Hey guys, having a bit of an issue with setting up our glycol system.
We're setting up a brewpub. 10BBL system, 5 jacketed 10BBL fermenters, 10 jacketed 10BBL serving tanks. We're going with Cool-Fit headers, drops, and valves, then the flexible hose supplied by the tank manufacturer (Specific) to connect the tanks. Possibly we will run Cool-Fit all the way to the tanks in the future. Glycol chiller manufactured by Pro.
Pro sized us with their 5HP MA model. We then began to talk about header size. Specific suggested flow requirements of 2GPM for holding temperature, 6GPM for crashing. Pro came back and told me that that's all well and good, but since the tanks have 1" connections, they will draw 10GPM whether they need it or not. 10GPM * 18 (3 future tanks) * 70% = 126GPM. Pro recommended I go with a 2.5" header, upsize the reservoir to 200gal, and upsize the process pump to 2 or 3 HP. Having worked in a brewery with a suspect glycol system, I decided to go with all the recommendations, and figure out how to deal with the price increases later.
Of course, being an idiot, I forgot to actually confirm with Pro that I wanted these upgrades, and I learned yesterday that my chiller is built, without the upgrades. I have not ordered the glycol piping from GF yet.
My options are to either:
a) Find another buyer for the completed system (possibly not an easy task), and order a new one, delaying me a month or so, as Pro has a bit of a backlog
b) Explore sizing the system for only the required 2/6GPM per tank specified by the manufacturer. Also we'd be able to maybe reduce the header size, saving a boatload of cash.
Could we look into adding a 6GPM flow limiter onto each tank? Does a part like this exist that is reliable? If we only had 6GPM max in each tank, that brings the whole system down to 6 * 18 * 70% = 76GPM. If we have some form of adjustable flow limiter that is generally set to 2GPM, and can be switched to 6GPM when crashing the tank, we would reduce flow requirement down to (2*17+6*1)*70% = 28GPM. From my understanding, this would eliminate the need for the upsized process pump and reservoir? Is there a good reason this type of thinking isn't valid? Is there something else I'm over looking?
I'm discussing this with Pro, GF, and Specific right now, but just wanted to see if anyone here had any tips they felt like sharing.
Thanks,
Chris
We're setting up a brewpub. 10BBL system, 5 jacketed 10BBL fermenters, 10 jacketed 10BBL serving tanks. We're going with Cool-Fit headers, drops, and valves, then the flexible hose supplied by the tank manufacturer (Specific) to connect the tanks. Possibly we will run Cool-Fit all the way to the tanks in the future. Glycol chiller manufactured by Pro.
Pro sized us with their 5HP MA model. We then began to talk about header size. Specific suggested flow requirements of 2GPM for holding temperature, 6GPM for crashing. Pro came back and told me that that's all well and good, but since the tanks have 1" connections, they will draw 10GPM whether they need it or not. 10GPM * 18 (3 future tanks) * 70% = 126GPM. Pro recommended I go with a 2.5" header, upsize the reservoir to 200gal, and upsize the process pump to 2 or 3 HP. Having worked in a brewery with a suspect glycol system, I decided to go with all the recommendations, and figure out how to deal with the price increases later.
Of course, being an idiot, I forgot to actually confirm with Pro that I wanted these upgrades, and I learned yesterday that my chiller is built, without the upgrades. I have not ordered the glycol piping from GF yet.
My options are to either:
a) Find another buyer for the completed system (possibly not an easy task), and order a new one, delaying me a month or so, as Pro has a bit of a backlog
b) Explore sizing the system for only the required 2/6GPM per tank specified by the manufacturer. Also we'd be able to maybe reduce the header size, saving a boatload of cash.
Could we look into adding a 6GPM flow limiter onto each tank? Does a part like this exist that is reliable? If we only had 6GPM max in each tank, that brings the whole system down to 6 * 18 * 70% = 76GPM. If we have some form of adjustable flow limiter that is generally set to 2GPM, and can be switched to 6GPM when crashing the tank, we would reduce flow requirement down to (2*17+6*1)*70% = 28GPM. From my understanding, this would eliminate the need for the upsized process pump and reservoir? Is there a good reason this type of thinking isn't valid? Is there something else I'm over looking?
I'm discussing this with Pro, GF, and Specific right now, but just wanted to see if anyone here had any tips they felt like sharing.
Thanks,
Chris
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