How to choose a container for wine fermentation? Practical Tips

Sooner or later, any winemaker has a question – where to ferment so much wine so as not to drink it immediately after preparation? The potential of eggplants and three-liter jars is quickly exhausted; not everyone inherits glass bottles from grandparents. How to choose a decent, suitable for wine, beer and mash, and, moreover, the most affordable fermenter? We share experience!

The quality of the vessel in which the future mash, beer and especially wine will ferment, directly affects the quality of the prepared drink. For the manufacture of such containers, a variety of materials are used – earlier they were made from clay, wood, later from glass, now fermenters are made from plastic and even some metals. There are containers for fermenting wine with and without a water seal, the volumes vary from modest five-liter tanks to huge 50 and even 100-liter tanks, often various additional bells and whistles and tricky devices are attached to fermenters.

How not to get lost in this variety and get exactly what you need? Let’s try to put everything on neat shelves!

Which material of the wine fermentation tank should I choose?

The main requirement for the material of a wine fermentation tank is maximum inertness. Ideally, the fermenter should not transfer any properties to the prepared drink at all, not enter into any reactions with it and prevent the penetration of acetic and other bacteria, fungi, microorganisms and other things into the wort. Therefore, we immediately sweep away the vessels made of wood. If you have a barrel, use it more intelligently, for example, to refine distillates. Not only smells remain in the pores of the wood, but also microbes that can infect the must and spoil the wine.

Did you have an earthenware vessel of sufficient volume lying around in your stash? Really?! If you are a happy owner of qvevri, karas or godfather, then why do you need this article? You probably know all the secrets of making wine that have been passed down in your family from generation to generation. But seriously, clay, even burnt and glazed, has a lot of disadvantages – firstly, it retains part of the aroma of the drink, which will definitely be transferred to the wine during the next preparation, microorganisms easily multiply on it. Secondly, the clay is fragile, it would be a shame to break the vessel and lose the precious liquid! And thirdly – it is difficult to pick up a water seal on a clay vessel.

Another unsuitable material is metal. Of course, there are inert metals – for example, food grade stainless steel. But it can also give the drink an unpleasant metallic taste, especially with prolonged contact, besides, stainless steel tanks are not cheap. Available cans and pots can be used to make mash, but for beer or wine it is better to choose another, more advanced fermenter.

There are only two materials left – glass and plastic. Plastic should be chosen exclusively for food, not reacting with alcohol. Plastic containers for fermentation are now actively sold in wineries, often they are immediately equipped with a water seal, they may have an additional volume scale, a thermometer. For beer, this is the best! But for secondary fermentation and aging, it is still better to use glass – it is not for nothing that both wine and beer are eventually bottled in glass bottles! Another problem with polymer fermenters is that you cannot see through them what is happening in the tank. But it’s interesting! However, sometimes they are made of transparent plastic.

In general, according to your obedient servant, a glass container for fermentation is the best option! Fragile? There is a problem, you have to be careful. On the other hand, it is 100% safe for the drink, you can clearly see how the fermentation process proceeds, the bottles usually have standard necks, for which it is easy to pick up a high-quality water seal. In addition, you can always admire your must without opening the vessel, which is very important – after all, the winemaker can endlessly look at three things: how water flows, how fire burns, and how yeast works!

We select the optimal volume

Of course, the capacity must be large. It has long been proven that the larger the volume of the fermenter, the better the process of wine fermentation. How big depends on your capabilities and needs. Do not forget that the fermentation container should be at least relatively transportable – in everyday life there is often a need to move or rearrange it without breaking your back.

Your obedient servant in a city apartment is content with two or three 20-liter bottles and several 10-liter jars. In my opinion, XNUMX’s are perfect for a wild fermentation, and tens for a quiet one, but that’s a matter of personal preference.

To choose the right volume of a fermentation tank for wine, beer, mash, you need to consider the following nuances:

1. The container in which the wine or beer undergoes the primary “stormy” fermentation should be filled to a maximum of 3/4, preferably 2/3 of its volume. It is generally better to fill a bottle with mash only halfway – otherwise the rising foam can flood the water seal.
2. In quiet fermentation, on the contrary, it is better to fill the vessel almost to the neck. For example, fermenting 20 liters of must in a 15-liter bottle, after all the removals from the sediment, you will get 13 liters of young wine. Ten of them can be poured into a 10-liter jar, some will go for tasting and other shrinkage, a liter and a half should be left in reserve to top up the jar to the top after each decanting.
3. The volume of the fermenter for mash must be selected in accordance with the volume of your moonshine still – so as to distill all the mash in one (two, three) times, without driving the distiller in vain and without filling it more than 3/4.
4. The beer fermenter should also be proportional in volume to the wort kettle.

Remember that preparing 3 or 30 liters of drink takes almost the same amount of time and labor. So it’s better to let the volume of your fermentation tank be a little more than necessary!

Additional chips and bells and whistles

Modern fermenters are often equipped with a variety of devices for the convenience of the winemaker. Some of them are really helpful.

• Carrying handles. This is really important! Carrying a full 20-litre bottle from place to place without disturbing the wort is not an easy task! Therefore, if you choose a large enough capacity – let them be better!
• Water seal. A container for wine fermentation with a “native” water seal is convenient. It’s good when the shutter fits the hole provided for it and you don’t need to adjust anything, file it, glue it, stick it with plasticine, and so on. The main thing is that the shutter can be easily removed to be washed and disinfected.
• The volume scale is a must have for plastic fermenters! It can be located inside the container, but it is better if the scale is outside, on a special transparent tab, which also functions as a viewing window.
• Thermometer. It also doesn’t hurt. The temperature in the room is one thing, but the temperature of the wine itself, and especially the mash, which sometimes heats up significantly during fermentation, is quite another. Now, by the way, simple thermometers are sold that are simply glued to a bottle or a plastic tank – convenient!
• Faucet below. Great bells and whistles for plastic fermentation tanks! So it is more convenient to drain the wort, and you can always strain a little wine for a sample without disturbing the main mass of the wort, and even filter the beer if you install a filter system on the bottom of the tank. The main thing is that the faucet is a few centimeters above the bottom – so that when draining, it does not capture the sediment.

To summarize: it is better to choose glass containers for wine fermentation; plastic tanks are also suitable for beer and mash. We take a larger volume, ideally you should have several containers of different sizes. Additional devices are most useful, but in fact it is quite possible to do without them. Remember that wine does not tolerate unsanitary conditions, choose bottles that are easy to care for – and you will be happy!