Wood Cladding Refurb Help

[Rosie]

Hey guys,

The brewhouse I'm currently using has the oldy worldy wood cladding. Fits the part, but pretty much a pain in the ass in the practical world of brewing. Anyway, we're looking to try and refurb in January.

Main problem is on the FV's (see pic) where when CIPing we get chems that run down the side of the grundies, gets behind the cladding and into the insulation, etc. Does anyone have any advice for sorting out this problem?

Thanks,

Jeff

[Scott M]

Short of grinding a gap around the FV between the lip of the FV and the cladding, then cementing (sealant) a silicone gasket into the gap, I don't know. http://www.westcoastgasket.com/siliconeextrusion.html

I hate to experiment, but you might try a high temperature FDA silicone sealant.

http://www.dowcorning.com/content/publishedlit/80-3258.pdf

[dick murton]

I have seen them with a right angle welded onto the tank. I think they were made by seam welding a ring of stainless around the tank, with a hoop of stainless welded to that so that about an inch of stainless hangs over the wood cladding. Presumably the bottom is done in a similar manner, except that to allow the wood to be put in place, presumably the right angled hoop is bolted to some fixing flange points, say four or five. So the bottom is not sealed as such, but can drain away should the wood cladding get wet.

Obviously this won't be cheap, but it will last well, and allow you to replace wood strips & insulation as necessary in the future