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Thread: 7 BBL Counterflow HX

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    36

    7 BBL Counterflow HX

    I know this will get some eyebrows, but here goes.
    I want to build a counter-flow hx in order to recirculate my wort from boiling down to 100 deg F, as fast as I can. I have been looking at plate exchangers to get an idea of area vs volume of wort, and am comming up with about 3750 sq inches or 66 ft. of 1 inch pipe for a similar area to a 7bbl HX. I know that I will need more than that, and was hoping that someone might be able to help with some of the loss factors. Obviously I will need to use the thinnest pipe I can, but I am looking to use stainless, not copper, because it will be unaccessible as the inner tube. I am thinking that this will be a series of strait pipes not a coil as homebrewers use, and my outer pipe will be stainless as well so i can fill a hot liquor tank.

    I am expecting that this may not be acheivable, but was hoping that someone might be able to help me through this possibility.

    Thanks
    Che'

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Posts
    142
    How much is in the budget for this? Sounds like a lot of work! You'd be money ahead buying a plate HX that needs some work and refurbing it yourself.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    36
    Yeah i am sure you are right. I do have access to alot of free material and welding service. A friend is in the tubing field. But it wont be free I am sure. and not as cheap as a plate HX. However I am still interested in trying to get a design, and seeing if it is doable.

    Also i am thinking that the real numbers I need to work are (in Deg F)
    Wort 100 to 65 (after I wirlpool and recirculate the whole kettle to 100)
    Water 56 to 180

    I was trying to size this for a 7bbl system but I would assume that it could be scaled up or down just with simple multiplication or division?

    My thinking on the 100 deg to 65 deg range is that I am recirculating on the first portion, and sized for the second half load it could handle the first half? Again a big assumption.

    Thanks
    Che'

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