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  • Pressure gauges

    Hey All,
    I'm piecing together all the parts and accessories for our cellar and I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to spend $300-$400 a piece on sanitary pressure guages. The gauges will be mounted to a tee on the vent arm of our tanks. At the previous brewery I worked in we didn't use pressure gauges on our FV's, just 15PSI relief valves. We only used pressure gauges on our brites and they we're the standard threaded variety. I'd like to use pressure gauges on all of our tanks at my new brewery and could see standard gauges getting gummed up/destroyed and more importantly harboring bacteria on our FV's. The brite's I'm not worried about as they should never have krausen blowing out the vent arm. Are sanitary gauges a must when applied to the vent arm of an FV and if so does anyone have experience with the GW Kent sanitary gauges? They're about a third of the price but I've had some bad experiences with cheap GW Kent stuff.

  • #2
    You will get them during CIP, the chemicals can make it into the pressure tube of the gauge and mess things up. You can use non-sanitary gauges, but you have to remove them during CIP, or any time liquids are used.

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    • #3
      I've put a little ball valve between our pressure gages and the cip arm. i close the valve when I cip. We don't ferment, so I don't have to deal with blow off.

      mtn

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      • #4
        You get what you pay for in gauges. I preference the Sanitary gauges. They are usually much higher quality overall. We currently have cheapo Wikas at the pub and out of 10 only about 4 read true. This is after about 3 years though. Unfortunately they are not adjustable, so I cannot recalibrate them. I would replace with sanitary, however we have these stupid tees with the NPT threaded ferrules welded on them. This means I would have to buy 10 new 1.5" tees as well, and for just the pub, it doesn't make a lot of sense cost wise. If you are going the cheaper route, at least get regular tees and buy a TC to NPT fitting for the gauges. I like the valve idea, but inevitably someone will forget to close the valve.

        The advantage to a sanitary gauge is that you can run your CIP with it in place, thereby ensuring that you are reaching a proper PSI for optimal spray ball cleaning. Most tank/spray balls will require a 1 bar pressure reading to get proper coverage in the vessel. They also tend to stay accurate for much longer provided you don't dent the diaphragm. And they are, well, sanitary.

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        • #5
          This is what I've been worked with...

          Click image for larger version

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          Made in China, but pretty reliable quality.
          Carolina Micro Brewing Technology
          shine@carolinabeers.com

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          • #6
            If cost is a big issue...

            I routinely use 1/4" NPT threads on the CIP arm. It's the only place where I'll allow a thread in a fermenter. But I also make sure that my fermenters are not spewing froth out the top. I like vegetable-based anti-foam agents. So I don't worry about infections as this gets CIPd frequently, and dirty nearly never. These 1/4" NPT gauges should always have stainless steel connections and bourdon tubes. Brass will die fast. That said, the spunding device above could also work if you have one for each fermenter. I only have 1 or 2 spunding valves and rotate to those fermenters that are finishing fermenters. Good luck!
            Phillip Kelm--Palau Brewing Company Manager--

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