I'm sure they will just say "you got it too wet". Has anyone else gotten water on the control unit? If I drenched the thing, fine, but it only got some over spray at best.
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ANVIL FOUNDRY ALL-GRAIN BREWING SYSTEM
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Actually, Blichmann is pretty good with warranty claims and quick replacements of parts.
But nothing is broken anymore.. What is my argument, the fact that water made it's way under?
JoeSpartaNJ
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I know it is not a "fix", but I covered my control panel with plastic/saran wrap.
I'm thinking about doing a line of silicone around the top and sides of where the plastic makes contact with the body.
JoeSpartaNJ
Well-Known Member
I thought about that too, but it seemed to permanent.
I also like the low tech aspect of the plastic wrap. Easily replaceable.
My ocd can't allow plastic wrap. The plastic base never needs to come off as the unit/controller can be unscrewed from the base if needed. There is a gasket between the unit and base, but I question it's effectiveness.
My last brew day I had water leak through to the bottom and onto the control panel/wiring. Never got a blank screen but did get an error after drying and putting everything back together. Had to take the whole thing apart again and found a wire that was loose. Everything worked once that was fixed. There does seem to be a design flaw that water can get in there so easily though.
Anybody else have an issue with theirs where it doesn’t stop at the desired temp? I’ve had mine set to 152 and when it got to 152 it beeped because it was at the target temp but kept heating until I turned it off at 158. This happens pretty frequently with mine and I feel like I have to keep an eye on it for the whole length of the mash. I’ve tried turning it off an on, setting it a couple degrees lower, and various power level settings, 100%, 90%, 80% etc and it still does it pretty regularly. I do have their pump kit and have it recirculating for the entire mash.
Never. Interesting!
But, I bring it to temp at 50%, mash at 35%, and boil at 70% (240V) so I probably haven't had a great chance to see it if it was there. I'd have suggested recirculating but you are already doing that.
I use Glad Press n Seal around my control panel and it works great.
JoeSpartaNJ
Well-Known Member
Is there anyone out there today to help a fellow Anvil user? I plugged my 10.5 into 120 power while it was set to 240. I unplugged it, made the switch, it made a strange buzzing noise for a few minutes and now it is humming like regular, but it is not heating up the water. I thought the only trouble was going the other way. The control display is working and the power control appears operable, but it is not heating. Could I blow a fuse plugging 120 into a 240 power appliance? Please help. Thanks 
DuncB
Well-Known Member
Not an anvil user but is there a reset button on the underside? Some electric boilers have this and I tripped mine once. You just need to push it in to reset / click it.
There is the reset button next to the 120/240 switch, but you have probably already tried that. There is another on the underside of the unit that trips on a dry kettle--maybe it has tripped?
I bought mine used and the previous owner was doing this. They also put some silicone caulk around the control panel to seal it up.
I have luckily not had to open mine up. Can you tell me, is there a coating on the circuit board? It would be a clear coating which often has a rubber type feeling or is it bare solder connections? Was the water on the board or the dispay?
It looks like there is a rubber gasket but it seems useless. I am careful with water on the control panel yet the little water that may have hit it managed to get onto the circuit board and make my screen not work temporarily.
My only hesitation with sealing is it would reduce the ability for water to get out if it does make its way in.
Only seal the top and two sides, leaving the bottom alone
But the main circuit board itself had no noticeable coating like it had something rtv/silicone sprayed on it when you wiped it off?
I design circuit boards for the food service industries, ice machines, microwaves, broasters, fryers. If the board will be in an environment that could have water, grease or something similar get on it we apply conformal coating to protect it and all solder joints. If there is no coating I need to get a can to have on hand.
Yes, you need to leave somewhere for moisture to escape. If using rtv use the electronics safe version. Has no acid to attack the solder or contacts.
JTtilinfinity
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Apologies if this has already been covered - searched but couldn’t find it. TIA!
What do you all use as your Mash Volume Limit in your brew software? The Anvil profile in brewfather defaults to 10gal but that doesn’t seem possible when using the malt pipe.
I’m planning a double NEIPA which would be around 20lbs of grain, heavy oat malt, plus rice hulls. Brewfather is telling me i need 8.14gal water, with a total mash volume of 9.75. This isn’t possible right? Thinking I need to replace some grain with DME or try my first sparge.
What do you all use as your Mash Volume Limit in your brew software? The Anvil profile in brewfather defaults to 10gal but that doesn’t seem possible when using the malt pipe.
I’m planning a double NEIPA which would be around 20lbs of grain, heavy oat malt, plus rice hulls. Brewfather is telling me i need 8.14gal water, with a total mash volume of 9.75. This isn’t possible right? Thinking I need to replace some grain with DME or try my first sparge.
Brushwood Brewing
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I just did this to mine after reading these comments. I used plastic wrap and scotch tape. It looks terrible on such an otherwise good-looking appliance. It made me a little sad. But a blown circuit board would make me sadder.
These discussions are exactly why I sold my Foundry. The end consumer (you and I) should not have to rely on these "fixes" for the product to work the way it should. You have to caulk this, wrap that with clear film, lift the basket and then there is the effing E3 error that shuts the whole unit down in the middle of a boil. John Blichmann can do better than this.
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I don't disagree it could be better, but you have to remember the price point. If you want something a lot better, it'll be at least double the price.
Probably neater than the plastic wrap and duct tape that I used
Brushwood Brewing
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Has anyone else tried using your Foundry for temperature control during fermentation, when fermenting in kegs? A 5gal keg fits perfectly in the grain basket (to keep it off the heating element). I then fill up the Foundry with water and set it to my desired fermentation temperature. It keeps it constant and allows me to ramp it up during the last few days of fermentation.
(Keg on right in photo is being purged by fermentation CO2.)
(Keg on right in photo is being purged by fermentation CO2.)
I haven’t but that is a great idea for kveik batches. I’ve been resting my fermentation keg in a bucket of water with a fish tank heater to keep it at ~97F
Holy long thread!! I read the whole thing while waiting for my anvil 10.5 to arrive. It showed up last night, hope to brew my first this weekend. 10 years ago I brewed a lot of 2 gallon, all grain batches in my 700 sq ft condo downtown seattle. I now have a 2 bedroom house with a garage in Arizona. anxious to get started with it. One change I noticed in my unit that I haven't seen anyone mention, though I did see it on a video, I believe they changed the controller so with 4 screws, you can remove the controller with relitive ease.
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I'm sure it's discussed somewhere in this thread, but TLDR.
Has anyone had luck with pushing the limits with the amount of grist in the 10.5 gallon? I am itching to brew a chocolate/coconut imperial stout and came across the below recipe, which calls for 20lbs. If this isn't possible, can someone provide advice on reducing grist and supplementing ABV through other means?
https://hazyandhoppy.com/chocolate-coconut-imperial-stout-recipe/
Has anyone had luck with pushing the limits with the amount of grist in the 10.5 gallon? I am itching to brew a chocolate/coconut imperial stout and came across the below recipe, which calls for 20lbs. If this isn't possible, can someone provide advice on reducing grist and supplementing ABV through other means?
https://hazyandhoppy.com/chocolate-coconut-imperial-stout-recipe/
Noob_Brewer
Well-Known Member
This depends on whether you are using the malt-pipe or a bag on a non-foundry false bottom. I did an imperial stout a while ago which pushed the limits of which I desire to push no further. It was brutal and thick to fit it all. I use a wilser bag and a brewzilla false bottom so I can fit more grains than the malt-pipe. That beer had 25.75 total lbs of grain....one of those lbs was a pound of rice hulls. So 24.75lbs of actual grain. efficiency took a hit and sparged a **** ton. Again it was brutal but in the end I ended up with 1.100 of wort going into the fermenter with a good long boil (IIRC it was 2hrs). Search my name in this thread and I think you should find it.
I've done 22lbs, bag but no pipe, and wouldn't go higher, personally. Starts to feel like making oatmeal. For huge beers just add some DME. With that type beer you will never know.
Noob_Brewer
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Here it is. Post number 2,335 lol. ANVIL FOUNDRY ALL-GRAIN BREWING SYSTEM
Thanks for the info. I have one of these jams in my Amazon cart, so maybe I'll go the BIAB route to buy me some space. This recipe is 5 lbs less than yours so it sounds like I can pull it off.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G1B1YJM/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=A3J055FHBJJDOR&th=1
AlbertaBeer
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Awesome! Yes that must be a new ‘feature’ as my foundry that I had bought in the spring doesn’t have the 4 screws like that.
I’ve been mindful of getting any liquid on it. I have had a few oops moments and boiled over, but it hasn’t caused any issues with it yet!
I tried the plastic wrap and the silicone bead around the top and sides but the dammed thing still fogged up. That issue plus others I'm sure I've mentioned before lead me to sell my 10.5 for an SS Brewtech SVBS. The control panel on that unit is separate from the main kettle so I can plug it in and set it off to the side. It is never in a location where any liquid can get at it. Yes, it is far more expensive but there are other benefits that made it worth it for me. You get what you pay for I guess.
AlbertaBeer
Well-Known Member
Fair enough, that’s pretty much always the case, gotta pay to play!
Being new to the hobby I still don’t think you get better bang for your buck as far as an entry level AIO. If I weren’t new to the hobby or if/when this one bites the dust I would have spent the extra
100% agreed. You can't beat what you get for the money. I've been brewing for 20+ years and I bought the Foundry to extend my brewing into the winter months when below freezing temps shut down my season. Having a bit of experience however probably made me more sensitive to the drawbacks of the system and they grated on my nerves perhaps more than they would on some others.
I've had some troubles with big brews on my 6.5 so I took the suggestion of a friend and bought a false bottom to use my BIAB bag and planning on brewing without the malt pipe. My question on this now is what's the best way to recirculate and sparge? I bought one of these wort aerators a while ago based on some suggestions on various forums but no one mentioned how to attach it to the Anvil recirc setup. Is there a better way or is the wort aerator still the way to go?
Welcome to our forums!
That wort aerator you linked to is to be used at the end of the brew, when transferring chilled wort to your fermenter aerating it on it's way down. It's basically a small spray head. There are other methods to aerate (or oxygenate) your (chilled) wort before pitching wet (liquid) yeast. When pitching dry yeast (chilled) wort doesn't need aeration or oxygenation.
In no way it should be used during recirculation. You don't want to aerate the returning hot wort, you want it gently spreading onto the surface without introducing air.* Oxygen being the bad boy here.
* It's actually best returning the wort slightly underneath the surface to limit air (oxygen) uptake.
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