wine next week. All it takes is a few buckets and carboys.

If I had the money, I'd probably invest in two 14 gallon conicals if I wanted a 30 gallon batch a year. (I'd just make a 28 gallon batch, and tell people that grandpa drank two gallons).

Sadly I don't have the space for the beer, the hard cider, and an additional 7 glass carboys for wine. Cost is enough of an issue that two 14 gallon conicals probably isn't a feasible solution. Heck, I'm not even sure that a conical is necessary. All I know is that I don't really want to deal with the oak barrel anymore.

I don't doubt that the oak had the potential to make an excellent wine, I just don't think I had the skill to get that out of it. We've had flood conditions 4 of the last 5 years and the basement has gotten some water and resulting mold so I just don't want to chance barrel infection.

Oh and my "makers share" is quite enough to hide 2 gallons without having to blame old men.

32 gallon trash can for fermenter and 2 15.5 stainless steel beer kegs for storage. Keep your receipt so you can get your deposit back when you are finished with the kegs.

We primary ferment in a big 50 gallon food grade plastic drum, which works nicely. The 15 gallon sanke kegs have specialized fittings, don't they? Or are you talking about another type of bar keg?

Has anyone ever used any of these tanks?

http://www.tank-depot.com/product.aspx?id=854

Actually more to the point, how to people feel about long-term storage with plastic? Are there any issues associated with flavor or anything else?

If you are using a food grade plastic with an airlock you should be fine. I have several 5 and 6 gallon plastic carboys that work very well for my secondary fermentation and bulk storage and don't taint the wine with any 'plasticy' taste or smell.

The biggest concern I would say is that plastic can scratch leaving places for bacteria to accumulate. Just make sure it is sanitized very well.

I don't know anything about those linked but to be safe and for some piece of mind you may want to find out if the molding process of the formed polyethylene is FDA approved. There is a FDA approved method for making polyethylene containers.

Yeah being dual-use wine and biodiesel seems a bit odd.

Upon greater research I'm actually considering this as an option over the dubious wine / biodiesel option.

http://www.flextankusa.com/eco-maturation-products-30.php

These seem to have many of the advantages of a barrel without evaporation and care issues and isn't a completely sealed off environment like other plastics.

I was fortunate enough to visit a local vineyard today where the vintner uses these containers. He loves them and he makes darned good wine to boot. If you are in the area, his vineyard is Fulchinos Vineyards and it is in Southern New Hampshire.

Anyone else try these Flextanks?

Another option I've yet to hear is 14 gallon demi-johns. You might have to search a bit online, but my LHBS was able to order the one I have and it only cost me $45 + tax. And well, it all glass and you would have no worries about air infiltration. They come in a nice plastic overflow bucket too.

You could also use a big 50 gallon food grade bucket for primary as suggested and cornie kegs for secondary. These can easily be tucked out of the way into corners, closets, etc.