Wines & Vines

October 2014 Bottles and Labels Issue

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W i n e s & V i n e s O C T O b e r 2 0 1 4 73 WineEast W ater is one of the most ubiqui- tous materials in a winery. Show me a winery that has moved into a barn, warehouse or some other in- dustrial space, and you will usually find places where you think you are "walking on water"—and not in a good way. We all know that floor drainage is a problem even in wineries that that have a pretty good layout. Our winery is no exception. Even though we at Tamanend Winery took over a building that had the remnants of floor drains, we had certain locations where the drainage was not good. After years of wet floor areas, we decided to add additional drainage to take care of the problem. What drain to put in? The answer to that question is partly philosophy as well as some science and a lot of engineering. As a general rule, I am not a fan of box drains in all but the dirtiest locations in a winery, because box drains are open trenches that are terrible to keep clean enough in the indoor parts of the winery. (See "Installing box drains in a retrofit" on page 75.) For new floor installations, I prefer circular drains where each drain covers about a 20-square-foot area. In these cases you can minimize the drain's exposure to the winery environment, and P-traps can mini- mize odors in the winery. Unfortunately for retrofit areas, this is the most costly to install and, unless you are a skilled mason, it is the most difficult for winery personnel to finish the floor correctly. In addition, the more the circular drain must deal with heavy solids, the less advantageous the circular drain is. Some drains can be installed competently by winery staff during a retrofit situation. The purpose of such drains will be to re- move liquids (cleaning water with its chem- icals or small amounts of spilled wine), yeast, seeds and small amounts of skins. Modular slot drains In reviewing the available alternative solu- tions, I had heard of Slot Drain Systems, a company that specializes in prefabrica- tion of drainage systems. This system ap- pealed to me as a potential DIY project. The first task is to lay out the drain in linear feet. In our case, we needed a 45º Retrofitting Winery Floor Drains Weighing the alternatives for installing new drains in an existing cellar By Richard Carey Wine East HIGHLIGHTS • Circular styles can minimize the drain's exposure to the environment, but they require professional assistance to install in existing structures. • Opening the floor and digging out the channel requires the greatest amount of time during the drain-creation process. • box drains can handle large amounts of solid materials, while modular slot drains handle less solid materials but are easier to keep clean. Digging the channel for a slot drain required the greatest amount of time for this project. Positioning of the drain is leveled during installation at Tamanend Winery. The finished drain is forklift-safe with only the stainless steel-lined slot visible.

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