Hosehead Brewery

I ordered 5BC model about a month ago and been tinkering with it while I finish my Electric Brewery setup. I updated the OS to the latest version (Pixel) and the thing has really good performance. The wifi and bluetooth work great also. I have not done a brew yet on it obviously but I installed Craftbeerpi on it also just as another option to Elsinore. I might go with that one because it has a nicer look to it but I think the features are the same. I am probably going to use both for the first few batches. Cant wait to get it going.

Plz keep us posted on which you like better.

So I can install both Elsinore and Craftbeerpi on the hosehead and run either?

I ran a test using water and that went well. I also brewed today using 5BC for the HLT and Mash Tun (HERMS). I did the boil on the old system (gas). It was a step mash so thought I might have some difficulty. However it all went pretty smoothly. Next time I will try a 10 or 15 gallon batch using only electric and the 5BC. A bit of a learning curve for me but it seems good and had no hiccups with the brew.

Did 10 gallons today. The entire system worked great except for a minor thing. While boiling the temperature never read over 208F.

I remove the temperature probe from the well when boiling

jdr01 said:

Did 10 gallons today. The entire system worked great except for a minor thing. While boiling the temperature never read over 208F.

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depends what your elevation is. water boils at 209 here.

Right, I live at 5600 ft and water boils at about 203° F . Unless it's under pressure it won't get any hotter when it boils.

R_Horn said:

So I can install both Elsinore and Craftbeerpi on the hosehead and run either?

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Seemingly, yes.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8gs0Tgccv0[/ame]

zgja2 said:

depends what your elevation is. water boils at 209 here.

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And sometimes here it will boil at 210.7F and sometimes at 213.2F, depending on the weather (it can vary almost that much in a day).

I am about sea level. I cant remove the probe because I have the compression fitting instead of the well. What I did to get a more vigorous boil was to set the temp up to about 219 degrees. I will have to watch the mash temps next time and see if that probe might be off a bit as well.

Hi all - just got my hosehead a few days ago. Initial tears are looking good but having some issues keeping the onewire sensors watertight. What I mean is I'm getting leaks out of the compression fittings. I bought the bored stainless fittings from brewhardware. I saw some discussion on this s few weeks ago but can't find it. Any advice?

try staking a couple O-rings or slide a washer on with the O-ring to shim it a little tighter compression nut two O-rings or a custom fit washer and an O-ring over the bayonet of the probe into the fitting.

Adding a few pictures of you set up would likely help.

Thanks for the direction. I'll snap some pics this week. 2 of the 3 are water tight, but I can't figure out the third one - very slow leak. Teflon tape or is that a bad idea?

Anyone using craftbeerpi know how to control the output of the boil element. Is this possible. Right now it looks like it's either 100% or 0% so I get a more vigorous boil with more boil off than desired...any way to control this?

Apparently there is a way to do it if you are somewhat computer literate. Check the Facebook page. Version 3.0 will have this built in I am told.

Just wanted to drop in for a quick plug for Hosehead. I've been running the older model that I flashed to have the new operating system and version of Elsinore. I've been having great luck running it on my e-HERMS. My first batch went remarkably well and I was able to keep my mash temperature within 3 tenths of a degree of target. Corey has provided great support even though I didn't purchase the unit directly from him. Overall, I would definitely recommend a Hosehead unit.

^
Beautiful setup!

John

Hey thanks! It's been a labor of love over the last 6 months. A lot of compiling parts and searching for deals, followed by flipping that room which was an oversized closet in the basement. I've been meaning to do a brief build thread. Nonetheless, appreciate the kind words.

Hi all- not much action in this thread lately. Anyone install craftbeerpi 3.0 yet? Having some issues with the set up of the elements.

I spent a lot of time trying to get craftbeerpi 3 to work, never could. I don't need any of the fancy stuff for My setup, so strange brew works fine for me....

I JUST figured it out. GPIO for the BK is #27. Water test tomorrow

dyqik said:

And sometimes here it will boil at 210.7F and sometimes at 213.2F, depending on the weather (it can vary almost that much in a day).

Click to expand...

I thought it was elevation not weather that effected this?

augiedoggy said:

I thought it was elevation not weather that effected this?

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Elevation, that is distance from sea level, is completely irrelevant. The variable is atmospheric pressure, which changes with the weather (and elevation, of course). I know, I'm being pedantic, but this misconception always bothers me for some reason.

ancientmariner52 said:

Elevation, that is distance from sea level, is completely irrelevant. The variable is atmospheric pressure, which changes with the weather (and elevation, of course). I know, I'm being pedantic, but this misconception always bothers me for some reason.

Click to expand...

Yes, and the weather changes atmospheric pressure within about a 3-5% or so wide band about the average for your elevation.

That corresponds to about a 2-3F variation for the boiling point of water at one location/elevation due to weather, at sea level anyway. I haven't calculated for lower average pressures or looked up pressure variations in higher elevation cities. If you do, you will have to correct the meteorological pressures reported by the weather services (which is corrected for altitude) to the actual pressures.

Hi all - did my first brew using the Hosehead craftbeerpi 3.0. I have quite a few under my belt using 2.2 In any event, I did an auto tune with water a few weeks back and it went well. A couple of issues came up during the first brew day. HLT sensor readings were wildly inaccurate, MT and BK to a lesser degree. Seems like every time I brew I have to adjust the offset a little, but this was 20+ degrees off.

Second issue - HLT did not stop at the set point. I used the car symbol to run but it kept climbing.

Any ideas?

I just purchased the hosehead and am expecting it any day now. Can someone recommend the best way to mount the probes. I’m doing a 3 vessel 1 tier 1 pump setup for now. 9 G HLT, 11 Gallon Igloo Cooler, 15 G BK

I’m also thinking about mounting a probe to the out of the CFC. The CFC is hard piped on the opposite side of my kegerator and I’d like to be able to monitor temps out from that from back at my brew station. It’s just a 3/8 copper end coming out that I drain through a piece of clear tubing into the fermentor. What would be the best way to get a probe on the out of that?

I bought a Hosehead 5BC probably at least a year and a half ago. Since my brew system wasn't ready yet or my 50 amp wiring in the house. So it just sat in the box.

Today I completed my 50 amp GFCI service and am ready to plug in the hosehead for testing. I looked online but I see the out of the box setup video is outdated.

So before I plug anything in is there instructions or anything anywhere on setting everything up?

Thanks

Did you get it preloaded with craft beer pi?

LOL no idea I bought it so long ago. Life happened and it took me longer than expected to complete everything else. I have an email into Corey so hoping to know some more. I know its the 5BC with the raspberry pi 3

The instructions on his site are old but will still get you where you need to be. First step is to decide which software you want to go with: Craftbeerpi or Elsinore. You'll need a monitor (tv is fine if it has hdmi) and keyboard with a mouse. Plug it all in and fire it up and get on your network. Follow the instructions for the software you want. I went w CBP because it has a ton of users and support. If you follow his directions to a T you'll get CBP loaded up.

Thats my first question can I just plug it inand fire it up without the elements and temp probes plugged in or do I need to have everything hooked up?

If the software is not loaded, nothing will happen. Think of it as a computer and a printer, but you don't have the driver installed yet. You can do it, but it will just sit there.

So is that the directions in this video:

Not sure - I used the documents on his site written out. I have a rough time following videos

Not sure - I used the documents on his site written out. I have a rough time following videos

There are many videos on youtube. Watch them and set up strange brew elsinore before trying to load craft beer pi. You'll need to make note of the GPIO settings. You need to have the temp probes plugged in to set It up.

I fired it up it looks like Elsinore is pre loaded

Then you are pretty good to go, at least to do a water test

Save a copy of your config file before you start messing around with stuff. If you screw something up, you can just delete the bad config file and replace with known working one....