Where a 5000L Tank Fits in a Real Winery

Two kinds of customers ask us about this size. One is a winery that has outgrown a row of 1000L tanks and wants fewer, larger lots. The other is a fruit wine or cider producer moving off open-top bins into a closed vessel with temperature control. Both are dealing with the same practical problem: holding must steady through the violent part of fermentation, when a two-degree drift changes what ends up in the bottle.

Construction Details We Do Not Skip

The shell is 304 stainless, 3mm, with 2mm dish ends; 316L is worth the upgrade when the must is high-acid or the tank will also run cider and berry juice. Interior welds are ground flush and passivated, finished to Ra ≤ 0.8µm on product-contact surfaces. Cooling jackets are dimple plate covering 60–70% of the shell, sized for glycol at -5°C. That coverage is not a marketing number — undersized jackets are the most common reason a tank cannot pull a must from 24°C down to 16°C inside the window the yeast allows.

The top is either a fixed dome with a 400mm manway or a removable lid, depending on how you plan to clean and load. We fit a bubbler or dry-trap port, a CIP spray ball on the dome centerline, and a sample valve at mid-height. Standard working pressure is 0.2–0.3 bar; if you want to sparge or hold pressure, tell us and we build to 1.5 bar with a matching relief valve. A sloped or conical bottom suits red cap management and pumpover; whites and most fruit wines are fine with a sloped flat bottom and a racking arm.

Questions Buyers Ask Us Most

Can one tank handle red and white? Yes, but a red setup needs a larger manway for cap punching and a bottom valve sized for seed and skin. Tighten the clearance and you will be digging must out by hand.

What glycol flow do I need? Plan on a chiller sized 20–30% above the jacket duty. A 5000L tank at full fermentation rejects heat quickly for two or three days, then almost nothing.

How is cleaning handled? A dome-mounted spray ball with a 2 bar CIP pump and a 1.5-inch drain is enough for routine cycles. Rotating spray heads reach the upper shell better on taller tanks.

Before quoting, our engineers need your batch size, must type, target fermentation temperature, available floor space and ceiling height, and whether the tank is indoors or on an open crush pad. Send those and we will come back with tank volume, jacket area, valve layout and port positions.