Tue Aug 14, 2012 6:19 pm
IIRC, there was an article by Whitey that gave numbers between 30-35 psi as the lethal pressures for yeast. If you were talking water density, you'd be looking at ~35 feet deep to generate lethal pressures. Beer is going to be somewhat denser, and though it will be much denser early in fermentation, the yeast will be carried up into suspension by the rising CO2, mitigating the pressure any one yeast cell is exposed to for extended periods. After fermentation stops, the yeast will settle, and be subjected to bottom of the tank pressures for extended periods. I'd expect most commercial tanks therefore would be less than 30 ft tall, but haven't been in any breweries big enough to know how large they get....
Spiderwrangler
PFC, Arachnid Deployment Division
In the cellar:
In the fermentor: Belgian Cider
In the works: Wooden Cider