FEATURE
Stainless for winemaking success A growing demand for quality wines in China has seen its third-largest winemaker venture onto Australian soil with a new state-of-the-art winery incorporating over 800t of stainless steel. Weilong Wines’ winery in Red Cliffs, Northern Victoria is the first Australian winery development of its magnitude for many years, and the company’s investment in the Murray-Darling region is a testament to the strong reputation and quality of Australian wine. Grape crushing for the export-only wine has already commenced following the completion of the winery’s construction in March 2019 and is expected to have wine bottled before the year-end in time for the Chinese New Year celebration in January 2020. ASSDA Member and Accredited Fabricator A&G Engineering designed, manufactured, delivered and installed all stainless steel storage and processing vessels for the new winery. The project scope was to achieve a vintage intake of over 26,000t capacity of grapes, equating to 21 million litres of wine.
Stainless steel was selected as the material of choice for the wine production equipment because of its excellent corrosion resistant properties, durability and ease-of-cleaning. Furthermore, the use of stainless steel does not impart additional flavour to the wine, preserving the original palates offered in the grape. A total of 180 stainless steel tanks in grade 304/304L were delivered - 124 storage vessels ranging from 30kL to 1200kL, 42 fermentation vessels and 14 general processing tanks - plus associated stair towers, platforms, catwalks, support structures and connections. Over 700t of 2mm-6mm stainless steel coil was supplied for the project by ASSDA Member, Outokumpu. In addition, the A&G Stainless Steel Sales Department was engaged to supply over 15km of primarily 304 grade tube in sizes ranging from 20mm to 300mm, plus all associated fittings.
Two 1200kL storage vessels were manufactured by A&G on site, using their own fully automated Plasma TIG welding process for tank manufacture, Site PAM (Precision Automated Manufacturing). The unique system was designed with a focus on large-capacity stainless steel vessels being constructed in the field, giving A&G the capability to custom build vessels that hold in excess of 5 million litres. Site PAM’s automatic planishing system compresses the weld with high pressure to ensure there are no peaks inside or outside of the tank, providing an aesthetically pleasing finish and a flat surface for the automated polishing application. All vessels were passivated for added corrosion resistance.
Photo credit: A&G Engineering
2 – Australian Stainless Issue 66
