We are close to getting rid of our old DE filter and want to replace it with a separator. Our current batch size is only 50HL (40bbl), and I don't envision us going much bigger than 100-150HL in the future, so we don't need anything big.
Our plan is to separate from primary ferment to the BBT. Then run the beer through a cartridge for packaging if needed. I understand a separator is not "absolute" but the beer has to be quite bright coming out of it to achieve our goal. Most of our beers are dry hopped relatively heavy.
The lead contender at the moment is Alfa Laval's Brew 80. A nifty little machine by the looks, my only concern is that they are only promising a DO pickup of less than 20 ppb. This may not sound like much, but it's more than the zero pick up they promise on their larger and more brewery focussed machines. And I suspect it doesn't include any pick up we'd have from the feed pump and other connections to and from the machine.
Another contender is from Italian manufacturer REDA (RE30BR) which comes with good specs and price, but is made by an unknown company (to us).
Does anyone have either of the above machines? If so any words of advise would be much appreciated. We are mainly concerned about:
- DO pick up
- Sanitary issues
- Ease of operation
- Any problems with dry hops (pellets) getting stuck
- Expected yields (or expected waste)
- Necessity of extra bling such as turbidity metres and automation linked to these
Another question about separators in general is how much sludge people send through them? I was hoping to be able to spin down the whole fermenter. We'd drop yeast, trub and dry hops throughout the ferments as usual of course but after that I was hoping to be able to send the whole tank, cone and all, through the separator. I know there is no black and white answer to this question but in general, are people able to achieve this?
Of course, if anyone has suggestions to other machines than the above, I am all ears. We have already looked at GEA and they are very nice. But in reality they are probably too big, too fancy and too expensive for us.
Cheers
Soren Eriksen
8 Wired Brewing
New Zealand
Our plan is to separate from primary ferment to the BBT. Then run the beer through a cartridge for packaging if needed. I understand a separator is not "absolute" but the beer has to be quite bright coming out of it to achieve our goal. Most of our beers are dry hopped relatively heavy.
The lead contender at the moment is Alfa Laval's Brew 80. A nifty little machine by the looks, my only concern is that they are only promising a DO pickup of less than 20 ppb. This may not sound like much, but it's more than the zero pick up they promise on their larger and more brewery focussed machines. And I suspect it doesn't include any pick up we'd have from the feed pump and other connections to and from the machine.
Another contender is from Italian manufacturer REDA (RE30BR) which comes with good specs and price, but is made by an unknown company (to us).
Does anyone have either of the above machines? If so any words of advise would be much appreciated. We are mainly concerned about:
- DO pick up
- Sanitary issues
- Ease of operation
- Any problems with dry hops (pellets) getting stuck
- Expected yields (or expected waste)
- Necessity of extra bling such as turbidity metres and automation linked to these
Another question about separators in general is how much sludge people send through them? I was hoping to be able to spin down the whole fermenter. We'd drop yeast, trub and dry hops throughout the ferments as usual of course but after that I was hoping to be able to send the whole tank, cone and all, through the separator. I know there is no black and white answer to this question but in general, are people able to achieve this?
Of course, if anyone has suggestions to other machines than the above, I am all ears. We have already looked at GEA and they are very nice. But in reality they are probably too big, too fancy and too expensive for us.
Cheers
Soren Eriksen
8 Wired Brewing
New Zealand
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