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May sound like a weird question, but we recently converted a large stainless tank into a Hot Liquor Tank that is heated by an on-demand gas heater utilizing a recirculation pump and temperature controllers. The same heater is also plumbed inline to our grist hydrator and while it easily heats water to 185F, it doesnt like to do so when the input is higher than about 163. Therefore when the HLT water that it's pulling from hits 163, the heater shuts off. This becomes a problem when we are diverting the flow into the grist hydrator and we need higher than 163F.
I'd like to keep my HLT water as cool as possible to save on energy cost and to ensure that my heater kicks on when called for, but hot enough to keep it safe and free of any nasty stuff. Anyone see a problem with keeping the tank between 150-155F, then using the inline heater to boost it to mash in temps inline to the grist hydrator? I know standard food safety says 140+ is safe, but I can't find much on this topic and we're doing this a bit differently than most brewery folks I think, just trying to re-purpose equipment we already had rather than buying an all new HLT.
I'd like to keep my HLT water as cool as possible to save on energy cost and to ensure that my heater kicks on when called for, but hot enough to keep it safe and free of any nasty stuff. Anyone see a problem with keeping the tank between 150-155F, then using the inline heater to boost it to mash in temps inline to the grist hydrator? I know standard food safety says 140+ is safe, but I can't find much on this topic and we're doing this a bit differently than most brewery folks I think, just trying to re-purpose equipment we already had rather than buying an all new HLT.
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