What size hoses/pipping do you use?

[DistillerMan]

I'm interested in seeing what diameter hoses/pipping distillers are using for moving mashes around? 

 

Working in breweries and distilleries I have generally used 1½ inch diameter. Never had a problem with these. BUT in this distillery I'm at now we are using 3 inch diameter hoses and it seems like over kill. 

 

Anyway, I just want to know what you are using. Thanks! 

[Southernhighlander]

What type of mash are you moving?

Is it on the grain?

How many gallons are you moving?

What kind of pump do you have and how many GPM?

[DistillerMan]

29 minutes ago, Southernhighlander said:

What type of mash are you moving?

Is it on the grain?

How many gallons are you moving?

What kind of pump do you have and how many GPM?

Bourbon, Rum. Yes. 800 liter. I don't know, and to many. It's over kill for the production size. 

 

I'm really just curious to see what distillers are generally using. 

[Southernhighlander]

Generally they use 2" for grain in mashes however your pump can dictate your hose size.  If the pump body itself has 3" connections you may damage your pump if you go with a smaller hose size.  What are the specs for your pump?

[Skaalvenn]

We've been running 1.5" , centrifugal pumps, with grain in (wheat) for nearly 4 years without issue.  We always agitate before pumping to make sure the hose doesn't clog with grain bed.

[Tom Lenerz]

We use 1.5 inch for spirit and 2 inch for mash/wine. This is partially because the mash is thicker, but also so we don't get sticky grain or wine in hoses used for finished product. Yes we clean them, but it's nice peace of mind knowing they are separate uses.

We move anywhere from 250 gallons to 500 gallons of mash at a time, and right now we are moving 4800 gallons of wine, through 700 feet of 2 inch hose. We only use three inch hose for grape must at the crusher and press or for tanker trucks when we are doing 5400 gallons at a time.

[Southernhighlander]

Skaalven

Corn mashes have a higher viscosity than wheat with some corn mashes having viscosities as high as 5000 centipoise.   if you were doing grain in corn mashes you would wear out your centrifugal pump within a few months. We have sold several jabsco FIP pumps with 1.5" bores and 2" hoses to customers doing grain in corn mashes, where the corn was finally ground with no issues, but we have had customers who where doing cracked corn, get clogs with 1.5" bores. Also we generally suggest 2" hoses with our 1.5" bore pumps, if they are doing grain in corn mashes. We have also had customers who were not liquefying their corn mashes properly get clogs with 1.5" hoses.    I used to sell a 10gpm jabsco FIP on a cart that had a 1" bore and 1.5" hose but some of our customers had clogs with it while others are still using them with no issues.

 

[Skaalvenn]

That's why I said the grain I was transferring.

I am curious though, why would a centrifugal pump wear out with corn? 

[Silk City Distillers]

2” for grain in mash.  We’ve found that 1.5” can clog with high solids or thick mash.  We have both sizes, but are pumps are all 2” or 2.5”.

1.5” works great for CIP, Rum Wash, etc - the flexibility difference between 1.5” and 2” is night and day.  It’s much easier to work with 1.5” hose otherwise.

 

[Southernhighlander]

3 hours ago, Silk City Distillers said:

2” for grain in mash.  We’ve found that 1.5” can clog with high solids or thick mash.  We have both sizes, but are pumps are all 2” or 2.5”.

1.5” works great for CIP, Rum Wash, etc - the flexibility difference between 1.5” and 2” is night and day.  It’s much easier to work with 1.5” hose otherwise.

 

Our 1.5" pumps work with 2" hoses with corn flour mashes without ever clogging and that is a proven fact. We have around forty 20 gpm jabsco pumps out there with 1.5" bores running 2" hose with corn mashes, with ground corn flour and we have never had any of those clog. 

We have had 2 different customer who were using cracked corn (chops) and they did clog. 

So if you are doing a regular corn mash our 1.5" jabsco pumps with 2" hoses are guaranteed to work without clogging.  We use 2" hoses on the 1.5" pumps because the 1.5" hoses with the same pump would sometimes clog.

Last shot distillery in New Jersey has been using one our 1" bore jabsco FIP pumps with 1.5" hoses for his grain in corn mashes for several years now with great success.  Howver we do not sell any 1" bore pumps for corm mash  any more and like you I do not recommend 1.5" hose for corn mashes because they will clog, however th jabsco 1.5" bore pump works great with 2" hose and will not clog.

[Southernhighlander]

3 hours ago, Skaalvenn said:

That's why I said the grain I was transferring.

I am curious though, why would a centrifugal pump wear out with corn? 

The viscosity of corn mash is too great for a centrifugal pump.  They will sometimes work for a few months but they will wear out prematurely.  For thick viscous mashes from, corn, rye, rice or potato, you should not use a centrifugal pump.  You can use either a flexible impeller pump, dual diaphragm pump or rotary lobe pump.  There are some other pumps that can be used but the 3 I just listed are the most common ones.  You should always go with at least a 2" hose and at least a 1.5" bore.

[indyspirits]

9 hours ago, RxSTRESS said:

I'm interested in seeing what diameter hoses/pipping distillers are using for moving mashes around? 

 

Working in breweries and distilleries I have generally used 1½ inch diameter. Never had a problem with these. BUT in this distillery I'm at now we are using 3 inch diameter hoses and it seems like over kill. 

 

Anyway, I just want to know what you are using. Thanks! 

We use 2" for mash and other stuff. Started with FIPs but have switched to AODD.  We use a smaller 1" AODD (both Yamada) for moving around high-proof alcohol -- stainless body with PTFE seals, balls, etc. We use fully conductive hose from TCW Equpment which seems to work well. At least we havent blown ourselves up. I like the FIP as you can reverse it but cleaning is a bit of a PITA and the impellers arent free to replace.  Like Paul said, centrifugal pumps are tempting because of the price but whatever you're pumping must be water-like in consistency / clarity.  3" seems like overkill.

 

 

[jeffw]

Ruptured a diagrapham on my AODD pump and he been using my centrifugal with a 2” hose of 22 gallon beer bourbon mash without much trouble.  I have a little t before pump with a ball value in case I need to burp air out. Actually working pretty well and a hell of a lot quieter than my aodd.