I often get asked whether we offer a rotating racking arm on our fermenters. The answer is that we don't include them with our fermenters as standard items for a number of reasons.
As a brewery owner for almost 10 years, we had fermenters with racking arms of one sort or another. After working with them, we came to the following conclusions and threw them all away:
- They sometimes leaked (especially when you rotate them, but also at other unexpected times)
- They were not easy to clean
- They didn't noticeably improve the clarity of the beer
The fact is that if you dump the yeast and trub from the bottom valve the day before you rack your beer, and again right before you rack your beer, and then pull your beer from the side outlet, you will get very little yeast or trub in your keg or bottling bucket. This is my recommendation.
However, if you really want a racking arm, we can make one for you as a special order.
(Note: we now do offer 15 gal. fermenters with racking arms).
