Ask The Brewmasters

Brewmasters,

I'm currently in the middle of building out a brewery and I'm running into an issue with material selection for the 4" sewer pipe that will be connected to the trench drain in the brewery.

I've had 3 plumbers tell me 3 different things on the material they would use for a 10' section of pipe that will be attached to the trench drain outlet and then tied into the city sewer main. One contractor said cast iron, another said schedule 40 PVC, and the last plumber said a schedule 80 CPVC material.

What is the best option out there for this besides going with a 10' section of 4" stainless steel that would cost way more than what I have in the budget?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Kyle

------------------------------
Kyle Treadway
Brewer
Traum Brewing
Upper Sandusky OH
------------------------------

Hi Kyle,

All have trade-offs. Iron will corrode over time, especially with acidic elements of the effluent. PVC would not be a recommendation as it's max temperature tolerance is 140F, and I can almost guarantee you'll get there at some point if not at many. CPVC (there is a specific product called ChemDrain from Charlotte, which I have used, seems to hold up well. It is still in service where I installed over 10 years ago). The ideal would be Stainless Steel, but that can get pretty pricey. Also keep high temp and chemical contact in mind when specifying floor drains/trench drains and flooring materials near the drains if you want them to last well.

------------------------------
Steve Bradt
Hopsteiner
Craft Sales Representative
------------------------------

When i built my brewery i looked into stainless steel floor drains and pipework. my reasoning is that you want to do the work once and not have a problem later and have to dig it up and replace a failed drain. The downtime and disruption as well as the cost of redoing the job is not worth a small savings in material.

You also do not want to have a science fair project living under your fermenters or packaging line, so you want a drain system that will work well and be easy to keep clean.

I bought my drains and pipework from Blücher which is made in Denmark and distributed by Watts. Their trench drain system is designed to he hygenic and use less water to clean out. it is also designed so it connects with the flooring applied next to it so that the floor does not fail where it meets the drain. There are other systems available but i had a great experience with these guys, and they stock the fittings and parts locally. you can reach them at: onewattswater@wattswater.com

My advice is spend a little bit more to get a well designed and made product and you will be able to rely on it and have one less thing to worry about. At least get a quote, maybe it is not as expensive as you think.

Doug Pengelly



------------------------------
Doug Pengelly
Brewer Guy
Cool Beer
Toronto ON
(416) 255-7100
------------------------------