Looking for stainless steel fermenting tanks

[WCN]

Hi all!

Does anyone have any experience sourcing used, good quality, large capacity fermenting tanks? My small orchard (~400 trees) is coming into bearing age, and it's time for me to start thinking about moving away from 5 gallon plastic carboys and put on my big boy pants.

I'm specifically looking for jacketed tanks, and I'm thinking 100-200 gallon sizes.

Thank you in advance!

 

[gregbathurst]

A lot of cidermakers use 220L plastic barrels and 1000L IBCs. It is best to keep them as full as possible. Variable capacity SS fermenters are good for those difficult volumes that won't fill an ordinary container. Jacketed SS tanks are expensive, I presume you want to cool the fermenting juice. It might be cheaper to use a cool room rather than jacketed tanks.

 

[jgmillr1]

Stpats has a wide array of stainless variable capacity tanks both with and without jackets. Some of the ones I've bought from them are the TD1000-C (1000L with jacket), TD2000 (2000L w/o jacket), and TD2000-C (2000L with jacket). The quality is good and they've held up just fine for years.

I've really enjoyed having the jackets on the tanks. The 1.5-ton glycol chiller can get the entire 2000L tank from room temp to 30deg in about 12 hours or so. One of the other wineries in the area has a freezer room they move the tanks into and it takes forever to get them chilled while they are paying huge electric bills to run the freezer. Glycol cooling with jacketed tanks saves space and money.

 

[WCN]

A lot of cidermakers use 220L plastic barrels and 1000L IBCs. It is best to keep them as full as possible. Variable capacity SS fermenters are good for those difficult volumes that won't fill an ordinary container. Jacketed SS tanks are expensive, I presume you want to cool the fermenting juice. It might be cheaper to use a cool room rather than jacketed tanks.

Greg, I will look into that. I think using jacketed tanks will probably save on my electric bill in the long run. In addition, it would allow me to cold-crash more efficiently than chilling a room. They are pricey and I have no idea where to find used ones, so I'll take a look at your suggestion as a plan B.

Stpats has a wide array of stainless variable capacity tanks both with and without jackets. Some of the ones I've bought from them are the TD1000-C (1000L with jacket), TD2000 (2000L w/o jacket), and TD2000-C (2000L with jacket). The quality is good and they've held up just fine for years.

jgmillr, I took a look at the site you recommended. Any idea where I can pick up one of these guys used? Also, what does "variable capacity" mean in the context of these tanks?

 

[jgmillr1]

Any idea where I can pick up one of these guys used? Also, what does "variable capacity" mean in the context of these tanks?

You order the tank off their website and they will ship it to you from their warehouse in Texas if you want it new. You would have to check with local wineries to see if anyone has a tank they are upgrading. Not many are available used though, from what I've seen.

A "variable capacity" tank has lid that can be lowered down to the level of the liquid in the tank. There is an inflatable gasket to seal up the lid and protect the wine from the air.