What These Tanks Are Actually Doing in the Cellar

We build wine fermentation and storage tanks from 1,000 L to 10,000 L, and the first question we ask is never about volume. It is about what the tank has to do. A 3,000 L tank fermenting red must on skins is a different machine from the same tank cold settling white juice or holding finished wine before bottling. The volume is the easy part.

Materials and Fabrication

SUS304 is the default for wine contact. Where fruit is high in acid, where the site is coastal, or where the CIP program runs strong caustic and peracetic, we switch the inner shell to 316L. Inner shells are typically 3 mm, welded and ground, then pickled and passivated so the heat-affected zone does not become a corrosion site three vintages later.

• Inner surface: 2B finish, mirror polish optional for lees-heavy reds
• Exterior: 304 with #4 brushed or mirror sheet, 50–80 mm PU insulation
• Cooling: dimple-plate jackets on cone and lower cylinder
• Fittings: DIN / Tri-Clamp, racking arm, sample valve, CIP spray ball

Cooling, Pressure, and Cleaning

Jacket area matters more than jacket quantity. A tank that ferments 25 °Bx must in a warm cellar needs coverage on the cone and the lower third of the cylinder; a storage tank holding wine at 12 °C needs far less. We size the jacket to the glycol temperature you can actually deliver, not to a catalog number.

Pressure rating and the relief valve must be decided together. A tank rated at 0.2 MPa with a 0.3 MPa relief valve is a paperwork problem waiting to happen. Closed-top fermenters usually carry 0.2–0.3 MPa working pressure; storage tanks can run atmospheric with a vent and airlock.

CIP is simple if planned early: spray ball on the top center, 3–5 % slope to the outlet, no dead legs behind the racking arm. Retrofitting a spray ball into a tank with a small manway is unpleasant.

Specifications

Common Questions

Conical or flat bottom?

Conical if you drop lees or ferment on skins. Flat is fine for settled storage and costs less.

Do small wineries need the same tank as commercial ones?

No. Small cellars usually want variable-capacity tanks and manual valves; larger plants justify automation, larger jackets, and higher pressure ratings.

What do you need before quoting?

Batch size, wine type, cellar ambient temperature, glycol supply temperature, available floor space, and ceiling height for the tank plus manway clearance.

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