Everything in 1 Vessel?

Hi

I've been trying to write this email so that anyone who has brewed a beer (just 1!) wont think I am taking the mick!

This is a genuine question to which I haven't been able to find an answer on the net (although this may be because I haven't got any of the correct terminology to facilitate a search) and is a question which brewers will probably laugh at .... so it is best I explain why I am asking

Firstly, I have never brewed! My company manufactures large amounts of stainless steel catering equipment (don't worry, I'm not selling anything here!) and I was looking at alternative products that I could put into manufacture - This is where I came across the conical fermenting vessels

I was interested, so I started to read a bit about the process and soon discovered fermenting and racking to a secondary to help clear the beer and then kegging or bottling with priming sugars to allow CO2 to build up and give the effervescence etc

My question is, why can't this all be done in one stainless steel vessel?

With primary fermentation over and numerous people on forums saying it's best to leave the beer in the vessel for several weeks to let most of the yeast fall out of suspension to clear the beer and not to do any secondary fermentation (re risk of contamination and introducing O2), why not draw the yeast off at the bottom of the conical fermenting vessel, leaving mostly clear beer and add the priming sugars to the beer then, in the same vessel - Put the whole thing in a fridge after a few days and let it clear down again and use the secondary tap higher up the conical vessel to draw off clear pressurised beer with a little CO2
Isn't this essentially the same as racking from the primary fermentation vessel to a keg, thereby removing the yeast that settles out in the primary fermentation vessel from the equation and later letting the small amount left after priming in the keg settle to the bottom of the keg and drawing off from a tap 50mm from the base??? all without the contamination and O2 risk???

I know I will get slated for this, but as someone who has never brewed, this is simply about the process and understanding why not, whilst my mind is designing a glycol jacketed heating and cooling all in one wonder fermenter (hell - why not boil up your wort in the same one .... I'll add an element in the bottom cone) :cross: ! - Please don't be rude or patronising with answers : we all have our fields of excellence (and ignorance) and mine is engineering and business (and not brewing)

Noroc!

In general a secondary isn't necessary, most brews can go straight from the primary to keg.

As for the conical, most I've seen can't handle the pressures most people serve their beer at. Also, most are so large that you're going to have to have a separate full sized fridges for every beer if you were to design a conical that could handle the pressure. I usually have 3 beers on tap, not going to purchase three different fridges. Also conicals are much more expensive than separate fermentors and kegs.

Are you talking about a true all in one including mash/boil in the same vessel? If so, There are a few companies that have put out an all in one product recently, I can't remember them all, but google "all in one home brewing" and you'll find a few. The main downside is pipeline. If you boil, ferment, and dispense from the same vessel, it is tied up from brew day through the final beer poured/bottled. This is a lot of expensive equipment tied up for weeks, where if you employ a 10 dollar bucket, you can brew another beer while the first batch ferments.

If you're talking something else about replacing the secondary fermenter/brite tank, I don't understand what your goal product is. I currently ferment in a bucket. I don't use a secondary at all (for beers that don't need aging longer than a month) I transfer to the keg, add gelatin, and cold crash right in my serving keg. First pint or so is muddy,after that keg is crystal clear. (I also use whirlfloc at end of boil).

I would love to do all in one but then again you can only brew one at a time since the vessel would be tied up for what some veered could be a few months


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