Anyone out there have a direct fire HLT over 15bbl? Heating question.

[morrillt]

So I am looking to buy a 15-20bbl HLT from sungood for my 10BBL brewhouse. I am just a bit concerned that they have never sold a HLT > 10BBL for use with direct fire.

The guys from glacier tanks recommended working with a MIDCO-4850BA - Midco 850,000 btu forced air heater.

I just dont know if at this lvl of heat there are things to be worried about. Maybe there is a reason no one is doing this?

Would love to hear from people doing 15+ bbls with forced air, thanks

Here is the design of the tank, it uses 50mm of high temp cotton, which I also know nothing about, is that the correct thickness and material for a HLT?



Thanks
Todd

[TiminOz]

I would suggest not having a direct fire HLT. 1 x 9KW immersion heater will do the job in an insulated tank. If your doing a lot of double brew days place an on demand gas water post filter to top up your HLT. Will you be recovering the water from your HEX to your HLT?

[morrillt]

I would suggest not having a direct fire HLT. 1 x 9KW immersion heater will do the job in an insulated tank. If your doing a lot of double brew days place an on demand gas water post filter to top up your HLT. Will you be recovering the water from your HEX to your HLT?

Realistically i think we will need some time to build up demand for double brewing, but when we do we will double with hex. Doi you have any thoughts on type and amount of insulation? I have been using 5500 wwatt elements in my current pilot system just one, but I could throw two of these bad boys into the hlt, and be under 50 amps on 220 volts.... I guess it just takes a while to get 30 gallons to boil, so I am thinking 300 gallons, jesus, what is this like a 2 day heatup ?

Thanks,
Todd

[ziggy13]

I have a direct fired 15 bbl HLT (rated at 15 bbl but it's actually more like 20) and we use a burner that's the next step down from the one suggested to you. It's only 400,000 btu. It takes about 3 hours to heat 65 degree F water to 165 degrees F for mashing in. We turn the burner on the night before, and the morning we come in to brew it's heated and ready to rock.

We only use a 700,000 btu burner on our 7 bbl brew kettle and it gets the boil rolling. It is my opinion that if you get the burner he's suggesting you'll be just fine, but I am by no means a burner or gas tech.

It is also HEAVILY dependent on the amount of water column gas pressure your utility company can supply you during peak usage times in the dead of winter when everyone and their brother is heating their house, so keep that in mind. If they test it and you're not getting the pressure that the burner requires it could take significantly longer to heat up.

[ziggy13]

I would also like to note that our 400,000 btu burner has a smaller orifice in it, and we're getting slightly less than the suggest pressure the burner requires, which is why it takes 3 hours to raise the temp 100 degrees F. If we were actually getting 400,000 btu's out of it I bet it would only take an hour and a half or so. So this is why I think with an 850,000 btu burner with the 850,000 btu orifice installed you should be able to heat that thing up in an hour or so if you've got the right pressure coming in from your gas company. Their are math formulas you can use to actually determine the amount of time it will take but I don't have any links to them off the top of my head.

I think right now you need to really talk to your gas company and see what kind of pressure you can be supplied during absolute peak usage. Then once you know that you also have to make sure all the gas lines are installed properly so they don't choke the burner and make you lose pressure along the way. The pressure coming in off the street may be the correct pressure for the burner, but if the piping is installed incorrectly you may not have the correct pressure at the burner. This is all stuff we went through a few months ago when our brewhouse was being installed so it's very fresh in my memory!

[gbough]

What did you end up installing as a brewhouse ? did you go through with this design ? how did it work out ? I m a bit confused about the sloped bottom !!

Thx

So I am looking to buy a 15-20bbl HLT from sungood for my 10BBL brewhouse. I am just a bit concerned that they have never sold a HLT > 10BBL for use with direct fire.

The guys from glacier tanks recommended working with a MIDCO-4850BA - Midco 850,000 btu forced air heater.

I just dont know if at this lvl of heat there are things to be worried about. Maybe there is a reason no one is doing this?

Would love to hear from people doing 15+ bbls with forced air, thanks

Here is the design of the tank, it uses 50mm of high temp cotton, which I also know nothing about, is that the correct thickness and material for a HLT?

[ATTACH]28042[/ATTACH]

Thanks
Todd