Copyright 1999
Chapter 3
EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES
Home made wines are usually produced in five, fifteen, thirty, fifty, sixty or 160 gallon quantities. Some of these quantities may seem a bit strange but containers having these specific capacities are readily available. Wine reacts with oxygen in the air. As the size of the container becomes smaller, producing high quality wine becomes more difficult because of oxidation problems. A one gallon container is suitable for bulk storing wine for only a few months. Five gallon "water bottles" are readily available, and they are popular with home winemakers. However, water bottles are marginal bulk wine containers because of their small size.
Small quantities of wine can be made in the kitchen or on a bench in the garage, and little special equipment is needed. However, a larger work space and access to some winemaking equipment will be necessary when fifty gallons of wine are made each year. When several barrels of wine are produced each season, specialized winemaking equipment, a large work space and storage space for both bulk wine containers and bottled wine will be needed.
FACILITIES
Winemaking requires two general types of work space, and each type has different requirements. A "crush" area is needed to receive and process the grapes, and a "cellar" area where the wines are fermented, aged and bottled is necessary. Some general storage space is also needed to store winemaking equipment and supplies. A separate area set aside for each specific function is the ideal arrangement. However, most winemakers have limited space available for winemaking, so compromises are often necessary.
Experience shows that careful planning and a few minor modifications can greatly increase the efficiency of any winemaking work space. For example, a large fraction of the labor in any winery is used to clean and sanitize the equipment and the work space. Sanitation is an ongoing effort in all winemaking areas, and cleaning operations are repeated often. Much time and effort can be saved by arranging the work area in a way that optimizes the various cleaning procedures.
Crush Area
The crushing and pressing operations at any winery involve handling large quantities of materials. Grapes must be moved into the crush area, and pomace must be removed from the crush area. Many home winemakers use their garages as temporary crush areas each season. The crushers are set up near the front of the garage, and the grapes are unloaded from trucks parked in the driveway. Most commercial wineries prefer to have their crush operations outside the main facility to simplify handling the large quantities of bulk materials.
Washing down the crusher and the press is always necessary before any fruit can be processed. Then both pieces of equipment must be washed again when the operation has been completed. A heavy duty hose with an adjustable spray nozzle permanently installed at the crush pad is a great convenience. Provide a hook or other arrangement so the hose can be hung in a convenient place. Cleaning a small crusher or press will generate large amounts of waste water so water disposal can be a problem. Most commercial crush pads consist of a smooth finished concrete pad that incorporates a large drain. Home winemakers often use their garages or driveways as crush areas.
Pomace should be removed from the crush area promptly. Even sweet pomace will sour quickly on a hot day, and it will attract fruit flies. Ants can become a terrible problem, and the entire crush area should be carefully washed to remove all traces of sugar when the crush operations are finished.
Cellar Space
White wines are fermented, clarified, stabilized, aged and bottled in the cellar. Red wine is often fermented in open containers placed outside the cellar area. Cellar activities can generate a significant amount of lees, and some way of disposing of liquid waste material is needed in the cellar. A good solution to the disposal problem is a conveniently located sewer drain, a water faucet, a dedicated hose and a spray nozzle. A centrally located floor drain equipped with a large grate is a great convenience.
Aging wine is mostly a passive operation, and it requires little more space than is necessary to hold the storage containers. Five-gallon water bottles are about 10 inches in diameter and 20 inches high. Fifteen-gallon stainless steel beer kegs are roughly 15 inches in diameter and 23 inches high. 200-liter oak barrels are about 24 inches in diameter and 36 inches long. A popular 160-gallon polyethylene storage tank manufactured by Norwesco is 31 inches in diameter and 55 inches high. Double stacking or even triple stacking barrels is possible. Nevertheless, most winemakers find stacked barrels difficult to handle and clean.
Bottling wine requires a moderate amount of cellar space. A typical bottling setup for an advanced home winemaker or a very small commercial winery might consist of a small transfer pump, a filter, a bottle rinser, a bottle filler, a corker, a labeling rack and a label paster. A table or bench would be necessary to hold the empty bottles, the rinser, the filler and the full bottles. A second table or a bench would be needed to hold the label paster and the rack used to apply the labels.
EQUIPMENT
Large wineries use a great deal of equipment in their winemaking operations, but small wineries and home winemakers frequently make due with a minimum of equipment. Basic crush equipment consists of a crusher and a press. The key pieces of cellar equipment are wine storage containers, pumps, filters, bottling equipment and test equipment.
Several pieces of common winemaking equipment are briefly discussed below.
Crusher
A hand crank crusher is probably the most practical method of crushing for the average home winemaker. Both single and double roller crushers work well. However, some crusher designs are easy to crank and some are not. Operation of these little crushers is quite simple. The crusher is placed on top of a suitable container. The hopper is filled with fruit, and the crank is turned. Clusters of grapes pass through the rollers, and the crushed fruit and stems drop into the container. Having some way of clamping the crusher on the container is very desirable. If the crusher slides or moves around, it will be more difficult to crank.
Stems can be easily removed by hand using the following technique. Put a clean, plastic milk crate on top of a suitable container. Place a few pounds of crushed fruit in the bottom of the milk crate and make a scrubbing motion with the hand. The crushed fruit will drop through the crate into the container. Discard the stems from the crate and repeat the process. Several hundred pounds of grapes can be destemmed using this method.
A power crusher/stemmer will crush and separate the grapes from the stems in one fast, simple operation. The grapes are dumped in the fruit hopper, and the machine does the rest. Power crushers have capacities ranging from about 1 ton to more than 50 tons of grapes per hour. Even the smallest machine will keep one person busy filling the hopper. Unfortunately, power crushers are expensive. The smallest machines cost several hundred dollars. Crusher/stemmers are an overkill for most home winemakers, but they can save a tremendous amount of labor if a winemaker produces several barrels of wine each year.
Press
Most home winemakers use a vertical basket press of some kind. These presses are made in a wide range of sizes and in several different styles. Smaller presses can handle 10 to 20 pounds, and large presses hold several tons of grapes in each load. Smaller presses use a screw mechanism to generate the pressure. Large basket presses often use hydraulic cylinders and electric pumps to generate the pressure. Some homemade presses use a hydraulic automobile jack to produce the pressure. Two manufacturers are producing vertical basket presses specifically for home winemakers that use an inflatable rubber bladder to squeeze the grapes.
Although small vertical basket presses are relatively inexpensive, they can produce high quality juice when used properly. The major disadvantage of any vertical press is the large amount of labor required. To crumble the pomace cake, the press must be completely disassembled and the basket removed. After the cake has been broken up, the basket must be reassembled and refilled to start a new press cycle. Several press cycles are usually required to produce dry pomace, so much labor is required.
Some "compound" basket presses can produce very high pressures. High press pressures can extract the juice with a minimum amount of labor. However, high pressures can also extract excessive amounts of phenolic materials and produce harsh, bitter wines, so these presses must be used with care.
During the 1950's, many California wineries replaced their vertical hydraulic presses with horizontal presses manufactured by Willmes, Vaslin or other manufacturers. Horizontal presses offer a major advantage because the pomace cake can be crumbled automatically by releasing the pressure and rotating the horizontal basket. Horizontal presses are simple and easy to operate, and they save wineries a tremendous amount of labor. The Vaslin presses were made with fiberglass baskets and covers, so they were much less expensive to produce than presses constructed of stainless steel. Although horizontal screw presses are no longer manufactured, many small wineries continue to use one, two and six-ton Vaslin presses.
Modern commercial wine presses are controlled by computers, and they can be programed to execute very complicated press schedules automatically. Modern presses use an inflatable bag, tube or membrane. After the press is loaded, the membrane is inflated and gently squeezes the grapes against the basket to extract the juice. These new presses are nearly self-operating, and they only require attention when the press is being loaded or unloaded.
Bottle Filler
Filling wine bottles with a piece of hose is easy. The hose is inserted into the wine container, and the wine is siphoned into the bottles. However, reducing wine oxidation is always desirable, so wine bottles should always be filled from the bottom with a minimum of splashing and bubbling. Wand type bottle fillers are a great improvement over a piece of hose. A simple wand filler consists of a 16-inch length of rigid plastic tubing fitted with a small plastic valve at the bottom end, attached to the end of a syphon tube. When the wand is inserted in the empty bottle, the valve presses against the bottom of the bottle, and the wine starts to flow. Wine flow automatically stops when the operator raises the tube. Small diameter fillers often generate excessive amounts of foam, so « inch diameter wand type fillers are generally preferred.
Several styles of gravity type bottle fillers are available. These fillers have a small tank to hold the wine and two or more siphon tubes to transfer the wine into the bottles. A float-valve mechanism is used to keep the tank full. Operation of small multi-spout, gravity type fillers is simple. An empty wine bottle is placed on a spout. The machine fills the bottle to a preset level and automatically stops. Two, three, four and six spout machines are common, but gravity bottle fillers as large as 24 spouts are produced. Two, three and four spout fillers are suitable for home winemakers producing 50 or more gallons of wine each year. Large gravity fillers are used by smaller commercial wineries. Many gravity type fillers will fill at a rate of about two bottles per spout per minute. One person is kept quite busy removing and replacing bottles.
Larger wineries use automatic, vacuum type bottle fillers. These large, multiple spout fillers are often integrated into a complete high speed bottling line. Empty bottles are sparged with nitrogen gas, filled with wine, corked under a vacuum and capsules and labels are applied. Completely packaged wine comes off the bottling line, and much of the work is done automatically. Older bottling lines often run at rates of 10 to 40 bottles per minute, and older equipment requires the constant attention of several winery employees. Modern bottling equipment runs at rates of 30 to 200 bottles per minute, and these high speed lines only require one or two people for efficient operation. Modern high speed bottling equipment has reduced winery labor costs significantly. However, these machines are extremely complicated and very expensive.
Transfer Pump
Pumps are used in wineries to move must, lees, juice and wine. A variety of pump styles and capacities are produced to meet the requirements of the different winery applications. Transfer pumps are used to transfer juice or wine for filtering and for bottling. Most transfer pumps are either rubber impeller "Jabsco" style pumps or centrifugal pumps. Rubber impeller pumps are generally preferred for moderate flow rate applications when the pressure heads are higher. Centrifugal pumps are generally preferred when large flow rates against moderate pressure heads are needed. Small, variable speed pumps are usually Jabsco style pumps. Wine contains significant amounts of acid, so any pump used for wine must be made of corrosion resistant materials.
Home winemakers use a variety of small pumps. Capacities range from three to ten gallons per minute. A typical rubber impeller pump can deliver five gallons per minute, and it has a maximum pressure head of 30 pounds per square inch. Many of these little rubber impeller pumps are self priming, inexpensive and provide good performance. They should not be run dry for extended periods, and their shaft seals have a limited service life. A worn shaft seal will leak air, and a leaky pump will quickly oxidize the wine. Consequently, shaft seals on small pumps must be replaced quite often. These pumps sell for about $100.
Small, magnetically coupled centrifugal pumps are quite suitable for general use in any small winery. A magnetically coupled centrifugal pump does not have a shaft seal because the impeller shaft does not penetrate the pump housing. The impeller is coupled to the drive motor by means of two powerful permanent magnets. Magnetically coupled pumps have advantages and disadvantages. They are more expensive than direct coupled pumps. They are not self priming, and sometimes getting these pumps started is difficult. On the other hand, magnetically coupled pumps have long, trouble free lives, and they do not have shaft seals to leak air and oxidize the wine.
Corker
Hand corking machines are made in a variety of styles, and prices range from a couple of dollars to several hundred dollars. An effective corking machine must be able to do two functions, and these two functions must be preformed separately. The cork must be compressed first, and then the cork must be driven into the bottle. A good hand corker can drive dry corks without excessive effort. Well designed floor model corkers sell for about $100 (1995). The better machines are solidly built and have a useful life greater than 100,000 corks. Some small, inexpensive corking machines sold at home winemaking shops are practically worthless.
STORAGE CONTAINERS
Cooperage is the general term used for all kinds of bulk wine storage containers. Open containers with straight sides are called vats. Closed wine storage vessels with straight sides are called tanks. Curved sided containers with a bulge in the center like the familiar barrel are called casks. Casks range in size from 100 to more than 1000 gallons. Depending upon size and proportions, casks are called butts, pipes, puncheons, ovals, etc.
The traditional wood used to make wine containers is white oak, however, in California, redwood was extensively used for constructing wine containers from about 1840 to 1950. Very large wine tanks have been fabricated from reenforced concrete, and concrete storage containers were widely used in wineries from the early 1900's until about 1950. In 1997, a large bank of concrete wine tanks could still be seen at the old Galleano Winery in Mira Loma, CA. In recent years, stainless steel is the material of choice for wine tanks, and several manufacturers are now producing smaller size tanks from high density polyethylene.
Open Fermenters
Some small commercial wineries and most home winemakers use open containers for fermenting red wine. Large amounts of carbon dioxide gas are generated during fermentation, and the liquid becomes saturated with the carbon dioxide. The constant evolution of gas prevents air from entering the wine, and oxidation is not a problem. When fermentation is complete, the carbon dioxide gas is no longer produced. Then the new wine must be stored in sealed containers to protect it from the oxygen in the air.
Open fermenters range in size from 5 to 5000 gallons. Small wineries seldom use open fermenters larger than a few hundred gallons because it is very difficult to punch down the cap in a large vat by hand. Stainless steel, wood and polyethylene are the most suitable construction materials for red fermenters. Small wineries often use polyethylene, half ton fruit bins as temporary, red fermenters each crush season. A 55-gallon polyethylene drum makes a good open fermenter when the top is removed. Thirty-gallon, food grade polyethylene containers with tight fitting lids are available at most home winemaking shops. Much homemade red wine is fermented in 32-gallon plastic trash cans each year.
Closed Containers
White and blush wines are always fermented in closed containers, and most commercial wineries ferment their red wines in closed tanks. When closed containers are used, the large volumes of carbon dioxide gas produced during fermentation must be vented, so winemakers seal closed tanks with fermentation locks until all signs of fermentation have stopped. Fermentation locks come in several sizes and styles. Most small fermentation locks contain a liquid trap of some sort. The trap lets the carbon dioxide gas escape while preventing air from entering the tank.
Five-gallon water bottles are readily available, and they are popular wine storage containers. Water bottles are the containers most often used by beginning home winemakers. They have both advantages and disadvantages. Glass is a smooth vitreous material. It can be cleaned easily, and glass can be completely sterilized. Glass is transparent, so fermentation progress is easy to monitor visually.
Five gallon water bottles are generally too small for serious winemaking because of the oxidation problem. However, a few water bottles are handy for storing leftovers. Glass containers are heavy, and some winemakers find it difficult to move a full carboy. Glass is both slick and fragile. Handling heavy glass bottles with wet hands can be quite dangerous. Another negative factor is the high cost of glass. In 1997, the price of a new glass water bottle was about $15.00. That amounts to $3.00 per gallon.
Polyethylene has become a recognized "food grade" material, and polyethylene drums are widely used for shipping liquid food products. Wine can be safely stored for extended periods in heavy walled containers made of dense polyethylene, and several firms are now producing polyethylene tanks in a variety of standard sizes and shapes specifically for use as wine storage containers.
Used poly drums are available in 20, 30, 40 and 55 gallon sizes, and they make excellent wine storage containers. Wine storage containers made of dense polyethylene have advantages and disadvantages. They are light weight, so polyethylene drums can be handled and stored easily. Best of all, they are inexpensive. New poly drums sell for about $1.00 per gallon, and good used drums are often available for a few dollars each. However, polyethylene has a porous micro-structure, and it is a difficult material to clean completely. Used polyethylene drums can retain odors for extremely long times. Some odors can contaminate wine, so secondhand drums must be selected with care. This odor problem is the major disadvantage of using used polyethylene containers for storing wine.
Most winemakers agree that stainless steel is the best material for fabricating large wine storage tanks. A polished, food grade surface made of stainless steel is easy to clean and sterilize. Properly designed stainless tanks are inert, and they are completely tight. Unfortunately, stainless steel is an expensive material. The cost of a large size tank (10,000 gallons) is two or three dollars a gallon. Smaller size tanks (500 gallons) cost several dollars a gallon. Nevertheless, stainless steel tanks give many years of trouble free service, and when properly maintained, they last almost indefinitely. Home winemakers often use surplus stainless beer kegs for wine storage containers. The deposit for a 15-gallon beer keg is about $15. Fifteen dollars is a dollar per gallon of storage capacity, and finding a less expensive wine container is difficult.
BARRELS
Oak barrels have been used for storing wine for hundreds of years. Standard wine barrels come in two sizes, 200 liters (52 gals) and 225 liters (59 gals). Oak wood imparts a spicy, vanillin flavor that is desirable in most red wines, and this oak character is obtained by storing wine in oak barrels for an extended time. After a barrel is four or five years old, it no longer produces the desirable flavors, and wineries must replace their barrels from time to time. A few wineries replace all of their barrels each year, but most wineries replace 20 to 30 percent of their barrels each year. In 1997, new French barrels cost about $600 each and American barrels cost about $200. Obviously, the annual barrel replacement is a considerable expense when wineries use many barrels in their wine aging program.
Besides their high cost, oak barrels have several other disadvantages. Barrels are heavy, difficult to handle and hard to clean. An empty barrel weighs almost 100 pounds, and a barrel full of wine weighs about 600 pounds. With a little practice, empty barrels can be moved by hand without much difficulty. However, this is not so with a full barrel, and moving a barrel full of wine more than a short distance by hand is seldom feasible. Wineries place full barrels on pallets, and then the pallets are moved with a fork lift. Oak barrels are prone to attack by wood-borers unless the wood is treated with a special preservative. Barrels are difficult to stack by hand even when specially built racks are used. Eventually, any oak barrel will leak.
Oak chips can be added to wine to impart desirable oak flavors, and many wineries use oak chips to flavor their lesser quality wines because of the high cost of new barrels. Some winemakers put the oak chips in a nylon mesh bag and then suspend the bag in the wine. Other winemakers just add the chips directly to the wine. After a few days, the loose chips sink to the bottom of the container, and then the chips are treated just like lees.
Estimating the quantity of chips to be added is difficult for the inexperienced winemaker. The amount needed will depend upon the specific wine and on personal preference. Ten or twelve ounces of chips for 50 gallons of red wine is a reasonable place to start. Considerably fewer chips are appropriate for most white wines. All wines should be tasted periodically after oak chips are added. Then the wine can be racked off the chips when the winemaker feels the taste is satisfactory.
Barrels full of wine require little extra attention, but used, empty barrels are difficult to maintain. When a barrel is first filled, almost four gallons of wine soaks into the wood. When a used barrel is left empty for a few days, the wine soaked into the wood starts turning into vinegar. Sterilizing oak barrels is practically impossible, so when barrels become infected with vinegar bacteria, they must be discarded. Commercial winemakers avoid this problem by not emptying their barrels until new wine is available. Then as the barrels are emptied, they are washed with clean water and immediately refilled with new wine.
Home winemakers should avoid very small oak barrels. Small oak barrels or casks are difficult to build, and they are very expensive per gallon of capacity. They are prone to leakage, and small wood cooperage is more difficult to maintain properly. Wine stored in small oak containers becomes over-oaked very quickly. Oak casks of five or ten-gallon capacity are often recommended by home winemaking shops, but these tiny barrels are little more than expensive toys.
SUMMARY
Every winery needs a crush area for processing grapes and a cellar area for fermenting, aging and bottling wine. A third area is needed where equipment and supplies can be stored. At many home wineries, a concrete driveway serves as the "crush area," and the "cellar" and storage space is in the garage. However, daytime temperatures in a typical garage are often excessive for wine storage.
Little special equipment is needed to make a few gallons of wine. However, well designed winemaking equipment can reduce the amount of physical labor needed when larger quantities of wine are made. Basic crush equipment consists of a crusher and a press, and basic cellar equipment includes cooperage, pumps, hoses, filters, bottling equipment and test equipment. Many home winemakers use new 32-gallon plastic trash cans for open red fermenters and surplus stainless steel beer kegs for wine storage containers. New oak barrels can impart desirable vanillin flavor characteristics to red wines. On the other hand, barrels are difficult to handle in a small winery, and some leakage is always encountered. New oak barrels are expensive, and the oak flavor disappears after the barrels have been used for a few years. Oak chips can be used to impart desirable oak flavors in wine, and chips are inexpensive and easy to use.
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