My Brewmation/Penrose electric brew setup running for the first time (video)

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wedge421

wedge421

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Picked up an electric conversion system from Brewmation, 2 Penrose kettles and a BLichmann top tier to setup my electric brewery. This is the first time I have used it after months of building and setting it up. Its a black ipa that I filmed brewing. Everything worked out great just need to practice a bit more with it. Small issues were had of course as well. Let me know what I could do differently next time or how should I set it up differently to make the day go easier. And if you get a chance check out the beer reviews on my channel and let me know what you think. Cheers!

 
Last edited by a moderator:
1. You mentioned it - brew more frequently - or make a checklist for yourself. It's a lot easier to remember something when there isn't any pressure during a brew session.

2. The knob for your PWM used for your boil kettle - you have to have a knob that goes to 11.

Good luck!
 
A checklist is a really great idea!!!! Im gonna make one up for my next batch and just go down the list as I brew. And I almost..almost considered writing in an 11 on the knob haha

Cheers

stlbeer said:
1. You mentioned it - brew more frequently - or make a checklist for yourself. It's a lot easier to remember something when there isn't any pressure during a brew session.

2. The knob for your PWM used for your boil kettle - you have to have a knob that goes to 11.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
 
Nice job. I like the standalone brewmation control boxes. In that I'm not and EE geek or brewtroller programmer, I would go for one of these in lieu of doing it myself ala Kal method.

You must have already had the blichmann fermenator before getting your penroses. That has to explain why you don't have a brewhemoth instead.
 
It will take time to get used to brewing on your new system and after you get a few brews under you're belt it will be easy. For a initial brew-day on a new and advanced system, I would say it went good, hows the brew?

We upgraded from 2 propane fired keggles and a cooler to 3 - 30g Blingman Boilemakers/all electric/RIMS/BCS controlled system. Throw in a false bottom, home built control box and a plate chiller and our first brew day was a disaster the worst brewday ever! RIMS temp went through the roof (185) and while troubleshooting that we lost so mash mash temp I was ready to call it a day. Then the we got a stuck sparge (I failed to install the False bottom correctly) and the rest is history. After fixing some issues and getting used to the system, brewing is easy and the system works great.

HB equipment of this high level takes getting used to. Along with the initial brewday fiasco we had issues with the HopRocket and HopBlocker, so much that we stopped using them but after getting a upgrade for the HR and following the instructions(WOW) for the HB they both work great, every new piece of equipment takes time to understand and use correctly. You will find there is a learning curve with the conicals too! no more leaks right?

Once you are used to the equipment you need to figure out your temp and volume losses, this will take a few brews to pin down - take notes!

cheers! great reviews!
 
how much was that brewmation setup and what did it include? are your electric fitting weldless? i have browsed their website but i get confused as to their poduct listings and prices. i need to go all electric and i dont have the electrical skills to do it myself
 
I think my brew day may end up like that if I was trying to record video and narrate at the same time. I love brewing with electric kettles. One of the nice advantages is how quiet it is.

I saw you had some smaller Blichmanns before. How do you like the Penrose kettles compared to the Blichmanns? Did you get a coupling or locknut welded to the kettle for the elements or are they weldless?
 
Be patient, I wanted to chuck my whole new setup when I first used it. It will take 3-4 brews before it comes naturally, I now love my setup.

Also on mine, I always set the temp on the controller 3-4 degrees lower than what I need as it will continue heating after the element shuts off.


_
 
Nice video! Your narrative was nice and calm..Great, considering all that you had going on there.
That looks like a nice set up. A few brews and some good record keeping, and you should be able to produce great, repeatable beers.

I also liked the beer reviews..:mug:
 
Yeah I purchased the Fermenator before the Penrose kettles. Im thinking I may get a Brewhemoth though for a second fermenter.

SankePankey said:
Nice job. I like the standalone brewmation control boxes. In that I'm not and EE geek or brewtroller programmer, I would go for one of these in lieu of doing it myself ala Kal method.

You must have already had the blichmann fermenator before getting your penroses. That has to explain why you don't have a brewhemoth instead.
Click to expand...
 
Yep I use the WIlliams brewing O2 kit. I just didnt show it in this video for the sake of keeping it simple. And yeah I really had to crank that bottom valve down to get it to stop leaking. How do you temp control all 3?

wadefisher said:
Do you aireate?

Blichman's -- use lots of tread tap on all connections. I have 3 fermenators.
Click to expand...
 
hahah yep that sounds like a brewday i would have! Im going to be brewing again on this next week and then again in probably 2 more weeks so Im hoping to have it nailed down at some point this year haha. The beer turned out fine. Its not great but ok.

bullywee said:
It will take time to get used to brewing on your new system and after you get a few brews under you're belt it will be easy. For a initial brew-day on a new and advanced system, I would say it went good, hows the brew?

We upgraded from 2 propane fired keggles and a cooler to 3 - 30g Blingman Boilemakers/all electric/RIMS/BCS controlled system. Throw in a false bottom, home built control box and a plate chiller and our first brew day was a disaster the worst brewday ever! RIMS temp went through the roof (185) and while troubleshooting that we lost so mash mash temp I was ready to call it a day. Then the we got a stuck sparge (I failed to install the False bottom correctly) and the rest is history. After fixing some issues and getting used to the system, brewing is easy and the system works great.

HB equipment of this high level takes getting used to. Along with the initial brewday fiasco we had issues with the HopRocket and HopBlocker, so much that we stopped using them but after getting a upgrade for the HR and following the instructions(WOW) for the HB they both work great, every new piece of equipment takes time to understand and use correctly. You will find there is a learning curve with the conicals too! no more leaks right?

Once you are used to the equipment you need to figure out your temp and volume losses, this will take a few brews to pin down - take notes!

cheers! great reviews!
Click to expand...
 
The particualr system I got from them was the $1400 one plus I got the GFCI option added on to it. All in all there were some build issues that were taken care of with no problem but I would say it was worth the money!

forcabrew said:
how much was that brewmation setup and what did it include? are your electric fitting weldless? i have browsed their website but i get confused as to their poduct listings and prices. i need to go all electric and i dont have the electrical skills to do it myself
Click to expand...
 
Yeah that was part of the problem was trying to record and brew at the same time. Which is the reason a lot of the steps are missing because I just didnt want to have to worry about doing 2 things at once

schaez said:
I think my brew day may end up like that if I was trying to record video and narrate at the same time. I love brewing with electric kettles. One of the nice advantages is how quiet it is.

I saw you had some smaller Blichmanns before. How do you like the Penrose kettles compared to the Blichmanns? Did you get a coupling or locknut welded to the kettle for the elements or are they weldless?
Click to expand...
 
Yeah I think next time im going to set them lower so that the heat leeching doesnt effect the temp quite as much like you said.

wildwest450 said:
Be patient, I wanted to chuck my whole new setup when I first used it. It will take 3-4 brews before it comes naturally, I now love my setup.

Also on mine, I always set the temp on the controller 3-4 degrees lower than what I need as it will continue heating after the element shuts off.


_
Click to expand...
 
Great vid. I recently bought a 30gal setup with plans to use their 1.5bbl control panel, but am still waiting to install the proper outlet before I can brew. Note taken--calibrate the temp sensors before use. What water filtration device do you use? Seems to have a great flow rate.
 

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