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Techniques for purging brite beer tanks before transfer

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  • Techniques for purging brite beer tanks before transfer

    I'm wondering if anyone can share their methods for purging brite beer tanks to ensure no oxygen remains in the tank when we filter into them. We purge with CO2 gas (bottom inlet/CIP downtube outlet) until the CO2 gas smell is strong on the outlet. Not very scientific. I'm wondering if I should buy an oxygen sensor that can be mounted on the CIP downtube outlet to monitor the concentration of O2 until it is below 0.2% or so.

    Any thoughts, suggestions?

  • #2
    That's about as scientific as I've ever gotten with it. Put your nose to the outlet, if it knocks you back/stings badly out you're probably pretty well purged. If I was going to quantify something to know that excessive o2 wasn't in my final product then I'd check the DO levels of the beer in the tank, not the oxygen content of the tank.

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    • #3
      I do the same but with one difference

      I purge very slowly from the bottom out the top vent for the first half hour to create a distinct line (blanket) between the CO2 and air in the tank. After the half hour I greatly increase the speed the CO2 enters the bottom and usually have a the tank purged (aka very burning gas from the outlet) in another 45 minutes. From there I pressure to filtering/transferring pressure (10 psi) and transfer away. FYI my tanks are 7bbl grundys and 10bbl conicals. I haven't used an O2 meter at the pub I brew at now but have had a chance to use one using this exact procedure at a large craft brewery and we were always able to get 0 ppb O2 on the tank vent out. Once we had the procedure down we would periodically check to ensure the process was still working and we never had any problems.
      Cheers
      Jay Stoyanoff
      Brewmaster
      Plattsburgh Brewing Co.
      Plattsburgh, NY

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      • #5
        Thanks

        Thanks y'all that is helpful.

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        • #6
          If you have access to deaerated liquor, fill the tank with it then push out with CO2. Not only will this use far less CO2 (thus ticking the 'environmental' box) but by using water the method is far more effective than just CO2-flushing because once the tank's full of DAL it has to be entirely empty of air.

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          • #7
            huh?

            how would that use any less CO2?
            Jay Stoyanoff
            Brewmaster
            Plattsburgh Brewing Co.
            Plattsburgh, NY

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            • #8
              Originally posted by monkeybrewer View Post
              how would that use any less CO2?
              Because the air and CO2 tend to mix, even with the quietest/slowest CO2 purge, to get the oxygen level down requires more than just one tankfill of CO2; filling the tank with deaerated liquor completely removes ALL air (and so all oxygen), so needs only a single tankfill of CO2 to push out.

              If you were to fit an oxygen sensor to the outlet of a CO2-only purge, the transition between 100% air and 100% CO2 is a curve; do the same for a DAL-filled tank and the transition is a sharp cutoff.

              The CO2 saved is that amount used during the transition between all-air and all-CO2 for the former.

              Hope that explains!

              Comment


              • #9
                Originally posted by TL Services View Post
                Because the air and CO2 tend to mix, even with the quietest/slowest CO2 purge, to get the oxygen level down requires more than just one tankfill of CO2; filling the tank with deaerated liquor completely removes ALL air (and so all oxygen), so needs only a single tankfill of CO2 to push out.

                If you were to fit an oxygen sensor to the outlet of a CO2-only purge, the transition between 100% air and 100% CO2 is a curve; do the same for a DAL-filled tank and the transition is a sharp cutoff.

                The CO2 saved is that amount used during the transition between all-air and all-CO2 for the former.

                Hope that explains!
                Hi,

                I understand this thread is old. But was wondering if anyone out there has best practice for purging O2 from a 15,000L BBT.

                Seems like a massive waste to fill with CO2 and purge. We have access to 200L DAL unit. This would take a loooong time and lead to wasted DAL.

                Thanks in advance

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