Why Some European Like Horizontal Tank

Horizontal tank are usually placed in cellars or cold rooms with a single wall and no cooling jacket. They can often be stacked together to save some space. In terms of brewing technology, they are usually used as lagging tanks for beer maturation. Primary fermentation usually occurs in open fermenters, and after primary fermentation, they are transferred to horizontal lagging tanks for maturation and aging.

With development, horizontal fermenters have evolved into vertical cylindrical vessels with cooling jackets. However, there are still some European customers who are interested in horizontal tanks. So, why …..?

We know that some buildings in Europe have a long history and the room height is not high enough to place vertical tanks inside. In order to expand the capacity, they have to choose horizontal tanks instead of vertical ones.
Also, due to brewing techniques, some European master brewers still continue the old brewing method, starting with primary fermentation in open fermenters for several days, then removing the yeast from the top of the fermenter and transferring the beer to horizontal tanks for maturation and aging …… Due to the old brewing techniques, they used to brew some seasonal beers, which meant brewing in spring or fall because the temperature was right, and also because the cooling system was simple back then, even without modern cooling systems like today, so brewers sometimes had to brew seasonal beers.

For some start-up breweries, there is no problem using vertical tanks.

Do you prefer horizontal tanks or modern vertical cylindrical tanks?