Choosing right fermentation tanks for brewpub

[philipsweden]

Hi all

We are in the process of setting up a brewpub in Sweden and we are considering what kind of fermentation tanks to go for.

Dispensing will be done with servingtanks, probably from Duotank where the beer can be carbonized and can hold up to 3.0bar. I will not use unitanks or BBT for dispensing because of the brewpub layout.

Our brewhouse manufacturer (braumeister) sells a variety of tanks, I definitely want to go with cylindroconical tanks however, what I am not sure about is if I should get the version which can hold 1.2bar or go for the version which does not hold any pressure (and thus will only be used for fermentation).

I think one setup option would be 3x fermentation tanks (no pressure), 1x unitank/BBT and then serving tanks on top of that.

Is there a big cost saver to try to carbonize the beer naturally in fermentation tanks instead of force carbonating later in the serving tanks?

Any advice and feedback on this fermentation tank issue would be great!

Thank you very much

Philip

[Rathers]

Hey again.

Sorry not normally this opinionated.

It's a good question. Essentially it depends on how flexible you want to be. Having fermenters that can take pressure and you can carbonate is a good idea if anything happens to your bright tank and it's really useful for a bit of pressure to crop yeast. It also helps if you want to keg from the fermenter - for whatever reason. However they are expensive. The brewpub chain I worked for in Canada used open fermenters and I know of one brewery in Norway that has only got one bright for bottling from with all the other tanks unable to take pressure.

I wouldn't worry too much about CO2 as if your using compressed air to serve you shouldn't need that much. The brewery I work at discovered that ordering CO2 from Oslo was cheaper than in the nearest town and saved more money from that than any other process adjustment. Though in this case it was because of the small volume used and the difficulties in finding a place for a bank. Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Andrew