smaller , older brewing operations with existing structural limitations can create challenges for global brewing companies trying to standardize on a common process or equipment layout at all their breweries .
ESCAPING THE VORTEX OF BREWING PROBLEMS
Brewing beer is a prime example of how steam measurement can impact production conditions . In the following example , a brewery switching from vortex meters to V-Cone differential pressure ( DP ) meters ( Fig 1 ) benefitted from the opportunity to refine steam measurement and provide more finite control over its wort boiling process . This steam calculator demonstrates just how large the annual benefits can be , based on user-supplied variables for pressure , line size , and flow rate .
Fig 1 . A V-Cone DP meter compares the differential between the high-pressure flow ( H ) before the cone and the low-pressure port opening ( L ) on the back of the cone . Because the cone forces turbulent flow out to the periphery of the pipe , the meter is unaffected by turbulence generated from turns or obstructions located immediately upstream of the meter .
Accurate temperature control is a critical to any wort boiling kettle , since it is a sensitive process and one of the most energyintensive aspects of beer production . In this case , the kettle is a large vat with tubing coiled around the exterior wall . The tubing carries a mix of steam and water to heat the wort in the kettle . Modulating the proportion of steam vs . water in the tubing enables the brewery to control the thermal transfer profile of the batch process .
The wort boiling process demands a high volume of steam in its initial phase , enough to bring the large batch up to temperature quickly but without burning the wort at points of direct heat transfer . Once the entire contents of the wort kettle reach a boil , a much lower rate of steam feed can then be used to maintain a desirable temperature for the remainder of the heating cycle .
Accurate temperature control is a critical to any wort boiling kettle , since it is a sensitive process and one of the most energy-intensive aspects of beer production .
Variability in steam demand across the 12-hour process — plus the fact that the accuracy of the previously installed vortex meter suffered when running at extremely high or extremely low flow
rates — exacerbated the difficulties of steam measurement . Inaccuracy at the high flow rate needed to bring the wort boiling kettle up to temperature could cause overconsumption of steam and even result in some burning of the wort . Also , once the wort kettle achieved a full boil , inaccurate readings from the vortex meter often resulted in cyclical overshooting / undershooting of the ideal steam flow rate as the system tried to maintain a consistent temperature . This was particularly troublesome at the lower flow rates (< 300 m3 / hr ) demanded for about half of the total heating cycle . Unfortunately , at those flow rates , eddies and irregularities in flow through the vortex meter caused the resulting calculation to become inaccurate . Even as some unknown volume of steam was still getting through , the meter often registered zero flow . When that happened , the brewery was forced to manage the process by instinct .
The same vortex meters had performed appropriately in larger brewery installations having sufficient lengths of straight-run piping but could not generate accurate readings at low flows in a more condensed environment crowded with fittings and tight turns . Turbulence created by the tight piping configuration contributed to occasional loss of readings . The dropout of those readings left the brewery with a blind spot in the control of their heating process .
Figure 1
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