Horizontal lagering tanks instead of brites?

[BrewTiger]

In the process of building out now. 10bbl 2 vessel brewhouse with four 10bbl uni tanks. We are somewhat limited on pace and looking at conditioning tank options. We will be running about 30% lagers out of house so definitely looking at a horizontal or two. My question is if anyone has had experience forgoing dish bottom brites and stacking horizontals to save space. Any problems with conditioning ales or fruiting/adjucting in these horizontals? In theory I dont see any problems, only benefits. Any advice greatly appreciated.

[craftkettlebrew]

From an older post: Pro's and Con's of Horizontal Fermenters

A quick blurb on horizontals: https://beerandbrewing.com/get-sideways-brewers-turn-to-horizontal-tanks/

Pop me an email, I can quote you for 10 BBL Horizontal tanks from Craft Kettle. And, we have an 80 gallon Hop Back & Cold-Side Doser that has removable mesh filters that can be used for multiple purposes:
•The filters are removable, so you can opt to push the content into the FV (For example, when dry-hopping)
•Pass through en route to from kettle to FV (this may work well for adding things like spices or juice-heavy fruits like raspberries), and so avoiding adding bulk solids to the FV
•Circulate through the tank using a combination of the mesh filters and perhaps some muslin bags (The mesh filters are there to remove large/coarse debris, so you can also use muslin bags to create a finer strain).
_
JEREMY KING
Brewery Design Consultant, Experienced Commercial Brewer
jeremy.king@craftkettle.com | d 504.930.4462

[dick murton]

I can't comment of fruiting or similar, but reserve my comments for cleaning. They need to be angled downwards slightly to the outlet otherwise they won't drain well - a couple of degrees. Unfortunately I couldn't say exactly how much as I haven't installed any, just verticals, but based on floor slopes, I would suggest at least 2 degrees. And you need to burst delivery / continuous scavenge clean them with an external tank CIP set as otherwise you don't wash the debris, yeast, proteins, hop or fruit residues out easily. They are prone to building up beer stone towards the base, simply because the flow along the bottom is comparatively slow, and they tend to get partially flooded, giving a chance for debris to accumulate on the walls in those areas. And you may get debris which has settled on the lower walls being dragged into the beer stream as you empty them, particularly as you get below about 1/4 full. Given the choice, I would always use verticals, but it sounds as though these will be the better or only option.

[vinaykumar27]

Considering you are limited on space, may I ask why you are considering more tanks? I am just wondering if carbonation and packaging can be sped up to achieve the same result?