Ask The Brewmasters

We sidestream all of our FV, brite and whirlpool solids (as best we can) and have a septic truck vacuum them out weekly. We've just been informed of a substantial increase in the cost per hour for this service, so I'd like to help make it as easy as possible for them to handle. The problem is that over the course of a week, the solids collect on the bottom of the totes making them difficult to remove without training a laser-like stream of water to them while vacuuming. This is a huge time consumer and at $300/hr. I want to make this process as easy as possible.

I've started looking into tote mixers and I'd like to know if anyone out there has a recommended make and model for just this sort of material, preferably single-phase power. Lots of hops. Lots of yeast. It turns to silty, sticky mud and accumulates on the tote bottoms over time unless a lot of effort is used to remove it weekly. It would be great to find a way to get a dozen totes vacuumed out in 90 minutes or less. I figure if we rouse the material once or twice before the service day it will be a lot easier to handle.

I appreciate any recommendations.

Thank you.

--dave

------------------------------
Dave Chichura
Ex Novo Brewing
Corrales, NM
------------------------------

Hey Dave,

Several years ago I specified an air mixer for a waste tank used for a mixture of adhesive and water.  These things work extremely well and don't consume much air.  You should be able to header these together to use a single controller on multiple totes.  Check out this link.

Cheers,

Ashton

------------------------------
Ashton Lewis
Manager of Training and Technical Support
BSG Craftbrewing
MBAA District Great Plains, Technical Chair
Springfield, Missouri
(417) 830-2337
------------------------------

Hey Dave,

We installed a Pulsair ETM (the unit Ashton mentioned) on our 10,000gal sidestream tank and love it. It was a little pricey but reduced the discharge time from >2h to <20min. We can now pump the tank clean while before we had to vac truck the settled material off the bottom periodically. For IBC totes that would be way over kill but they do offer an air driven tote mixer - https://www.pulsair.com/ibc-tote-mixer/ - but I can't speak to the efficacy of those other than I've liked the company. You could set up a DIY mixing manifold as Ashton mentioned with hardware store parts and a nice regulating valve. 

You might find the cost and time of installing a simple tank set up might be worth it. We installed a poly tank for solids holding and discharge when I worked in AZ - it worked well enough with water and compressed air mixing, but had I added a Pulsair it would have been awesome. Affordable tanks can be found here: https://www.tank-depot.com/storage-tanks/storage-tank-types/cone-bottom-storage-tanks/?nominal_gallon_capacity=2362 

Hit me up anytime to chat more. 

------------------------------
Campbell Morrissy, PhD
Director of Brewery Operations
pFriem Family Brewers
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-17-2023 14:31
From: Ashton Lewis
Subject: IBC Tote Mixer for Sidestream Waste?

Hey Dave,

Several years ago I specified an air mixer for a waste tank used for a mixture of adhesive and water.  These things work extremely well and don't consume much air.  You should be able to header these together to use a single controller on multiple totes.  Check out this link.

Cheers,

Ashton

------------------------------
Ashton Lewis
Manager of Training and Technical Support
BSG Craftbrewing
MBAA District Great Plains, Technical Chair
Springfield, Missouri
(417) 830-2337
------------------------------

Thanks, Dana. Yeah, I saw a number of options such as these and the pricing is more than we'd prefer. I ended up finding a less expensive mixer that we should have in house by the end of next week. If it works like the manufacturer says it does, we should be good to go. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

------------------------------
Dave Chichura
Ex Novo Brewing
Corrales, NM
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 07-17-2023 18:06
From: Dana Johnson
Subject: IBC Tote Mixer for Sidestream Waste?

Hi Dave,

There are tote mixers available that should do the trick for what you need.  They are not cheap but could save a lot of time emptying them.

Dana

--

Dana Johnson

Technical Director, Craft Brewing | Birko - A Diversey Company

C: 303 518 2857

P: 800 233 1000

dana.johnson@diversey.com

Please note: New Customer Service Email: 

foodandbeveragecs@diversey.com

 

www.diversey.com

www.birkocorp.com

9152 Yosemite Street, Henderson, CO 80640

  

This e-mail is intended for the exclusive use of the recipients named above and may constitute confidential or proprietary information.  If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify me immediately by reply e-mail or telephone and completely delete or destroy any and all electronic or other copies of the original message and any attachments to it. Thank you for your cooperation.

Late update to this topic: I ended up buying a tote mixer from Even Mix in OH. Chris was very helpful in getting the right unit for us. Check it out here IBC Tote Mixer by EvenMix® - NASA Designed 3D Mixing    This thing fights above its weight and does exactly what we wanted it to do. Chris says it'll mix a tote of PEANUT BUTTER and I believe it. Now when we have our totes pumped out there is zero sediment. It's not cheap (~$2700) but it works great. 

------------------------------
Dave Chichura
Ex Novo Brewing
Corrales, NM
------------------------------