Hose - 1 inch vs 1 1/2 inch

[MPKill]

We got our equipment in from Premier. It came with 50 feet of total hose broken up between 1 inch diameter and 1 1/2 inch. Never used 1 inch before - I'm assuming it's for beer under pressure.

Can I use the 1 inch hose to transfer from the brewhouse to FV? Seems like I might be able to better oxygenate the wort. Or will my transfer (15bbl) take too long? Any thoughts?


Cheers,
Mike Killelea
Center of the Universe Brewing Company
Ashland, VA

[panadero]

Same deal here. 10 bl brewhouse. It takes an hour to transfer through heat exchange using either hose size, I wondered the same thing, and tried it out. I think the hx restriction is the main factor, though the oxygen may be absorbed(?) into the wort better in the 1.5 inch hose - more surface volume ...

I set the vfd to about 25hz, and it goes roughly 1.5 bbl per ten minutes. Always bubbling within 18 hours - usually less.
Hope this helps,
David

[dick murton]

Chances are you should be using the smaller hose. Reason? Keeping it clean.

If hose = 25 mm ID (nom 1") - you clean with hot detergent if the flow rate > 2600 litres / hr, ideally somewhat faster

If hose = 40 mm ID (nom1.5") you need to clean at > 6800 litres / hr with hot detergent (say 65 deg C at 1.5 % caustic)

So if your pumps can only do say 3000 litre / hour - you should definitely only be using 1" hose.

Chances are the rest of your kit is going to be rated similarly, or at least, should be.

Flow rates for cold cleaning - add 35% to above flow rates.

Hope this helps

Dick

[kai]

With a 15bbl length, 1" hose is fine. Assuming everything else is good.

I would agree with the cleaning side of Mr Murton's post and go one thought further; I would think that for 15bbl 1" hose would be the optimum size to match your gear.

It's also a lot easier to handle than 1.5".

[liammckenna]

I agree with Dick and Kai that 1" is the better size for you. For what it's worth, with our 10 hL system, it takes about 45 min to transfer 10 hL of beer via gravity alone (balance line and no pump, both tanks about 1 bar of pressure). It's about a 12 ft drop from the fermenting cellar to the conditioning/packaging cellar. All 1" lines.

I'm sure it could be much faster with a pump.

Pax.

Liam