Brewing Hose: 1.5" i.d. vs. 1" i.d.

[Sean W.]

I have a dumb question: I have worked for or interned for a number of small breweries in the 5-10 barrel brewhouse size. The standard size for product hose (kettle to fermenter or fermenter to bright) is almost always 1.5" i.d. But in a lot of cases it's way more than necessary. The flow to the tanks is not really that fast coming out of a heat exchanger, or even going from tank to tank. Is there any reason 1" i.d. hose couldn't be used? I mean, if you're talking 20 feet of hose, it's way lighter, more flexible, cheaper...am I missing something? Are other brewers going to think I'm a wimp when they see my tiny hose? ; ) Thanks for the input. I am writing this as I am about to make a big hose purchase for the brewery we are starting, so that's why I'm asking.

[gitchegumee]

Not a dumb question at all. Actually, I'd like to ask anyone using 1 1/2 inch hose on a 5bbl system why they chose that size! 1 inch is plenty of hose up to about 10hl. Above that, I would use 1 1/2 inch, unless the brewery was very compact. If you aren't pumping much distance, you could get by with 1 inch hose up to 20hl. Besides being lighter, more flexible, and cheaper, the smaller hose holds less beer and represents less losses. And who cares what other brewers think? It's not the size of the hose, it's how you use it. At least in this situation! Good luck!

[SMiller]

We have a 9bbl system and use only 1" hose for all the reasons you listed. Lighter, flexibility, cheaper.

[Sean W.]

Thank you both for the input. Specifically, I am looking at a 10 barrel system with a 20 foot product hose coming off the heat exchanger. The only thing I don't know how to calculate is resistance. I think our pump will handle that fine, it's going to be a 2 HP brewhouse pump. Thoughts?

P.S. we will also have some 1.5" hose in the brewery for tank CIP's, so we will always have that option too, for tank transfers at least.

[a10t2]

I wouldn't even bother calculating the resistance in that scenario. For either 1" or 1.5" hose, it's going to be negligible.

[Sean W.]

Cool, I'm sold on the 1".

[BugHunter]

Argument for Both Sizes

The brewery I work at has 40bbl fermenters and a 20bbl brewhouse. We use a combination of both 1.5" and 1" hoses, and each has their use. We utilize a number of different mobile pumps and our most powerful one, the one we try to always use for our CIP cycles, pretty much requires a 1.5" input to prevent hose collapse from over-suction. For the most part we can get away with using 1" hoses but when we really want to make sure the pumps don't pull too hard for our hose capacity we always try to give our pumps a 1.5" input and 1" output hose.

If you're not using pumps that can collapse a 1" hose and aren't brewing above 10bbl I'd definitely recommend sticking with 1" hoses just on the cost savings alone.

[CharlosCarlies]

I WISH we could use 1" hoses! Cheaper, lighter, and generally just easier to work with.