Blichmann BrewEasy

[ElCid79]

So we can use the pump integrated into the tower of power or we need a secondary?

 

[ElCid79]

Also, is the blichmann website down? I have been trying to get on to do some research and am not having any luck.

 

[strangr419]

So we can use the pump integrated into the tower of power or we need a secondary?

One pump will do it all.

 

[chewymatingcall]

I ran a test batch with cold water today. Does everyone use the Blichmann disconnects or does anyone use cam locks?

 

[Danam404]

Hi there. I've been researching brew rigs for months. I don't have big parties, and I drink 1-2 beers most nights of the week. I feel like brewing five gallon batches would be enough. I see me giving away a lot of my beer to friends. I want a relatively simple system. I've been debating between the blichman breweasy and a eBIAB w/ electric hoist. I think the breweasy is the better choice.

My question is this: what limiting factor will there be between buying a breweasy and a traditional three vessel system? I am not at all experienced but I just can't understand why a three vessel would be better - unless you're trying to do two brews at a time, which I wouldn't. Will I have the equipment (not necessarily the skill) to brew a perfect Zombie Dust clone?

Also, electric vs gas?

In my opinion, a brew easy is superior to any BIAB system except for maybe in the cost department.

As far as a traditional 3-vessel fly sparge system, your limiting factor is the efficiency. Much easier to reach the mid-70's if not 80% efficiency with a traditional setup, but with some honing of your skills and research it can be done on this system.

So really, the limiting factor in creating whatever beer you want would be your skill and attention to detail.

This all being said, if this is your first foray into home brewing, I would not drop thousands of dollars on an all-grain system before you know if you even like the hobby. Thats a great way to get frustrated and quit, and a massive waste of money.

Dana

 

[Danam404]

I ran a test batch with cold water today. Does everyone use the Blichmann disconnects or does anyone use cam locks?

I outfitted my whole system with the morebeer stainless QD's. they are awesome.

Also bought hose thread QD's for the water portion of the terminator. Makes for an easy day

 

[Danam404]

Also, is the blichmann website down? I have been trying to get on to do some research and am not having any luck.

probably. and i wouldn't expect to get much info from there even when it comes back.

 

[Danam404]

I know the feeling. I'm in sunny SoFla and the water table gets pretty warm in the summer months. So this weekend I set up my immersion chiller in an 5 gallon bucket filled with ice water and connected it to the ground supply hose and ran that through the immersion chiller then out to the plate chiller (to the water in connection) and it worked like a charm. All I needed was to set up two female connections on the immersion chiller to allow it to be connected both to my hose/groundwater then to the Therminator. Wort was immediately at 75* coming through the Therminator. Pitched instantly upon filling my fermentors.

This is exactly how I have mine set up as well, here in Sarasota. I also get to about 74*, but I let my ferm fridge get the beer down to the 60's before I pitch, usually.

 

[Danam404]

Hi there. I've been researching brew rigs for months. I don't have big parties, and I drink 1-2 beers most nights of the week. I feel like brewing five gallon batches would be enough. I see me giving away a lot of my beer to friends. I want a relatively simple system. I've been debating between the blichman breweasy and a eBIAB w/ electric hoist. I think the breweasy is the better choice.

My question is this: what limiting factor will there be between buying a breweasy and a traditional three vessel system? I am not at all experienced but I just can't understand why a three vessel would be better - unless you're trying to do two brews at a time, which I wouldn't. Will I have the equipment (not necessarily the skill) to brew a perfect Zombie Dust clone?

Also, electric vs gas?

Oh... and electric FTW if you're properly set up for it.

 

[mash-mongrel]

I ran a test batch with cold water today. Does everyone use the Blichmann disconnects or does anyone use cam locks?

I use all Camlocks and Dust Caps on every connection, pumps and hoses. I started using Oxy-San as a sanitizer, it is a no rinse, safe for stainless steel, a cleaner and safe to use with beer production. Once I sanitize, I let everything drip dry then cap everything having it ready to go for the next time I brew. I rinse out the pump with water on the other hand because I was using PBW, before and I didn't rinse which I thing caused the pump to stick a little.

I brewed another 10 gallon batch last night for a total of 36 gallons. I'm shaving time off every batch but I'm fed up with the HopBlocker, its got to be replaced.

I second the electric 240 volt version, I enjoy brewing entirely indoors including cleaning equipment in my basement. The only downfall to the electric kit is cleaning the boilcoil which isn't that hard but more time consuming then the rest of the system.

 

[Danam404]

I use all Camlocks and Dust Caps on every connection, pumps and hoses. I started using Oxy-San as a sanitizer, it is a no rinse, safe for stainless steel, a cleaner and safe to use with beer production. Once I sanitize, I let everything drip dry then cap everything having it ready to go for the next time I brew. I rinse out the pump with water on the other hand because I was using PBW, before and I didn't rinse which I thing caused the pump to stick a little.

I brewed another 10 gallon batch last night for a total of 36 gallons. I'm shaving time off every batch but I'm fed up with the HopBlocker, its got to be replaced.

Just grab a hop spider, problem solved. Way less trouble than that hop blocker and saves on cleanup time.

 

[ElCid79]

So, one last question. I have read a ton of this thread. Now that the system has been out for quite a while, and most of you have made several if not more batches in them. Do you believe that it is worth the price premium? Would you do it again? Thanks in advance!

 

[Danam404]

Hey guys! My video I made for Great Fermentations is up. It's long winded, but hopefully it's helpful for a few of you! Probably particularly helpful for those of you who don't have a system and are trying to visualize how it all works, and those who are frustrated with your efficiency.

Getting the Most Out of Your Blichmann BrewEasy:

http://youtu.be/gDJLzAXZbFw


Dana

 

[craitchky]

Danam,
Just watched your video, great job! I learned a lot. I will be using my BE for the first time on Satursay, and this has helped explain a lot of what I have been reading in this thread.
Thanks for taking the time to make and post this.

Rick

 

[chewymatingcall]

Hey guys! My video I made for Great Fermentations is up. It's long winded, but hopefully it's helpful for a few of you! Probably particularly helpful for those of you who don't have a system and are trying to visualize how it all works, and those who are frustrated with your efficiency.

Getting the Most Out of Your Blichmann BrewEasy:

http://youtu.be/gDJLzAXZbFw


Dana

I found the video really helpful. I guess I will be getting a PH meter.

I also live in Florida and have been using a Therminator. The method that works best for me on a 12 gallon batch is to use a two step cooling method. First, I run the garden hose through the water side at a moderate to high pressure and recirculate the wort back to the kettle with the ball valve full open. I found this worked faster at reducing the initial temps as there were no bottlenecks in the system. This allows me to reach a temperature of 100 pretty quickly. From here, I used quick disconnects and swap the water source to an ice bath and start draining into the fermenters. At this point, the ice bath doesn't have to cool the wort as much which allows faster speeds for draining the wort.

This take about 20 minutes but I haven't had to use this method since October with the lower groundwater temps. This will be necessary on my next brew though. I continue to find ways to improve the cooling process with minor adjustments.

 

[Danam404]

I found the video really helpful. I guess I will be getting a PH meter.

I also live in Florida and have been using a Therminator. The method that works best for me on a 12 gallon batch is to use a two step cooling method. First, I run the garden hose through the water side at a moderate to high pressure and recirculate the wort back to the kettle with the ball valve full open. I found this worked faster at reducing the initial temps as there were no bottlenecks in the system. This allows me to reach a temperature of 100 pretty quickly. From here, I used quick disconnects and swap the water source to an ice bath and start draining into the fermenters. At this point, the ice bath doesn't have to cool the wort as much which allows faster speeds for draining the wort.

This take about 20 minutes but I haven't had to use this method since October with the lower groundwater temps. This will be necessary on my next brew though. I continue to find ways to improve the cooling process with minor adjustments.

Hey good tip I'll try this

 

[Danam404]

Here's the video embedded:

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


Bryan will be posting a matching blog post with an FAQ section that sort of sums all this up. Will post a link to that soon!

Dana

 

[flokason]

I use all Camlocks and Dust Caps on every connection, pumps and hoses. I started using Oxy-San as a sanitizer, it is a no rinse, safe for stainless steel, a cleaner and safe to use with beer production. Once I sanitize, I let everything drip dry then cap everything having it ready to go for the next time I brew. I rinse out the pump with water on the other hand because I was using PBW, before and I didn't rinse which I thing caused the pump to stick a little.

I brewed another 10 gallon batch last night for a total of 36 gallons. I'm shaving time off every batch but I'm fed up with the HopBlocker, its got to be replaced.

I second the electric 240 volt version, I enjoy brewing entirely indoors including cleaning equipment in my basement. The only downfall to the electric kit is cleaning the boilcoil which isn't that hard but more time consuming then the rest of the system.

What's wrong with the hopblocker?

I've only used my system once, so I don't have much experience with the hopblocker, but I had no troubles what so ever with it

 

[Shuasha]

Here's the video embedded:



Bryan will be posting a matching blog post with an FAQ section that sort of sums all this up. Will post a link to that soon!

Dana

Something that I do which helps prevent mistakes like you made on your brewing salts spreadsheet.. make and save one sheet with all your local water info, then never modify that. When it's time to brew, open the base sheet then save it under whatever you're brewing that day and modify that. That way you never miss/forget something that was buried on there.

You'll also have a record of exactly what salts you used when you go to re-brew the same beer.

 

[avmech]

Here's the video embedded:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDJLzAXZbFw


Bryan will be posting a matching blog post with an FAQ section that sort of sums all this up. Will post a link to that soon!

Dana

Great video! I only have one brew down on my system so I will use your info and techniques to try and bump my numbers. My first batch I used 5.2 and I tested the pH with narrow range test strips (they are the three color narrow range from 4.0-7.0 in 0.2 increments). My pH stayed in the 5.2 to 5.4 range through the whole mash and I still got a dismal 60%eff. I'll get a few more batches done on the system and see if I can make some improvements.

I too have a suggestion on your cooling setup (I live in Texas so 75F to 80F ground water is my norm). I set up the old wort chiller/ice bath post therminator. So I pump the wort through the coil sitting in an ice bath. My thought process is that the ground water is of greater volume and velocity so the contact time with the coil is lower. If you go post therminator you are only dropping 10 gallons to ~65F rather than the 20-30 gallons of ground water. I have also found the coil is about 5F more effective if it is agitated while working. I drop an old pond pump into the ice bath to keep the water circulating so I don't have to manually agitate the coil.

 

[Danam404]

Great video! I only have one brew down on my system so I will use your info and techniques to try and bump my numbers. My first batch I used 5.2 and I tested the pH with narrow range test strips (they are the three color narrow range from 4.0-7.0 in 0.2 increments). My pH stayed in the 5.2 to 5.4 range through the whole mash and I still got a dismal 60%eff. I'll get a few more batches done on the system and see if I can make some improvements.

I too have a suggestion on your cooling setup (I live in Texas so 75F to 80F ground water is my norm). I set up the old wort chiller/ice bath post therminator. So I pump the wort through the coil sitting in an ice bath. My thought process is that the ground water is of greater volume and velocity so the contact time with the coil is lower. If you go post therminator you are only dropping 10 gallons to ~65F rather than the 20-30 gallons of ground water. I have also found the coil is about 5F more effective if it is agitated while working. I drop an old pond pump into the ice bath to keep the water circulating so I don't have to manually agitate the coil.

Not bad! My only concern there would having yet another thing to sanitize. But I suppose if incorporated into the hot loop before flame out, it wouldn't be too bad.

 

[zentropy]

Well I did not check the pH with a meter. I used the EZ water spreadsheet to calculate the water additions, the spreadsheet calculates the estimated pH value witch I mentioned.


Maybe some day I'll buy a pH meter

I'll be looking forward to your write up and video

I really appreciated all the things you have written here as well as the youtube timelaps video

Here are two photos from my first brew, first one I'm still mashing, the late one I have finished everything, the the beer is fermenting there

It appears that both kettles are the same size. Are there other kettles sizes besides yours where this is the case?

TIA

 

[avmech]

Not bad! My only concern there would having yet another thing to sanitize. But I suppose if incorporated into the hot loop before flame out, it wouldn't be too bad.

Precisely. Keep it in the clean loop and hot loop.

 

[strangr419]

Great video Danam404! Thank you for creating and posting. I ordered a ph meter (it's on back order) and hoping that along with learning more about brewing salts will help my efficiency issues. Again, awesome video great info in there thank you!!!

 

[chewymatingcall]

Does anyone know the maximum amount of grain that can be used in a 20 gallon BrewEasy?

 

[Danam404]

Great video! I only have one brew down on my system so I will use your info and techniques to try and bump my numbers. My first batch I used 5.2 and I tested the pH with narrow range test strips (they are the three color narrow range from 4.0-7.0 in 0.2 increments). My pH stayed in the 5.2 to 5.4 range through the whole mash and I still got a dismal 60%eff. I'll get a few more batches done on the system and see if I can make some improvements.

I too have a suggestion on your cooling setup (I live in Texas so 75F to 80F ground water is my norm). I set up the old wort chiller/ice bath post therminator. So I pump the wort through the coil sitting in an ice bath. My thought process is that the ground water is of greater volume and velocity so the contact time with the coil is lower. If you go post therminator you are only dropping 10 gallons to ~65F rather than the 20-30 gallons of ground water. I have also found the coil is about 5F more effective if it is agitated while working. I drop an old pond pump into the ice bath to keep the water circulating so I don't have to manually agitate the coil.

I've not heard good things about that 5.2 stuff, but if you stayed in range it's time to focus elsewhere. Next time you brew, calibrate your brewmometers and pay close attention to your actual temps in the tun. Don't start your mash timer til you hit your target, and don't drain out until you've gotten your mash up to mashout temps for at least ten minutes. This was my problem with my first batch or two til I figured out what was actually going on in that mash tun, and stopped trusting that digital display.

 

[nooloo]

Great video Danam! It will really help make my first brew day on the BE go a bit smoother. Could you point me at the quick disconnects you are using on the therminator?

For any Beersmith users out there how you are setting up your mash profile for use with the BE? Thanks!

 

[flokason]

It appears that both kettles are the same size. Are there other kettles sizes besides yours where this is the case?

TIA

The 20 Gallon turnkey system is the only one with the same sized kettles.

The 5 Gallon:
1x 7.5 gal BoilerMaker™ Kettle and False Bottom (upper Mash Tun)
1x 10 gal BoilerMaker™ Boil Kettle (lower Boil Kettle)

The 10 Gallon:
1x 15 gal BoilerMaker™ Kettle and False Bottom (upper Mash Tun)
1x 20 gal BoilerMaker™ Boil Kettle (lower Boil Kettle)

And finally the 20 Gallon
1x 30 gal BoilerMaker™ Kettle and False Bottom (upper Mash Tun)
1x 30 gal BoilerMaker™ Boil Kettle (lower Boil Kettle)

 

[avmech]

I've not heard good things about that 5.2 stuff, but if you stayed in range it's time to focus elsewhere. Next time you brew, calibrate your brewmometers and pay close attention to your actual temps in the tun. Don't start your mash timer til you hit your target, and don't drain out until you've gotten your mash up to mashout temps for at least ten minutes. This was my problem with my first batch or two til I figured out what was actually going on in that mash tun, and stopped trusting that digital display.

Thanks for the encouragement.

I agree, I hear a lot of negative publicity on the 5.2. At the same time I do hear that under the right conditions it works as advertised. I think the biggest problem with 5.2 is that they claim to be a solution for everyone and every condition when in fact that is not the case. None the less, I use it and I measure my pH and it stays in range. I measure with narrow range test strips so I don't have to worry about digital meter calibration. I think my process as pretty solid here.


As for calibrating the brewmometers, I have a certified mercury lab thermometer that I use to calibrate the MT. I have found that calibrating at 32F and 212F is good for making sure it is accurate at 32F and 212F. I like to use the lab thermometer to calibrate at 152F. I'm pretty sure I have this one nailed too.

So, that being said, I am thinking my area for improvement will be getting the mashout up to 180F and a slow drain into the BK. Easy enough.

I think your advice is sound and I appreciate you being a pioneer with the BE and sharing your experience with all of us so we don't have a much of a learning curve. While the BE has made some things easier for us, it will also make us better process engineers. It just goes to show, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

 

[mash-mongrel]

Great work on the video danam404, I'm going to take your advice and start using the EZ Water Calculator.

I'm using 5.2 with my drilled well water and my efficiency has been good, better than beersmith's estimates actually but I still want to lean more about my water chemistry.

I've always had a Hanna PH meter laying around here that I use with my other hobby and have had the sterilized jars from the Lab to test my water since Christmas, I guess I've been putting it off till now.

Thank for the motivation.

Oh yeah, must be nice wearing sandals with the garage door wide open and the sun shining in, in the middle of winter.

Every day I plot, how can I move to Florida. That's my driveway this week in Nova Scotia.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1426900549.125985.jpg

 

[mash-mongrel]

What's wrong with the hopblocker?



I've only used my system once, so I don't have much experience with the hopblocker, but I had no troubles what so ever with it

I haven't had much luck with the hop blocker. I use an immersion chiller to cool with, I whirlpool the wort to help chill and I wait for hops and hot break material to settle which can take hours before the hopblocker begins to filter as it should.

A lot of hops during the boil end up filling the hopblocker full of hops and I'm sure they are getting in through the bottom of the blocker between the kettle's interior bottom.

And for the blocker to filter crystal clear wort without waiting for things to settled to the bottom of the kettle, I need to siphon painfully slow into the carboy.

I ordered a filter from Brewers Hardware as BierHausPR suggested, I hope it does the trick. My last batch I used micron mesh tea bag for the hops but I had rye in the recipe that caused a lot of hot break material and the blocker couldn't even filter that out.

I worry about tea bags not allowing the hops to flavour their full potential so I'm not a big fan of the bags and I don't want hot break material in my carboy because I'm struggling to get my beer clear also I'm worried that I'm not cooling fast enough for the cold break material to settle out so I may be getting a plate chiller soon as my ground water is 60 degrees or less year round which should work quite nicely.

 

[dooman333]

Excellent video danam! Much needed for brewers on the B.E. fence, myself included.

 

[craitchky]

So I did my first brew on th 5 gal BE gas system on Saturday. Considering that this was my very first all grain brew, I think it went very well. This was mainly thanks to this thread, and Dana's video. I adjusted my water and obtained a 5.3 ph during my mash, followed Dana's advice on temperature control, and wound up with 72% efficiency according to Beersmith. My IPA is chugging away now in my ferm chamber.
Looking forward to many more brew days on this system!

 

[Danam404]

Great video Danam! It will really help make my first brew day on the BE go a bit smoother. Could you point me at the quick disconnects you are using on the therminator?

For any Beersmith users out there how you are setting up your mash profile for use with the BE? Thanks!

http://www.morebeer.com/category/stainless-steel-quick-disconnects.html

 

[Danam404]

So I did my first brew on th 5 gal BE gas system on Saturday. Considering that this was my very first all grain brew, I think it went very well. This was mainly thanks to this thread, and Dana's video. I adjusted my water and obtained a 5.3 ph during my mash, followed Dana's advice on temperature control, and wound up with 72% efficiency according to Beersmith. My IPA is chugging away now in my ferm chamber.
Looking forward to many more brew days on this system!

72% on the first go... impressive. Appreciate the feedback on the video, folks! If there's anything else I can do feel free to reply on here or send a PM!

 

[the_mc]

72% on the first go... impressive. Appreciate the feedback on the video, folks! If there's anything else I can do feel free to reply on here or send a PM!

First run on my 10gallon electric BE. Thanks for the video Danam404. I hit 76% on the first try and made no mistakes The video was a good primer and the water chemistry is a must. Very low calcium in the water here.

 

[nooloo]

Just finished up my first brew on the 10g gas version. Mash went exceptionally well thanks to all the info in this thread.

Came up a few points short post boil as my tank ran out with 15 minutes to go. Swapped to the spare but had been off cleaning so not really sure how long the pot had just been sitting there simmering. Still managed ~70% efficiency.

 

[DurtyChemist]

Just finished up my first brew on the 10g gas version. Mash went exceptionally well thanks to all the info in this thread.

Came up a few points short post boil as my tank ran out with 15 minutes to go. Swapped to the spare but had been off cleaning so not really sure how long the pot had just been sitting there simmering. Still managed ~70% efficiency.

id be interested to brew with you and check this setup out. I've considered buying it vs sticking with what I have.

 

[30Bones]

Thanks for the video, helps a lot. Anyone buying the 5 gallon electric setups? 10 seems to be the most popular. I don't think 120V would cut it, but honestly rarely make 10 gallon batches now, but being "stuck" with one batch size with this much cost is making it really hard to decide once I am ready to pull the trigger. I do not want to brew 10 gallons every brew session and reading on making 5 gallon batches on the 10 gallon system sounds less than ideal.

5 gallon batch in 10 gallon BrewEasy
When brewing smaller batches in the larger system you will encounter a thinner mash bed, which can lead to cloudier wort. Blichmann recommends at least 10 pounds of grain to avoid an overly thin mash bed. It is highly recommend to purchase the 9 in. AutoSparge float rod (SKU BE-000259-00), to accommodate the smaller mash. When brewing with gas, caramelization can be an issue with low volumes in the bottom kettle of the BrewEasy. This is especially problematic with the electric BrewEasy as the BoilCoil must remain fully submerged during operation. You should always maintain a minimum volume of 5 gallons in the bottom kettle at all times. It is important to set the AutoSparge float to maintain this minimum volume.

 

[Danam404]

Thanks for the video, helps a lot. Anyone buying the 5 gallon electric setups? 10 seems to be the most popular. I don't think 120V would cut it, but honestly rarely make 10 gallon batches now, but being "stuck" with one batch size with this much cost is making it really hard to decide once I am ready to pull the trigger. I do not want to brew 10 gallons every brew session and reading on making 5 gallon batches on the 10 gallon system sounds less than ideal.

Confirm this with someone who has the 5 gallon, but if you're a 5 gallon brewer who does an occasional 10, I wouldn't be surprised if you could pull off a medium gravity 10 gallon batch on the 5 gallon setup... Just have some fermcap-S handy.

This is not speaking from experience, but our 10-gallons are easily capable of doing 15 gallon batches.


EDIT: Decided to check my facts After I opened my mouth (keyboard). Looks like the 5 gallon system comes with only a 10-gallon BK. So scratch that idea. That's a pickle you're in, only because doing 5 gallon batches on my 10g setup has me paranoid the whole day about not having enough liquid to cover the boilcoil and dry firing it. You can pull it off but you really have to monitor the mash and the boil closely the whole time... Which sort of defeats the purpose.