Spitfire Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Hello, We hooked up the spray ball of our 1,000L kettle to city water using 1/2 PEX tubing and found the water pressure to be very insufficient to clean the kettle inside. At first we thought we could hook up an electric pressure washer since it could deliver many more PSI, but the output is not designed to be coupled with a standard garden hose fitting or anything off-the-shelf. Any tip on how to efficiently deliver water pressure to spray balls ? Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silk City Distillers Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Rule of thumb for CIP with a sprayball 2 to 3 gallons per minute of vessel circumference, leaning closer to 3 than 2. This is with the assumption that you can supply the necessary pressure to hit these flow rates, and that your spray ball isn't grossly over/undersized. For a typical 1000 liter tank that is around 5 foot diameter (~15 feet circumference) that's 30-45 gallons per minute required. 1/2" PEX and City Water probably doesn't stand a chance, the pressure washer won't do anything better. You'll want to rinse the kettle with a hose of any solids that will clog up your spray balls, then fill the kettle with water and caustic/acid, using a suitable pump to recirculate for CIP. Use your still kettle to heat the cleaning solution to the target temps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard1 Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Another angle, .. try not to exceed 2.5 bar.g at the sprayball otherwise you will start to atomise. Based on this you can work backwards wrt the pump and its available flow rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire Posted February 12, 2018 Author Share Posted February 12, 2018 Thanks. We will probably end up cleaning the kettle with an electric pressure washer unless we can find an inexpensive alternative. What do you use to push 30-45 gallons/minute into a spray ball ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silk City Distillers Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 Typical centrifugal pump, I would imagine something like 3/4-1hp, although you need to look at pump curves or have your supplier help you select a pump. How are you moving mash/wash around today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernhighlander Posted February 12, 2018 Share Posted February 12, 2018 We have self priming centrifugal CIP pumps. We can also fabricate a CIP valve manifold for the pumps. We have oprions for carts, veriable speed and reversing capabilities. Give us a call or email 417-778-6100 paul@distillery-equipment.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire Posted February 13, 2018 Author Share Posted February 13, 2018 20 hours ago, Silk City Distillers said: Typical centrifugal pump, I would imagine something like 3/4-1hp, although you need to look at pump curves or have your supplier help you select a pump. How are you moving mash/wash around today? We are assembling our still at this point, not in production yet. Can't wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silk City Distillers Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 When you select your mash/wash pump, you can size it for double duty as your CIP pump. You'll want to make sure you have a VFD/Speed Control on your pump so you can dial it fast or slow as necessary. We use our mash pumps as CIP pumps. Same applies to your hoses, if you buy hoses that can stand up to the CIP temperatures, you only need one set. Nice thing is, once your CIP is done, your pump is clean, and your hoses are clean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernhighlander Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Just an addendum to what Silk City wrote. Centrifugal pumps work well for both CIP and moving wash, however Centrifugal pumps do not work well for grain in mashes. Flexible impeller pumps work well for grain in mashes but they do not work well for CIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silk City Distillers Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Lobe pumps work great for both. Invest the money up front and enjoy decades of flawless performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernhighlander Posted February 13, 2018 Share Posted February 13, 2018 Rotary lobe pumps are great pumps and they will do both, but they are really expensive. However as Silk City says "you will enjoy decades of flawless performance". Rotory lobe pumps are really incredible, they will pump cherries without breaking them. If anyone needs a quote on a rotary lobe pump. 417-778-6100 paul@distillery-equipment.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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