The Importance of Plumbing in Glycol Piping for Breweries
If the brewing system is the heart of the brewery, and the artistic interpretation of the mash is the brain and soul, then the plumbing is the nervous system – making sure that messages are passed from one person to another.
The glycol piping is part of the glycol chiller. It acts on cold glycol water transfers, often between glycol water containers and fermentation vessels/fermenters, chillers, and glycol tanks. Glycol piping is also an important consideration for glycol chillers. So, choosing the right glycol piping for your brewery is critical.
Selection Of Pipe Material
Which one is suitable for the brewery? Before making a choice, we will introduce our three options for you: stainless steel glycol tubes, PPR tubes, and PPR+PEX mixing tubes.
Stainless Steel Glycol Piping
Pros: Long service time. It is both hygienic and rust-proof.
Cons: strict requirements on space, the area must be the same as the plan, and any type of change requires local welding.
PPR Tube For Ethylene Glycol Tube
Pros: Easy to interface with devices.
Cons: The adapters between the PPR pipes are not rustproof. It should be covered to prevent contact with water or other liquids.
PPR+PEX Mixing Tube
Pros: It is suitable for small locations, and because PEX piping is flexible, it can be bent in limited areas.
Cons: Not suitable for systems larger than 1500L.
Selection Of Pipe Diameter
The determination of the pipe diameter should be calculated according to the characteristics of the conveying medium, the flow rate, and the flow rate, and the fluctuation of the production process, the resistance loss, the standard diameter series of the pipe, and other factors should be considered.
The flow rate of the medium in the processing pipeline affects the flow rate under certain conditions. Under the condition of a certain delivery volume, the flow rate determines the diameter of the pipeline. Although a higher flow rate can use a smaller pipe diameter, which can save pipeline investment, the resistance loss is large, the energy consumption is high, and the operating cost is high.
It is necessary to choose the appropriate flow velocity for different medium transportation, and the flow velocity of mash transportation is generally less than 1.5m/s. Too high will form dextran gel due to the effect of shear force, which will affect the filtration of wort and beer. It is advisable that the feeding speed of the filter tank is less than 1.0m/s. If it is too high, the mash components will be separated, and the thickness of the bad layer will be uneven. It is more reasonable to choose a lower flow rate and adopt the method of feeding mash from the bottom.
The flow velocity of the cleaning agent and the sterilizing agent in the sterilization of pipeline cleaning needs to be greater than 1.5m/s, and the velocity is low, which cannot form the turbulent scrubbing effect so that the cleaning and sterilization effect cannot be achieved. Other common flow rates are generally 1.5-2.5m/s for hot and cold water, 2m/s for sake, 8-15m/s for compressed air or carbon dioxide, and 0.6-1m/s for refrigerant water.
Pipe Wall Thickness
The liquid or gas transported by the pipeline often has a certain internal pressure, so the pipe wall must have enough strength. For a pipeline system of a certain material, the strength of the pipeline depends on the wall thickness of the pipeline. The greater the internal pressure of the pipeline, the required wall thickness is also greater. For beer brewing, usually, the pressure in the pipeline is small, and the pipeline provided by the supplier meets the demand.
The Smoothness Of The Pipe Wall
The smoothness of the inner wall of the pipe affects the cleaning and sterilization effect. For the food industry, the cleanliness standard of the inner surface of the equipment should be controlled below Ra<1μm to prevent dirt and bacteria from accumulating.
Pipe Layout
The layout of the pipeline industry should meet the following requirements:
Meet the needs of production and technology;
Easy to operate and maintain;
No dead angle and conducive to cleaning and sterilization;
The pipeline arrangement is beautiful.
