Recirculating 3 Gallon BIAB Electric Brewery

BoxBrewer said:

Doing another brew today. Nicks Pale Ale

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I'm curious how your second attempt turned out. Do you mind giving an update? Thanks.

BoxBrewer:
I am still planning and have been using your build as a guide. THANKS.
Now that you have been operating a little while , do you see anything you would change ?
I have the same 32 qt kettle and was wondering how low you mounted your sight gauge (inches from bottom) and what is your minimum gallons that you can register ?
I have the same SS element and was wondering if you have had any rust issues so far show up.
Did you use the aerator and sprayer? How are they working out?
THANKS AGAIN and look forward to your updates

berkdirt said:

Hi. I'm a stovetop (propane) 3 gallon BIABer and have been thinking about something like this. I've been concerned about the speed with which a 120V system would heat up. What is your start volume and how quickly does this heat up? Do you think it would work well if I skipped the pump, went with a manual control and insulation on the pot and then gravity fed the chillzilla? Thanks. Carl

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I started with about 5 gallons last time and it didn't take an unreasonable time to warm up to strike temp. Maybe half an hour? I was able to go up to 168 for mash out pretty quickly and up to a boil in a reasonable time too. You really need the pump for recirculation though, the temperatures are too inconsistent without it.

cmumma said:

I'm curious how your second attempt turned out. Do you mind giving an update? Thanks.

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I still got 55% efficiency... I am wondering if using the basket is causing this... I'm also trying to get my corona mill up and running but I am short on time right now as I'm moving into a new house next weekend.

jbnla said:

BoxBrewer:
I am still planning and have been using your build as a guide. THANKS.
Now that you have been operating a little while , do you see anything you would change ?
I have the same 32 qt kettle and was wondering how low you mounted your sight gauge (inches from bottom) and what is your minimum gallons that you can register ?
I have the same SS element and was wondering if you have had any rust issues so far show up.
Did you use the aerator and sprayer? How are they working out?
THANKS AGAIN and look forward to your updates

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The only thing I am having trouble with is my hop stopper. It clogged up my chillzilla last time and I had to reverse the flow to get it unclogged... I'm thinking maybe I should ditch it and go with a hop bag.

My sight gauge was mounted as low as possible, so the bottom of the washer between the T and the kettle was right where the kettle starts to curve at the bottom.

No issues with the element, it does have some weird looking white stuff on it after brewing and I don't know what it is, but otherwise it's been awesome. No scorching or anything.

I ended up ditching the aerator and sprayer. It complicated it a little too much and made the hoses less interchangeable, and I feared the sprayer nozzle might be too restrictive on the recirculation, so I just put a 45 out on the inside of the lid so it kind of whirlpools a little.

Hey BoxBrewer this looks great. Just wanted to see where you got your fuse holder and fuses from? Also by any chance do you have a picture of the back? I like how you have everything wired for the element and the inside of the box. Just wondering how you hooked up the pump on the back side.

Edit: Got it figured out. Do you have any more pictures of the inside from different angles?

To update, I am having some trouble with efficiency still... Only getting 60 to 65% efficiency on most batches. Also, my equipment loss seems like it is a lot. I have to brew over 3 and a half gallons in order to end up with 3 in my fermentor. Seems like a lot to lose to the lines and such.

OneImpBrewery said:

Hey BoxBrewer this looks great. Just wanted to see where you got your fuse holder and fuses from? Also by any chance do you have a picture of the back? I like how you have everything wired for the element and the inside of the box. Just wondering how you hooked up the pump on the back side.

Edit: Got it figured out. Do you have any more pictures of the inside from different angles?

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Sorry it has been a while since I've been on here. I don't have a ton of pictures of the inside.

I just wanted to follow up to see how your efficiency is?

If anybody is interested, I might be selling this setup. I just don't brew anymore and don't have the time. So let me know if you're interested, shoot me a PM and I'll try to be sure to check on here. It won't be cheap though