Ask The Brewmasters

  • 1.  Nucleation Assisted Crystallization Water Treatment

    Posted 09-05-2024 23:31
    Hello, 

    In our part of the southwest, we have fairly hard water and thus deal with significant scaling issues on heat transfer surfaces, particularly in our HLT and HLT heat exchanger. We've been looking into ways to reduce scaling and have been researching Nucleation Assisted Crystallization as a possible solution. 

    To be honest, it sounds a little bit like witchcraft or snake oil, but there are a few articles out there that suggest otherwise. 

    I'm wondering if any of you have utilized this technology (it seems popular in Hot Water On-Demand systems) in liquor treatment, and if it has any negative downstream effects on mash chemistry, beer pH or fermentation? My concern is that calcite or aragonite crystals floating around may not be available for necessary reactions (particularly yeast uptake), but in general the process sounds not very different from heating water in the HLT and having this same calcite form on the heat exchange surface and collecting on the bottom of the HLT...

    I found a source that suggests that NAC can be used to improve the efficiency of biochemical processes by limiting the release rate of essential minerals (calcium and magnesium in this case).
    • C. M. Lee, J. R. Walton, and M. F. McMahon, "Utilization of Mineral-Based Nutrient Delivery Systems in Industrial Bioreactors," Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, vol. 49, no. 6, pp. 2634-2642, 2010.
    Last, I'm wondering if anyone out there knows any techniques or assays to measure the effectiveness of this technology? Since it doesn't remove any calcium or magnesium, it does not change water analyses in the same way that softening or RO would.

    Thanks a bunch, 

    Eric

                        

    Eric Greene

    Dragoon Brewing Company
    1859 W Grant Rd #111
    Tucson, AZ 85745

    www.dragoonbrewing.com | eric@dragoonbrewing.com
    520.329.3606 office | 520.229.7904 cell


  • 2.  RE: Nucleation Assisted Crystallization Water Treatment

    Posted 09-06-2024 14:43
    Not sure it's snake oil, but it does have a reptilian sound to it. Any technology that claims to change properties of individual ions or molecules has some explaining to do.
    In any case, I'd be reluctant to use this for brewing liquor. Cooling water, steam boiler OK, but don't put it in the beer until you know exactly what is in it.

    Roger Barth, PhD
    Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
    West Chester University
    rbarth@wcupa.edu

    Author of
    The Chemistry of Beer, The Science in the Suds, Second Edition. ISBN 978-1-119-78333-0
    Mastering Brewing Science: Quality and Production. ISBN 978-1-119-45605-6.

    ________________________________

    This e-mail message was sent from a retired or emeritus status employee of West Chester University.




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