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Heat Exchanger, counterflow chiller.... or?

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  • Heat Exchanger, counterflow chiller.... or?

    Hi all.
    We'll be running a 2BBL brewhouse and I was curious as to how other nano brewers are chilling their wort into FVs. Ideally, I'd love to get to 67-68 degF. Is that a possibility?
    I've looked into heat exchangers and counterflow chillers and everything in-between. I'd really love to use our city cold water supply to chill the wort, however, it seems like that may not be the best option. I haven't taken any temperatures yet, but plan on that tomorrow. Glycol is an option we could look into, but we'd really love to save the $2K for other equipment needs/wants and also, our brewery is small and square footage is definitely a premium.
    Mike Slone
    Co-Founder, Head Brewer
    23 Brewing Company
    Instagram: @23brewingco - Facebook.com/23BrewingCompany

    "Beer is the drink of men who think, who feel no fear nor fetter. Who do not drink to senseless sink, but drink to think the better" - Anonymous

  • #2
    heat exchanger

    I got a quote from Brew Stuff for our pilot system, they offer a 1 year warranty. They take their time getting back to you but what else is new, there's a pent up demand for nano equipment.
    Here's their e-mail:

    don@brew-stuff.com

    Comment


    • #3
      For that size of setup, why not consider using a beer dispense chiller unit to circulate through tubes in a cold water tank? (insulated of course) I don't know if electricity is cheaper overnight where you are, but is works pretty well here int the UK for small setups. So you chill the cooling water down from say 15 deg C in summer to less than 10 deg C, so you can achieve your required wort temperature fairly easily.
      dick

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by TFB View Post
        I got a quote from Brew Stuff for our pilot system, they offer a 1 year warranty. They take their time getting back to you but what else is new, there's a pent up demand for nano equipment.
        Here's their e-mail:

        don@brew-stuff.com
        what did you get quoted?
        Mike Slone
        Co-Founder, Head Brewer
        23 Brewing Company
        Instagram: @23brewingco - Facebook.com/23BrewingCompany

        "Beer is the drink of men who think, who feel no fear nor fetter. Who do not drink to senseless sink, but drink to think the better" - Anonymous

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by StarCityBrewing View Post
          Hi all.
          We'll be running a 2BBL brewhouse and I was curious as to how other nano brewers are chilling their wort into FVs. Ideally, I'd love to get to 67-68 degF. Is that a possibility?
          I've looked into heat exchangers and counterflow chillers and everything in-between. I'd really love to use our city cold water supply to chill the wort, however, it seems like that may not be the best option. I haven't taken any temperatures yet, but plan on that tomorrow. Glycol is an option we could look into, but we'd really love to save the $2K for other equipment needs/wants and also, our brewery is small and square footage is definitely a premium.


          A simple 27 plate heat exchanger, running city water will do exactly what you want it to do. I wouldn't mess around with anything else - it's your best and least expensive option. FWIW, we use a 27 plate HE on our 3bbl pilot system, it takes about 30-45 mins (depending on time of year/temp of water) to transfer to FV at ale temps.

          What's nice about plate exchangers is, if you clog it real bad, they're pretty simple to pull apart and clean.... A counterflow - no way. You clog it, your f****d, and believe me, it will happen.
          Last edited by theBrewMeister; 08-22-2013, 01:30 AM.
          Joe Kearns
          Brewmaster
          The White Hag Brewing Co.
          Sligo, Ireland

          Comment


          • #6
            Will you have glycol cooling on your fermentors?

            A local nano used 2 Blichmann Therminators in parallel on their 2BBL system because they don't take up much space and are easy to clean. They used tap water for cooling, and allowed the FV jackets to cool the beer down the few extra degrees to pitch temps.

            On a multi-batch brewday, you can run clean water through the exchangers and into the HLT for a quicker turnaround and a bit of energy savings.

            I suppose you could pre-chill the cooling water somehow if you didn't have glycol, but active fermentation temp control is pretty important.
            Kyle Kohlmorgen
            Process/Automation Consultant
            St. Louis, MO

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by theBrewMeister View Post
              A simple 27 plate heat exchanger, running city water will do exactly what you want it to do. I wouldn't mess around with anything else - it's your best and least expensive option. FWIW, we use a 27 plate HE on our 3bbl pilot system, it takes about 30-45 mins (depending on time of year/temp of water) to transfer to FV at ale temps.

              What's nice about plate exchangers is, if you clog it real bad, they're pretty simple to pull apart and clean.... A counterflow - no way. You clog it, your f****d, and believe me, it will happen.

              Clogging the counterflow was a concern I thought about as well. Time is not really an issue, however, you won't hear me complain if I can chill 2BBLs of near boiling wort in 45 minutes.


              Originally posted by SouthHouseBrew View Post
              Will you have glycol cooling on your fermentors?

              A local nano used 2 Blichmann Therminators in parallel on their 2BBL system because they don't take up much space and are easy to clean. They used tap water for cooling, and allowed the FV jackets to cool the beer down the few extra degrees to pitch temps.

              On a multi-batch brewday, you can run clean water through the exchangers and into the HLT for a quicker turnaround and a bit of energy savings.

              I suppose you could pre-chill the cooling water somehow if you didn't have glycol, but active fermentation temp control is pretty important.
              Unfortunately, we have single-walled FVs. I wish we had the dough for jacketed tanks, but it's just not in the cards right now to purchase jacketed tanks AND a glycol system.

              Chain brewing is something that I will definitely be doing quite a bit of, especially until we expand our brewhouse to 2BBL. Right now, it's actually only 1BBL, but we plan on the extra barrel of BH capacity shortly after we open. We're using Blichmann BoilerMakers and will be getting the 2BBL extensions for the 55g pots.

              What's the name of the nano you speak of? I'd love to get in contact to see how the Therminators worked out.
              Mike Slone
              Co-Founder, Head Brewer
              23 Brewing Company
              Instagram: @23brewingco - Facebook.com/23BrewingCompany

              "Beer is the drink of men who think, who feel no fear nor fetter. Who do not drink to senseless sink, but drink to think the better" - Anonymous

              Comment


              • #8


                This seems like a good option for the price of ~$700. From what the page says, it'll cool from knockout to 68 @ 2g per minute rate. 16 minutes to cool about 1BBL. Not bad.
                Mike Slone
                Co-Founder, Head Brewer
                23 Brewing Company
                Instagram: @23brewingco - Facebook.com/23BrewingCompany

                "Beer is the drink of men who think, who feel no fear nor fetter. Who do not drink to senseless sink, but drink to think the better" - Anonymous

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by StarCityBrewing View Post
                  ...
                  What's the name of the nano you speak of? I'd love to get in contact to see how the Therminators worked out.
                  Bier Brewery is who I was referring to, but I fact-checked myself: they used another model of plate chiller, not Therminators.

                  They made up a cool chilling cart, though:

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                  Kyle Kohlmorgen
                  Process/Automation Consultant
                  St. Louis, MO

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by SouthHouseBrew View Post
                    Bier Brewery is who I was referring to, but I fact-checked myself: they used another model of plate chiller, not Therminators.

                    They made up a cool chilling cart, though:

                    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater
                    sent them a message to ask how they built it and what plate chillers they used.
                    thanks for the tip, sir!
                    Mike Slone
                    Co-Founder, Head Brewer
                    23 Brewing Company
                    Instagram: @23brewingco - Facebook.com/23BrewingCompany

                    "Beer is the drink of men who think, who feel no fear nor fetter. Who do not drink to senseless sink, but drink to think the better" - Anonymous

                    Comment

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