The Pros And Cons Between Mirror Finish And 2B Finish For Brewery Tanks?

FAQ: As for the fermenter's inner polish I've read many opinions. Some recommend to have a 2B polish while others prefer mirror polish. What is your recommendation? Whats are the pros and cons based on your experience?

Answer:
Thousands of fermenters are sold out from our factory every year, and interior mirror finish tanks are less than 20％of them.

Let’s analyze from the following aspects.

1.Processing method.
Our workshop will use the mirror stainless steel to make the inner shell of fermenters if some clients like mirror polish.
The mirror plate is processed based on 2B plate, e.g. polishing, waxing etc.
Both mirror and 2B plate are directly purchased from  famous stainless steel factory.

2.Polishing precision.
Mirror polish is 0.1~0.2 μm; 2B polish after pickling passivation is 0.2~0.4μm.

3.Thickness:
Same(3mm) thickness means same service life.

4.Aesthetic measure:
Mirror polish is more smooth and beautiful than 2B polish.

5.Some changes during welding.
As our welder will weld dimple jacket on the inner shell, and the back of mirror plate or 2B plate.
Sometimes, it’s very possibly to have some less obvious little spot on the interior shell because of high welding temperature.
For 2B interior shell, the last step is pickling passivation, that will remove these spots and make the surface smooth.
But to protect initial mirror, the pickling passivation is not allowed for mirror interior shell.
So these spot is likely to left to the end finally, that make it looks like distorting mirror.
In our workshop, welding for mirror plate is done by most skilled workers.

6.The affect for beer quality
We know from above information, there is a step called waxing in mirror finish process.
The type wax is hard to remove in short time. That’s very possible to stay in the tanks and make some bad effects on beer.
While there is no wax or other difficult something to clean on 2B plate.

In conclusion, mirror finish is more smooth and beautiful,but it’s likely to become not good.
2B polish is more stable in the whole fermentation tank process, and that 0.2~0.4 polishing precision is very enough for beer fermenting and maturing.
So more people have chosen 2B polish for interior shell of fermenters.

Hope these ideas could bring you some help.  

Abby Wong
Project Manager
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +86 170 9164 4622