Strike Water Mixing Valve

[CMorrissy_]

I am looking for suggestions for a suitable mixing valve for our strike and sparge water. We need to hit within 1 degree of our targets (160F for strike, 170F for sparge and 140F for CIP). We mix 180F hot liquor and cold filtered water. Currently we use a Rada 425D mixer which is typically used for large group shower set ups. However we only get about 8 months out of the thermostat before we need to replace it. We know we are operating hotter than we should but for the cost it has seemed to be worth it. We are now looking to upgrade to a more suitable mixer.

Any thoughts?

[TGTimm]

If you find one, please let us know! So far, I've found nothing rated above 160F.

[briangaylor]

When receiving quotes from brewhouse manufacturers it was often listed as its own item. Perhaps you can reach out to ABE or Premier Stainless and they can fab one up for you. I remember the price was higher than I expected for such a part - but I am sure it would last longer than your current mixer.


Brian

[TGTimm]

Did you all ever find anything for this? I'm still searching for an appropriate mixing valve for the mash tun.

[Bainbridge]

We don't use a dedicated mixing valve, just valve on cold, valve on hot, into a T with a flowmeter and termocouple about 3 pipe-feet down the line. But I just replaced the old ball valve we had on the cold side with a stupid-expensive low-lead kickass globe valve. What a difference a valve makes! Much more precise, no more feathering a finicky ball valve. Now we dial in the strike temp to the hydrator very easily and quickly during the tun pre-heat and flush, start the auger and we're good to go.

[TGTimm]

Standard, full-port ball valves suck for fine flow control. They are made to be on or off, not much in between. Ball valves for flow control are V-Ball valves, where the round port of the ball is replaced by a V- (or elliptical-) opening: http://www.valtorc.com/valves/v-ball-valves This makes for much better flow control as the size of the opening gradually increases as the valve is opened.

Gate valves and needle valves are great for fine flow control, but have several problems of their own. In particular, gate or globe valves tend to leak, especially with demanding water conditions. Needle valves tend to be for lower-flow applications, and are rather delicate.

Anyway, I'd still like to have a proper thermostatically controlled water mixer, and I think I've found one: http://www.birkocorp.com/equipment/e...nic-actuators/ I have a funny feeling that "stupid expensive" will apply here. Waiting to hear back from a rep.

[Hoodbridge Brew]

Here's a basic set up that was described to us in a quote recently:

- 1.5" Hot liquor inlet
- 1.5" tri-clamp thermometer gauge
- 1.5" tri-clamp to 1/2" Globe valve for cold water inlet
- Sanitary flow meter and totalizer for strike/sparge water

The flow meter/totalizer for a 1.5" is about $850. Suppose you could use some other method to measure volume while still using the rest of the set up to mix the liquor prior to mashing in and save some money.

[AnthonyB]

It seems like for around $5k you could take two electronically controlled proportioning valves, a temperature sensor, and a micro controller of your choice and build a pretty robust automated version.

[TGTimm]

I'm bringing this thread back up as I'm still looking for solutions.

Hoodbridge: I hope you noticed that the maximum temp on that flow meter is 140 F!

So far, I've found Emech digital automatic mixing valves: http://www.birkocorp.com/equipment/e...nic-actuators/ These look very nice; can use a remote temp sensor (our mash tun has thermowells), but the cost is nearly $10k.

I'm currently waiting for a quote from Valtorc on v-port valves, both manually and automatically controlled.

As for the physical construction, the photo above, with the cold water entering through the boss of a T and the hot going straight through looks much better than the way we're set up--cold and hot meeting at the T with output through the boss.

Any other ideas would be welcome--

[AnthonyB]

The GPI flowmeters are rated for higher temperature if you remote mount the electronics. The turbine and the housing itself are rated up to 250F. I forget the model number scheming but there is a line that has the electronics isolated off of the housing.

[TGTimm]

Thanks, Anthony. That had occurred to me, but I wasn't aware that remote electronics were an option. Does the meter have an output--4-20 mA would be nice.