Kegs make excellent fermentors, especially when they have our special SANITARY FERMENKEG Lid, Clamp & Gasket. They also lend themselves to our CLEAN IN PLACE Keg Washing System which makes cleaning a snap.
The FERMENKEG is as good if not better than a conical fermentor for several reasons. First, Kegs are more compact, built for abuse, as well as force carbonating your beer. Second, Kegs can be used for fermenting, carbonating, AND serving the beer (which simply makes them 3 times more useful in your brewery). Third, the Kegs are more durable, stackable, take up less floor space in the brewery, & are more cost effective for the homebrewer. Fourth, Kegs lend themselves to affordable clean in place technology that can be used for FERMENKEGS as well as standard beer kegs. Remember, breweries clean kegs all the time using relatively simple equipment.
Most conicals are best used in a professional brewery situation where yeast will be harvested (which is the major reason for using a conical in the first place - not trub removal). It is nearly impossible to remove all trub from the fermentation process through a conical's dump valve. Trying to dump out the trub leads to lost beer because the beer is more viscous than the trub, so it tends to want to escape faster, while leaving behind the trub that lines the walls of the conical.
On top of all this, most home brewers transfer the beer after 1 week of fermenting (which doesn't provide the beer the time it takes to pick up off flavors from the trub). Lastly, many microbreweries use flat bottom tanks and make excellent ales & lagers. The key is to limit the length of time the beer sits on the trub. Since it is impossible to remove all the trub even with a conical, it makes sense that you transfer after 7-10 days regardless of the fermentor design.
All Equipment is BRAND NEW. Note: These are not your standard sankey kegs...these kegs have a special E-Z to remove and install lid and gasket combination that allows you to PRESSURIZE the keg - making it suitable for transferring using co2, or force carbonating. Here's what it includes:
15 gallon Sankey
Keg CHIMES are predrilled to accept a direct mount to the FERMENTREE stand.
Keg is brand new and completely untouched on the interior. Keg meets professional brewery standards inside and out. We GUARANTEE a completely sanitary interior.
TRANSFER WAND available for EASY transfers from fermentor to conditioning keg.
Keg fermentors lend themselves to being washed using our brewery grade keg washer - eliminating much of the tedious labor involved in secondary brewery processes.
