More Of A Wine Question.......

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cooperplace

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I also make wine, and the other day I took about 350 litres of it, in 72 litre plastic containers, to a commercial bottler (wine bottling solutions, Lonsdale, SA, they are fabulous).

Problem: one of the containers (ex-coke syrup containers) split and I lost 72 litres of 2010 cab. I won't use these again. All Lonsdale smelt great.

Does anyone have any suggestions for cheap, food grade plastic containers for putting in a trailer to carry 250-500 litres of liquid? I can use several smaller ones. There are 1000L IBCs but they're about $450 which seems a lot.

thanks
 
You could put it in 25l cubes. You'd obviously need quite a few, but the smaller size might make them easier to handle.
 
There are the blue 250L plastic barrels, they can sometimes be got very cheap. The seal can be a problem.
I am interested that you age your wine for 2 years in 72L plastic containers. I would worry about oxidation, but it obviously works for you.
 
There are the blue 250L plastic barrels, they can sometimes be got very cheap. The seal can be a problem.
I am interested that you age your wine for 2 years in 72L plastic containers. I would worry about oxidation, but it obviously works for you.

Hi thanks, I just use the plastic for transport to the bottler. I age in stainless steel with oak staves added. Yes, oxidation is a big problem if wine is left in plastic for any length of time.
 
Someone posted this a while ago, not sure on pricing/availability but worth a look?
http://www.grapeworks.com.au/winery-equipm...ermentabag.html

How much did the bottling cost out of interest?


that looks really interesting.

The bottling cost $19/dozen, and for that they check the pH and free and total SO2, adjust if necessary, measure total dissolved O2, purge with N2 if necessary, filter, 0.5 micron, bottle, cap and place it in boxes with dividers, and seal up the boxes (glue). Includes supply of boxes, caps (I selected silver stelvins) and dividers.

The oxygen thing was new to me as I've always bottled at home before and I don't have a meter for measuring dissolved O2. They say that a blast with N2 helps purge the O2, and I'll take their word for that. Their machine took about 20 minutes to bottle 31 dozen.

The price strikes me as very good because I pay about 60c/bottle and 33c/plastic stelvin, and theirs look better. If I had labels on a roll, they would have put them on for no extra charge.

So if I do it myself it costs about $12/doz, with used boxes, and they charged $19/doz, brand new everything, better materials, better job, less work. Bottling is hard work, as none of us needs to be told.

Also they were adamant that the wine needed more sulphur unless I would drink it right away, so I deferred to their experience & judgement.

I'm now completely sold on commercial bottling other than for v small batches at home. Call 'em up and ask for Trev.
 
Wow nice one, cheers for the info - may just look at that if I can solve the problem of getting it there too.
 
cooper i've seen the 1kL IBCs used only for water, available for $100 around my place sometimes.

Given the awesomeness of them I would recommend hanging out and keep hunting for one.
 
I've used the fermenter bags. If you get an old IBC and cut the top off you can put a bag inside. They are aseptic and you don't get much exposure to oxygen, no headspace. Good for transporting, but they usually only sell cartons of bags. I use the 250L bags.
 
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