What the tank is actually for

A jacketed wine fermentation tank is a temperature-control vessel first and a container second. Red must usually runs 24–28 °C at the peak of fermentation; whites and rosé sit at 12–18 °C. When the cap warms faster than the must, you get stuck ferments, volatile acidity, and aromatics you cannot recover afterward. The jacket is what holds the curve where the winemaker set it.

We build these from 1000 L up to 30000 L. 8000 L is the size most small commercial wineries settle on when they process 6–8 tons per lot. Anything under 2500 L is for trial lots and varietal separation. A 30000 L vessel belongs to a high-volume red program where crush scheduling, not cooling, is the bottleneck.

Materials and fabrication

Standard shells are AISI 304. We move to 316L when the must carries high chloride, when the tank doubles for cider or fruit wine, or when the CIP water is aggressive. Interior welds are ground flush, pickled and passivated — a rough bead is where tartrate and lees collect. Product contact surfaces finish at Ra ≤ 0.8 µm; exteriors stay 2B unless the tank sits in a tasting room.

Dimple jackets on the sidewall and cone give 1.5–3 m² of cooling area per 1000 L, enough for a 24-hour pull-down at 15 °C ΔT with 30–40% glycol. Jacket working pressure is normally 0.3 MPa; the inner vessel is atmospheric or rated to 0.05 MPa if you sparge. Every jacket ships with a relief valve sized to the glycol supply — undersized relief is the most common defect we find in imported tanks.

Connections and cleaning

Standard fittings include a racking arm with DIN or tri-clamp, sample valve, top manway, CIP spray ball, CO₂ vent, and welded ferrules on the jacket inlet and outlet. A valve cluster or full piping skid can be supplied so the tank arrives ready for glycol hookup.

Questions we get before an order

Do I need a conical bottom? A cone lets you drop lees and yeast without racking the whole tank. Flat-bottom tanks are cheaper and fine for short macerations and storage, but red fermentations benefit from a cone.

Can one glycol chiller serve several tanks? Yes, if you total the cooling loads at peak ferment rather than average. Oversizing the chiller is cheaper than undersizing it.

How is CIP done? Spray ball plus a pump and caustic cycle at 60–80 °C, followed by an acid rinse if you have hard water. Confirm the manway size before you buy the spray ball.

Tell us your batch size, wine type, number of tanks and available floor space. We can recommend tank volume, cooling area and jacket configuration for your winery.