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More Stupid Questions - Anybody gravity feed a hydrator?

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  • More Stupid Questions - Anybody gravity feed a hydrator?

    My building geometry is making it fun to finally implement a silo/bulk grain system, and my power quality/tendency for things to break at the wrong time makes me anxious about having any more powered components in the loop than necessary.

    Thus I'm trying to convince myself that I could gravity feed from a grist case through a hydrator into my MT. Has anybody tried it? Did it clog? Any words of wisdom? I'm guessing I'd have a variable feed rate even with a slide gate due to the hydrostatic pressure at the bottom of the grist case changing as the grain empties into the MT. I don't have a real feeling for whether or not I'd just clog the hydrator, which is currently a simple conical piece that goes from 4" to 6" and back to 4" with a threaded port for water or spray ball.

    Thoughts?

    Justin
    Justin Smith

    President & Business Development
    Ten Sleep Brewing Co., Inc.
    2549B Highway 16
    PO Box 406
    Ten Sleep, WY 82442
    tensleepbrewing@gmail.com
    www.tensleepbrewingco.com
    www.facebook.com/TSBCo

  • #2
    I've worked in a couple breweries that mounted the grist case directly over the MT and fed the gain in with gravity alone. We used the slide gate as a way to control the rate that grist came into the MT. The slide actually rarely needed to be moved again once the flow rate was looking good. The couple things I learned with that set up - make very sure you have the slide closed after mashing in - you don't want lots of steam in the grist case. And you really don't want to start milling in with it open. Also at the end of mashing in its good to bang on the sides of the case a few times to make sure everything came out.
    We used to hose our grist case out about once a week when we had a day or two we weren't brewing just to make sure that there wasn't any flower or gunk building up.
    I still prefer that set up to using an auger to feed grist to the MT.
    Manuel

    Comment


    • #3
      Gravity Feeding a Grist Hydrator

      Hi Justin,

      We've also worked in a handful of breweries of varying sizes where the grist case was located above the MT and gravity-fed into the hydrator. As long as the cone angle is steep enough to allow the product to flow freely and prevent bridging, you shouldn't have any problems. Not knowing what size your grist case or brewhouse is, it's difficult to say how/if hydrostatic pressure might affect things, but my guess is that it wouldn't even be noticeable. And as long as you keep the hydrator clean, clogging shouldn't be an issue either.

      A couple of other things to think about:

      - Consider adding a knife gate between the hydrator and grist case to allow for a positive shut-off and prevent steam from escaping back up and into the grist case once it's empty. These range from simple, affordable hand operated slides to more costly elctro-pneumatic valves that can be automated by a PLC or other control.

      - We'll often use a length of clear flexible duct hose in between the grist case discharge and the hydrator inlet. It could either be slip-fit over the tubes, or you could add tri-clamp barb fittings for easy removal and cleaning when necessary.

      Hope you find this helpful. Please feel free to call email or call our office if you have other questions or need help sourcing any of your malt handling equipment - anyone there should be able to help.

      Cheers,

      Rusty

      R u s t y R i l e y
      MaltHandling.com, LLC
      6355 North Broadway Suite #16
      Chicago, IL 60660
      Office: 773.888.7718
      malthandling.com



      Originally posted by mmussen View Post
      I've worked in a couple breweries that mounted the grist case directly over the MT and fed the gain in with gravity alone. We used the slide gate as a way to control the rate that grist came into the MT. The slide actually rarely needed to be moved again once the flow rate was looking good. The couple things I learned with that set up - make very sure you have the slide closed after mashing in - you don't want lots of steam in the grist case. And you really don't want to start milling in with it open. Also at the end of mashing in its good to bang on the sides of the case a few times to make sure everything came out.
      We used to hose our grist case out about once a week when we had a day or two we weren't brewing just to make sure that there wasn't any flower or gunk building up.
      I still prefer that set up to using an auger to feed grist to the MT.
      Rusty Riley
      rusty@malthandling.com
      515.491.4640

      Comment


      • #4
        Thanks a bunch guys, I sure appreciate the feedback. Rusty funny that I found this (darned Outlook rules, parsing emails for me... I was too smart for myself and now i can't find anything) because I was just looking for Malt Handling contact info. I'm pretty sure we talked on the phone a few months back.

        Thanks again,
        Justin
        Justin Smith

        President & Business Development
        Ten Sleep Brewing Co., Inc.
        2549B Highway 16
        PO Box 406
        Ten Sleep, WY 82442
        tensleepbrewing@gmail.com
        www.tensleepbrewingco.com
        www.facebook.com/TSBCo

        Comment

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