Letina Fermenters

[DegoSam]

Looking at fermenters and having read some threads here I need some input.
Coming from the belief that quality costs and seeing the price of Letina closed top fermenters.
Are there inherent issues with this brand?
Quality?
Resale?
Features that make them undesirable?
Thanks in advance for the input.

[dick murton]

I have no experience of these tanks. However, looking at them on the website, I have a couple of issues. Firstly, It looks as though the tanks are at gentle conical bottomed, which is not brilliant for cropping bottom sedimenting yeast. If using bottom cropping yeast, you are better off with 60 degree angle conical bottomed vessels, though the ones with the single slope to the outlet may be OK. If you are using top cropping yeast, then you will have to specify access at the tops.

Because of what appear to be flat tops, you will not be able to pressurise them if you want to. They don't indicate they can be pressurised.

They indicate the use of ball valves for the product valves. Most ball valves are not cleanable, so I would want to change these for butterfly types.

They don't indicate sprayballs or similar for cleaning - need to check.

I dislike the use of external sightglasses as they are bug traps. Make sure they are excluded - and not just plugged off.

I suggest that you get someone with experience of the calculations to check the cooling capacity. My knowledge of winemaking (which is what these are predominantly for) is limited to a few gallons at home, but I would want to also ensure that you can cool whatever volume you are fermenting can be crash cooled at 1 deg C / hr or possibly slightly faster with glycol / similar at say -2 deg C, no colder.

Check there are pressure relief and antivac valves fitted to the fully enclosed vessels.

Check what grade stainless is being used for the tank, 304 minimum, preferably (but extra cost) 316

But the general finish looks good. And selling to the Germans & French when they have their own suppliers looks promising.

Cheers

[Easy]

Nice post by Dick, here are some infos about his concerns:

There is one great thing with Letina - customisation. They can change their basic tanks according to your needs, but since they are Europe based you will have to wait a while to get your custom tank.

All Letina tanks are made of AISI 316L/Ba (W. Nr. 1.4404/IIId) high quality stainless steel. You can choose what kind of finishing you want (mirror surface, scotch brite/matte or default rotated overlapping pads).

You can also choose between different valve types and manufacturers, manholes and choose bottom type you want (conical off-centered, conical centered, angled bottoms (30, 45 or custom degrees)).

Inner side of tank is highly polished so cleaning shouldn't be a problem.

Except open level indicator there is an option to use closed level indicator.

I guess Letina IZO insulated tanks or T (pressure tanks) could be good choice for you.

[hannah.pirner]

Does anyone know if these result in more ester production by the yeast? I know that conicals are usually preferred because there is greater pressure on the yeast cake than "open" or more flat bottomed fermenters. Open fermenters are known for greater ester production during fermentation but I wasn't sure if these letinas would be similar or not.

Thanks

[Natrat]

Tailoring your house yeast for ester production is a better bet than dealing with a fermenter that is difficult to crop yeast from, or worse, an open fermenter and all of the grief that goes with it.

I know lots of people use open fermenters with good success, and I've used them in the past...but I won't use them in the future. Not for beer, anyway.