ElCid79
Well-Known Member
So we can use the pump integrated into the tower of power or we need a secondary?
So we can use the pump integrated into the tower of power or we need a secondary?
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?
I ran a test batch with cold water today. Does everyone use the Blichmann disconnects or does anyone use cam locks?
Also, is the blichmann website down? I have been trying to get on to do some research and am not having any luck.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
It appears that both kettles are the same size. Are there other kettles sizes besides yours where this is the case?
TIA
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.
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
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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