Letina Tanks

[Noble31]

Any one have any experience using Letina wine tanks as fermenters. I found one post asking help on insulating one but none as to how well they work as fermenters. I know they have a shallow cone were just wondering how easy or hard it was to harvest and repitch yeast.

Thanks


Chris

Red Crow Brewing Company.

[yap]

I use them...

and they are a pain in the ass.....

Of course everyone's experience may be different but here are my main complaints...

You will have to insulate them. This isn't the worst thing in the world but does cause concern regarding bad stuff growing in the insulation over time. You basically can't clean the outside other than with a gentle mist from a hose unless you want to pay to clad them but I doubt that is worth the effort.

The variable capacity lid is a pain to get on and off and a pain to clean. If your fermentation is too violent it can push the lid right off and then you have a real mess.

Because of the flat (or slightly slopped) bottom, yeast harvesting is a bitch. You have to drain the tank entirely and then scoop the yeast out through the manway. Very messy and not very sanitary. Also, if you want to dry hop you will have to do it in bags if you want to re-use the yeast.

Mine have the U-shaped jacket on them. They will hold fermentation temps just fine (if you insulate them) but they do not crash worth a crap. I can get it down to 50 F but no further. There just isn't enough heat exchange area to cool any further. This leads to extra tank losses at filter because I can't get a compact enough yeast cake to draw down to. I think some of the tanks now have a band jacket that goes all the way around. I don't know if that works better or worse.

The FIRST thing that will be replaced in my brewery as I (hopefully) grow will be the fermenters. If you can find the cash, get conicals...

All that being said they do make perfectly fine beer. They are a cheaper alternative to conicals if you are on a budget. I believe you have to look at fermenters as a short term investment since you will hopefully outgrow them quickly. I am the third brewery in my area that has used them at startup. The other two got rid of them in a year or so after they opened as they moved up to bigger tanks...

They take a lot of getting used to and are quirky to deal with, but they will work in the short term...

[dereknobleluke]

they are great for holding bulk low-wine spirits used for 2nd final distillations!
we have three of them

[Jeff Lockhart]

Letina

I love these tanks. I had the in my last brewery and they work great. There is a closed version with a u jacket and slightly slanted, coned bottom. I harvested after racking via the side port with a racking arm. Quality is great, and if you have a visible brewery, they look great. I didn't find any need to jacket them and cleaning was a cinch (I had Grundys before). Do not get the floating lid style unless you plan on top cropping.

[Noble31]

Thanks everyone for the responses. Were still deciding on what to use for fermenters. I personally dont want to use poly tanks unless absolutely necessary.

Chris

Red Crow Brewing Company

[604M]

I use them too. We don't have the floating top though. They work great. It is a little more difficult to harvest the yeast and they can't hold pressure, but thats it. I think you can make some great beer in them. I would for sure go that route if you are trying to choose between these and plastic.

[French Creek]

I am looking at these too. Does any one sell them other than the place in Texas, who's customer service is so well documented in other posts?

Thanks,
Shawn

[MikeRoy]

Save your money and get stainless dual zone jacketed conicals designed for beer. The advantages are too many to list but simply put: better control of temp, better yield, more sanitary, easier to clean and they hold good value for when you need to size up. From seeing many newer operating breweries who were all looking to save pennies the last place this should be done is in fermenting/conditioning of your beer.

This is just my opinion, as there are some successful breweries out there who are fermenting in alternatives.


Good luck.

[YSBrewer]

I am looking at these too. Does any one sell them other than the place in Texas, who's customer service is so well documented in other posts?

Thanks,
Shawn

Randy at GW Kent has some Letina's in stock. Not sure of the sizes though...

[Easy]

Letina makes different types of fermenters. Most of them are specialized for wines, but some of them are great for beer. You just have to ask for them.

I've attached images of our brewery and tank (and chiller) that we use for fermentation of our beer. You can even see how much beer we've made

Brewery and all tanks are made by Letina.

[46th]

bump t up

Easy, just a quick question... can you pm me who you ordered these from and aprox prices... looks really good.

Thanks,

Mike

[NatchezBrew]

I would like to know the same

[dereknobleluke]

Letina makes different types of fermenters. Most of them are specialized for wines, but some of them are great for beer. You just have to ask for them.

I've attached images of our brewery and tank (and chiller) that we use for fermentation of our beer. You can even see how much beer we've made

Brewery and all tanks are made by Letina.

have you moved your brewhouse off wood? that looks like a disaster waiting to happen!

simple welding of maybe 8 points where a 1" threaded rod machined into a blunt point on the floor side onto stainless devoted disks and the other side screwed into some thick angle iron that welded to the monoblock frame might prevent some issues. Also, if anything, it will allow full spray down drains!!!

[acrandall]

Easy, where did you order those Letina connicals from?

[OTP]

Letina

Easy, where did you order those Letina connicals from?

http://www.stpats.com/index.htm