
Don't Laugh at My Fermenter!
We have had hundreds of students go through our immersion course that have resulted in at least 130 breweries around the world. 99% of the students have become good friends too. If you are ever at a brewery though and you see a Letina Tank used as a fermentation vessel, you can be pretty sure the owner may be an alum.
A little background: When I needed to replace the beast fermenters at Colorado Boy in Ridgway, I didn’t have much room to work with. The brewhouse including fermentation is only 10x15. I kept looking at these wine tanks that were sold by St. Pats of Texas. They were enclosed and had a jacket, but no insulation. Also at 1000 liters, a little small for a 7 BBL tank, or so I was thinking. There also was no insulation layer. Ah, but the size, only 32 inches in diameter. I could have two plus room to squeeze in another smaller one for a hot liquor tank, leaving room underneath for a mill.
I spoke with the guy at St. Pats who said they were wine tanks and wouldn’t work in a brewery. He was a rude asshole to me, so of course I bought two! Well, now I have about ten years’ experience with these tanks and they are great. In fact, they work so well that Letina now changed the jackets on them to work better for beer. Before I did this Letina never thought about breweries, so I am still waiting for my thank you check from them.
​
OK, the downsides first.
-
At 265 gallons, anything over a 13 plato and you need to reduce how much you brew. I can brew a full 7 BBL’s of our Irish, but our IPA needs to be 6 BBL and I add fermcap to help keep everything in the tank rather than all over the floor.
-
They don’t hold pressure, so for transfer you need to use a pump.
-
The cone is shallow so yeast harvest off the bottom is a challenge
The upside.
-
Two people can carry them
-
They are pretty and the welds are first class
-
They only cost $3,400 each, about half the price of a conical
First I use a high floc English ale yeast as my house yeast. When I am done with my diacetyl rest, I chill to 50. The lets the yeast floc out but not get packed at the bottom. Then I can harvest off the bottom like I do for our conicals. After I harvest, I crash it the rest of the way. At that point I could also just dry hop in the tank as well.
There is a swell large clamp down lid at the top that makes this easy, and a racking arm near the bottom for transfer.
I have also found the tanks excellent for lagers. As bottom fermenters there is not the headspace concerns like ales. Because they are small and inexpensive, I am not using up expensive stainless real estate by lagering in the tank.
If you are thinking of expanding, this may be a good option for you. If you are opening on a limited budget this could make a difference. By the way, most of our GABF medals came from beers made with these tanks. You won’t short-change yourself.
Just send a note to Letina and tell them Tom Hennessy is waiting for his check. And if you like this newsletter, do me a favor and pass it along to any beer friends you have.
Contributing Author
Tom Hennessy Founder, Colorado Boy Brewing
​
Tom Hennessy has opened seven breweries of his own and helped open over 100 more with hisColorado Boy Brewery Immersion Course. His video Frankenbrew, from 1995 has become a cultclassic in the brewing world. His three brewing books include The Brewery Operations Manual,Colorado Boy SOP, and The Affordable Brewery. Tom lives, brews and writes in his mountaintown of Ridgway, Colorado.
Getting Your Beer in the Can
Matt Vincent
​
You’ve got your space, you’ve picked your brewing equipment, and maybe you’re already canning by hand - but it’s not working out well for you. Either you need to can more beer faster, or the quality of the product isn’t holding up because you are hand filling cans off the tap and seaming on a single head manual seamer. Maybe you just need to keep your tap room cooler full or you are thinking about picking up a couple of additional accounts to sell your products. In any case, you’ve determined it’s time to consider scaling up with a little more automation.
How to Remove Silicon Dioxide (SiO2)
Fining Agents in Fermentation Vessels and Brite Tanks in the Brewery
Dana Johnson
​
Brewers have been using silicon dioxide (SiO2)-containing products, also known as silicic acid, silica, or kieselsol, to remove yeast and haze-forming particles from beer in the fermenter or brite tank for many years now. The use of silicon dioxide allows brewers to achieve a relatively “brite” (clear) beer without the need of filtration, which can remove not only proteins but also many positive flavor components from the beer. The mechanism of how silica-containing auxiliary fining products work has been discussed in great detail over the years, but the removal of residual silica has not. The cleaning process for silica is not
Don't Forget Your Inner Homebrewer
Tom Hennessy
​
I imagine that most of us got started in this business as homebrewers. I did, just barely. I got it in my head to add a brewery onto my wood oven pizzeria back in 1992, so naturally I had to start somewhere and homebrewing was the way to go.
Approaching the construction of a “real” brewing system, I looked at it as a homebrewer would, that is, I tried to figure out how to build the system without spending a fortune. Naturally I made a lot of mistakes, but I learned because I had the passion that a homebrewer has about beer.
Improving Brewhouse CIP
Dana Johnson
​
My kettle is not coming clean! I have to physically get in the kettle and scrub after I run the CIP (clean in place) to remove the remaining soil!
Unfortunately, this is a very common complaint of many craft brewers, especially in breweries that run multiple batches through the brewhouse between CIP runs. Why?
Protein tends to bind to the metal and alkalinity by itself will not remove it. The soil is typically very soft and
ACT
​
-
Estimate desired production
-
Research available utilities
-
Evaluate space constraints
-
Forecast scaling up production
-
Research equipment options
-
Select equipment/financing
-
Purchase/order equipment
-
Install equipment
-
Brew/package test batches
​
oPEN
​
-
Dial in equipment efficiencies
-
Establish sanitation SOP
-
Establish maintenance SOP
-
Consult vendor with issues
GrOW
​
-
Consider equipment upgrades
-
Research additional tank capacity
-
Evaluate silo or bulk packaging needs