Nano Brewery Build

Cuzco_Brew · 02-25-2010, 01:49 AM

I have the opportunity to design a nano brewery (150L/40Gal) for a restaurant. The idea being to brew and sell on premises. I’ve done the math and figure a 150L/40 gallon setup will suit the requirements. I am a home brewer at heart so I am approaching this as giant home brew setup. The plan is to build a single tier system using 2 pumps and 2 gas burners for heating (HLT + Kettle), and a gaint imerssion chiller to cool.

I live in Peru so buying an off the shelf system or 3 Blichmann pots and a couple of conical fermenters isn’t an option. The upside of living down here is that getting stuff fabricated is much cheaper. So the plan is to have following fabricated in stainless steel:
HLT – 200L / 50 Gallon
Mash Tun – 200L / 50 Gallon
Boil Kettle – 250L / 66 Gallon
Fermenters – 180L / 47 Gallon

Now as I am going to have the HLT/Mash Tun/Kettle/Fermenters fabricated I have a few design questions:

Is my sizing of the HLT/Mash Tun/Kettle right for a 150L/40Gal system?

Is there an optimum design for a kettle/HLT? Height vs width?

I was thinking a square mash with a bottom drain. Is there an advantage to a round mash tun over a square one? Or vice versa?

What are the best dimensions to use for the mash tun? Height vs width/breadth? Optimum depth of grain bed?

Fermenters. Is 180L/47 Gallon big enough to ferment a 150L/40 Gallon batch? Is it too big?

What’s the best height/width combination for a conical fermenter? I’ve read that taller fermenters can create pressure that can affect fermentation, is that even a factor on such a small setup?

What angle do you need to have on the cone to ensure the yeast and trub settle out?

Any and all advise/suggestions/comments are welcome.

Cheers

Zac

G-Lover · 02-26-2010, 10:57 PM

I'm not the guy to answer this because I have the same basic questions. How does one properly design all the pots. There's gotta be a math equation or ratio.

**BrewBeemer** · 02-26-2010, 11:19 PM

I would look at all the commercial brewing rigs available on the market, read up and measure their height to diameter ratios of their kettles and use that ratio to the scale or gallons your looking to build. This should be an easy one with all this found on line. This plus remember keggles but they were handy and made to fit our needs. larger the surface area the more and higher the evaporation rate over time. With my last keggles they had 10" holes for the lids not 12" that seems the standard diameter. I saw this as 113 sq/in vs 78.54 sq/in or 69% of exposed area from 10" vs 12" for a reduced evaporation rate during the boil with more for the fermenter. I haven't noticed a difference boiling with each different diameter boil keggle opening with the same end product called bier and this with splitting the same batch.