Grundfos Sipla at Belhaven Brewery

A Scottish brewery has recently installed a Grundfos Sipla scavenge pump and has seen positive results, according to Grundfos.

Based near Edinburgh in the coastal town of Dunbar, Belhaven Brewery is the largest regional brewer in Scotland, producing a portfolio of branded beers that it has sold since its formation in 1719.

Previously Belhaven relied on a clean-in-place (CIP) system that returned cleaning solution from bright beer holding tanks via a flow plate to the CIP feed tank during the routine cleaning process. The CIP solution struggled with the furthest tanks, some 20m away. The pump became air locked and would not empty the tank, and also exerted a lot of vibration, contributing to high maintenance and operating costs.

To overcome these problems, Grundfos distributors in Scotland, Barr+Wray, provided a Grundfos Sipla self-priming, liquid ring, scavenge pump, which has efficient suction and the ability to pump entrained air without air locking.

Ronnie Muir, engineering manager at Belhaven Brewery, said: “Since the Grundfos system has been installed, we have seen improvements in; scavenge ability, shorter CIP times, reduced cost, improved tank cleaning, lower noise levels, less vibration and pipe work stresses and lower life cycle cost. This solution has solved a number of problems that we have had for several years.”

The Grundfos SIPLA, Single stage, self-priming liquid ring pump can be used for applications with high volumes of air in pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries as well as CIP scavenge.