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  • Brite tank implosion/pressure question

    Hello Everyone!

    We are a small soda brewery currently operating on a 1 barrel system. Most of our equipment has come from Ss Brewtech, including our Brite tank, which I have a question about.


    We want to boil our "mash" in our kettle, then hot fill the brite tank and use it's glycol chilling coil in combination with a glycol chilling system (18gallon bath). So here is my question... can we seal the brite tank while hot if we keep Co2 pressure at desired PSI while our liquid is chilling? I know that going hot to cold while sealed is a recipe for implosion, but what if the gas will constantly compensate for that loss of pressure by slowly adding Co2?

  • #2
    Maybe

    What are you hoping to gain by hot filling? Get a plate chiller and use tap water inline to chill and then finish getting your liquid to carb temps with Glycol. With an 18 gallon reservoir you are going to use up all your glycol cooling capacity very quickly. Lastly, assuming it does work the potential for implosion will always be there without several failsafes.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by andrew_FSBC View Post
      What are you hoping to gain by hot filling? Get a plate chiller and use tap water inline to chill and then finish getting your liquid to carb temps with Glycol. With an 18 gallon reservoir you are going to use up all your glycol cooling capacity very quickly. Lastly, assuming it does work the potential for implosion will always be there without several failsafes.
      Hot filling was simply another sanitation measure. Are you sure that our chiller capacity will be overloaded? I don't doubt your experience but that is the reason we bought such a large chiller in relation to our batch size: a rep at Ss told us it would be sufficient to chill without getting overloaded. I am interested to hear your thoughts.

      -Michael.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Maiserly View Post
        Hot filling was simply another sanitation measure. Are you sure that our chiller capacity will be overloaded? I don't doubt your experience but that is the reason we bought such a large chiller in relation to our batch size: a rep at Ss told us it would be sufficient to chill without getting overloaded. I am interested to hear your thoughts.

        -Michael.
        The volume of glycol in your chiller reservoir is just one part of what you need to look at. You also need to look at the HP/BTU of your chiller unit. In general, using glycol to chill from 212 is not done - there's just to much energy to offset.

        All in all, I'd be getting either coil or plate HX's....

        -J.
        Jeremy Reed
        Co-Founder and President, assistant brewer, amateur electrician, plumber, welder, refrigeration tech, and intermediately swell fella
        The North of 48 Brewing Company
        Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

        www.no48.ca

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Maiserly View Post
          Hello Everyone!

          We are a small soda brewery currently operating on a 1 barrel system. Most of our equipment has come from Ss Brewtech, including our Brite tank, which I have a question about.


          We want to boil our "mash" in our kettle, then hot fill the brite tank and use it's glycol chilling coil in combination with a glycol chilling system (18gallon bath). So here is my question... can we seal the brite tank while hot if we keep Co2 pressure at desired PSI while our liquid is chilling? I know that going hot to cold while sealed is a recipe for implosion, but what if the gas will constantly compensate for that loss of pressure by slowly adding Co2?
          Hi Maiserly,
          Perhaps the bigger question is, should I cool using just my glycol jackets?
          I agree with Andrew: get a heat exchanger/plate chiller. Your glycol system is (probably) designed to hold volumes at a set temperature and, over time, bring that temp down if need be as at the end of fermentation (around 71°F) down to crashing temp (around 31°F). Don't risk your tank by messing around with trying to maintain pressure in hopes of staving off an implosion.
          In addition to beers, I also make craft sofas so I understand what you are trying to do. The hot/warm sugar mix is a PERFECT environment to grow the horrible bacterial nasties (HBN) we are all trying to avoid in the brewhouse and cellar. Boiling this mixture for a duration is a great way to prevent this but you must crash the liquid's temperature as fast as you can from boil kettle to storage tank and a heat exchanger/plate chiller is the way to do this. Relying on your tank's glycol jackets is just too slow and could give the HBN the foothold they need to propagate and ruin your brew, at a minimum. My two cents.

          Prost!
          Dave
          Last edited by GlacierBrewing; 03-26-2017, 09:36 AM.
          Glacier Brewing Company
          406-883-2595
          info@glacierbrewing.com

          "who said what now?"

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