...Stainless steel has more in common with one of the world’s favourite tipples than you might imagine!
Wine: we nostalgically like to think of wine as produced by French farmers who get up in the morning, pick their grapes and spend the rest of the day trampling them into mush in order to collect the juice in large oak barrels. Then, after a hard day’s work, the magnificent harvest is celebrated with a riotous village feast from last year’s yield. It’s an idyllic picture, but today there is far more to it.
Most winemakers now agree that stainless steel is the best material for the fabrication of wine fermentation, aging and storage tanks. Polished, stainless steel surfaces are easy to keep clean, limit wine losses and when properly designed, reduce the wine's access to oxygen, giving winemakers more control over fermentation.
Stainless steel is a relatively neutral material that actively preserves the fresh fruit flavours of the grape. After fermentation ceases, most whites and fruity reds are kept in stainless steel tanks until bottling. Other whites and most reds are then shifted to oak barrels for conditioning and aging. Even though stainless steel containers are expensive, they offer a (relatively) new method of fermentation and years of trouble-free service.
Fermentation and storage vessels are typically fabricated from sheets of 304 or 316 stainless steel. The most common sheet width is four feet. Sheets are cut to length, curved and then the ends are welded together to form a ring. The rings are then welded together to form the tank sides. The ring material thickness can vary depending on where it is located in the tank. Tank floors are a flat sheet or welded sheets and the tops are flat or conical sheets supported by exposed joists, usually channel shapes.
Of course the use of stainless steel in the wine industry is not limited to the production and storage of wines. Other applications include wine coolers, bottle holders, wine racks, wine goblets and bottle stoppers. It is obvious that stainless steel can be enjoyed in a variety of ways!
Stainless steel tanks began to be used in the 1950s for wine fermenting, aging and storage.
Designer wine holders and wine coolers.