Where is the drainage on a pro brewery kettle?

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chris2012
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Where is the drainage on a pro brewery kettle?

Post by chris2012 » Mon Feb 26, 2018 12:20 pm

Hey,

I'm just wondering I thought I read if you had a bottom drain in the centre of a kettle, you wouldn't be able to whirl pool?

So I'm just curious where the drainage actually is in a micro brewery or bigger kettle?

Like I can see how you could easily have bottom draining for a HLT and mash tun, just wondering about the kettle part

Cheers

simon12
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Re: Where is the drainage on a pro brewery kettle?

Post by simon12 » Mon Feb 26, 2018 2:48 pm

I can't see what the problem is with a bottom draining kettle I think they all are, where do you see the problem?

FermentedCulture

Re: Where is the drainage on a pro brewery kettle?

Post by FermentedCulture » Mon Feb 26, 2018 3:08 pm

You can have multiple port outlets. Some whirlpools are slightly inclined to gather the trub off center then they have a port on the opposite side. I think I remember some whirlpools also having a trub blocker mesh to save the last bits of beer when the wort level reaches the cone of trub.

chris2012
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Re: Where is the drainage on a pro brewery kettle?

Post by chris2012 » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:04 pm

FermentedCulture - "Some whirlpools are slightly inclined to gather the trub off center then they have a port on the opposite side." I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that. You mean it is possible to bottom drain and whirlpool?

simon12 - I'm just trying to find the thing I read now, I'll edit the post if I find it

Although I can't find the post I originally read - http://discussions.probrewer.com/showth ... -Operation
seems to indicate having a drain in the centre may be a bad idea?

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Eric
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Re: Where is the drainage on a pro brewery kettle?

Post by Eric » Wed Feb 28, 2018 9:06 pm

In the past hop cones would filter bittering hops and trub and some traditional commercial brewers still have hopbacks below their kettle through which the boiled wort will filter while extracting hop aroma. I believe the whilrpool was developed in 1960 by Molson in Canada pumping the boiled wort from the kettle into a vertical cylindrical tank at an angle to the side then left for a 30 minutes rotational stand. Soon this became the most common system of separation allowing greater use of pellet hops and extracts and fewer hops in total.

Many breweries now whirlpool in the kettle with appropriate pipework and a bottom run-off point near to or in the side for wort. A centre drainage is usually provided to extract the hop debris and more efficiently clean the kettle. The recovered hop debris is put onto the mash during sparging at some breweries to recover what might otherwise be lost.
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chris2012
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Re: Where is the drainage on a pro brewery kettle?

Post by chris2012 » Wed Feb 28, 2018 9:28 pm

Thanks Eric, that's very interesting! I hadn't realised a whirlpool used to be a separate system.

So in a brewery where they whirlpool using the kettle, with a bottom drain close to the side wall, how would they stop the trub going into the drain?

Would they just place some sort of mesh above the drain?

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Eric
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Re: Where is the drainage on a pro brewery kettle?

Post by Eric » Wed Feb 28, 2018 10:11 pm

Good question because I've seen some filthy wort going into the FV in some places. I suppose it must depend upon how good the plant design is and how well the pumping matches the piping layout. Probably the first few litres will be separated to let any trub that settled in the outlet clear before being added to the FV. I would think there is too much risk in a large kettle should any mesh choke.

I still rely on a slotted filter in my kettle and intend incorporating a whirlpool to enable using 100% pellets, but so far it seems to be working well with up to 75% pellets, but then I'm not constrained for time as commercial brewers are nor be faced wondering what might be the best way to clear a path for many thousands of litres of beer.
Without patience, life becomes difficult and the sooner it's finished, the better.

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