Pilot System questions

[HRBCguy]

I just have a question about purchasing a pilot system.

Are bigger production steam systems recirculating like RIMS or HERMS systems?

Is there anything that I should be looking for in a pilot system that is essential for scaling recipes? Should it be close as possible to a production style system?

Obviously new to all this commercial stuff.

[BrewinLou]

Depends a bit on what you mean by big. That is a very relative term in this business. Even if you had unlimited means it would be very difficult to reproduce small scale recipes on a larger scale system. Out of all of the brewpub and Microbrewery systems I have ever seen none had a Herms or Rims. All were either direct fire or steam jacketed. Not saying they are not out there I have just never seen one or heard of one. There are systems with internal and external calandrias on the kettle.

[kererubrewing]

I think you should consider what are you really trying to do.

Is this for small batch production to test the market as a commercial brewer, or are you looking to trial different recipes before up-scaling them to many thousands of litres (tens of barrels)?

[cdubbaya]

It sounds like you are trying to scale homebrew recipes to a commercial volume. There are likely going to be several factors that will affect how a small batch recipe turns out on a larger system.

1. Hop utilization - larger volume means better utilization for the most part (I've heard upwards of 125% from some people around here)
2. Timing - How long does it take for you to reach mash temp, boil, etc. on a homebrew system? It will likely not be the same on a commercial system. (Can't say it's more or less, that depends on your setup)
3. Temp control - Can you control your temperatures so that when you say you are mashing at 152F, you aren't really at 149F for any length of time?

The best thing you can do is get a recipe down on a small scale, and then determine the adjustments needed for your commercial system. Lots of trial and error I would assume.

As a direct answer to your question - I doubt it makes much of a difference what your pilot system is, as long as you know the differences in how the recipe is affected as you scale.