Your experiences with brewery steam boilers

RayWohlfarth

I will be teaching a class at the AHR at ASHRAE on Brewing with Steam. I would like to include common things you see in the field and common questions or mistakes. Thank you in advance for your expertise and input. Have a great weekend.

jumper

Low pressure boiler is cheaper and doesn't require periodic testing. Gravity works better than pumps. If you use traps select them after you specify control.

Mark Eatherton

Many years ago, I was asked by a friend to look at a local craft brewers set up. This was in Fort Collins, and the company is now one of the largest craft brewers in the US. At the time, the owner, who had a mechanical engineers degree, had installed a residential steamer, connected to a used Campbells Soup steam kettle that was being used as the mash tun.

I noticed there were no vacuum breakers on the steam kettle, and warned him that it needed to be addressed sooner rather than later. He said it would NEVER be shut off or isolated, so not to worry.

I guess he forgot to relay this information to his employees, because they did close both isolation valves, and the mash tun ended up collapsing into itself... Lesson learned. Vacuum breakers are really cheap, compared to having to buy another mash tun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz95_VvTxZM

ME

ratio

The power of 14.7 psia air is impressive.

RayWohlfarth

Thanks Jumper and Mark
Mark I do love that video and use it in my training sessions. I have done research on condensate induced water hammer and it can reach pressures of 1500 psig