A craft brewer owned flexible screw augers for some time, using them to transport grain and grist. Maintaining the screw auger though became a headache, with the screw wearing through the PVC tubing and causing leakage. The brewers were using duct tape to patch up the leaks; but even with that grain and grist accumulated on the floor. That is when Chain-Vey tubular drag conveyors stepped in.
Flexible screw augers are a cost-effective conveyance system for beer brewers. Many brewers get a Chain-Vey after first trying screw conveyors. Screw augers may work well when customers are just starting their breweries. But as business grows, screw augers can’t grow with the customer. Our customer wanted to replace their flexible screw conveyor with a Chain-Vey for several reasons.
- Unlike screw augers that offer either curved PVC tubing or single-direction stainless steel tubing, Chain-Vey is the best of both worlds with sweeping, space-saving curves of great-looking stainless steel pipes.
- The pucks won’t wear through your pipes, which means you won’t be reaching for the duct tape and sweeping the floor every hour.
- Chain-Veys are gentle and accurate conveyors. There is no loss of product, degradation or mess created when conveyed through the conveyor.
- Chain-Veys can fit where existing screw conveyors already are, but can climb high verticals and run long distances screw augers cannot.
- Chain-Veys are modular by design, meaning it’s easy to add inlets and discharges for future brewery expansion.
Sales engineer Chris Smyth did a tour of the facility, talked with the brewers about what they wanted and did some measurements. Within a day he was able to deliver a budget quote. After some additional customer feedback, an approval drawing was given to the customer. Within weeks the Chain-Vey arrived.
Top view of the conveyor layout
Design details
- 320 ft in total circuit length
- 4″ Schedule 10 stainless steel pipe
- Moving malted barley with a bulk density of 31 lb/ft3
- Carbon steel chain and split UHMW pucks
- 4 inlets and 5 discharge points
Result
Smyth made sure that his customer’s system exceeded expectations. The sweeping elbows of 304 stainless steel and beautiful sightglass allow onlookers to see the grain being conveyed looks great next to your other brewing equipment. After 6 months of owning their new Chain-Vey, his customer couldn’t be happier. The head brewer described in his own words:
“Chain-Vey has been everything we wanted from a conveyor. Reliable, easy to clean, and low maintenance. It doesn’t degrade the malt either one bit,” said the brew master.
About a year later the brewery wanted to expand capacity even further. With little more than a phone call the Smyth, the head brewer was able to get a quote on additional discharges with some added chain and pipe; all of which arrived within weeks. The simple modular design of Chain-Vey allows all brewers the benefit of future-proofing their systems. This is another reason Chain-Vey is the leading conveyor for breweries used in hundreds of facilities around the world. Also check out our case study on Chain-Veys at Ballast Point Brewing.
