Planning a 3 vessel system

eric19312 · Aug 3, 2019

Jako said:
sounds like a very cool build. this is what i wanted to do more or less.

so i talked to the builder about adding in a floor drain. he said he was concerned it would't function like i intended it to. so we decided for a large mop sink with a nice sprayer hose to clean everything.

As it sits right now since i emailed the builder this morning. We are adding in the wall a hole for a hood vent, 2 240V 30 amp plugs (this is 100$ cheaper then running 1 Natural gas line.) along the center of the wall for 7' it it will be that thing cut brick material. i figure it will help with heat and look nice. 7 can lights above and the floor will be wood looking tile for easy clean for when i spill. also a pot filler hooked up to a RO system so i can run my water off and not have to move or lift kettles full of water. Our house floor plan. has a huge cold storage so we moved the door from the hall way in the basement to the brewery.

I have the file of the floor plan i might ask the builder if he is okay with me sharing the basement plan.

This sounds awesome. I'm jealous! Huge cold storage? What's that all about?

I think you will be happy with electric. There are other advantages than cost. If you control temps with a RIMS you can use your PID controller in true PID mode. Meaning the PID can tell the element to fire 25% if that is the right amount of heat to hold your set point. This is not option with gas at all (it is either on or off, never part way on) and I think it might be a little more complicated with HERMS (I guess with HERMS you control the temp in the HLT and leave the pump running all the time, need to make sure the HLT is well mixed, but again you should be able to take advantage of true PID mode on the element in the HLT).

Another issue with gas is the pilot light is finicky. When I am brewing with doors wide open it is easily extinguished by a breeze. I guess I need to add a wind screen. Possibly the Blichmann electronic ignition strategy is more reliable but I've had those on BBQs before and they never seem to work for long.

Jako · Aug 6, 2019

Buckeye_Hydro said:
OK - make sure to address the chloramines with your RO prefilters. The filling of a container is easily automated (turning off the RO system when the container is full).

Russ

had a meeting with my builder today. he said he didn't understand what i wanted and told me to buy it and he will install. it will will be to the right of my brew stand with it running to a nicer looking hose bib that i can run a line into my pot. i decided to go simple and less fancy to avoid issues. i brew 5G batches currently but i might move up to 10. what do you think i will need GPH wise?

Buckeye_Hydro · Aug 8, 2019

Let's start with the RO system you want. Once we know the capacity (gallons per day nameplate capacity), we can appropriately size any needed prefiltration. Are you thinking about sticking with a residential-scale (generally less 150 gpd or less)? Commercial RO's typically start at 500 gpd. We have a system in between those two ranges at 400 GPD, appropriately called "The Gapper."

In northern Utah your minimum winter water temperature will be around 47F. Remember that RO system output is dramatically affected by water pressure and water temperature. With your water temperature, to calculate how much an RO system will actually produce, take the nameplate capacity (for example, 500 gpd), and divide that by 1.84. So in the dead of winter a 500 gpd nameplate capacity system would actually produce 500/1.84 = 272 gpd.

Once you get over about 0.5 gpm feedwater flow (about 400 gpd actual permeate flow at 50% recovery), it can make sense to put a thermostatic blending valve in to warm the feedwater a bit before it goes into the system (including any prefiltration). This would obviously raise the cost of operation, but it will reduce the size (capacity) of the RO needed.

Russ

Jako · Aug 11, 2019

Buckeye_Hydro said:
Let's start with the RO system you want. Once we know the capacity (gallons per day nameplate capacity), we can appropriately size any needed prefiltration. Are you thinking about sticking with a residential-scale (generally less 150 gpd or less)? Commercial RO's typically start at 500 gpd. We have a system in between those two ranges at 400 GPD, appropriately called "The Gapper."

In northern Utah your minimum winter water temperature will be around 47F. Remember that RO system output is dramatically affected by water pressure and water temperature. With your water temperature, to calculate how much an RO system will actually produce, take the nameplate capacity (for example, 500 gpd), and divide that by 1.84. So in the dead of winter a 500 gpd nameplate capacity system would actually produce 500/1.84 = 272 gpd.

Once you get over about 0.5 gpm feedwater flow (about 400 gpd actual permeate flow at 50% recovery), it can make sense to put a thermostatic blending valve in to warm the feedwater a bit before it goes into the system (including any prefiltration). This would obviously raise the cost of operation, but it will reduce the size (capacity) of the RO needed.

Russ

I understand most but the last part is over my head. So as the brewery sits I have a 1/2 line running into a pot filler I plan on running a hose off it into my kettle to keep it simple now. Ave brew day I use 11 gallons to 10.5 gallons. I dont plan to have a tank and will run the water off in on demand. I wouldn't mind having the ability to double up incase I brew 10gallon batches one day. The plumber gave up and said buy what you need and I will install it.

At this point it would be helpful if you just told me what I needed and I will just order it as blunt as it sounds I just dont want any issues in the long haul.

Thank you for the help! As I said its over my head at this point and all the information and support is extremely appreciated.

Buckeye_Hydro · Aug 11, 2019

It is challenging to understand exactly what you need based on these short messages. If it possible for you to call in? 5 minutes on the phone and we'll have this all figured out!
Russ
513-312-2343