Have You Any Brewing R&d Projects Going ?

[Pumpy]

I am always interested in those groundbreaking R& D brewing projects going on .

I am in the process of developing a system similar to those biological filtration systems for aquariams modifying it for the use of

Circulating my wort via a plastic housing (example pic ) containing the 'Ceramic noodles' pic shown containing the yeast ( 'a home for the yeast')

The yeast is contained in a housing of ceramic noodle's and the wort circulates over it whilst being fermented !!

the idea is at the end of it a clear beer with the yeast in a seperate container .

Have you any R&D projects going?

Pumpy

 

[Jye]

Im working on a new mash stepping system... but the rest is top secret

 

[kabooby]

I think we need to come up with a device that will finish the RED ROCKET BREWERY for Franko

Kabooby

 

[domonsura]

Pumpy, I could be wrong, but your ceramic 'noodles' look like rashig rings to me. Where did you source them?

 

[Pumpy]

Pumpy, I could be wrong, but your ceramic 'noodles' look like rashig rings to me. Where did you source them?

They are for an aquarium filter there are ceramic ands a plastic version .

pumpy

 

[stoutdrinker]

Hi Pumpy,

I know of a couple of people with large aquariums ie 1000 litre plus and the biological filters work a treat.

I reckon thats a great concept and would like to hear how you progress.
Keep plugging away at it.

Cheers,
Stout

 

[Pumpy]

Hi Pumpy,

I know of a couple of people with large aquariums ie 1000 litre plus and the biological filters work a treat.

I reckon thats a great concept and would like to hear how you progress.
Keep plugging away at it.

Cheers,
Stout

Thanks for the encouragement Stout .

Plans are nothing; planning is everything.- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Yep its what you learn during the process :unsure:

Pumpy

 

[Pumpy]

I think we need to come up with a device that will finish the RED ROCKET BREWERY for Franko

Kabooby

Kabooby ,Frankos project will go on for infinitum ...................now that is a never ending R& D project.

Pumpy

 

[Bobby]

I can remember reading an article about breweries doing research into the same thing. Having yeast line ceramic cells lining the ferment chamber to increase the contact with the wort.

Good idea but not a new one..

 

[Pumpy]

Bobby now I know how Rosalind Franklin felt when James D. Watson and Francis Crick in 1953 first published the double helix is the structure of DNA based on her work .

Pumpy

 

[mika]

Had (still kinda have) plans for a shell and tube heat exchanger. It ends up being a little on the large size, but I worked it so that the tube area inside is better than even the Yankee Therminator. The great part being as soon as you remove the end caps ~48 straight copper tubes that you can attack with a scourer or whatever. No closed ares for trapping infections or anything like. I was excited, until the cost of the laser cut stainless bits blew my $300 budget out of the water
I've already got the stainless pipe for the shell (aquired on the sly) now all I need to do is aquire the other bits of stainless plate similarily and rather than laser cutting I'll whip out the drill press and see how many drills I can blunten :lol:

But it's all good fun.
The other project on the go is a control cabinet, more development than research.

 

[bigfridge]

Bobby now I know how Rosalind Franklin felt when James D. Watson and Francis Crick in 1953 first published the double helix is the structure of DNA based on her work .

Pumpy

Pumpy,

Do a Google for 'immobilized yeast' - It is one of the hot topics of brewery research.

 

[Screwtop]

Great idea Pump, will that increase the surface area contact of yeast to wort?

I know of one US brewery that uses sterilized (steam, heat and pressure) oak chips (not as any kind of flavour source) in its fermenting tanks. The yeast coats the chips increasing the surface area on the fermenter bottom, apparently the yeast cleans up much faster when in contact with wort.

Screwy

 

[Pumpy]

Great idea Pump, will that increase the surface area contact of yeast to wort?

I know of one US brewery that uses sterilized (steam, heat and pressure) oak chips (not as any kind of flavour source) in its fermenting tanks. The yeast coats the chips increasing the surface area on the fermenter bottom, apparently the yeast cleans up much faster when in contact with wort.

Screwy

Yes Screwy and not only increase the surface area in contact with yeast, but also act as a filter so at the end of it all one is left with ia fermenter of clear beer.

Pumpy

 

[Screwtop]

Yes Screwy and not only increase the surface area in contact with yeast, but also act as a filter so at the end of it all one is left with ia fermenter of clear beer.

Pumpy

So Pump, is the yeast contained within the filter barrier? Is the filter medium fine enough to isolate yeast cells from the wort? More questions than Tony Barber I know, but interested to understand what you are working toward.

Screwy

 

[Pumpy]

So Pump, is the yeast contained within the filter barrier? Is the filter medium fine enough to isolate yeast cells from the wort? More questions than Tony Barber I know, but interested to understand what you are working toward.

Screwy

The filter medium is quite coars that hold the yeast in the housing

 

[sathid]

How does this increase the contact area with the yeast, as opposed to having yeast cells floating around in your wort?

How do you plan on pumping it? Cells do not like to be in high shear environments.

If I understand your intent correctly, you plan to fill the filter with these rings (which do look like raschig rings) pump the wort through them, and trap the yeast cells there, whilst passing the wort over them?

Has anyone here ever tried bubbling CO2 up from the bottom of the fermenter (or perhaps nitrogen) to lift the yeast? This is done in some commercial ethanol plants (although with air).

 

[ausdb]

Had (still kinda have) plans for a shell and tube heat exchanger. It ends up being a little on the large size, but I worked it so that the tube area inside is better than even the Yankee Therminator. The great part being as soon as you remove the end caps ~48 straight copper tubes that you can attack with a scourer or whatever. No closed ares for trapping infections or anything like. I was excited, until the cost of the laser cut stainless bits blew my $300 budget out of the water

What size copper are you using for your tubes?

 

[ausdb]

Has anyone here ever tried bubbling CO2 up from the bottom of the fermenter (or perhaps nitrogen) to lift the yeast? This is done in some commercial ethanol plants (although with air).

I did think about doing this to try and outfox that lazy Wy1968 from knocking off the job too early but never got past the thinking stage :huh: I ended up just getting a big stainless kitchen mixing paddle and beating it into action

 

[mika]

What size copper are you using for your tubes?

1/2". When I was pricing it all up a plumber supply centre quoted me ~$150 for the 18metres of copper needed. Wondered about using 3/8", but can't get the same sort of area for the price, though I am a tad concerned that being such large tube I'll only cool down the outside and not get to the stuff running thru the middle. Or even worse, set up boundary layers in between the tubes and have crap cooling efficiency. These doubts and others that made me think the cost was too much.
I looked at getting 3 units made and flog to interested parties on AHB, but even so it was still a $500 experimental chiller before I fully factored in welding consumables. Can post pics from 3D CAD if anyone's interested, even if it's only to shoot the concept down or explain potential problems.