Brew Boss Systems

Nope, it comes with a mesh bag and false bottom for BIAB.

Hello guys,

I'm new here, but I have some question about Brew-Boss.

I'm from Europe, Poland.

And I was thinking about to import BrewBoss 240V 1phase version with BIAB and COFI option , 15 gal ( its about 56 liters? )

This would be better choice than Braumeister type E-brewing stuff ?

Do I need to order then some additional stuff ?

Cheers,
Konrad

bullybrew272 said:

Birthday is this week and my ask the SWMBO for a pass to purchase. Tips on approaching the subject with her would be great.

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My experience: Married 22 years, then divorced. Be open with her about your wants, needs and DESIRES, whatever they are. If money is tight, don't spend on hobbies, pay off debt, fix the house, car and etc. If you have disposable income, establish a budget for things you want or desire, separate from things you need like the mortgage, bills, insurance and the rest.
So if you want to "approach her" about something you want, do it with a view of the big picture and you'll be able to work it out.

For current "Brew Bosses", what is the water to grain ratio you have been using?

I don't ever really thing about mash thickness.
I use any of several online calculators (Biabacus being the most sophisticated) to calculate water volume.
The result is more a factor of grain & hop bill with absorption and system losses due to boil off and trub, etc.

I get mash thicknesses in the range of 2.5 to 3.4 qt/lb.

Yesterday I brewed the famous Centennial Blonde found elsewhere here on HBT. I did the 11 gal batch. All calculators called for right around 14 gals of strike water and a 3.4 qt/lb mash thickness.

I pulled up short at 13.5 gallons just based on looking at the pot and my bucket full of grain. Good thing I did, as I absolutely maxed out my 15 gal system. Mash was at the brim and the sparge arm was below the surface. A tiny amount dripped over the edge due to wicking of the bag. I added the .5 gal after the mash which was a very thin mash. I could have gone with less mash water. I hit all my numbers right on.

I'm still trying to dial in boil off rates. You have to choose the right profile and then the boil detect feature seems to pick 50% power to maintain. I find that boil to be a little mild, barely rolling so I've been manually upping it to 65%. With this, I'm right around 1 gal/hr.

Just want to make sure I end up with the right amount going into the fermenter. I have the original e-biab legacy type Brew Boss. Don't think it has the auto boil detect. Also needs to get the new temp probe. On my current short one it is reading about 6 degrees too cold. Was boiling its tail off on 100% power and still only reading 206 degrees.

Did you install the last update he did for the legacy system? That update added the auto boil detect.
I had the same problem with the short probe. The longer one is definately better. Just remember, the probe's margin of error is 2f(1c), if you're a little nutso about exact mash temps like me.
Although, with experience, I have learned to relax and just shoot for a general temperature range!

Don't know if I have the latest version of it. It is V. 3.0. I bought the system from a guy that never used it b/c he lived in an apartment and couldn't run the electric for it. What version was the last upgrade he had before switching to the newer style controller?

I know it has been stated on this forum before, but I am going to say it again. Darin, Brew Boss creator, is awesome to deal with and offers excellent customer service. I have one of the original "pico bre" e-biab systems that I didn't even buy from him. I bought unused from the original buyer. Darin has been nothing but helpful to me with any type of stupid question I have ha for him. I can't imagine his service could be any better even if I bought one of his brand new systems. If you are on the fence about the purchase from him- go for it. You will not be disappointed.

I ran my first batch on the 15 gallon brew boss last week. The COFI filter hadn't arrived yet, so I did the BIAB with the false bottom. I found the system very easy to use. I should mention I did do the wet run first.

I did a 5 gallon batch of a dark cascading ale. It smelled wonderful. I did pull up a bit short on water volume though. I used 7.5 gallons and ended up with about 4.8 in the primary. I realize now I should have just added some water but you forget those things in the excitement of brewing sometimes. :cross:

Nevertheless I did have to tip the kettle to extract all the wort, and this wasn't too safe or fun. So I measured the amount of water in the bottom of the kettle when all wort/water had drained out without tipping. It was exactly 5l or 1.3 gallons. Next time I will factor that into my equation. It was a medium high gravity brew, so I reckon about 8.5 gallons for a 5 gallon batch should be about right without tipping.

This weekend doing the COFI brew! Can't wait to see how it works.

sjwass67 said:

I ran my first batch on the 15 gallon brew boss last week. The COFI filter hadn't arrived yet, so I did the BIAB with the false bottom. I found the system very easy to use. I should mention I did do the wet run first.

I did a 5 gallon batch of a dark cascading ale. It smelled wonderful. I did pull up a bit short on water volume though. I used 7.5 gallons and ended up with about 4.8 in the primary. I realize now I should have just added some water but you forget those things in the excitement of brewing sometimes. :cross:

Nevertheless I did have to tip the kettle to extract all the wort, and this wasn't too safe or fun. So I measured the amount of water in the bottom of the kettle when all wort/water had drained out without tipping. It was exactly 5l or 1.3 gallons. Next time I will factor that into my equation. It was a medium high gravity brew, so I reckon about 8.5 gallons for a 5 gallon batch should be about right without tipping.

This weekend doing the COFI brew! Can't wait to see how it works.

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This is great info, thanks for posting. I am awaiting my 15 gallon system to arrive. I know it's been asked already, but I was wondering if anyone had managed to put together a decent BeerSmith Equipment profile(s) for any of the Brew Boss Systems yet? It would be nice to be able to draw on others experience wrt to volume losses, efficiencies etc rather than everyone who gets the system having to start from square one.

Can I say I had a long day. I just finished two 5 gallons batches with my New 15 gallon Brew_Boss with the COFI. 3 1/2 hours per batch. I also did the water practice. I ran into a glitch in the auto program right at the after boil hops addition. It kicked me of line and sent me an error code. I just finished manually, no big problem. Did the same thing with both batches. Efficiency was unreal, over 80 percent. even with the lost trub in the bottom. I set my Beer Smith up with the BIAB setup and it was close. I need to figure out the easiest way to clean this system. All in all, this sucker is impressive, Fast, accurate and economical.

SeeMont said:

Can I say I had a long day. I just finished two 5 gallons batches with my New 15 gallon Brew_Boss with the COFI. 3 1/2 hours per batch. I also did the water practice. I ran into a glitch in the auto program right at the after boil hops addition. It kicked me of line and sent me an error code. I just finished manually, no big problem. Did the same thing with both batches. Efficiency was unreal, over 80 percent. even with the lost trub in the bottom. I set my Beer Smith up with the BIAB setup and it was close. I need to figure out the easiest way to clean this system. All in all, this sucker is impressive, Fast, accurate and economical.

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Glad to hear that the efficiency was that high. I got my BrewBoss last week but haven't used it yet. I'm in the beginning stages of building a dedicated brewing room in my basement so I haven't been able to do the wet run yet. (Just got the 240v 30 amp circuit finished yesterday.) Here's a link to my basement brewery build: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=522838


Did you get the error code straightened out? They just released an updated manual that may help. If not send Darin an email. He's been great about answering all the questions I had about the system.

I sent a email to Darin this morning, will let you know what I found out. I was looking at the files and found a missing letter in the data, I suspect that that triggered the code. I am more concerned with the dropped wifi, I hope there is a connection. Even with this, If I just had to use it manually it would be better than burning gas plus brewing indoors.
There was a message from Brew Boss about an emulation application that will let you run the android app on Windows and soon Apple. I haven't tried it yet.

I heard back from Darin, Yes the left out number will cause the problem. I also had a question about identifying the brew profiles, add a new first line and use it as a title. I calculated my final efficiency, 84 percent, not bad for a first time.

SeeMont said:

There was a message from Brew Boss about an emulation application that will let you run the android app on Windows and soon Apple. I haven't tried it yet.

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Do you have any more information on this? Was this a recent communication from them?

Thanks

Here is the message from Darin:
Hello Brew-Boss Users!

I had a current user of the Brew-Boss (Mike G.) system contact me and indicate that the Brew-Boss app works wonderfully using the Bluestacks (www.bluestacks.com) Android Emulator on Windows and soon on MAC PC's. We tried at and confirmed it works on our Windows Laptop. Your PC will need wifi connectivity, so nearly every laptop will work and some desktops. If you want to explore running the app on a larger screen, give this a try.

We did need to go into the language and input settings and load the text to speech data for the voice prompts to work on our system.

Give it a try and please let us know what Windows versions you were able to get it to work on!

SeeMont said:

Here is the message from Darin:
Hello Brew-Boss Users!

I had a current user of the Brew-Boss (Mike G.) system contact me and indicate that the Brew-Boss app works wonderfully using the Bluestacks (www.bluestacks.com) Android Emulator on Windows and soon on MAC PC's. We tried at and confirmed it works on our Windows Laptop. Your PC will need wifi connectivity, so nearly every laptop will work and some desktops. If you want to explore running the app on a larger screen, give this a try.

We did need to go into the language and input settings and load the text to speech data for the voice prompts to work on our system.

Give it a try and please let us know what Windows versions you were able to get it to work on!

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I must have missed it or it went into my junk folder.

What max *Blg I will get in 15 gal brew boss with COFI ?

I mostly interested in 25-40l brews.

You'll probably get the most accurate answer by asking Darin at Brew-Boss directly. I don't recall seeing the maximum grain capacity of the COFI system published anywhere and it's new enough that I doubt any user's here have explored the limits yet.

The grain capacity will be good to know. The two brew I did each had 12 / 13 lbs of grain each, by looking at the dry gain and the compresses wet grain, the COFI could hold 20 to 25 lbs easy. The wort capacity could be another consideration, I started each batch with about 10 gallons of water and ended up with 6 gallons in the carboys. There was about one gallons of trub in the kettle I through out. The 60 minute boil was aggressive. With this, if I was doing a 10 gallon batch I would need to add water at some point. My next batch is going to be a big 5 gallon imperial stout so we will see.

Just finished a stand for my Brew Boss , the goad was to have the top of kettle as low as possible, 34 inches. I will look at adding a boom to lift the grain. attachment.php

What's the cleaning process like?

RobbieOByrne said:

What's the cleaning process like?

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+1

Would love to hear some feedback on this.

Also, this thread needs more brew boss porn :rockin:

Granted, I have just done two batches with my system What I did was: Rise out brew kettle of all solids and physical stuff. Added about three gallons hot water , (from cooling wort) and Oxy clean and ran pump to circulate. I scrubbed the inside as well as the heating element. Drained kettle. Added clean water, circulated through pump. Remove heating element and front valves, clean and rinse. The COFI, I hosed off, washed with Oxy, rinsed let dry. I soaked all the hoses and hung to dry. Maybe a 1/2 hour. really not bad.

Just received my system yesterday and unpacked it. Taking my time in reading through the Manual and hope to have everything plumbed and hard mounted by tomorrow evening. Then I just need to run power to the system and give it a go. I'll try to update this thread with pics, as I know how we all love to see them

Here is one for starters.

Rock Toy, wow it looks like mine. Good luck and I want to hear how it goes. I used my new bench yesterday for the first time. Was nice to have the pump lower, picked up liquid quickly. Brewed a big Brew, 22 lbs imperial stout, The COFI was full and heavy, the efficency was down but still about 78%. I am wondering how I would do a 10 gallon batch, maybe have to add water after mash out.

SeeMont said:

Rock Toy, wow it looks like mine. Good luck and I want to hear how it goes. I used my new bench yesterday for the first time. Was nice to have the pump lower, picked up liquid quickly. Brewed a big Brew, 22 lbs imperial stout, The COFI was full and heavy, the efficency was down but still about 78%. I am wondering how I would do a 10 gallon batch, maybe have to add water after mash out.

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Pretty sure that they all look the same Do you have pics of your setup on the bench? I am still trying to figure out where to mount the pump, controller, etc. Here is some more eye candy...

Actually they don't lol I believe there was at least two different set ups before that one. I have the one right before the COFI edition. It doesn't have triclover (which sucks). Doesn't have COFI (which I'm ok with but would like to see how it works).

The one before mine didn't have tablet interface (I believe).

Where did you get that sight glass?

The picture is on post 102 Here it is again. My goal was to get the kettle as low as possible. The top is 36 inches off the ground. I plan to add an arm with a winch to lift the COFI

SeeMont said:

The picture is on post 102 Here it is again. My goal was to get the kettle as low as possible. The top is 36 inches off the ground. I plan to add an arm with a winch to lift the COFI

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Did it come with the sight glass or was that your addition ?

The sight glasses are available on the brew boss website, but are not part of the packages, you have to add it yourself.

h22lude said:

Actually they don't lol I believe there was at least two different set ups before that one. I have the one right before the COFI edition. It doesn't have triclover (which sucks). Doesn't have COFI (which I'm ok with but would like to see how it works).

The one before mine didn't have tablet interface (I believe).

Where did you get that sight glass?

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Mine is not the COFI version. I chose to hold off and not buy that quite yet. Maybe in the future.

I bought the sight glass from Brew Boss with the kettle. It did not come with the measurements on it. I printed labels on a label maker and affixed them to the glass. Started at 5 gallons because I cannot imagine having less than that amount of water in the kettle.

Rock_Toy said:

Mine is not the COFI version. I chose to hold off and not buy that quite yet. Maybe in the future.

I bought the sight glass from Brew Boss with the kettle. It did not come with the measurements on it. I printed labels on a label maker and affixed them to the glass. Started at 5 gallons because I cannot imagine having less than that amount of water in the kettle.

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Cool. I'll be getting one of those soon.

Just looked at his website again this morning. Looks like the recirculating arm is new too. Mine isn't really attached to the system. I had to drill a hole in my lid and it is placed in that hole using rubber to hold it in place. I may buy the new version he has.

Anyone attached the sight glass as a weldless fitting rather than on the valve? Spoke to Darin (the main man at Brew Boss) and he said a lot of people prefer not attaching it to the valve, as the level is rendered useless as soon as you start the pump. I'm not sure how critical it is to measure an accurate level while the pump is recirculating though? Does it really matter? I don't want to drill an additional hole in my kettle if it won't add any real benefit.

Here's my setup as a work in progress. I dropped the shelves on the cart right down to still give some storage, but allow for hoisting of the COFI in my low ceiling basement. The cart seemed like a smart buy for mobility and was $72 on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BN46WIQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

My last piece is getting my ventilation set up. I wet tested and boiled in my rig and the stream was building up and hanging around pretty quickly in the basement, so I'm roughly doing this:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=418665

I want to get it all finished on Friday.

I think some of you will get a kick out of this - the first 2 batches I'm doing in this will be extract! I bought a couple of kits last months before I decided to buy this system, and now I need to get them brewed as I'm nervous of the longevity of the crushed steeping grains, so yeah, call me a heathen!!

I see you got the hop feeder, let us know how that works out. Good Job.

Some brew boss porn!!!
rebuilding / redesigning my basement brewery around the brew boss w/cofi system!!
should be back brewing any day now!!

Amazing set up I am truly jealous!

So I am having some boil off issues. I think I need to dial down the power. Started with 8.5 gallons for a 5 gallon recipe and ended up with 3.75! I think that the fact I am at 5000 ft with only 20% humidity means I am boiling off more than 1.25 gallons per hour. I will make some adjustments and let the forum know, but for all 3 batches I have brewed so far I have ended up short on wort.

Base2Brewery said:

Some brew boss porn!!!
rebuilding / redesigning my basement brewery around the brew boss w/cofi system!!
should be back brewing any day now!!

Click to expand...

Very nice set up. Like the through the wall taps.

I think I see the bottom of a hood. How are you getting return air into the brew area?

sjwass67 said:

So I am having some boil off issues. I think I need to dial down the power. Started with 8.5 gallons for a 5 gallon recipe and ended up with 3.75! I think that the fact I am at 5000 ft with only 20% humidity means I am boiling off more than 1.25 gallons per hour. I will make some adjustments and let the forum know, but for all 3 batches I have brewed so far I have ended up short on wort.

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Something doesn't seem right. What is the total weight of your grain bills?

With a 10lb grain bill, you will lose a little less than 1 gallon to absorption (let's say 1 gallon). Boil off 2 gallons per hour. So that is 3 gallons right there bringing you to 5.5 gallons. I don't know where you would lose another 1.75 gallons. I believe all the BrewBoss systems detect boiling so whether you are at sea level and boil at 212 or at 5000ft and boil at 202, I don't think that would effect your boil off. Water can't get hotter than boiling unless it is under pressure.