I may have banged on about DDR brewing retaining much pre-war equipment. But it wasn't totally immune to modern brewing technology. As is demonstrated by the development of conical fermenters locally. Despite there being no manufacturers of brewing equipment when the DDR was founded. The industry having been all located in West Germany.
Two prototype tanks, based on the Asahi design were built in 1970. The first production version was installed at the Sternburg Brewery in Lützschena early in 1971. It had a capacity of 2,500 hl and had external cooling. Later, two identical tanks were installed at Kindl in Berlin.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, 379 conical fermenters were installed at 29 of the 161 breweries in the DDR. Obviously, these were at the larger and more important breweries. For example, export breweries such as Wernesgrüner and Radeberger, and the large Berlin breweries Kindl-Weißensee, Bürgerbräu, Schultheiss Leninallee and Bärenquell.
The part of Thüringen I knew best, what was then the Bezirk of Erfurt had only one brewery with conical fermenters: Gotha. Is it a coincidence that it was the one brewery in the region whose beers I really didn't care for?
There were three sizes of tank: 1000/1300 hl, 2500 hl and 5500 hl. Most were 25000 hl, with only a handful of 5500 hl tanks. Doubtless more breweries would have installed conical fermenters, had the DDR not ceased to exist.
Brewing technology is a good example of the disadvantages the DDR faced.It was locked out of German suppliers by the division of the country and of international ones by being in the socialist block. Leaving them little option but to try to develop their own brewing equipment industry.
This information comes from "Die Brau- und Malzindustrie in Deutschland-Ost zwischen 1945 und 1989" pages 100 and 101.
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