First all electric brew

All the pieces finally came together yesterday in harmony... Not a drop of propane was used in producing this recipe..



For as much new equipment as I have, I was really impressed how smooth brew day went. I now mill my own grain, all three kettles are electric, and I use a plate chiller instead of an immersion chiller.

I saw an overall efficiency of about 66% but the recipe was over 20% cereal and adjuncts and that is better than I've done in the past with wheat/oat type beers. I noticed that I had quite a bit of flour and the husks were slightly tore up, so I'll readjust the mill from 0.037" to 0.039" for my next batch - which will currently be a 100% Barley malt recipe. The mash stuck once, probably due to the oats, but I pumped sparge water backwards under the false bottom and re-floated the bed successfully!

I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of brewing drama... :rockin:

That my friend is a thing of beauty, congrats and happy brewing!

Totally awesome, I want one of those

As the immersion chiller and LP tank sit in the background and cry!!

Nice set up man


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Looks great man! I got three brews under my belt electric and love it. I found rice hulls are my friend....

Good to hear that someone else has to use rice hulls and not just me. I modeled mine after Kal, just need another pump and it will be completed. Right now I have to put the boiler on the ground but it works.

k_mcarthur said:

Good to hear that someone else has to use rice hulls and not just me.

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Most of the brews I've been doing have wheat and/or oats in them. The next one is an IPA without either - so I'll try to go without the rice hulls and see how it goes.

Nice system! Thanks for sharing!

I have to use a half pound of hulls otherwise the grains get so compacted from recirculating I don't get enough flow through the false bottom.

k_mcarthur said:

Good to hear that someone else has to use rice hulls and not just me. I modeled mine after Kal, just need another pump and it will be completed. Right now I have to put the boiler on the ground but it works.

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I use rice hulls in all of my batches


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My LHBS sells rice hulls for $1.75/lb

Sound like a good price?

k_mcarthur said:

Good to hear that someone else has to use rice hulls and not just me. I modeled mine after Kal...

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FWIW, I don't use rice hulls at all, even with wheat beers that are 60% wheat (huskless). It really depends on the quality of the false bottom and recirc system.

I find with my March pumps and Blichmann false bottom, I can recirc with the pumps open 100% and never have any compacting issues.

I hate rice hulls (dirty, static-y, messy) so I'm happy to not have to use them!

YMMV

Kal

I have one of those cheap dome perforated false bottoms meant for a cooler that I have drilled out to accept 1/2 inch fittings. A better mash tun is on the wish list but it works for now with some rice hulls.

BTW thanks Kal for the great online resource. I followed your ideas for mounting elements without ever a leak. And I never knew these simple pids and ssr could control my process with such accuracy.

Great looking system, but the edges on that cut keggle scare the crap out of me. Careful cleaning in there.

I don't ever use rice hulls, and I do brew beers with loads of wheat and rye. My jaybird false bottom (modified slightly) works flawlessly.

passedpawn said:

Great looking system, but the edges on that cut keggle scare the crap out of me. Careful cleaning in there.

I don't ever use rice hulls, and I do brew beers with loads of wheat and rye. My jaybird false bottom (modified slightly) works flawlessly.

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They've deburred after much spilt blood... I'd also share that my tops were cut with a plasma cutter which is really fast.... but leaves quite the sharp burr.

I never used to use rice hulls either until I stuck the bed and didnt notice it once. The wort around the RIMS element scorched and I ended up throwing the batch out - a first for me. I consider it cheap insurance now.