A 10,000 L tank is usually the point where a winery stops running trial lots and starts holding a fixed production schedule. At that volume fermentation heat becomes the limiting factor: an active must can gain several degrees in a day, and once it passes roughly 30 °C the yeast response changes, aromatics flatten and a stuck ferment becomes a real risk. That is why this vessel is jacketed and insulated rather than a plain storage tank.

Fabrication details
Shell and cone in 304 stainless steel, or 316L when the must, the wash water or the cleaning chemistry is aggressive. Food-contact welds are full penetration and argon purged on the back side, then ground, pickled and passivated so no crevice holds juice. Internal surface is 2B finish; a finer polish is available if you clean on a tight rotation.

Insulation is 80 mm rock wool, 100 mm in cold cellars, held under a 304 cladding sheet that is riveted rather than spot-welded so it can be lifted off for jacket inspection. The dimple jacket covers the cylindrical shell and, on request, the cone as well. The cone jacket adds cooling area and shortens the drop from fermentation temperature to 10 °C, which matters when you are scheduling the next lot into the same tank.

Questions we get before orders

Can the same tank run reds? Yes, but red must needs a wider manway and a punch-down or pump-over arrangement, so tell us the variety at quotation stage. Dimple jacket or external tube coil? Dimple gives more contact area in the same footprint; tube coils are easier to repair in place. What about pressure? The jacket is a closed circuit — always fit the relief valve we supply and never blank it off. CIP is normally 1.5–2 % caustic at 60–70 °C through the spray ball, followed by a citric acid rinse and a cold water flush; the racking arm and sample valve come apart without tools. A cone bottom is worth the cost when you plan to drop lees or seed a secondary ferment; a flat bottom is fine for pure storage.

Small craft producers often order two 10,000 L tanks instead of one 20,000 L unit so they can stagger lots. Commercial cellars usually want the cone jacketed and the glycol supply sized first, since a tank that cools well on paper can stall when the chiller is shared across eight vessels. Send us your batch size, wine type, ceiling height, door width, glycol supply temperature and tank count. We can recommend the volume, cooling area and configuration for your cellar.