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Pacific Brewing Systems Tech 5BBL Profile

Beeradley Ales

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Hi, just wondering if anybody has created an equipment profile for a PBST 5BBL 2-vessel electric brewhouse.

I'll be using a Grainfather for trial batches and scaling the recipes up to the 5BBL production system. So I have made an attempt modify the BS Grainfather profile with the values that I think I can work out, but am open to input from anyone with experience on either pieces of equipment.

  • Batch Size: 23.00 L (600 L?)   
  • Mash Volume: 22.60 L (prob 120 kg grain + 350 L water expressed in L)   
  • Boil Volume: 28.00 L (650 L?)   
  • Mash Tun Weight: 9.30 kg (weight of the mash-tun is very hard to calculate/estimate)   
  • Evaporation Rate: 8.9 % (we will probably have the large exhaust port open to atmosphere)   
  • Mash Tun Specific Heat: 0.12 cal/g-deg C (this is probably the one that we really can't work out ourselves)   
  • Boil Time: 60 (this will be standard but may be 90 for pils malt)   
  • Mash Tun Deadspace: 7.00 L (any qty below the drain-port under the false floor - I haven't seen under the plates yet)   
  • Top-up for Boiler: 0.00 L (process dependant)   
  • Equip Hop Utilization: 100.00 % (ie approx 33% of AA isomerised in 60 mins - likely to be higher according to Brad's recent article)   
  • Losses to Trub/Chiller: 2.50 L (we can calc hose losses between PBST heat exchanger and FV)   
  • Cooling Loss (%): 4.00 (seems about right for contraction from 100C to 15C for a 10P wort)   
  • Top up water for Fermenter: 0.00 L (process dependant)   

Cheers
Brad
 
Beeradley Ales said:
Hi, just wondering if anybody has created an equipment profile for a PBST 5BBL 2-vessel electric brewhouse.

I've calibrated a PBST 15 bbl steam brewhouse. Here's how I calibrate systems of any size.

If you want to scale recipes for evaluating cost, I suggest making a profile that is a "Design Frame." That is, a profile that has no losses or expansion factors, only the total post boil kettle volume you expect, plus 10%. The frame now gives you an estimate with a 10% margin of error. You'll be a lot less frustrated if you wait to calibrate your brewhouse until you get it. If you can buy or borrow a flow meter, it'll be quicker or more accurate. Otherwise, you'll need to make a dipstick for the kettle and another for the MLT.

My experience with PBST equipment is:
5 to 7% Trub loss at the racking port.
25% headspace in the kettle.
Heat surface area is designed for evaporation around 5%/hr.
You'll want to put an offset on the stack so that condensate is captured by the stack ring.
You'll also want a fan on the stack, for both safety and reliable evaporation.

If you know the btu rating of the heat stick, you can calculate your boiloff. Each liter will need around 55 btu to stay at boiling. Each liter of steam is about 2200 btu.

You'll want to do a couple of water batches to calibrate volumes and flow rates. During these, you can boil for an hour to get your evaporation, measure losses and see temperature fluctuations. Then it's just a bit of math to figure out how long each process is and how to be ready for it.

For the first batch, I recommend you plan a basic 12 to 14 P recipe you've brewed many times and know how it's supposed to taste. Light to moderate hopping will allow maximum yield, so you can gauge recipes from that.

Once you have the data from the water batches and the test batch, you can put together an accurate equipment profile in about 10 minutes. 
 
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