Hard Piping Mash

[TBalich]

Hey All,

We are currently working on figuring out how to pump our fermented mash approximately 190ft to a still in an older production area.

The mash is grain in so there are some solids.

Does anyone have any experience with this? The piping we are looking to use is a 2in PVC. Should we anticipate clogging issues? Is there an easy way to clean out the lines or is the only option flushing water?

Haven't been able to find much info here.

[Bier Distillery]

Gravity won't be much help with less than a 3" pipe especially after settling.  If you get the pump close enough to the tank and use the right pump (positive displacement) almost any size pipe would probably work.  If you're just using the pipe to pump to the still, flush it with water when done, cap it off and then flush it again before you use it again.  I don't think you really need to clean it all that well.

[SlickFloss]

190 feet straight shot? No elevation changes?

 

Why PVC? If you used stainless you could chemically clean or physically sanitize with steam. 

 

Whats your grist ratio and what are you cooking? Somethings will obviously take this treatment differently than others.

 

Cheers,

Slick

[Silk City Distillers]

Positive displacement pump (lobe pump) is going to be an absolute MUST here, you should be ok with 1.5" but 2" is a far safer choice.  Flush with water on the still fill so that you aren't leaving wash in the piping.  It would be great if you could get some pitch to drain.

If cost is an issue and stainless is not possible at 190 feet, I'd honestly run schedule 40 black steel pipe before I'd use PVC.  Do it like the old rusty distilleries in Jamaica.

[SlickFloss]

On 1/22/2021 at 7:09 PM, Silk City Distillers said:

Positive displacement pump (lobe pump) is going to be an absolute MUST here, you should be ok with 1.5" but 2" is a far safer choice.  Flush with water on the still fill so that you aren't leaving wash in the piping.  It would be great if you could get some pitch to drain.

If cost is an issue and stainless is not possible at 190 feet, I'd honestly run schedule 40 black steel pipe before I'd use PVC.  Do it like the old rusty distilleries in Jamaica.

Silk city and I agree again. That PVC is as scary as the barrel of a loaded gun to me, at end of day would much prefer stainless. 

[Southernhighlander]

TBalich

PVC is not suitable for your application.  Pipe is measured by the ID and tubing is measured by the OD.  Sanitary stainless steel pipelines are generally built from tubing and the most common stainless sanitary fittings are for tubing and will not work with pipe. We have the stainless tubing that you need at a good price.  We also have the stainless fittings that you need as well.  We can build you custom lengths of tubing with tri clamp ferules welded on so that you could simply clamp everything together at your site with our sanitary clamps and fittings, or we can sell you lengths of tubing and weld fittings so that you can have a sanitary tig welder do the work at your site.  We have one of the deepest SS 304 stainless steel sanitary parts catalogs in the US and are glad to give you a quote.  417-778-6908 ask for Paul or email  paul@distillery-equipment.com