Many tanks: stainless technology means new options

Wines & Vines, July, 2002 by Jennifer Rofe

Ninety-nine percent of the stainless wine tanks ever made are still in service and performing as designed." It's an industry adage, according to Scott Dapelo, sales manager for Quality Stainless Tanks. With that success rate, it's no wonder that stainless tank fabricators are reporting an increase in demand for and sales of stainless tanks.

Or perhaps the increase is due to the ever-increasing quantity of vineyards and wineries.

Ronald M. Krol, AAA Metal Fabrication Inc. owner and president, says he has noticed "a continuous upsurge for tankage in the Northwest" that is consistent with more vineyard plantings, new wineries being built and expansions of existing facilities. "Across the board... vineyards are concerned with oversupply, but short of leaving vineyards hanging, the grapes still need a place to go."

According to Mike Davis of Spokane Industries, wineries currently using wood barrels and smaller wineries without a budget for stainless tanks are now upgrading as their success grows.

On the other hand, maybe the surge is due to the much-touted benefits of stainless tanks: they're easy to clean and sanitary; temperature control is simple; they maintain the product and do not impart flavors; oxygen can be excluded from them, if necessary; and, if built correctly, they don't rust. The most commonly listed benefit: longevity.

"There aren't many products that immediately come to mind when you think about things that last forever," Dapelo says. "Stainless steel tanks don't wear out, they aren't used up or consumed and they can be easily modified to incorporate the latest features and innovations."

Regardless of the reason, the industry is growing, and technology is following its lead.

Stainless Advances and Trends

Chris Diaz of IDIAZ Services Inc., puts it this way: "Tanks are pretty straightforward: Hold wine, don't leak and be easy to clean!" Davis adds that while "we have certainly come a long way since the old wooden-vat days...there is still little rocketry science in making standard, modern wine tanks."

Despite the simplistic qualities of tanks, advances in technology encourage changes and improvements. Manufacturers are refining what is, according to Diaz and Davis, a fairly unsophisticated concept, and wineries are buying the new models.

Dapelo says that the design changes he sees at Quality Stainless Tanks provide "precise control during the fermentation process while limiting labor and shortening turnaround times.

"Automated pumpover systems, mechanical punchdown devices, heating bands, oversized doors and larger man-ways, mechanized cleaning devices and portable cooling panels are some of the items that are being included in this year's designs," he notes.

"The open top/variable capacity tanks continue to gain in popularity because of their dual-utility role in both the fermentation and storage stages of the winemaking process," Dapelo continues. "We also see winemakers requesting both white and red wine tank characteristics to be included in their tank designs to allow for greater flexibility within the cellar."

AAA--a company that, according to Krol, approaches tanks with a problem-solving mentality, searching out problems in need of better solutions--has in conjunction with Scott Laboratories developed an automated process to handle red wine more carefully.

"In red winemaking, gentle, effective color extraction came up repeatedly," Krol recounts. "Existing methodologies all seemed to have, at the very least, a minor, inherent downside. We discovered a process marketed by Scott Laboratories that uses the naturally occurring energy of C[O.sub.2] gas from fermentation to manage cap wetting." Known as the Ganimede Process, it was developed and patented in Europe, where, according to Krol, "it has gained widespread usage."

The AAA Web site describes the process: "The Ganimede fermenters have an internal cone that traps carbon dioxide formed during fermentation. Through the use of a bypass valve, the gas pressure that builds up in the tank is used to gently blend the must--greatly reducing labor, energy costs and processing times." AAA is the sole U.S. manufacturer of Ganimede tanks for Scott Laboratories.

Krol also notes that AAA is currently working on the Ducellier Process--a century old gas-driven technology that was developed and is still used for producing port wines in Portugal. The process involves moving liquid to an upper chamber by C[O.sub.2] and then releasing the liquid by a water valve to flood the cap.

AAA is also addressing pomace removal. "We developed a patented sloping and curved bottom," Krol says. "The slope allows gravity to do the work, and the curvature eliminates all of the bracing required on a flat bottom."

Valley Pipe & Supply, Inc. offers the automated "3000 CP" cap plunging tank. "The idea behind this tank is the slow gentle cap plunging that comes from the automated piston and paddle assembly that punches the cap down giving great juice-to-skin contact," Mitch Long explains, adding that in the past six years, the wine industry has shown great interest in the tank.