An important step in the brewing process is removing all oxygen from the tanks prior to adding product to prevent it from spoiling. When you “purge” the tank, you are adding CO2 to the tank which is replacing / removing the O2.
There is currently no formal way to monitor this task, therefore operators will use a time-based method or even smell for the CO2. This current method is time-consuming, wasteful and even dangerous for the staff. With CO2 becoming more expensive and harder to find, Lord Hobo approached Preddio with a challenge – they were seeking a solution that would provide data and insights for the purge process. Ultimately, they wanted to know exactly when the tank purge was complete to ensure that all O2 had been removed from the tank.
Preddio was able to work with the Lord Hobo team to develop a product called BrewOps Purge. The BrewOps Purge intelligently combines oxygen %, temperature, humidity and pressure to track the purge activities.
The hardware takes less than 5 minutes to install and can be moved around the brewery from tank to tank to monitor the purge process. To notify operators when the tank is completely purged, a light will flash green and a push notification is sent to the operator.
Monitoring of the tank purge allowed Lord Hobo to significantly reduce purge times up to 50%. Previously the in-house standard was to purge the large tanks for an average time lasting between 2 – 2.5 hours. After using BrewOps Purge they were able to decrease the purge time to 30 – 45 minutes. The smaller tanks were initially purged for about 20 minutes but after using the BrewOps Purge they were able to decrease purge times to 10 – 12 minutes. Not only were they able to decrease the purge times, but Lord Hobo was also able to significantly cut the amount of CO2 used.
Brewmaster Keith Gabbett says “I have actual data and numbers that I can point to and know without a shadow of doubt that I have replaced all of the oxygen in my fermenter and brite tank and don’t have to worry about a guesstimate”
