A 5 BBL conical fermenter sits in the awkward middle of most equipment ranges. Too large for trial batches, too small to ignore. For brewpubs running a 3–5 barrel brewhouse it is the workhorse: one vessel for fermentation, dry hopping, and carbonation, with the cone collecting yeast where you can drop it without disturbing the beer.

We build the 500 L CCT as a pressure vessel, not a converted dairy tank. Shell and cone are 3 mm SUS304, with a 60° included cone angle so yeast slides instead of packing on the slope. Cylinder and cone both carry dimple jackets for glycol, sized so a 1.5–2 bar head pressure at 4 °C does not outrun the cooling surface. Interior welds are ground flush, then pickled and passivated. That is the step buyers skip when comparing quotes, and it is why one tank still smells clean after three seasons and another does not.

Product contact is SUS304 as standard, 316L on request for sour or high-chloride programs. Outer shell 304, brushed or mirror polished, with 80 mm polyurethane insulation. Fittings are tri-clamp throughout: 1.5 in racking arm, 2 in dry hop port, 2 in CIP spray ball on the top manway, 1.5 in blow-off, 1 in sample valve, thermowell at mid-liquid, and 1 in glycol in/out. Relief valve set at 2.5 bar, hydro-tested at 3.0 bar before crating.

Small brewpubs typically order four to six of these on a shared glycol loop with solenoid valves. Production breweries packing 15 BBL runs tend to use 5 BBL tanks for pilot batches and yeast propagation instead, which changes the spec — propagation wants a deeper cone and an agitator port, not more jacket area.

Can I carbonate in the tank?

Yes, up to the nameplate working pressure. Warm carbonation in a unitank takes noticeably longer than in a brite tank; most customers crash to 2 °C first.

How does CIP work?

Spray ball with pump and caustic at 60–80 °C. Check that your pump delivers 15–20 L/min at 2 bar through that ball before specifying a tank that assumes it does.

What do you need for an accurate quote?

Batch size, target carbonation, glycol supply temperature, floor space, ceiling height, and whether the tank sits indoors or on a mezzanine. Port layouts get revised constantly — send a sketch and we mark up the drawing before fabrication starts.

Tell us your batch size, beer type, number of fermentation tanks and available space. We can recommend the tank volume, cooling area and configuration for your brewery.