Fermentation equipment used in industrial brewing
Over the past 40 years, beer unit fermenters (also known as cylindrical conical tanks, CCTs, cylindrical conical vessels and CCVs) have become the de facto standard for most breweries around the world. Beer unit tank systems combine the functions of fermentation, beer maturation, carbonation (sometimes), crash cooling and yeast collection in a single vessel. While modern CCTs have a conical bottom, the original beer cell tank design had a flat, sloping bottom. Disc bottom tanks can also be used for beer unit tanks. Breweries of all sizes use this fermentation method to produce a variety of beers. However, breweries with older equipment continue to use their other systems.
Numerous manufacturers at this time likewise utilized cold wort cleanup containers and/or flotation protection containers to eliminate residue, committed fermentation containers for fermentation, as well as lagging storage tanks for information and also conditioning. With the introduction of pressure levels, glass-lined steel containers, as well as later on stainless steel storage tanks, manufacturers could completely end the aging as well as conditioning (additionally considered carbonation) part of the procedure in a separate lagging container.
In many elements, the beer is similar in that fermentation takes place in a fermentation vessel, while conditioning takes place in a wooden barrel. The process is similar in many elements, with fermentation taking place in a lagering vessel and conditioning in a barrel. The main difference between a barrel-aged beer and a typical beer is that the beer is racked out of the lagering container and directly into the barrel after aging is complete.