150ltr Boiler CIP

[barneey]

I recently got a 150ltr stainless single skinned pot and was wondering if I should clad it in timber (Oak) meaning it will be CIP only.

Keep it as it is and accept the wasted energy to heat the thing / keep a rolling boil + it will be hot if touched.

or Clad it in some other way?

Any thoughts appreciated


Cheers

[chastuck]

I clad my ss boilers in camping bed foam cut to shape. You just roll it round the pot and keep it in place with two luggage straps. Works a treat. Keeps heat in and no touch burns. Easily removed for pot cleaning. I bought blue coloured ones which contrast nicely with the stainless look.

[stu-le-brew]

+1 to the camping mat, made quite a difference to my electric HLT , but its not going to work on my gas powered copper (I have tried a sample bit of the mat - even half way up it melted)

Same idea with the straps, but I put the blue side inside, maybe I'm obsessed with shinny looks !

[Waffty]

It's not cheap but Armaflex makes excellent insulation, it's used in the pub/brewing industry, so is mould resistant etc. It's also good to work with ie you can join bits with the red evostick to make any shape you want.

Like I say, only downside is the price

[Wezzel]

Camping mats and bungy cords are great. You can remove the mats after the boil to speed up cooling.

[Andy]

Last night I coated my 75L boiler with two layers of insulation.

Layer1 camping mat with silver foil on one side (I placed the foil side against the boiler outerskin).

used a couple of these



Layer 2 aluminium foil bubble insulation (from Wickes)

this stuff


Secured it all up using aluminium tape.

Nice and light and effective too, did a boil test this evening and the outer skin of the insulation was just warm to the touch with the boil on full tilt.

[stevetk189]

Where did you get the 150 litre pot from Baarneeey?

[barneey]

Originally it was from http://www.brouwland.com/en/ but picked it up from ebay following another members tip off. I still need to get a lid for it. Not the thickest gauge pot but not too bad. All my previous boilers have been thermos so havnt had the need to insulate.

[darkonnis]

a boiler now.... not just a HLT?! Well that escalated quickly. Will you use the 210L fv for your HLT and use both conicals then?
Brupaks also sell those tanks, I haven't got the prices but I seem to recall that brouwland was about the same price but cheaper (huge saving on postage) if you bought several... I'll be quiet now. I've thrown my spanner

[subsub]

My commercial boilers are all oak clad. Another vote for Armaflex here. I use it on all my home SS stuff

[Andy]

My commercial boilers are all oak clad. Another vote for Armaflex here. I use it on all my home SS stuff

I did look into Armaflex but it was hard to find the "HT" stuff rated for boiling temps without spending lots of cash.

[barneey]

Cheers for the replies, although I`m still not sure of which way to proceed, I like the idea of either the armaflex or camping mat solution, which being light weight would mean easier cleaning. The oak option IMHO would look better and it wouldnt take a lot of work to do as I can convert the existing barrel I made last year (extending it slightly) BUT this will lead to a more difficult cleaning solution. The third option might be to cut the top of the fermenter fit the stainless pot into that and fill the void with expanding foam, I dont intend to use the fermenter for anything it just came with the deal and is getting in the way at the moment (or use the fermenter as a water recycle devise).

I have 50 ltrs of beer at the moment before the stocks run dry so a little time to decide what to do.

Cheers

BTW wheres the best place for camping mats?

[Andy]

I got 2 mats for a tenner delivered from the 'bay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-ALUMINIUM ... 0739209107

[Kev888]

The main thing I would say is that whichever you choose do it whole-heartedly. A heavy CIP setup that you still need to move/tip to empty, or a light movable system that isn't 'especially' light and/or gets damaged easily can both be annoying.

Personally at this scale I would prefer CIP if it was workable, as I find it easier with bigger tanks and it reduces wear and tear on them and on me; my heavier tanks in particular didn't take long to start looking pretty scruffy with dings and tears in their soft insulation and scratching around the rim when upending them etc. CIP can also be helpful if you can't reach the bottom easily to scrub, too. But the brouwland tanks are pretty light so its probably more reasonable to move/tip them than it was for mine.

I don't normally use anything but water and a scrubby pad on my boiler and I can reach the bottom easily, so for me CIP'ing it is only about being able to empty it easily (which I can achieve just with a hop sack and a hand held hose jet to flush finer break etc out via the tap). But should you wish to use cleaning solutions, I found with my big FV (which I don't like to scrub and which I can't reach the bottom of anyway) that 150L consumes a lot of cleaning solution if you fill/soak it regularly, so if thats a possibility then a spray system would be well worth considering - though you need the lid to seal well enough to contain thew sprays.

Cheers
Kev

[barneey]

Cheers for the input Kev.

Have now discounted the foam & plastic container option being a fudge between the other two and end up with something neither lightweight or easy to clean. So its either the Mats or the Oak.

If I go for the Oak option I have to plain down the staves to enable the pot to fit correctly, I would also go for a large ballvalve fitting maybe 1.5 inch with triclover to enable full use of the external filter I have + to aid CIP.