3-in-1 "Boil Kettle, Jacketed Chiller, Conical Fermenter" by Brewha

Great thread! I was just able to view the biac last week up close. I'm sold in the idea but since I brew outside on my deck, I'm not sure where I would store the unit. I'd have to be able to lift it up a couple of stairs to get it inside and then down a couple of more to get it to my fermenting area. This has me looking at their jacketed brew pots.


Brewing up a storm in Langley, British Columbia

Congratulations!!! You're going to love it!

I just saw this...not something I'd be interested in...but being able to directly and easily convert your fermenter to a still? That is pretty amazing! They aren't selling the condenser column yet...but it's coming!

MeetsCriteria said:

I just saw this...not something I'd be interested in...but being able to directly and easily convert your fermenter to a still? That is pretty amazing! They aren't selling the condenser column yet...but it's coming!

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Very neat indeed!

Ordered my BIAC today. Next batch will be shipping in August. Can you tell me what the dimension is on the the inside of the mash colander from the triclamp to the other side. Want to get a sparge arm like this http://conical-fermenter.com/Sparge-Arm-10.html to replace the hose but don't know whether to get the 10" or 12".

Well maybe Jimmy82 can weigh in on this. I don't actually have the BIAC myself. Alternatively, I would think brewha would be able to answer your question?

That is an interesting solution. If you go that route, please be sure to post results!

cerevisiae33 said:

Ordered my BIAC today. Next batch will be shipping in August. Can you tell me what the dimension is on the the inside of the mash colander from the triclamp to the other side. Want to get a sparge arm like this http://conical-fermenter.com/Sparge-Arm-10.html to replace the hose but don't know whether to get the 10" or 12".

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Mine is 17" from the inside triclover to the wall of the colander.

I was checking the 3-in-1 out and saw that ground shipping to the U.S. is over $400. Is this accurate?

Yes. When I placed my order shipping was $475.

cerevisiae33 said:

Yes. When I placed my order shipping was $475.

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So you paid X amount for it + 475 in shipping? Yikes.

Did the first brew on the new system last night. Everything went pretty good for the first time around. I learned a few things to keep in mind for the next time.

Jealous! What lessons were learned?


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KIAKillerXJ said:

Jealous! What lessons were learned?


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The biggest thing is that I should have put a valve between the chilling solenoid and the conical. The jacket holds a fair amount of water and will come rushing out pretty quick when you disconnect the solenoid. I probably could have engaged the solenoid with the feed hose disconnected to allow it to empty, but the valve in-line will be a lot easier.

The brew day went pretty smooth for the most part, and the BIAC definitely makes for an easy brew day.

That makes sense, but why the disconnect? Did you not need the jacketed cooling during fermentation as well?


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My basement is actually sitting at about 67, so I figured I'd leave it off for now. I will be purchasing a glycol chiller in the near future that will be hooked up to the jacket for fermenting/cold crashing.

Jimmy82 said:

The biggest thing is that I should have put a valve between the chilling solenoid and the conical. The jacket holds a fair amount of water and will come rushing out pretty quick when you disconnect the solenoid. I probably could have engaged the solenoid with the feed hose disconnected to allow it to empty, but the valve in-line will be a lot easier.

The brew day went pretty smooth for the most part, and the BIAC definitely makes for an easy brew day.

Click to expand...

I can see the benefit of placing a valve between the solenoid and conical...I will probably do the same thing next time...my basement is at the same temp. I found I did need to use the chilling solenoid set-up the first few days of fermentation however while fermentation was in the exothermic phase. There is a learning curve with it...it's probably obvious but the jacket keeps cooling after the solenoid disengages due to the amount of water in the water jacket...so if you have a high flow rate you theoretically could run the risk of over chilling it / having wide temp swings on the cool end. Basically a low flow rate helps mitigate this, as one would expect.

What type of efficiency did you get? Did you sparge?

MeetsCriteria said:

I can see the benefit of placing a valve between the solenoid and conical...I will probably do the same thing next time...my basement is at the same temp. I found I did need to use the chilling solenoid set-up the first few days of fermentation however while fermentation was in the exothermic phase. There is a learning curve with it...it's probably obvious but the jacket keeps cooling after the solenoid disengages due to the amount of water in the water jacket...so if you have a high flow rate you theoretically could run the risk of over chilling it / having wide temp swings on the cool end. Basically a low flow rate helps mitigate this, as one would expect.

What type of efficiency did you get? Did you sparge?

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I did a full volume mash/no sparge - it was 56.5 liters of water and 26lbs of grain. I hit about 75% mash efficiency, though I expect 80% shouldn't be a problem with some fresher grain..this stuff has been kicking around for a while and I just wanted to use it up. As you can tell by the ring around the colander, there's still plenty of room to make a higher gravity beer (this was a 1.060 OG).

Some chilling action

Can you guys give me an idea of how much the 3 in 1 weighs empty? Can you lift it up two or three stairs?

It's pretty heavy (for me). It has handles on the side which make fairly it easy to lift with 2 people. Mine (the non-BIAC version) shipped at 130#. So maybe 80# or so for the unit (more depending on what you have attached to it I guess). I would think you'd be able to get it up 2-3 stairs (I'm assuming you don't mean 'flights' of stairs).

I'm not sure of actual weight, but it's not fun to move up and down stairs. It's simple if you have 2 people but I wouldn't want to be moving it on a regular basis.

Thanks guys. I'll have to plan around that.


Brewing up a storm in Langley, British Columbia

davehenry said:

Can you guys give me an idea of how much the 3 in 1 weighs empty? Can you lift it up two or three stairs?

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from their site.... BIAC system = " ship weight approx 90kg/198lb ".

I ran across their stuff last week and just read this thread... great stuff guys. My brew rig works really well but mash tun not jacketed... and my herms system is... well ok but.... A friend has a jacketed one and hold temp for whole mash time... nice! I brew 2- 3 batches a day (5 gals each) so guess I'd chill and pump to kegs for fermenting as I do now, but with cone of trub and crud dumped first... nice

I could probably sell my rig for the price of this out fit and would surely be faster.

My question is how well does it roll? my brew area is about 20 feet across smooth terrazzo from where it would store, and are the legs and casters plenty strong?

The casters are heavy duty. Rolling it is a breeze...in fact it's preferred.

Still loving mine! I've found the losses to be less with the conical. I bet I gained over 1/2 gal in brewhouse efficiency with the change...

Yeah, it glides like it's on ice and the legs are rock solid. No concern with moving it 20' full of wort :rockin:

Thanks you guys... guess time to decide... hmmmmm
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Glycol chiller that will soon be in use. My basement is typically fairly cool, but I wouldn't be able to crash cool or lager without this. Can't wait to get it all up and running!

That is awesome. Where did you get that thing?

A friend of mine just opened a brewery around Christmas time and he purchased it to chill his tanks. He's grown since then and is now having a custom chiller made for his system.

Started gearing up an exhaust hood for the BIAC yesterday. I have the port installed on the house, duct work started, and the hood ready to mount.

Hey guys, nice thread you have going here. I like the suggestions for the closed warming/chilling system. Also, will that sparging attachment work? Looked like a great inexpensive idea to me. I am without a doubt going to pick up some racking arms, kind of surprised the BIAC doesn't come with one standard.

Last week I ordered a BIAC and two additional fermenters with the necessary additional heating elements and ETCs. Mine is also scheduled for an August delivery (shipping more than $500 :S). I'm currently at my first job in a brewery as an assistant brewer and wanted to completely revamp my homebrew setup with new professional equipment. I first looked at getting a Sabco but I really thought that they were overpriced, even for used ones, which don't even include a jacketed fermenter. The footprint of the BIAC is also much more compact. Crossing my fingers on this setup, but it looked really great to me and it sounds like everyone that has one on this thread is very happy with theirs. Unfortunately I will not be able to use mine for the first time until mid/late-October. For those that have brewed with the BIAC, what do you estimate your brewhouse efficiency % to be?

Also Jimmy82 I am interested in hearing about how well your glycol chilling setup works with the jacket. Please post when you have some results!

vclaroch
Welcome to HBT What state are you working in?

I'm from Pennsylvania working seasonally in Alaska.

vclaroch said:

Hey guys, nice thread you have going here. I like the suggestions for the closed warming/chilling system. Also, will that sparging attachment work? Looked like a great inexpensive idea to me. I am without a doubt going to pick up some racking arms, kind of surprised the BIAC doesn't come with one standard.

Last week I ordered a BIAC and two additional fermenters with the necessary additional heating elements and ETCs. Mine is also scheduled for an August delivery (shipping more than $500 :S). I'm currently at my first job in a brewery as an assistant brewer and wanted to completely revamp my homebrew setup with new professional equipment. I first looked at getting a Sabco but I really thought that they were overpriced, even for used ones, which don't even include a jacketed fermenter. The footprint of the BIAC is also much more compact. Crossing my fingers on this setup, but it looked really great to me and it sounds like everyone that has one on this thread is very happy with theirs. Unfortunately I will not be able to use mine for the first time until mid/late-October. For those that have brewed with the BIAC, what do you estimate your brewhouse efficiency % to be?

Also Jimmy82 I am interested in hearing about how well your glycol chilling setup works with the jacket. Please post when you have some results!

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Wow! Welcome and congrats on the purchase! You won't regret it! I'm still blown away by the time savings and convenience of it all. You also hit the nail on the head re: the footprint. That was a major selling point, and it really is true. It's a genius system in my book.

I think it was back on post #98 or so that Jimmy82 said he got about 75% with the BIAC. I don't have a mash colander yet...mine's "in the mail"! :rocking:

Even though it won't be until fall when you use it, please post your results...in particular I'd like to see your particular setup. It sounds like it's going to be spectacular!

Good luck!

Jimmy82 said:

Started gearing up an exhaust hood for the BIAC yesterday. I have the port installed on the house, duct work started, and the hood ready to mount.

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Looks serious! Post pics when installed! Is it a 6" fan?

Does anyone have any experience with transferring beer from the BIAC to a secondary fermentor? I would imagine you wouldn't want the beer to sit on that old yeast for more than a week before transferring it. So, a secondary fermentor would be necessary and an additional purchase. I watched the Brewha video explaining how to transfer it straight to kegs, so I am sure it would be a similar process, just wanted to see if anyone is using secondary fermentors with the BIAC. Any info is appreciated.

Thanks,
JB

The purpose of the conical is that you can dump the yeast from the bottom making secondary unnecessary


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Yes, I do understand the purpose of the conical design for this, but it is limiting.

What if you want to age a brew for several weeks? Your entire brew set up would be occupied, which would not allow you to brew any other batches, unless you had a secondary fermentor to transfer you beer to and let it age.

I was hoping to brew at least 2-3 times a month on this thing, so a secondary fermentor would definitely be necessary.

I just wanted to see if anyone had any issues with this since purchasing and using the BIAC.

KIAKillerXJ said:

The purpose of the conical is that you can dump the yeast from the bottom making secondary unnecessary


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Exactly. This is the beauty of the 3-in-1. Now that conicals have been around for a while, home brewers have been enjoying the luxury of dumping yeast / trub and using the conical as a secondary. That saved a big step (all the sanitation and risk of oxidation, time commitment etc.) incurred by that transfer step.

With the 3-in-1, as you know, we can now BOIL and CHILL in the conical. Now we've gotten rid of that transfer step (boil kettle to primary).

The BIAC takes it all the way. Mash, boil, chill, primary, secondary all in a single vessel. All the sanitation steps, brewhouse efficiency detractors, time commitment that went with those steps is also gone.

I found, after getting fairly serious about home brewing, this streamlining of the process without compromising other elements has really made things more enjoyable all around.

Of course, you have the freedom to transfer at any time just like any other vessel. I have considered this, say for a sour or something I want to let age in secondary / tertiary for some time. Though I haven't done it, if I were to, I would personally transfer with CO2 to whatever the next vessel I want. For that matter, you can secondary in a keg!

We are only limited by our imaginations!

But the BIAC is pretty heavy, so gone are the days of setting the secondary carboy up on the countertop and siphoning into the keg. While you'll be able to siphon, since it is relatively low to the ground, for a 5 gal keg, you will need to be able to push the beer out to fill the keg. A 3 gal keg is no problem...or for that matter, a 5 gal keg when dealing with a 10 gal batch...

Just some general thoughts which may or may not directly answer you question...