Brew Boss Systems

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andrewmaixner said:
So you have the 'official' tablet that it was sold with, and the 'official' version of the app, and it isn't stable? That's not very reassuring for a $700 electric brewing controller that is supposed to automate and simplify your brew day. :(

Does the previous version of the app run reliably on it?
Click to expand...

I've made 10 or so batches in the last six months and haven't had a crash.

I do have my system up for sale though, posted here.
 
Snicklefritz said:
I have a pickup tube and have absolutely no issues with flow rates while mashing, whirlpooling or chilling through my CFC.

Darin said the same thing to me about the flow rates but maybe he tested with a smaller diameter diptube. My 1/2" one has no issues.

I have only .25g in the kettle after draining
Click to expand...

1+ Same here
 
I have had the app crash while editing a couple times, but never during a brew session. I'm using a Lenovo tablet with the app previous to the latest.

I have the same diptube as snicklefritz and mcgimpkins, no issues...
 
I've had some low efficiency issues, similar to other posters. Will continue to fiddle with my grain crush, but I see some people are sparging. I'd like to give that a try too. How do you logistically do a sparge with a COFI?

In my case, I lift the COFI after mashing using a pulley system and an eye-bolt in my ceiling. So the COFI is hanging over head and gently squeezing itself over the kettle. How do you get sparge water through the grains?
 
I have the 15 gallon and about 40 brews using the Brew Boss. Couple things. I had crash problems big time. After talking with Darrin, i moved than unplugged the micro wave on my bench, Shut down the blue tooth on my phone. These two items were causing interference. No problems since. I too was having problems with efficiency, especially with large grain bill brews. My last two brew, I crushed my grain at my local brew supply store quite a bit finer. The last brew I was shooting for a FG of 1.046 and I ended up at 1.060 I don't have any measurements as there mills are hand made, usually crush at 4, now I use 3. hope this helps.
 
Borneogoat said:
I've had some low efficiency issues, similar to other posters. Will continue to fiddle with my grain crush, but I see some people are sparging. I'd like to give that a try too. How do you logistically do a sparge with a COFI?

In my case, I lift the COFI after mashing using a pulley system and an eye-bolt in my ceiling. So the COFI is hanging over head and gently squeezing itself over the kettle. How do you get sparge water through the grains?
Click to expand...

I don't have the COFI but mine is similar without the lid. Why couldn't you just pour the water over the top while its hanging? That's what I do with my basket.
 
Borneogoat said:
I've had some low efficiency issues, similar to other posters. Will continue to fiddle with my grain crush, but I see some people are sparging. I'd like to give that a try too. How do you logistically do a sparge with a COFI?
Click to expand...

Only done this once so far -

After heating the full volume of strike water to temp, I transferred about 1.5 gallons to my cooler MLT. Once the mash was complete (incl. mash out) I raised the COFI out of the wort but still a couple inches in the kettle to avoid any mess. Then I used a pitcher to pour about a half gallon over the top of the COFI, which I thought might cause some run-off mess, but it was fine. Then I squeezed the grains, repeated the sparge, squeezed again, then one last time with the remainder of the sparge water. Once that was done I raised the COFI completely out and let it drain like normal as the wort heated to boil.

I've never tried to sparge a BIAB, but after doing it with the COFI I'd say it's probably easier than pouring water over a tapered bag. The holes in the top of the COFI lid are big enough that if you pour slowly it doesn't make a mess and you can spread it around evenly.
-

I also considered just pumping the sparge water through the COFI since my MLT has a male QD, but decided to go with the pour & squeeze. May do that next time...
 
SeeMont said:
I have the 15 gallon and about 40 brews using the Brew Boss. Couple things. I had crash problems big time. After talking with Darrin, i moved than unplugged the micro wave on my bench, Shut down the blue tooth on my phone. These two items were causing interference. No problems since. I too was having problems with efficiency, especially with large grain bill brews. My last two brew, I crushed my grain at my local brew supply store quite a bit finer. The last brew I was shooting for a FG of 1.046 and I ended up at 1.060 I don't have any measurements as there mills are hand made, usually crush at 4, now I use 3. hope this helps.
Click to expand...

I assume you meant OG and not FG. Did you take volume measurements to figure out your mash and brew house efficiency? 14 points over your estimated OG is a lot just for a finer crush.
 
Brewphish said:
Only done this once so far -

After heating the full volume of strike water to temp, I transferred about 1.5 gallons to my cooler MLT. Once the mash was complete (incl. mash out) I raised the COFI out of the wort but still a couple inches in the kettle to avoid any mess. Then I used a pitcher to pour about a half gallon over the top of the COFI, which I thought might cause some run-off mess, but it was fine. Then I squeezed the grains, repeated the sparge, squeezed again, then one last time with the remainder of the sparge water. Once that was done I raised the COFI completely out and let it drain like normal as the wort heated to boil.
Click to expand...

That sounds like what I was considering. When you lift the COFI up to sparge do you lift using the eye-bolt connected to the copper re-circulation tube? This is where I thought things might go SNAFU. When I lift the COFI by this ring it squeezes the grains gently. If you sparge over this compacted grain, do the grains get washed effectively or do you need to relax the squeeze somehow? [Note: I've never sparged anything before, so I might be missing the basic concept...]
 
For those trying to sparge would like to see the comparison ...my guess there isnt much difference...might have to test myself
 
Schumed said:
For those trying to sparge would like to see the comparison ...my guess there isnt much difference...might have to test myself
Click to expand...

I see about a 10% mash eff bump when sparging. Even more so with higher OG beers. That said, I've mainly stopped doing it just because its less convenient. I prefer to just add an extra lb or two of grain and not have to deal with it. I will still do it on super high OG 1.085+
 
Also I came up with 8.5 gallons of water to start. I used 1.25 gallon/hour boil off, 1/2 gallon to trub loss, 1 gallon / 9 lbs of grain. Does this sound about right?
 
Do you have BeerSmith? If not I highly recommend it. You can import the XML file to the Brew Boss app and it will create all that for you. A few things don't come over 100% correct. For example, I had 5oz dry hop and it put it as a 60 minute hop. Not sure why but all I did was hit the start button and it continued as normal.
 
I did buy beer smith but it was something else to learn so I thought I would do it with baby steps. Meaning buy a cheap all grain recipe kit for 20 dollars from Northern brew that is pretty simple and try to define the steps on brew boss. I played around with beer smith but there were a lot of variables to mess up. I did do a wet run to figure out my boil off rate. Beer smith will probably be my next baby step.
 
ebrooker007 said:
I did buy beer smith but it was something else to learn so I thought I would do it with baby steps. Meaning buy a cheap all grain recipe kit for 20 dollars from Northern brew that is pretty simple and try to define the steps on brew boss. I played around with beer smith but there were a lot of variables to mess up. I did do a wet run to figure out my boil off rate. Beer smith will probably be my next baby step.
Click to expand...

I have found that the $10 BeerSmith mobile app is simpler and easier to use, in my opinion, I barely touch the desktop version any more -- BUT the files the mobile version creates are different, and I presume they would would have to go from Mobile --> Cloud --> Desktop --> File before you could import them
 
ebrooker007 said:
I did buy beer smith but it was something else to learn so I thought I would do it with baby steps. Meaning buy a cheap all grain recipe kit for 20 dollars from Northern brew that is pretty simple and try to define the steps on brew boss. I played around with beer smith but there were a lot of variables to mess up. I did do a wet run to figure out my boil off rate. Beer smith will probably be my next baby step.
Click to expand...

I highly suggest looking at BeerSmith right away. This will help you zero in on your process and help with repeatable brewing. You do need to create an equipment profile and do some measuring before getting the numbers you need but it is all worth it. You will get your mash and brew house efficiency which will help get the exact gravity numbers for your set up. You will need to brew a batch to get these figures though. You need boil off rate, pre-boil volume, pre-boil gravity, post-boil volume, post-boil gravity, amount in the fermenter and amount left in pot and chiller. These figures are good to collect each batch so you can keep updated efficiency figures. If you find your efficiency is low, you can adjust your process. A quick tip on boil off rate...measure the water volume at the same temp (either measure the amount right before the water reaches boil and then right after the hour boil or measure it before you heat it and then let it cool after). The volume of water at room temp and right before boil will be different so your boil off rate will not be correct.

To upload your BeerSmith recipe to Brew Boss, you extract the file (as XML) to your desktop. Plug in your tablet and create a folder called BeerSmith in your Brew Boss folder. Put the XML file in the BeerSmith folder. Go into the Brew Boss app an convert XML file. You will now have a process set up for that batch.

Another thing you can do is create a few saved processes for different amount of hop additions. Most beers will have 2 or 3 hop additions so create one process for each. Then all you need to do is change the addition time based on the recipe...and the mash temp.
 
h22lude said:
The "official tablet" isn't anything special. It is just a basic cheap tablet. The tablet isn't a brew boss tablet. Darin realized some people may not already have tablet so he found a cheaper one for people to get but not put add much to the total. Also, it isn't the tablet that is having issues, it is the app. Just like all other apps, updates to the app or the OS can cause issues. I have a nexus tablet with the latest os and app version and didn't have any problems.
Click to expand...

So when you say "it isn't the tablet, it's the app" does that mean that my tablet crashing (as in the whole tablet rebooting) is being caused by the app? For me, it's not just the app that stops responding, and I have to restart it, but the whole tablet regularly reboots itself. I've had plenty android tablets in the past, and never seen this before, mind you, none of them were running the Brew Boss app.

I've tried the same version of the app on a kindle Fire HD 6, and haven't seen any reboots yet, which is why I thought the tablet supplied by Brew Boss may also be part of the problem, but I was merely speculating.
 
yeastylad said:
So when you say "it isn't the tablet, it's the app" does that mean that my tablet crashing (as in the whole tablet rebooting) is being caused by the app? For me, it's not just the app that stops responding, and I have to restart it, but the whole tablet regularly reboots itself. I've had plenty android tablets in the past, and never seen this before, mind you, none of them were running the Brew Boss app.

I've tried the same version of the app on a kindle Fire HD 6, and haven't seen any reboots yet, which is why I thought the tablet supplied by Brew Boss may also be part of the problem, but I was merely speculating.
Click to expand...

Is that the only thing you are running on that tablet? Has this problem happened the entire time you have owned it?
 
glad to see im not the only one who gets 2-3 crashes every time I try to load a brew profile and start. Its usually stable after that. I didnt get this until I got the newest app update. Hope they fix it soon
 
h22lude said:
I highly suggest looking at BeerSmith right away. This will help you zero in on your process and help with repeatable brewing. You do need to create an equipment profile and do some measuring before getting the numbers you need but it is all worth it. You will get your mash and brew house efficiency which will help get the exact gravity numbers for your set up. You will need to brew a batch to get these figures though. You need boil off rate, pre-boil volume, pre-boil gravity, post-boil volume, post-boil gravity, amount in the fermenter and amount left in pot and chiller. These figures are good to collect each batch so you can keep updated efficiency figures. If you find your efficiency is low, you can adjust your process. A quick tip on boil off rate...measure the water volume at the same temp (either measure the amount right before the water reaches boil and then right after the hour boil or measure it before you heat it and then let it cool after). The volume of water at room temp and right before boil will be different so your boil off rate will not be correct.



To upload your BeerSmith recipe to Brew Boss, you extract the file (as XML) to your desktop. Plug in your tablet and create a folder called BeerSmith in your Brew Boss folder. Put the XML file in the BeerSmith folder. Go into the Brew Boss app an convert XML file. You will now have a process set up for that batch.



Another thing you can do is create a few saved processes for different amount of hop additions. Most beers will have 2 or 3 hop additions so create one process for each. Then all you need to do is change the addition time based on the recipe...and the mash temp.
Click to expand...


Alright you talked me into it. I did a wet run and came up with the 1.25 gallons per hour. If this is my first brew what should I use in beer smith. I just have the 15 gallon brew boss with false bottom and an immersion chiller.
Also can does beer smith work on the tablet and if so would it be a problem to have the brew boss app and beer smith.
 
h22lude said:
I assume you meant OG and not FG. Did you take volume measurements to figure out your mash and brew house efficiency? 14 points over your estimated OG is a lot just for a finer crush.
Click to expand...

Thanks for catching that error, My previous efficiency has been around 70% to 74% After I ran the numbers with the last batch, the efficiency was around 86% My process has been pretty consistent. I'm brewing tomorrow, we will see if I can duplicate the numbers.
 
ebrooker007 said:
Alright you talked me into it. I did a wet run and came up with the 1.25 gallons per hour. If this is my first brew what should I use in beer smith. I just have the 15 gallon brew boss with false bottom and an immersion chiller.
Also can does beer smith work on the tablet and if so would it be a problem to have the brew boss app and beer smith.
Click to expand...

When you say "this is my first brew what should I use in beer smith" are you referring to the figures you put in to get your mash and brew house efficiency? I think I just put brew house efficiency at 72%. Your first batch may be a little off until you get your figures correct. No big deal. Google beersmith 2.0 equipment profile. There is a good post in the beersmith forum on this.

I have never used the app before. I have it on my phone but find the program to be much easier to use. I enter everything on my computer and print it down. Only thing running on my tablet is brew boss
 
h22lude said:
Is that the only thing you are running on that tablet? Has this problem happened the entire time you have owned it?
Click to expand...

Yes, as best I can to the first question, and yes to the second question. Darin did mention to me that the app takes all of the memory allocation so running other things is inadvisable. I don't intentionally run anything else when Im using the app, but I don't know if background processes also affect it. If they do, the app needs and overhaul for sure, because that's not practical. The app seems to be slowly getting better with updates, but I haven't had a glitch free brew day since I got the system, and I've brewed close to 10 batches on it now.
 
yeastylad said:
Yes, as best I can to the first question, and yes to the second question. Darin did mention to me that the app takes all of the memory allocation so running other things is inadvisable. I don't intentionally run anything else when Im using the app, but I don't know if background processes also affect it. If they do, the app needs and overhaul for sure, because that's not practical. The app seems to be slowly getting better with updates, but I haven't had a glitch free brew day since I got the system, and I've brewed close to 10 batches on it now.
Click to expand...

Force close all other apps. Anything else running in the background won't affect the app. If you can, try another tablet. Borrow a friends. See if that helps. I have had this system for over a year and haven't had an issue with any of the versions. I did two recently with the new version and no issues. If I had to guess, the problem is with the app and the tablet OS. What OS you running?
 
h22lude said:
Force close all other apps. Anything else running in the background won't affect the app. If you can, try another tablet. Borrow a friends. See if that helps. I have had this system for over a year and haven't had an issue with any of the versions. I did two recently with the new version and no issues. If I had to guess, the problem is with the app and the tablet OS. What OS you running?
Click to expand...

I'll have to check, I think it may be a tweaked version of the base Android OS. I've tried to do an OTA update of the OS, but it won't detect a newer version, and I know its not the most recent version of Android, maybe the tablet just doesn't support newer versions. What is your tablet/OS/setup, out of curiosity?
 
yeastylad said:
I'll have to check, I think it may be a tweaked version of the base Android OS. I've tried to do an OTA update of the OS, but it won't detect a newer version, and I know its not the most recent version of Android, maybe the tablet just doesn't support newer versions. What is your tablet/OS/setup, out of curiosity?
Click to expand...

I have a Nexus 7 with 5.1.1 Lollipop
 
Question for those who use the cofi filters with central infusion tube. Does the recirculation create super clear wort? That is one of the things I love about the 3 vessel rims system. Cleaning a 3 vessel is a lot of work though.
 
Paul_Aris said:
Question for those who use the cofi filters with central infusion tube. Does the recirculation create super clear wort? That is one of the things I love about the 3 vessel rims system. Cleaning a 3 vessel is a lot of work though.
Click to expand...

A few examples of two different IPA's.

20151001_171507_resized.jpg


20160107_183508_resized.jpg
 
Paul_Aris said:
Question for those who use the cofi filters with central infusion tube. Does the recirculation create super clear wort? That is one of the things I love about the 3 vessel rims system. Cleaning a 3 vessel is a lot of work though.
Click to expand...

You get clear beer by cold crashing, filtering, and/or using something like gelatin. I have never found a difference among the different setups I've used have any impact on the clarity of the wort...I think that's really more of a myth in my 6 years of homebrewing.

I have actually used the brew boss / cofi filter without re-circulation (pump issue that day) and found no difference in my final product
 
Paul_Aris said:
Question for those who use the cofi filters with central infusion tube. Does the recirculation create super clear wort? That is one of the things I love about the 3 vessel rims system. Cleaning a 3 vessel is a lot of work though.
Click to expand...

You will not get a super clear wort with any BIAB method from my experience. It bothered me for the longest time but I've come to realize it makes no difference. I still get clear beer that tastes great no matter how cloudy the wort looks going in to the fermentor.
 
Schumed said:
You get clear beer by cold crashing, filtering, and/or using something like gelatin. I have never found a difference among the different setups I've used have any impact on the clarity of the wort...I think that's really more of a myth in my 6 years of homebrewing.

I have actually used the brew boss / cofi filter without re-circulation (pump issue that day) and found no difference in my final product
Click to expand...

I guess while recirculating the mash I am talking about how after several minutes the sight glass shows beer that is super clear. I have never had an issue in the keg after carbonating and pouring a few glasses off. Even with my old batch sparge manual cooler method. I have never had to use gelatin or filtering. I would think once in my kegerator for several days that may be the same as cold crashing?
 
Paul_Aris said:
I guess while recirculating the mash I am talking about how after several minutes the sight glass shows beer that is super clear. I have never had an issue in the keg after carbonating and pouring a few glasses off. Even with my old batch sparge manual cooler method. I have never had to use gelatin or filtering. I would think once in my kegerator for several days that may be the same as cold crashing?
Click to expand...

I've got the COFI as well and the answer is No, you will not get clear wort from recirculating. Before I got the BB I was mashing in a 10G round cooler with a stainless supply line braid and would vorlauf a couple times while batch sparging. That would result in a very clear wort into the BK.

With the COFI I was expecting similar or better results since it was constantly rinsing the grains and I figured it would also "set" the grain bed. However the wort is very cloudy and even has some grain particulate in there. I was pretty bummed since I had added a BrewHardware flow view sightglass and was hoping to see crystal clear wort being pumped through.

However, after reading up on the COFI and BIAB in general, I found out that super clear wort is not to be expected and that cloudy wort doesn't really matter. My beers made with the BB have still cleared up nicely, both with and without using gelatin, and they have been just as good or better than on my old system. I still add a whirfloc tablet with about 10-15 minutes left in the boil and I use hop sacks (mainly because I have a plate chiller now), but I don't go out of my way to keep break material, grain particulate and other gunk out of the fermenter.


As for cold crashing in the keg. The advantage of cold crashing the beer before transferring to the keg is that a lot of stuff drops out and sticks to the bottom of the fermenter so it never makes it to the keg in the first place. Additional time lagering in the keg will get some more stuff to settle, but in general I find it more effective to chill the fermenter before transferring to the keg if you have the means. May still be a little cloudy, but clears up a lot faster. :mug:
 
You can vorlauf with this system. Run your mash and any sparging you do. Vorlauf and transfer to two buckets, cooler or another pot. Remove the grains and add the wort back in for boil. May add another 15 minutes but it would work. Does give you another thing to clean but it's an easy clean up
 
Brewphish said:
I've got the COFI as well and the answer is No, you will not get clear wort from recirculating. Before I got the BB I was mashing in a 10G round cooler with a stainless supply line braid and would vorlauf a couple times while batch sparging. That would result in a very clear wort into the BK.

With the COFI I was expecting similar or better results since it was constantly rinsing the grains and I figured it would also "set" the grain bed. However the wort is very cloudy and even has some grain particulate in there. I was pretty bummed since I had added a BrewHardware flow view sightglass and was hoping to see crystal clear wort being pumped through.

However, after reading up on the COFI and BIAB in general, I found out that super clear wort is not to be expected and that cloudy wort doesn't really matter. My beers made with the BB have still cleared up nicely, both with and without using gelatin, and they have been just as good or better than on my old system. I still add a whirfloc tablet with about 10-15 minutes left in the boil and I use hop sacks (mainly because I have a plate chiller now), but I don't go out of my way to keep break material, grain particulate and other gunk out of the fermenter.


As for cold crashing in the keg. The advantage of cold crashing the beer before transferring to the keg is that a lot of stuff drops out and sticks to the bottom of the fermenter so it never makes it to the keg in the first place. Additional time lagering in the keg will get some more stuff to settle, but in general I find it more effective to chill the fermenter before transferring to the keg if you have the means. May still be a little cloudy, but clears up a lot faster. :mug:
Click to expand...


Usually after sitting for 3 weeks in my fermentor most everything has dropped out and results in clear wort. Just get a very small film at the bottom of my kegs.
 
I officially had to send my controller into Darin for some assistance with my shorting out problem. Darin quickly turned it around in less than 24 hours...basically solid state relay went bad and had to be replaced. Great service!!!
 
ebrooker007 said:
Alright you talked me into it. I did a wet run and came up with the 1.25 gallons per hour. If this is my first brew what should I use in beer smith. I just have the 15 gallon brew boss with false bottom and an immersion chiller.
Also can does beer smith work on the tablet and if so would it be a problem to have the brew boss app and beer smith.
Click to expand...


I'm having trouble loading the beer smith file into brew boss. I exported it as a bxml and saved it to a thumb drive and plugged the thumb drive into my tablet but don't know how to get it into the brew boss app.
 
ebrooker007 said:
I'm having trouble loading the beer smith file into brew boss. I exported it as a bxml and saved it to a thumb drive and plugged the thumb drive into my tablet but don't know how to get it into the brew boss app.
Click to expand...

Just plug your tablet into your computer. I'm not sure how flash drives work when plugged in directly to a tablet.

When you plug it into your computer, it turns into a storage device and you just drag and drop into the folder
 
h22lude said:
Just plug your tablet into your computer. I'm not sure how flash drives work when plugged in directly to a tablet.

When you plug it into your computer, it turns into a storage device and you just drag and drop into the folder
Click to expand...

One you plug in your flash drive goto the app drawer and select "My Files". You should be able to select the file from there.
 
Paul_Aris said:
One you plug in your flash drive goto the app drawer and select "My Files". You should be able to select the file from there.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah I was assuming he did that but couldn't transfer the file.

Like Paul said, you need to go to my files and that will be the directory. You then need to copy the file into the right folder. I do find it easier to use my computer. The tablet turns into a storage device and you can drag and drop just like any other storage device. I had to create a folder within brew boss. It might be easier to do that on your computer
 

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