A local craft brewing co-operative in Northern Ireland, Lacada Brewery, contacted us about issues with their brewery pumps, on both the hot and cold side of the brewing process. The company had several stainless steel centrifugal pumps that were installed in the original brew house built several years ago. These pumps had been proving unreliable for some time, cutting out after a short time and not restarting under pressure. This was causing a lot of downtime for the brewing staff, and as the pumps could not be relied on, they could not attend to other tasks, but instead had to constantly monitor the pumps.
What Type of Brewery Pump?
23B worked with the customer to understand what the past issues were and what specification was needed. Key factors were the high temperatures and heavy use on brew days, so pumps rated for continuous use were essential. The pumps are used to transfer water, cleaning solutions at both ends of the pH range, unfermented hot wort and finished beer. The temperatures involved range from 2°C up to 100°C, and the volumes transferred in a process would range from 50L up to 1600L, with one of the pumps transferring fluid through a plate heat exchanger.
It was decided that installing Lowara stainless steel brewery pumps with special seals allowing fluid up to 110°C to pass through would work best, as they were able to directly replace the existing pumps in the process without any modification to the hard piping of the brew house. The Lowara brewery pumps start under pressure, can run constantly and have a higher flow rate than the old pumps. Additionally, they were also able to fit in the same footprint and use less power. 23B also supplied custom made stainless steel RJT barbed hose fittings to replace the original items which were not sealing.
Brewery Pump Improvements:
The improvements to the customer’s production process as a result were as follows:
- Improved efficiency on brewing days due to the pumps not being constantly monitored, allowing brewers to undertake other tasks
- Reduced cross-contamination of the fluids, as the pumps can now run non-stop from process to process
- Lower power usage
- Reduced fluid transfer times between processes
We have the brewery pump used in this set up for sale on our website – Lowara CEAM 70/3-V/A 240V Centrifugal Pump
23B specialise in the design and manufacture of custom wash down and fluid transfer systems for a range of industries. These include Food and Beverage Production, Agriculture, Utilities, Material Handling & Processing, Marine and many more.
If you would like to know more about this project or our products and services, please get in touch:
T: +44 28 9261 7515
E: info@23bsolutions.com
Want to find out more about Lacada Brewery and their great tasting craft beers? You can find all the information about them and where it is stocked on their website – lacadabrewery.com
