Recirculating Tank While Packaging?

[gitchegumee]

Go for it. Especially if you have DO2 monitoring to know whether you are picking up oxygen during packaging. That's your biggest concern IMO. I often recirculate during carbonation without issue. Recommend that you always use butterfly valves on your BBT ports. Add a sample to the butterfly, when needed. Pump intake from the side and discharge through the bottom of the tank so that you form a circulatory pattern that doesn't have dead spots or an easy, short-circuit path inside the tank. Don't think you will have problems, but DO2 tests will prove that. Good luck.

[Pratt Brewing Co]

Hi everyone. Looking to get some information on recirculating a tank while packaging?

We're brewing a seltzer with just about 25% fruit puree added in after fermentation. In talking with the people at Aseptic Fruit Purees, their recommendation, to avoid any settling issues, was to recirculate the tank while canning everything up.

Have never done this before. I overthink things sometimes and get in my head and make it hard to see clearly past obstacles sometimes, so looking for anyone who's done this before.

- Do you need a special kind of pump?
- Obviously sanitation is important, I'm not SUPER worried about that, as that's pretty easy to control
- The canning line is going to hook up directly to the racking port on the tank, so that's not an option for recirculation use. Perhaps instead of attaching a sample valve directly to the tank, attach a 3rd butterfly valve to the body of the tank and use that as the recirculation port? Can have a sample valve attached to that butterfly valve during fermentation for gravity checks, but then could close the valve, pull the sample valve and use the valve to recirc?

If anyone has any tips, let me know. Appreciate any help in advance!

Thanks.