CLT Design

[CasselBrewery]

Hey!

We'll need a CLT for our new upcoming 15bbl brewhouse and I was wondering what is the standard design for a CLT.

- Jacketed?
- Coil instead of jacketed?
- Coil inside the tank?

Seems to me coil inside the tank will have more surface contact. I will run glycol in it to cool my water that I will use for knockout then send it back to HLT.

But I have a deal on a 400gals insulated tank with a steam coil between the walls.

Thanks!

[TGTimm]

Coils in the tank will certainly have much more surface area in contact with the water, and therefore, would seem to be more efficient--until they ice over. Your glycol is probably at around 27 F, which isn't much of a problem with beer, but certainly is with water. A little "damping" from the external coils wrapped around the tank should help keep the icing down. Ice is a terrible conductor of heat, and wastes room in the tank.

CLT shouldn't need much cleaning, but when it does, internal coils will be harder to clean.

In either case, jacketed (insulated, that is)--unless it'll be in a walk-in cooler or similar.

Another important factor to consider--pumped or pressurized? Pumped requires, of course, a pump and energy to drive it; pressurized requires a pressure-rated CLT--usually 100 psi rating or greater.

[CasselBrewery]

Coils in the tank will certainly have much more surface area in contact with the water, and therefore, would seem to be more efficient--until they ice over. Your glycol is probably at around 27 F, which isn't much of a problem with beer, but certainly is with water. A little "damping" from the external coils wrapped around the tank should help keep the icing down. Ice is a terrible conductor of heat, and wastes room in the tank.

CLT shouldn't need much cleaning, but when it does, internal coils will be harder to clean.

In either case, jacketed (insulated, that is)--unless it'll be in a walk-in cooler or similar.

Another important factor to consider--pumped or pressurized? Pumped requires, of course, a pump and energy to drive it; pressurized requires a pressure-rated CLT--usually 100 psi rating or greater.

Thanks for the reply Timm! Good point on the cleaning part and icing which I didn't think of.

As for pumped or pressurized, I don't want to head that way, especially not for a 15bbl brewhouse.

Cheers!

[CasselBrewery]

Hey There,

Regarding your questions for a CLT...I suggest a glycol jacketed (external) and insulated CLT. Depending on the brews you wish to accomplish in a day, will dictate the size you should have. For a 15 BBL brewhouse, brewing once a day, size the CLT at 22.5 BBL (1-1/2 times your brewlength). This will ensure you have adequate water for an accurate knockout. Your cold liquor, if properly sized should be about 40F. If you intend to brew back to back, size the CLT at 45 BBL (3X brewlength, for the same reasons). Your chiller should be sized to handle the cooling loads and cool the CLT in about 8 hours (overnight) and ready for your next brew day.

I hope this helps!

Give me a call anytime...

We manufacture brewing systems and tanks of all sizes, with about 30 years experience behind us!

Vaughan Clark - Sales
Specific Mechanical Systems Ltd.

https://www.specific.net

250-652-2111 ext 275

Thanks Vaughan! Great info on the sizing. Our HX is a 2 stage so running CLT on one side and glycol on the other should logically require less volume from the CLT. I'm getting a good deal on a 400gal with external coil, think I might go ahead with that and give it a try.

Cheers!

[TGTimm]

Thanks for the reply Timm! Good point on the cleaning part and icing which I didn't think of.

As for pumped or pressurized, I don't want to head that way, especially not for a 15bbl brewhouse.

Cheers!

Well, you need one or the other. By "pressurized" I meant running at your water mains (or in-house regulator) pressure--which usually is 40-60 psi. This would be like your domestic water heater. Delivery rate of water from your CLT would be dependent on the size of the water lines in/out of the CLT--all the way back to your water main. Your water volume/pressure will not be constant unless the water to the HX is the only water you're using during the entire knock-out, or you'll play hell keeping the output temp of the HX constant.

Using a non-pressurized CLT and a pump means constant flow of cold water at constant volume/temp. The pump can be controlled with a VFD to make control of the output temp much easier--or even automated.

[TiminOz]

I think the best set up is an insulated glycol jacketed double brew length size tank (30BBL in your case). It wants to be equipped with a pump. RTD and a Warrick level sensor. Pipe from the pump to the brewhouse for HX and to blending valve with your HLT for strike water. Temp control and level control with auto fill should be installed into your control panel.