As I am sure you can tell from my previous post "auger problems" I am in the final phase of my brewery set up. It has been a long 4 months, but i am finally ready to brew some beer.
I just finished the final peice of the puzzle, the gas main and meter and i am ready to boil some wort, or so i thought.
The system is as follows...
A 1.3 million btu, low pressure cast iron boiler by weil-mcclean, model LGB-11. It has a 5" header with 5X2" T fittings feeding the brewery. The steam main to the kettle in 2" with 5 elbows in line, it runs approximately 35 feet, and is insulated with 1/2 thick fiberglass insulation. Just before the kettle the main reduces to 1.5" and splits to feed both the side and bottom jackets. The feed manifolds off the steam main are made up of the following, all 1.5" - Y strainer, solenoid, gate valve, "T" with pressure gauge. The kettle inlets are both 1.5"
The boiler runs with the high pressure cutoff set to 12 psi and the "cut in" restarting the boiler at 9 psi. The boiler manufacturer states that is has a maximum of 15 psi for steam and 50 psi for water.
When the boiler is firing and running around 10 psi the gauges at the kettle read 6 psi for the side jacket, and 3 psi for the bottom jacket. The side jacket T's off the main first.
I had the water filled up about 1/4 of the way in a 20bbl kettle, just enough to cover the themocouple,and about half of the side jacket.
The water heats up to around 200F pretty quickly, then takes a while to get to 208F, and then it stops. It is rippling like it wants to boil but just can't make it happen.
should I ....
A. get a new set of controls and run the boiler at a higher pressure until the gauges at the kettle read close to 15psi. This would be against the manufacturers stated limit on the boiler, but not above the 50 psi if it were run as a water boiler.
B. resize the steam main from the boiler to the kettle, to say 3". By far the most costly and involved option.
C. Increase the size of the solenoid valves and the kettle mainfold to 2". reducing at the kettle. I believe the a 1.5" solenoid has a 1" port.
D. Please give me a simple solution so I can make some damn beer.
Any and all suggestions are appreciated. I am so close to brewing beer I can taste it.
Thanks again,
Scott
Captain Lawrence Brewing Co.
Pleasantville, NY
I just finished the final peice of the puzzle, the gas main and meter and i am ready to boil some wort, or so i thought.
The system is as follows...
A 1.3 million btu, low pressure cast iron boiler by weil-mcclean, model LGB-11. It has a 5" header with 5X2" T fittings feeding the brewery. The steam main to the kettle in 2" with 5 elbows in line, it runs approximately 35 feet, and is insulated with 1/2 thick fiberglass insulation. Just before the kettle the main reduces to 1.5" and splits to feed both the side and bottom jackets. The feed manifolds off the steam main are made up of the following, all 1.5" - Y strainer, solenoid, gate valve, "T" with pressure gauge. The kettle inlets are both 1.5"
The boiler runs with the high pressure cutoff set to 12 psi and the "cut in" restarting the boiler at 9 psi. The boiler manufacturer states that is has a maximum of 15 psi for steam and 50 psi for water.
When the boiler is firing and running around 10 psi the gauges at the kettle read 6 psi for the side jacket, and 3 psi for the bottom jacket. The side jacket T's off the main first.
I had the water filled up about 1/4 of the way in a 20bbl kettle, just enough to cover the themocouple,and about half of the side jacket.
The water heats up to around 200F pretty quickly, then takes a while to get to 208F, and then it stops. It is rippling like it wants to boil but just can't make it happen.
should I ....
A. get a new set of controls and run the boiler at a higher pressure until the gauges at the kettle read close to 15psi. This would be against the manufacturers stated limit on the boiler, but not above the 50 psi if it were run as a water boiler.
B. resize the steam main from the boiler to the kettle, to say 3". By far the most costly and involved option.
C. Increase the size of the solenoid valves and the kettle mainfold to 2". reducing at the kettle. I believe the a 1.5" solenoid has a 1" port.
D. Please give me a simple solution so I can make some damn beer.
Any and all suggestions are appreciated. I am so close to brewing beer I can taste it.
Thanks again,
Scott
Captain Lawrence Brewing Co.
Pleasantville, NY
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