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Spunding and Pall Lenticular filtration

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  • Spunding and Pall Lenticular filtration

    Dear Group,
    I was hoping to get confirmation concerning the use of spunding valves and its potential effect on filtering beer via a Pall lenticular filter. I am not aware of any issues that would affect filtration, but I am known to be wrong at times.
    Experience, information etc would be appreciated.
    Thanks
    John

  • #2
    when you filter or transfer carbonated beer you need to maintain sufficient top pressure to keep the co2 in solution.

    before filtering we pressurize the brite tank and the tank the beer is coming out of to about 12psi and connect the headspaces with a 1/2 braided vinyl hose.

    When you pull beer out of the conditioning tank and filter it into the brite, the headspace gas from the brite moves to the conditioning tank to maintain the pressure to keep the co2 in.

    When we start filtering we push the last sanitizer out of the filter with cold water, which we then push out with co2.
    Keep the CO2 pressure in the filter bowl close to or just below that of the conditioning tank. (if too high the co2 will push backwards into the conditioning tank)
    Let the beer flow into the filter with gravity and regulate the flow by slowly venting off the back pressure on top of the filter. Always keep the back pressure above the CO2 equilibrium pressure of the beer to prevent foam.
    if you were to open the filter vent all the way and the pressure were to drop below equilibrium then the beer coming in would try to give up it's gas and foam up.

    once the filter is full, run beer through it to drain any leftover water in the filter out. After he water/beer interface you can filter into the brite tank.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by beerme View Post
      when you filter or transfer carbonated beer you need to maintain sufficient top pressure to keep the co2 in solution.

      before filtering we pressurize the brite tank and the tank the beer is coming out of to about 12psi and connect the headspaces with a 1/2 braided vinyl hose.

      When you pull beer out of the conditioning tank and filter it into the brite, the headspace gas from the brite moves to the conditioning tank to maintain the pressure to keep the co2 in.

      When we start filtering we push the last sanitizer out of the filter with cold water, which we then push out with co2.
      Keep the CO2 pressure in the filter bowl close to or just below that of the conditioning tank. (if too high the co2 will push backwards into the conditioning tank)
      Let the beer flow into the filter with gravity and regulate the flow by slowly venting off the back pressure on top of the filter. Always keep the back pressure above the CO2 equilibrium pressure of the beer to prevent foam.
      if you were to open the filter vent all the way and the pressure were to drop below equilibrium then the beer coming in would try to give up it's gas and foam up.

      once the filter is full, run beer through it to drain any leftover water in the filter out. After he water/beer interface you can filter into the brite tank.
      Thanks Beerme! It makes sense to keep head pressure in the brite tank equal to the carbonation level of the beer to be filtered.

      Side question: Why bother with using cold water to push out the remainder of your sanitizer? Why not just use CO2?

      Comment


      • #4
        you are going to have an interface between rinsewater/ sanitizer and the first beer you push through. depending on your sanitizer (we use peracetic acid) you can mix a small amount with the beer but we choose to rinse it out with water (obviously clean potable water). Would you want to knowingly push 5 L of sanitizer into your bright tank?

        If using cold water it also cools the filter at the same time which will lessen foaming etc.

        the downside is that unless you use deaerated water then it will have dissolved oxygen. (but if the peracid solution was made with the same water it will as well). This is why you want to push out as much of the interface out as possible (maybe 20l), since any water carried over brings DO with it.

        To get as much water out of the filter as possible you can "squeeze it out" by pressurizing to 30 psi with CO2 and then opening the drain to vent pressure off. It will push most of the remaining water out of the modules. do this a few times until you see next to no water come out and then counterpressurize the bowl.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by beerme View Post
          you are going to have an interface between rinsewater/ sanitizer and the first beer you push through. depending on your sanitizer (we use peracetic acid) you can mix a small amount with the beer but we choose to rinse it out with water (obviously clean potable water). Would you want to knowingly push 5 L of sanitizer into your bright tank?

          If using cold water it also cools the filter at the same time which will lessen foaming etc.

          the downside is that unless you use deaerated water then it will have dissolved oxygen. (but if the peracid solution was made with the same water it will as well). This is why you want to push out as much of the interface out as possible (maybe 20l), since any water carried over brings DO with it.

          To get as much water out of the filter as possible you can "squeeze it out" by pressurizing to 30 psi with CO2 and then opening the drain to vent pressure off. It will push most of the remaining water out of the modules. do this a few times until you see next to no water come out and then counterpressurize the bowl.

          Sanitizer? On a filter? That sounds like a bad idea.
          The peracetic acid doesn't know the difference between microorganisms and cellulose and minerals, so the peracetic acid will be spent very fast, mostly on things that are not microorganisms. Plus, it may shorten the lifetime of the filter modules.

          I have used these types of filters in several breweries and I have always used hot water to disinfect the filter and then push it out with co2. Oxygen free. More or less.

          Comment


          • #6
            We clean the filter by backflushing, resting, backflushing, resting repeat until water coming out appears not to be hazy, odourless and colourless.

            To sanitize we backflush with hot water and gradually bring bowl up to 80C. We leave it packed with hot water overnight.

            --> be careful because if you pack it with hot water and close it up it will pull a vaccuum and break things. We leave the top outlet open with it's hose in a bucket of sanitizer, so as it pulls a vaccuum it draws fluid in to the bowl.

            In the past if we left it like this over a weekend or 3-7 days, the water inside will develop a musty odour and haze. Since then, the day after heat treating the filter we drain it out and recirculate a dilute peracetic acid solution. We leave it packed with this until next use. This has apparently resolved the issue. (either the remaining paa is masking musty odours or preventing them.)

            Pall suggest a metabisulfite and citric acid solution. This may be fine for winemakers but i don't like it.

            Comment


            • #7
              We disinfected the filter with hot water, flushed it out with co2 from the top and left the container pressurized. Never had any problems with smells.

              But we did notice a much shorter life span of the modules when backflushing with hot water, so hot water was only used in forward direction.

              Comment


              • #8
                Thanks for everyone chiming in.

                When I was at a different brewery, we back flushed and forward flushed with hot water for 20 minutes as Pall suggests, then pushed everything out with CO2 and left it packed with CO2 at 15 PSI or so.

                However, that's a lot of water being used and here in Ventura, SoCal in general, we are in a major drought with no end in sight. Using Pall's suggestion of peracetic acid at 100ppm for cold sanitation and then pumping it out with CO2 seems the most environmentally friendly thing to do. As an organic brewery, that also means the most logical thing to do. I just wasn't sure how to work the filter with ber that was already carbonated as a result of using a spunding valve.

                This has all been a very good dialogue. Thanks!

                Comment

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