nick jones Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 I'm looking at beginning to distill on grains for some of our products, and I was wondering what other distillers are doing to cool down mash for yeast pitching and fermentation. I can't imagine that a plate heat exchanger would work very well, but would a shell and tube work? Our batch size will be around 500 gals. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Tomaszewski Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 We do roughly 150 gal of liquid + solids and we do two things, stir and toss in a few blocks of homemade ice from 1 gal buckets. It can still take a bit to cool the mash, but so far so good. Just me guessing here, but I'm thinking that @ 500 gal, you won't be able to go that route (someone out there please correct me if I'm wrong), I'm thinking you pretty much have to do a coil cooling system of some sort, as in $$$. One day I'm sure I'll go that route, but for now it's do what we know and can afford. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absaroka Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 There are some plate and frame chillers out there that can handle solids (either in plate design or gasket thickness). They can be pricey depending on you cooling medium (water or glycol). Tube in shell coolers, in my experience, are about the same price or a bit cheaper but at the expense of size (again, based on cooling medium). A cooling jacket/coil is your cheapest route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Order some flexible copper and make a coil cooling tube yourself. You can hook it up to the hose and pump the cold water through the mash. Your hardware store should have everything you need except for the flexible copper tubing depending on the gage you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Morgan Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 We use the tube in tube style, as seen in the Wine Industry, not that compact, but clear bore, and the u-tubes at each end being removable make for easy cleaning. I have shoved stone fruit mashes down mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Tomaszewski Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Order some flexible copper and make a coil cooling tube yourself. You can hook it up to the hose and pump the cold water through the mash. Your hardware store should have everything you need except for the flexible copper tubing depending on the gage you want. brother, not trying to hurt your feelings, but that probably ain't gonna work for 500 gal. Do the math and I'm just going to guess that you'd need 3 or 4 inch copper tubing, or so much length that it'd hit the thousands with how much that stuff can run you, but at least your hardware store would appreciate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Yeah, I looked back at the original post and saw 500 Gallons. Definitely won't scale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Shell and tube will work great as long as you use 1.5" or greater (assuming you're keeping grain in, not using wash). Anything smaller than that and you could have some clogging issues. I've never seen a plate and frame that worked very well with any solids content. I think good cleaning and sanitation would be the real issue with one of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beauport Bob Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Then we go back to sanitation and infestation, as in a popular recent thread. 500 gallons, producing at an industrial rate? Look into a jacked mixing tanks. You'll save in the long run. Trident Welding was doing some Tube in Shell apparatus, if your water is cheap enough to work with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Made in Maine Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Hey all, This is something that I had an engineer do the figures on. I have a simple design for an exchanger that will cool wort while you pump it from one tank to another. It was not all that expensive and the water used for cooling should be cycled into your hot liquor tank. The design is not well suited for preheating a batch while cooling another. There is too much risk for contamination and difficulty in cleaning. Thanks Bob for the help in the early testing of this type of heat exchanger. The new design is suited for you also. I have to make it down for a visit soon. Its been too long. Jes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denver Distiller Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Then we go back to sanitation and infestation, as in a popular recent thread. For those interested, get that mash chilled and pitched in around an hour. This is when your sanitation is at its most vulnerable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beauport Bob Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Hey all, This is something that I had an engineer do the figures on. I have a simple design for an exchanger that will cool wort while you pump it from one tank to another. It was not all that expensive and the water used for cooling should be cycled into your hot liquor tank. The design is not well suited for preheating a batch while cooling another. There is too much risk for contamination and difficulty in cleaning. Thanks Bob for the help in the early testing of this type of heat exchanger. The new design is suited for you also. I have to make it down for a visit soon. Its been too long. Jes Yup, about a year. Last 4th of July? For the parades? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Made in Maine Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Yup, about a year. Last 4th of July? For the parades? WOW! thats right! it has been a busy year. Too long indeed. Are you guys running in the parade this year also? Happy 4th of July!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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