Prevent Tank Implosion in Your Brewery Caused by Overfilling

Introduction

Overfilling is never good in your brewery. Most of the time, you only lose a couple of cents worth of beer when an impatient bartender doesn't wait for the foam to go down, but if your fermenters and brite tanks don't have enough vacuum relief, you could lose your entire tank.

Overfill the Tank

In this demonstration, Ashton uses a gas can as the model brite tank. The can is sealed up to demonstrate what happens when you don't have enough vacuum relief or when your relief valve malfunctions.

Ashton fills the tank with water until it is too full. Water begins to drain from the vent tube.

Cut off the supply

Once Ashton realizes he has overfilled the gas can, he shuts off the inlet valve to prevent further overfilling. They can continue to siphon out water through the vent tube.

Slow Vacuum Failure

As they can siphon out water, it slowly begins to suck in. Atmospheric pressure causes the can to crumple as more and more water is siphoned out. This can be very devastating to a jacketed tank because you will not be able to see the effects from the outside.

They can continue to implode until there is a big enough failure in the metal to allow air inside.

How to Prevent Vacuum Failure

To prevent your tanks from experiencing overflow vacuum failure, you must have a vacuum relief valve that is sized appropriately for your situation. It is also important to perform regular maintenance on your vacuum relief valve so that it always functions properly.

Overflow vacuum failure isn't the only situation that can implode your tank. Other scenarios you can face in a brewery include hot CIP and caustic vacuum failures.