Tanks for small lots: boutiques, custom crushers choose stainless, stackable vessels.

Although winemaking tanks have been around for millennia, clever manufacturers have devised many interesting innovations that better extract color and flavor during fermentation with greater consistency, convenience and safety.

The biggest trend is small-lot tanks, a movement fueled by the increasing number of custom-crush facilities and small wineries, as well as the tendency of large wineries to experiment with smaller lots. While many have used half-ton plastic bins for these lots, more are opting now for small stainless steel tanks, and some winemakers are turning to plastics. Variable-capacity tanks also attract a lot of attention.

These smaller tanks often have sophisticated features like cooling jackets, and many are designed for easy lifting and portability by for klifts. (Forklifts with rotating heads can dump their contents into presses, for a variation on gravity feed.) Many small tanks can be stacked, and permanent double-decker tanks are becoming more popular to save floor space.

Much of the innovation, however, is in ancillary equipment and designs to assist pump over and punch down. While saving labor and potentially improving quality, this also reduces hazardous operations on top of open tanks. Schemes for easy pomace and seed removal, including sweepers, sloping bottoms and large gates that minimize the need to enter closed vessels also cut labor and risk.

Tanks shaped like truncated cones are popular, since these concentrate the cap at the top for easier dispersal during punch down. Storage tanks are often designed for micro-oxygenation, too.

Smaller and portable tanks

"Everybody is trending towards smaller and smaller lot sizes when fermenting, to keep different groups of fruit separate for later evaluation and blending, so we are seeing more demand for smaller tanks," says Scott L. Dapelo, sales manager at Quality Stainless Tanks, Windsor, Calif.

Custom-crush facilities are booming, and their customers want smaller tanks. Many of these tanks are quadrilateral intermediate bulk containers (IBC), the industry standard for shipping liquids.

Winemaker Jeff Morgan of Covenant Wines in St. Helena, Calif., says some of the demand results from bulk wine sales, for which this size is convenient. "It allows you to store the wine." He adds that small tanks are good for people who don't want to ferment Cabernet Sauvignon in open bins.