Anyone here currently using a Calandria?

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StainlessBrewing

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Found some of his Greenmonti threads but the pictures are gone.

I wish I could read the thread you linked. What is this contraption???
brauanlage.jpg
 
It looks like he is using that stand as a way to raise the HLT above the mash tun for draining into it, then he can raise the Mash tun up, and drop the HLT down to use as his boil kettle. This way he can let gravity do the work, and use a single pot as both HLT and BK without having to use a pump.

Pretty ingenious setup actually.
 
Well, I don't speak the language of the page and the pics aren't helping much. How much fairy dust does it hold?
A keg full
I think Green Monti was. He built his own I believe.
I did see that thread but a lot of the pictures are deleted. I think he might be doing the same thing I'm talking about but not sure. Doesn't look like he's been on for awhile.
Found some of his Greenmonti threads but the pictures are gone.

I wish I could read the thread you linked. What is this contraption???
brauanlage.jpg
There are two pictures of the type of setup in that German thread I'm talking about except without the pump. The boil actually does the job.
I Googled it. Here's a Calandria. I don't use one for brewing, but I can see how it'd be useful in creating a vigorous boil:
Calandria_Real2_RECS_May05.jpg

When I first started looking for Calandria I came across this found myself watching the whole thing and ready for a margarita and some tacos by the beach.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You can plug the link into Google and translate the page...

The more i read that page the more i think that for the small scale brewer a RIMS or HERMS would work better but I'm not sure i understand it all yet. It is interesting however.
 
If people believe in HSA that would surely do it. What is the purpose?
 
I wanna say this is really similar to what Anderson Valley Brewing Company does, but I took that tour a while ago...


can't find a picture :(
 
The external calandria shown was an electrically heated tube style with pumped flow, not the steam powered versions used in breweries. I had worked with GreenMonti on flash boiler design and construction, then on boiling with a steam heated coil inside a keg. A SS tube heat exchange type internal calandria was built with 1" tubes but did not have enough surface area to work as desired in spite of being able to superheat the steam above 300 degrees.
I still have 2 flash boiler powered brewing systems that flex from strike to steam for mash step to sparge without plumbing changes, just water and gas adjustments.
 
you almost never see calandrias on small scale because they need to be a certain minimum size in order to work the way they are supposed to. the idea behind them is to create a small area or container inside the boil kettle (or sometimes outside) that acts like a pressure cooker. this raises the boiling point of the wort, and lets you superheat it. then when the superheated wort exits the calandria, where the pressure is reduced, it errupts into a vigorous boil (which is otherwise hard to achieve in, say, a 3000 gallon tank). the higher the temperature you can achieve, the more DMS will be driven off (also helps the additional surface area from the vigorous sub-surface boil), and the faster you will evaporate some volume. so you can do a 60 minute boil where normally you would have to do 90 minutes. in a production environment, 33% is a huge advantage.

small scale operations dont have the wieght of thousands of gallons of wort to use to make an internal one work passively like they normally do. you need a pressure gradient from the top to the bottom of the wort column. the only way to do it small scale is like klaude said; with a pump and external chamber, and probably a spunding-type valve on the exit to create an area of increased pressure inside. but at that point- its pretty easy to get a vigorous boil at our scale, so theres no need for the extra equipment and hassle.

also that top deflector right above the output stack is normally under the surface of the liquid, so its not shooting up like a fountain (HSA).
 
you almost never see calandrias on small scale because they need to be a certain minimum size in order to work the way they are supposed to. the idea behind them is to create a small area or container inside the boil kettle (or sometimes outside) that acts like a pressure cooker. this raises the boiling point of the wort, and lets you superheat it. then when the superheated wort exits the calandria, where the pressure is reduced, it errupts into a vigorous boil (which is otherwise hard to achieve in, say, a 3000 gallon tank). the higher the temperature you can achieve, the more DMS will be driven off (also helps the additional surface area from the vigorous sub-surface boil), and the faster you will evaporate some volume. so you can do a 60 minute boil where normally you would have to do 90 minutes. in a production environment, 33% is a huge advantage.

small scale operations dont have the wieght of thousands of gallons of wort to use to make an internal one work passively like they normally do. you need a pressure gradient from the top to the bottom of the wort column. the only way to do it small scale is like klaude said; with a pump and external chamber, and probably a spunding-type valve on the exit to create an area of increased pressure inside. but at that point- its pretty easy to get a vigorous boil at our scale, so theres no need for the extra equipment and hassle.

also that top deflector right above the output stack is normally under the surface of the liquid, so its not shooting up like a fountain (HSA).

That video clip was towards the end of the boil so the level did drop a little. This is the only thing that was used with a couple adjusting legs at the bottom to achieve that boil. Pretty impressive IMO.
97321990.jpg

By zjosey at 2012-08-23
 
I doubt many homebrewers would benefit from the use of one. I can get a pretty vigorous boil with any of my burners and I don't need a steam generator to do so.

Definitely would a pimp play to put one in use for homebrewing but the advantages are marginal at the 5 to 10 gallon batch size IMO.
 
I doubt many homebrewers would benefit from the use of one. I can get a pretty vigorous boil with any of my burners and I don't need a steam generator to do so.

Definitely would a pimp play to put one in use for homebrewing but the advantages are marginal at the 5 to 10 gallon batch size IMO.

That's exactly what I'm thinking but in the back of my mind I still think, less time, better utilization, less propane or electricty used. Also, more money, another thing to clean, takes up a lot of space for an immersion chiller, is it really worth it?

I still might make another one to play with though and actually see the difference for myself.
 
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