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Sanitary-design Kettles and Mix Cookers - (Hamilton "SA" Style)
Standard capacities from 15 to 1000 gallons; larger and smaller sizes available to meet specific requirements.

Bulletin No. HK-16-1 Download Sanitary-design Kettles and Mix Cookers PDF - (350k)

Sanitary-design Shallow Kettles and Mix Cookers - (Hamilton "SB" Style)
Standard capacities from 15 to 350 gallons; larger and smaller sizes available to meet specific requirements.

Bulletin No. HK-16-2 Download Sanitary-design Shallow Kettles and Mix Cookers PDF - (336k)

Sanitary-design Tilting Kettles and Mix Cookers - (Hamilton "CW" Style)
Standard capacities from 20 to 200 gallons; larger and smaller sizes available to meet specific requirements.

Bulletin No. HK-16-3
Download Sanitary-design Tilting Kettles and Mix Cookers PDF - (379k)

Sanitary-design Stainless Steel Pressure Cookers - (Hamilton "PC" Style)
Standard capacities from 15 to 500 gallons; larger and smaller sizes available to meet specific requirements.

Bulletin No. HK-16-4
Download Sanitary-design Stainless Steel Pressure Cookers PDF - (336k)

Sanitary-design Vacuum Cookers - (Hamilton "HV" Style)
Standard capacities from 150 to 500 gallons; larger and smaller sizes available to meet specific requirements.

Bulletin No. HK-16-5
Download Sanitary-design Vacuum Cookers PDF - (271k)

Sanitary-design Vacuum Cookers - (Hamilton "VT" Style)
Standard capacities from 30 to 150 gallons.

Bulletin No. HK-16-6
Download Sanitary-design Vacuum Cookers PDF - (304k)

Sanitary-design Tilting Kettles - (Hamilton "C" Style)
Standard capacities from 15 to 60 gallons; mounted on smooth double pedestal-type base.

Bulletin No. HK-16-7
Download Sanitary-design Tilting Kettles PDF - (187k)

Covers, Drains and Valves
Sanitary-design stainless steel kettle covers.
Sanitary-design outlets, sampler.
Optional equipment for all kettles and mix cookers, 15 to 500 gallons.

Bulletin No. HK-16-8
Download Covers, Drains and Valves PDF - (541k)

Agitators, Options and Accessories
Sanitary-design with three distinct styles: single motion, double motion or our patented triple action agitators. With an almost unlimited combination of capabilities: mixing, blending, beating, stirring, dissolving and improving heat transfer.

Bulletin No. HK-16-9
Download Agitators and Other Options PDF - (1.2MB)

Pre-Mix Tank and Other Options
Sanitary-design specialty equipment; perforated kettle basket, and simplicity circulator.

Bulletin No. HK-16-10
Download Pre-Mix Tank and Other Options PDF - (387k)

Jacket Modifications
Sanitary-design, optional construction for all kettles and mix cookers, 15 to 500 gallons.

Bulletin No. HK-16-11
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Special Designs
Trust Hamilton Kettles' century of experience for all your custom-designed processing vessels.

Bulletin No. HK-16-12
Download Special Designs PDF - (1.9MB)

Two blending/cooking kettles
served by pivoting agitator

Single mixing device reduces capital outlay $12,000

New Solutions to Plant Problems

J.T.M. Provisions Co., Harrison, OH, began making meat patties in a small 1800-sq-ft store in 1980. Total weekly production amounted to less than 1000 lb. Today, the family-owned specialty food company processes 40,000-45,000 lb of product per week with an annual sales volume exceeding $3 million.

According to J.T.M.'s Vice President & Plant Manager, Joe Maas, the company has grown rapidly due to its commitment to quality, progressive thinking, product diversification, aggressive marketing, and willingness to tackle customer requests for ethnic/specialty items geared toward local or regional tastes.

Sold primarily through distributors to the restaurant and institutional trades, the product line includes pizza topping, taco filling, beef barbecue, pork barbecue, three varieties of chili, mock turtle soup, goetta (cooked pork with oatmeal), beefsteak hoagie and other meat patty products, and cut whole muscle meats. All products are shipped frozen.

PROBLEM:
Because of increasing demand for its products and limited production capacity, J.T.M. outgrew the small facility and moved into a larger 16,000-sq-ft structure in October 1983. In order to take advantage of the additional space, the company sought to replace several gas-fired, water-jacketed kettles with larger kettles for its cooked products (e.g., beef with barbecue sauce, chili, pizza topping, etc).

"Our cooked product line requires the mixing of a batch in one kettle, while another kettle is being used for cooking or simmering. Consequently, we needed a two kettle/single agitator system, whereby the agitator could be moved from one kettle to the other per processing requirements," Maas said. In addition to being right for the company's needs, the single agitator approach would avoid the cost of a second mixing device.

SOLUTION:
After contacting several equipment manufacturers with his dual kettle/single agitator configuration, Joe Maas ran across a company that could fulfill his objective. Taking Maas' idea, the kettle manufacturer designed and built two 150-gal mix/cook kettles with a single agitator mounted on a pivoting pedestal.

The kettles – steam-jacketed for working pressures up to 50 psig – and agitator feature 316 stainless steel construction with a sanitary finish. Each kettle is equipped with a perforated basket for cooking meats and incorporates water ports for product cooling. A 3-hp motor with variable speed drive operates the double-motion agitator – an outer blade rotates in a clockwise motion while inner blades turn counterclockwise for efficient and homogeneous mixing. Agitator speed is adjustable from 3 to 20 rpm.

Even though the agitation equipment weighs more than 1000 lb, it can be swung from one kettle to the other with a gentle push. A water-powered hydraulic lift lowers and raises the agitator into and out of the kettles. At the end of a batch, the kettles and agitator are cleaned with a high-pressure rinse and wash combined with manual scrubbing.

RESULTS:
The installation of the two kettle/single pivoting agitator system has more than tripled production of the cooked product line – from 5500 lb/wk to 18,000 lb/wk. In addition, four new cooked items have been added.

Cook times have been reduced due to the increased heat transfer efficiency of the steam-jacketed kettles with scraped-surface agitator vs the gas-fired, water-jacketed units. For example, beef with barbecue sauce now cooks in 4-1/2 hr as opposed to 6 hr before.

J.T.M. Provisions saved about $12,000 by purchasing one agitator rather than two. And, of course, a single agitator requires less maintenance and cleanup than two.

Selecting two kettles/single agitator instead of one kettle/one agitator will allow for the installation of two additional kettles in the cook room. Later this year, the specialty food company plans to acquire a second mix/cook kettle system to increase plant capacity and extend its cooked product line.

Vacuum cookers cut cook time
up to 25 percent, increase production

Use of HF corn syrup cuts sweetener cost $200 per day

The Tropical Preserving Company of Los Angeles made some major changes in process operations in early 1979 to lower costs, increase production capacity, and improve the quality of their line of 125 products: jams, jellies, pancake syrups, apple butters, honey-pack and Jalapeno preserves, fruit juices, and other health-food items.

Two 200-gal vacuum cookers were installed to replace older open-top kettles to provide faster cooking times at lower temperatures and other advantages. Faster cooking times, which permit boiling-off liquid sugars at a more rapid rate, enabled Tropical Preserving to reformulate to use lower-priced high-fructose corn syrups in place of more expensive granulated cane or beet sugars.

Cookers have several features
The cookers feature sanitary design and are made of Type 316 stainless steel, with satin finish inside and semi-deluxe buff finish outside. Each is equipped with a hinged, gasketed manhole cover with sight glass for easy access to cooker for loading and cleaning.

A balloon-type stainless steel steam jacket encloses the hemispherical portion of cookers and is rated for 100-psig steam. One cooker has a single-zone jacket for handling large batches. The other has a two-zone jacket for accurately controlling temperatures of small batches of as low as 60 gal. This feature provides the capability of running reduced-size batches as efficiently and economically as full-size batches.

The cookers also have a stainless steel inversion heating unit which provides extra heat and thermal agitation in normally "dead" spaces at the center of the cooker. This unit helps decrease cooking time as much as 25 percent, eliminates the need for mechanical agitation, preserves vitamin content, prevents darkening and discoloration, and helps retain natural flavor of product.

Each cooker is also equipped with a water-spray condenser which uses less water and is easier to operate and maintain than some other condensers.

In-line, continuous reading refractometers are mounted through each cooker jacket and reach into the heart of the batch. They provide immediate Brix readings with an accuracy of plus or minus 0.25 percent. Refractometers eliminate process delays, cooking errors, and product waste caused by frequent sampling of product in process.

A sanitary spoon sampler valve is mounted on each cooker, which provides 1.17-cu-in samples without loss of vacuum.

Lever-operated 3" flush-bottom ball valves with replaceable O-ring seals facilitate complete discharge of cooked product.

Dollar-saving, quality-improving results
The new vacuum cookers have improved product quality by increasing moisture evaporation at lower than atmospheric temperatures (120-180 F), help retain natural flavors, aroma, color, vitamin content of fruits, as well as assure better essence recovery. The improved color of many products makes them more eye-appealing, and thus more readily salable. This is especially true of honey-pack preserves. Tropical Preserving expects that the advantages of faster cooking time and increased production of the vacuum cookers should pay for the cookers in about 12 months.

The increased production provided by the two new vacuum cookers required installation of a larger-capacity filler. The $200 per day savings in using lower-cost, high-fructose corn syrup over more expensive granulated sugar is most worthwhile.

Hamilton Style "CW" 125-gallon triple-action mix cooker with specially-constructed stainless steel stand and self-contained hydraulic system built for major food processor.

1000-gallon Style "SA" Hamilton single motion mix cooker with dimple jacket on straight shell for heating and cooling. Sold to cosmetic manufacturer.

Special 50-gallon "VT" vacuum cooker with single motion agitator and hydraulic lift for tilting cover. Designed and built for jam & jelly manufacturer.

Hamilton 200-gallon Style "PC" pressure cooker with hydraulic cover lift provided to large meat processor.

Special sanitary Hamilton 150-gallon pressure-vacuum mix cooker with single motion agitator, self-contained hydraulic system for pharmaceutical company.

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HAMILTON KETTLES - Division of ENERFAB
4955 SPRING GROVE AVE., CINCINNATI, OH 45232
TEL 800.535.1882, 513.641.0500 FAX 513.482.6495
sales@hamiltonkettles.com

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