Lagering beer in horizontal lageing tanks is an old traditional way of doing it.
we finish fermenting, diacetyl rest in the primary and crash chill to drop the bulk of the yeast out. 7-10 days.
then we rack the beer from the racking arm to the conditioning tank and let it lager for 2+ weeks.
It is much easier to collect the yeast from the conical fermenter after racking the beer off. Otherwise you have to draw off a bit, let it settle and repeat over a few days. You can never be sure you have got all of the yeast out. Leaving it behind will potentially risk autolysis and the yeast will lose viability and vitality for repitching.
The beer in the horizontal ageing tank settles well because of large surface area and less height to fall . Think of it as a 1G centrifuge.
After 2 weeks of lagering the beer is often almost bright and needs only a light polish filter, or even no filter at all.
Horizontal conditioning tanks are also often cheaper to buy than conicals.
Noteworthy
DEGONG can design and manufacture horizontal lagering tanks, customized to a brewer's dimensions and volume.