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  • Equipment Sizing Question

    I am currently pricing out equipment for my brewery.. I want the end result to be 7BBL batches.. I was going to go with a 5bbl HLT, 5BBL mash tun, and a 7BBL boil kettle.. Im wondering what issues (if any) I will run into. I figured the 5 BBL mash tun and HLT would still allow me to collect enough wart to do a 7BBL boil.. The rest of the setup would be 7BBL fermenters and Brite tanks..

    I have this setup currently on a much smaller scale at home... 30gal mt and 30 gal hlt to 50gal BK at home.. I am batch sparging with my homebrew setup however, and know I will need to switch to fly sparging on a larger scale..

    Any concerns or issue that anyone can think of with be going this route ? .. Any info would be much appreciated. Im just looking for final confirmation before I place my order..


    Thanks in advance

  • #2
    If anything I would reverse those proportions - I can't really think of a situation where you would choose to undersize and limit your options on the HLT and MLT side. If you have access to this particular equipment cheap or there are some serious space concerns that are preventing you from a properly proportioned brewhouse I would highly recommend doing a 1:1:1 ratio and, depending upon your plans for growth, really consider a 2:1:1 ratio that includes a double-sized HLT enabling your to more effectively double-batch in one day and fill a 15bbl fermenter.

    To take a step back - what is your end goal? Is it a 5bbl brewhouse that has an over-sized boil kettle enabling you to knock out higher volumes of session beer but normally you would brew 5bbl of standard/stronger beer? Or is it a 7bbl brewhouse that enables you to brew what you want. If the answer is the latter (which I suspect, given the 7bbl FVs) then you will most likely need to increase your vessel sizes to accommodate.

    We recently expanded from from a cobbled-together 3bbl system with an undersized HLT - I would be happy to share any insights regarding system sizing for a smaller brewery such as this! Feel free to pm or email.

    Cheers,
    Tom
    tom_at_bemidjibeer.com

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    • #3
      PM'D you.. Thank you for the post.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by BemidjiBrewing View Post
        If anything I would reverse those proportions - I can't really think of a situation where you would choose to undersize and limit your options on the HLT and MLT side. If you have access to this particular equipment cheap or there are some serious space concerns that are preventing you from a properly proportioned brewhouse I would highly recommend doing a 1:1:1 ratio and, depending upon your plans for growth, really consider a 2:1:1 ratio that includes a double-sized HLT enabling your to more effectively double-batch in one day and fill a 15bbl fermenter.

        To take a step back - what is your end goal? Is it a 5bbl brewhouse that has an over-sized boil kettle enabling you to knock out higher volumes of session beer but normally you would brew 5bbl of standard/stronger beer? Or is it a 7bbl brewhouse that enables you to brew what you want. If the answer is the latter (which I suspect, given the 7bbl FVs) then you will most likely need to increase your vessel sizes to accommodate.

        We recently expanded from from a cobbled-together 3bbl system with an undersized HLT - I would be happy to share any insights regarding system sizing for a smaller brewery such as this! Feel free to pm or email.

        Cheers,
        Tom
        tom_at_bemidjibeer.com
        Listen to Tom. Bare minimum 7bbl HLT. 15 is desireable.

        MLT should be at least same size as BK as well. Bigger if you are looking to do a fair bit of high gravity stuff.

        Would also recommend getting something that's designed to work together as a system, with the possible exception of the HLT.

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        • #5
          Based on the feedback We are going to spend the extra $ and just go 7BBL across the board with everything. Thanks for the info! It's much appreciated!

          Comment


          • #6
            If you want 7bbl wort in your kettle prior to chilling: 7bbl
            you will boil off 10-15% evaporaton during boil. 0.7 -1.0bbl
            you will lose water in your spent grain: 1.0 -1.5bbl
            you will need some hot water for cleaning 2.0 -3.0 bbl

            so you will need minimum 10.7- 12.5 bbl of hot water.
            extra hot water for tank cleaning/ keg washing is also nice

            also your heat exchanger if it is not efficient will give you >2 bbl for every bbl of wort you chill ==> 14bbl
            if the hlt is understzed you will overfill the HLT and waste water/ heat.


            And, if you ever wanted to do a double brew day, you need enough water to complete the first brew and mash in the second before you start collecting the water from chilling the first brew.

            so: 15 bbl minimum, 20 bbl better!

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            • #7
              Most of the brew systems built today will have both an oversized mash/lauter and Kettle/whirlpool in the 20% to 25% range so when they are described as 7BBL that is the knock out volume. I agree that it would be sound to always have a double sized HLT and depending where your located a double sized CLT. If you do find you need more hot liquor you can add an instantaneous water heater post filter to auto refill the HLT.

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              • #8
                Bosch hot water heater

                I've read about putting an instant HW heater inline. How does this sum up from a cost perspective? They are quite efficient.

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                • #9
                  7 bbl (or whatever) is not the size of the brewery vessels; mash tun, lauter tun, brew kettle, whirlpool tank.

                  7 bbl is the production volume size per batch of the vessel combination.
                  Todd G Hicks
                  BeerDenizen Brewing Services

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