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Cold liquer tank and chiller sizing

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  • Cold liquer tank and chiller sizing

    Hello,

    I am in the process of setting up my brewery and still need to size a glycol chiller for my sysytem. I have a 7 bbl natural gas brewhouse, 7 7 bbl open fermenters with internal cooling, 3 7 bbl conditioning tanks and 10 7 bbl serving tanks that will be inside a walk in. I have a 1 stage heat exchanger that only has one cooling input for city water. Also, with the used system I bought came with what appears to be a 3.5 bbl tank that has internal glycol coils. This tank has two tri clamp pipe inlets about halfway up. I am thinking this was used as a cold liquer tank, as the heat exchanger is small.

    My question is, will a 3.5 bbl cold liquer tank be large enough to knock out my wort for ale temps? What size chiller is recommend?

    Thanks!
    Ross

  • #2
    CHiller Sizing

    Well to tell you I need to see pictures of the nameplate on the heat exchanger, look at the CLT. For that small of a cold Liquor tank they must have keep it at just above freezing. It sounds more like it was a Hot tank with a small steam generator connected to the coils. Use the kettle to get your mash in water, then heat it up transfer the remaining to the 3.5BBL tank. Then just use city water for knock out. Most of the time it's a 1:1 ratio for CLT and HLT. How often do you plan to brew, are you going to use glycol to cool the walkin?

    Mike George
    Director of Brewery Operations
    Cell 720-982-4303
    mgeorge@bluesprucebrewing.com
    Mike George
    Director of Brewery Operations
    Cell 720-982-4303
    mgeorge@bluesprucebrewing.com

    Comment


    • #3
      Cold liquor tank - if this really is a cold liquor tank, then it is far too small to be useful - so find another use for it and get yourself a proper, cleanable cold liquor tank. Typically, 1.1 to 1.3 litres chilled liquor per litre hot wort. So your total tank volume is likely to be closer to 2 times the wort volume. You want to be able to mix it, to ensure even temperature - probably chill it over 12 hours from whatever your warmest ambient temperature is, down to the coldest temperature you need for chilling wort -say 6 deg C below the in FV collection temperature. A lot depends on the efficiency of the wort chiller. Personally, I wouldn't advise unchilled towns water as people who do, invariably / often suffer from slow knockouts in summer, and use too much water. Don't forget also you may need to treat (acidify for carbonate / bicarbonate removal) - which is far better doing in the chilled liquor tank first, rather than fouling the wort chiller with carbonate scale

      Re chiller sizing - go to the professionals for this. Size will depend on brew volume, rate of cooling, how many vessels are cooling at the same time (including chilled liquor), the insulation on all the vessels and cold store, and perhaps if you are going to keep anything other than the main dispense tanks in the cold store - kegs, bottles, cans etc.
      dick

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      • #4
        I agree with what Dick said- typically the CLT is 2X your brew house as you'll use a minimum of a 1:1 flow rate of Wort to CLT (depending on the efficiency of your Wort HX).

        I ran some quick loads based on the cellar configuration you outlined, as well as included a CLT Load to cool down 14 Bbl CLT from 70 F to 35 F in 24 hours, and would suggest a chiller system with a cooling capacity in the 30,000-35,000 BTU/HR Range while operating at 28 F Glycol Solution and 90 F Ambient.

        We'd be happy to provide a quote or discuss your project further to insure we are correctly factoring everything and also make certain this aligns with any expansion plans, etc.

        Good Luck,

        Jim VanderGiessen
        Pro Chiller Systems
        jimvgjr@prorefrigeration.com
        253-735-9466 ext 203

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