What Is Bright Tank?

What Is Bright Tank?

A bright tank is a dish-bottomed pressure-rated temperature-controlled 

stainless steel tank that used to hold beer in preparation for packaging. 

The term “bright” refers to “bright beer” , it is a type of beer that 

has been rendered bright (clear) by filtration, centrifugation, fining, and/or maturation. 

In most breweries, beer will be filtered after leaving fermentation tank or lagering tank and be directed into a bright tank.

As many craft beers are not filtered or clarified, the beer sent into the bright tank may not be bright at all. 

The beer may have flavors added at the bright tank. The volatile flavors of honey, for example, 

do not always survive fermentation, and therefore many honey ales have honey added at the bright tank, 

where it will add some sweetness as well as flavor and aroma. 

Coffee or coffee extracts are also often added here for similar reasons. 

Bright tanks are also often used for blending one or more beers to create something new.

Bright tanks are also sometimes used as mixing tanks for beers that are to be bottle-conditioned. 

Here, the beer will be mixed with priming sugar and possibly with new yeast intended to carry out re-fermentation. 

The beer is then bottled (or, in rare instances, kegged) from the bright tank. 

In brewpubs, the bright tank is often also the serving tank; beer may run directly from this tank to the taps at the bar.

miya@brewman.beer

Miya Zhao