JF,

I'll weigh in on this. I think your getting extremely misleading
advise. I have VC tanks also and they're "a dream" to use. DON'T rely
on gas to keep the oxygen off the wine if you can physically reduce
it. VC tanks if used right do the job as good if not better than any
container I've used. You do have to watch the air at the beginning
just to make sure it's set up correctly BUT once you connect all the
fittings snuggly you shouldn't have a problem. As far as the cover
being too heavy, it's not the cover, there should be multiple "hooks
on the lid and ALL the hooks should be supported by ropes. If there is
1 rope for a big lid then either the lid was manufactured wrong or
someone forgot to attach a rope to all the hooks. It doesn't take long
to take all the ropes and make them into a same length basket with 1
rope coming up from there to attach to the ceiling if that needs to be
done.


Bob

"J F" > wrote in message >...
> "monkeybug" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hi, Im hoping somebody can point me in the right direction.
> >
> > I am looking for a floating lid fermenter to store wine after most
> > of the lee's has been racked. Does anyone have any experience with
> > these? What should I look for? What is the pros and cons?
> >
> > I am really looking for something simpler than a kegging system to
> > draw wine from over time (less than 6 months).
> >
> I have experience in a commercial winery with floating lids up to 15000
> litre tanks.
> These things are very heavy and a real bother to set up. You need a whinch
> to raise and lower the lids and either an arch over the tank or a bolt in
> the ceiling to hold the weight of the lid ( the membrane on the lid cannot
> support the lid weight alone). The lids are usually sealed to the sides of
> the tanks using a rubber membrane that looks like bike tube and inflates in
> much the same manner. They work well when being installed clean and fresh
> on a newly filled tanks but on active tanks with sticky sides or dirty
> membranes the tube sticks to the tank walls and never pulls cleanly up or
> down. While in theory it sounds nice it's a lot easier effort wise just to
> use N2/CO2 gas to purge the head space of O2 and refresh it every so often.
>
> I never found that floating is the correct term as the lid works best if
> suspended just above the liquid by a 1/4 inch or so. It's very hard to get
> inflate the membrane and not ooze juice on top of the lid if you have
> contact.
>
> For these large tanks thinkof the fiasco of having some tank gas pressure
> causing the membrane to ooze wine on top of the lid where fruit flies are
> gathering and mold is starting to grow and it's 6 feet down the side of the
> tank! You have to clean the mess off before it breaches the membrane and you
> can't raise the lid to do it.