only wort spreader without calandria

[gsk78]

Hi all!

I got a question about wort spread.
I know many brewers use internal/external calandria in the kettle for some reasons.

I want to internal one but it looks like hard to clean out.

So I thought, what about having internal wort spreader (just narrow pipe at the kettle center with chinaman hat on the top) without calandria?
In this case, only steam jacket on the kettle used for heating and I guess pump should be used to circulate the wort.

Has anyone have experience or idea on this?
Do you think it works for 20hl brewhouse system?

Cheers.

[jebzter]

Not sure that you would achieve what you were looking for with this. The wort spreader on an internal/external calandria is to promote evaporation of the volitiles and water. Pumping it through the hat, but without any heating action will only serve to slosh things around, boiling would still be occurring on the periphery of the kettle. If you want to do something like that with a pump, look at the merlin system, it is a thin film evaporator, the wort is pumped over a cone shaped piece of stainless that has steam jackets, the volitiles are flashed off as the wort returns to a tank that is essentially a heated whirlpool vessel.

[gsk78]

Not sure that you would achieve what you were looking for with this. The wort spreader on an internal/external calandria is to promote evaporation of the volitiles and water. Pumping it through the hat, but without any heating action will only serve to slosh things around, boiling would still be occurring on the periphery of the kettle. If you want to do something like that with a pump, look at the merlin system, it is a thin film evaporator, the wort is pumped over a cone shaped piece of stainless that has steam jackets, the volitiles are flashed off as the wort returns to a tank that is essentially a heated whirlpool vessel.

Actually, I thought that only wort spreader without heating system in it makes better heat efficiency and volitiles evaporation than conventional kettle.
But like you said, if there's no heating system within the spreader, it might not be working as I thought.

Thanks for your opinion.

Cheers
John

[jebzter]

That only works if you have a lot of steam rising rapidly from beneath the spread wort, which in every boil kettle that I have ever seen that wasn't some sort of calandria(ie: jacketed and direct fired), the boiling happens around the edge of the kettle, usually favoring one side over another. For this to work, your spreader would need the boiling to be happening beneath it so that the steam would rise through the wort as it was spread. Your best bet is to fit an external calandria, easier to clean than internals.

[UnFermentable]

What is your reason for wanting a "wort spreader"?

Personally I don't find any value in a calandria for a 20hl brew house. I wouldn't even want one up to a 40hl brew house. The heating and evaporation can be plenty sufficient if you have a properly sized boiler, steam jackets, and kettle exhaust fan. If you are worried that the natural heat convection is not enough to evenly heat the wort (has never been the case for me in 35BBL or smaller systems), then you can request the top heating jacket only cover 1/3 to 1/2 of the circumference of the boil kettle. This will cause a rolling boil to move the wort around. The extra hop utilization of a calandria may seem beneficial, but likely at the cost of a higher TBI which could effect shelf stability (not sure I fully agree with that yet). Longer boil times at a lower temperature will still increase utilization with a theoretically lower TBI. There are also iso-extracts and co2 extracts now available for high hop requirements. Time savings is not sufficient enough in my mind to justify the cost and cleaning required for a calandria, unless perhaps, you are brewing a 24/7 schedule and need every single minute. I've had to watch too many people sitting in a kettle with an electric drill breaking bits to be convinced of its benefits. I will admit, however, that it sure looks a lot more technical than a regular empty brew kettle.

[gsk78]

What is your reason for wanting a "wort spreader"?

Personally I don't find any value in a calandria for a 20hl brew house. I wouldn't even want one up to a 40hl brew house. The heating and evaporation can be plenty sufficient if you have a properly sized boiler, steam jackets, and kettle exhaust fan. If you are worried that the natural heat convection is not enough to evenly heat the wort (has never been the case for me in 35BBL or smaller systems), then you can request the top heating jacket only cover 1/3 to 1/2 of the circumference of the boil kettle. This will cause a rolling boil to move the wort around. The extra hop utilization of a calandria may seem beneficial, but likely at the cost of a higher TBI which could effect shelf stability (not sure I fully agree with that yet). Longer boil times at a lower temperature will still increase utilization with a theoretically lower TBI. There are also iso-extracts and co2 extracts now available for high hop requirements. Time savings is not sufficient enough in my mind to justify the cost and cleaning required for a calandria, unless perhaps, you are brewing a 24/7 schedule and need every single minute. I've had to watch too many people sitting in a kettle with an electric drill breaking bits to be convinced of its benefits. I will admit, however, that it sure looks a lot more technical than a regular empty brew kettle.

I got your idea. Thank you!

John