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I have a SS hop basket and the only time I've noticed any perceived loss in bitterness or aroma when using it would be when brewing super hoppy IPAs. I seem to be able to get a better hop punch without the filter. May have something to do with putting so many hops in the filter that there isn't much room for circulation. Nothing scientific to back that up though, just my personal experience. I use it for almost everything else.
 
15 gal Biab setup arrived last week. Very pleased with Darin's service. Below is a picture of my setup.

image.jpg
 
Brewed my first batch in the 20 gallon system over the weekend. Overall it went well. Didn't know I needed to connect the hops boss before starting the brew, tried to pause brewing to get it connected but couldn't seem to connect it. Then the app didn't want to resume the boil and crashed. Had to switch from auto mode to manual for the rest of the brew. Not too big a deal though. Pretty happy with it.

I did a clean in place method of cleaning and did not like having to tip the kettle to get all the crap out. Might pick up a dip tube to reduce the tipping required.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1458673875.632133.jpg
 
I know it's been mentioned in the thread, but I didn't see much of a response. Has anyone had any experience using the BB for extended mashing (ie. kettle sour) ?
 
HopheadNJ said:
I know it's been mentioned in the thread, but I didn't see much of a response. Has anyone had any experience using the BB for extended mashing (ie. kettle sour) ?
Click to expand...

I couldn't find it with a search of google or HBT... I bet if you email Darin he'd be able to tell you if there are any limitations.
If you have a BB (or someone else is willing to test): wrap a cotton blanket around the kettle and do a test with water at 110 for overnight, no recirc, graph the temp probe measurements and see how it does.
 
HopheadNJ said:
I know it's been mentioned in the thread, but I didn't see much of a response. Has anyone had any experience using the BB for extended mashing (ie. kettle sour) ?
Click to expand...

The new software update lets you set timers up to 24hrs it looks like. Mayube more, not sure i dont have it in front of me. I dont see why it wouldnt work. Probably would run the pump that whole time though
 
m00ps said:
The new software update lets you set timers up to 24hrs it looks like. Mayube more, not sure i dont have it in front of me. I dont see why it wouldnt work. Probably would run the pump that whole time though
Click to expand...

You could probably just setup steps that would cycle the pump and heater less often. You may not be able maintain exact temps like you do during a normal mash but you could probably accomplish something to keep things within a certain range. Here's an example:


  1. Heat to 130F. Step type 3. Pump and heater on
  2. Maintain temp for x mins. Step type 4. Pump and heater on.
  3. Let cool to 120F. Step type 3. Pump and heater off.
  4. Repeat

Depending on how long it takes to drop in temp by 10F, you could roughly determine how many steps you'd need. You probably wouldn't even need step #2 above it just might be nice to stabilize the temp a bit before stopping again. I've never done any of this but don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. With a bit of insulation I bet you could maintain temps for quite a while before things kicked back on.

All that being said, I don't think I'd feel comfortable letting it run while I'm not there to watch it.
 
Trying to dial in my BB. Had to move out for renovation. Now I'm back in and my basement brewing set up is almost there. What is everyone using for power with 5 gallon batch? This video is with 60%. This a good boil or should I bump it up a little.

https://youtu.be/paaJvTqwYq0
 
Quick pic of my set up. Need to clean up a little. Basement is almost unpacked from the reno.

20160324_130142_zpsgmti6bsk.jpg
 
It's going to vary some based on your local conditions, but I found that closer to 70% gives me a good boil without being too vigorous. It's easy to play with during a brew session, start with the 60 and bump up till it's to your liking, then you can edit the params with that setting if needed.
 
Snicklefritz said:
You could probably just setup steps that would cycle the pump and heater less often. You may not be able maintain exact temps like you do during a normal mash but you could probably accomplish something to keep things within a certain range. Here's an example:


  1. Heat to 130F. Step type 3. Pump and heater on
  2. Maintain temp for x mins. Step type 4. Pump and heater on.
  3. Let cool to 120F. Step type 3. Pump and heater off.
  4. Repeat


All that being said, I don't think I'd feel comfortable letting it run while I'm not there to watch it.
Click to expand...

I've got another controller that I control kettle souring with, but If I had to rely on the BB controller only here's what I'd try:

  1. Wrap some insulation around the kettle. By insulating it you should be able to control the temperature without needing to use the pump at all and with very little power.
  2. Change the PwrM parameter in the BB settings to between 3-6%, depending on batch size. That gives it just enough heat to maintain temp but not scorch.
  3. Create a 24 hour long step type 4 set (with the pump flag off) at whatever your souring temperature is and repeat it until you've got the pH where you want.
 
Hey everyone, great thread and a ton of info for someone new to brewing such as myself. I have a 15 gallon COFI system and have brewed two batches thus far and my only issue thus far is that I have been nowhere near my expected efficiency. The first two batches have both come in around 55% or so. I am not sure if this is due to the crush of the grain, my first batch I crushed at around 0.045, second batch was about 0.035, or possibly something else.

Anyways, I am planning to do my third brew and using beersmith software, I plugged in a total efficiency of 55% to try to account for my low efficiency on the first two batches, in hopes that this would increase the amount of grains that I would use in order to actually hit the OG that I would like to. If I would assume 72% efficiency on beersmith, for this particular recipe to hit an OG of 1.069, there would be about 13 pounds of grains. Based on the chart that Darin provides under the FAQ section of the Brew-Boss website, it shows how much mash water would be needed to cover the grain bed. Now, if on my next batch, I get about the same efficiency I have been (55%) and still want to hit an OG of 1.069, beersmith would have me increase my total grain bill to about 19 lbs. Based on the chart from Brew Boss, this would mean I would need about 11.13 gallons of mash water to cover the grain bed.

However, with that much mash water plugged into beersmith, it looks like my expected OG would be pretty low (1.037). Those of you have brew beers with BB that have an OG over 1.060, what am I doing wrong (besides the low efficiency, I am still working on figuring that one out)? What options do I have to get the beer's gravity up to my goal of 1.069? Longer boil time? Add DME? Am I just completely missing something? If you need more details to help me out, let me know and I will do my best to provide them. Thanks in advance for the help.

15gal.JPG
 
Hey lotzj07 welcome to the forum.

I have not used Darin's grain bed water chart. In addition I am not entirely sure of what you mean by keeping the grains "covered". The grains are partially submerged in water and you are cycling water (washing) them continuously via the pump and COFI during the mash. The main thing to make sure is that you are not pumping too much out of the pot into the COFI that the temperature probe for the Brew Boss comes out of the water.

If you haven't seen it already check out this video, it is long but will pretty thorough on everything:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DEjuRk8w0E[/ame]

I just made a copy of the Pot (13 Gal/50 L) - BIAB Equipment in BeerSmith. I renamed it Brew Boss 15 Gallon Pot and modified the values in it to match the Brew Boss. I can attach a copy of mine if you want to play with it. You'll have to change the efficiency, Trub Loss, and the boil off rate to match your atmospheric conditions. The best way to get boil off is to put 6 gallons of water in the pot boil it for an hour and subtract the water you have left from 6.

According to mine, if I was using 19 lbs of grain (2 Row) I would need a little less than 9 gallons of water at a 60 min boil with no sparge.

If you are using a lot of water and have a large Trub Loss, (a gallon or two of wort sitting in your pot when you finish) that might be what is hurting your efficiency. How much are you leaving in the pot? If you are not using a pick up tube, then are you tipping your pot when you drain it so that you only have maybe 0.5 gallons or less left in the bottom?

View attachment 5.5 Gallon in BrewBoss 60 Min.bsmx
 
Thanks for the detailed response. I will load that profile into beersmith to take a look at it, I had been using the Brew Boss profile from an add-on but maybe that wasn't best suited to me

In regards to keeping the grains covered, maybe I had not interpreted that chart correctly. I took that chart as something like this: if I have 19 pounds of grain, that will fill the COFI filter to this height, and you will need X amount of water to keep those submerged. Is there a different way that this chart that Brew Boss provides is meant to be used? Is it even necessary to look at this? Based on your experience, it sounds like the only important part is keeping the temperature probe covered, and it is okay if some of the grains in the COFI sit above the water level, right?

On my last batch, I did tip the kettle to get as much out as possible, I had probably about half a gallon left at the bottom. And I have watched the video before, I found it very useful for my first few batches.

Happy Friday
 
I have found once my gravity starts to go north of 1.060 a sparge helps a lot. To do this I'll do a 120 min boil which increases the total amount of water required. Once I get the total amount of water up to strike temp I'll pull about 1 - 1 1/2 gal and save that to sparge with once the mash and initial drain is complete. I generally will hit 1.070 + with 16 - 17 lbs of grain this way. FWIW my mill is set to .039"

HERE is some good info as to why this works...
 
MerlinWerks, thanks, i like you idea of pulling water for sparging. When you add the reheated sparge water, do you just poor it into the COFI? What temperature? 168? Good article and I like the idea a just using more water and then just use a longer boil. Would have to adjust your hop additions thought, which isn't a problem.
 
I don't bother reheating, it sits in a bucket until I'm ready to use it then I use a small pitcher (2 cup) to pour the sparge water as evenly as possible directly in the basket. I don't have a COFI system, but use an open top mesh basket, I use the small pitcher because it's easier maneuver inside the basket.

Before switching to this method for bigger beers (>1.065) I would be anywhere from 5 -10 pts low, now I am usually 2-3 pts high...
 
lotzj07 said:
In regards to keeping the grains covered, maybe I had not interpreted that chart correctly. I took that chart as something like this: if I have 19 pounds of grain, that will fill the COFI filter to this height, and you will need X amount of water to keep those submerged. Is there a different way that this chart that Brew Boss provides is meant to be used? Is it even necessary to look at this? Based on your experience, it sounds like the only important part is keeping the temperature probe covered, and it is okay if some of the grains in the COFI sit above the water level, right?
Click to expand...

You are definitely reading the chart correctly. The water is meant to completely cover the grain. Any grain sitting above the water is not going to get fully converted and will certainly drop your efficiency even lower. I do a sparge just like MerlinWerks and it bumps me up about 10% mash efficiency on bigger beers (1.060+). All that said I hit 78% mash efficiency usually so 55 seems way low
 
Thanks for the info, a sparge seems like it would be what I'm looking for to help me with the higher gravity and maybe help my efficiency too.

Snicklefritz, do you so this with the COFI system? If so, what do you do step by step? Sorry if I'm being a pain, just trying to figure out logistically how I should do my next brew. The brew boss is actually my first foray into homebrewing, so I'm still working on the learning curve.
 
When using the traditional mash tun and brewing a big beer, I would be able to do a Parti-gyle second running. I have tried it once with the BB but the second running had such a low SG, I never finished the brew process. Has anyone else come up with a workable process to brew Parti-Gyle with the COFI Brew Boss system?
 
Freddy, how are you enjoying your setup?
Would you do anything differently if you did it again?
Any issues with any size batch and OG?
The placement of your thermowell ok?
Do you like your recirculation setup?
What efficiency are you getting?

I'm ready to pull the trigger, but I just need to get this batch size issue fully thought out. Any info would be greatly appreciated!
 
dbarbagelata said:
Freddy, how are you enjoying your setup?
Would you do anything differently if you did it again?
Any issues with any size batch and OG?
The placement of your thermowell ok?
Do you like your recirculation setup?
What efficiency are you getting?

I'm ready to pull the trigger, but I just need to get this batch size issue fully thought out. Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...

I'm very happy with how it turned out. The last beer I made only took me 4 hours including cleanup. Now that I have the app running well most of the time, brewing is a breeze.

I would only make a few small tweaks. I'd give myself an extra 1/4 or 1/2 inch of play on the basket diameter, so 14.5 or 14.75 inches instead of the 15 I went with. you should probably play it safe to add an extra .25 to the feet height as well and go with 3.75 inch feet, which means the actual basket part is 20 inches instead of 20.25 in order to fit in the kettle. I say that because my basket sits JUST above the dip tube. there is zero room to spare so if Utah Bio is off even slightly you might end up having it rest on the dip tube.

I'd also add a cheap ball valve on the pump outlet that leads to the recirc port so that you can adjust flow. I might still do this but for now I have been throttling on the inlet side with no cavitation issues.

I've done four 5 gallon batches so far and the biggest was 14lbs of grain. No issues at all with having enough water height to cover the grains. Now that I feel I've got everything dialed in, I'm trying a 10 gal batch of stout this Saturday which will use 28 lbs of grain. Will report back with results but I don't foresee any issues. Haven't made any big beers on it yet but plan to soon.

Placement of the thermowell is perfect. temp at the recirc arm is same as BB controller reads. the run from the kettle outlet to the inlet is so short that it doesn't have time to lose temp.

I like the recirc setup but might switch to a simpler design. In retrospect, the arms at the top that spray down are probably unnecessary.

Right now I'm averaging about 70% with no sparge and a press plate. I'm going to try sparging with the 10 gal batch this weekend to see if I can get better efficiency. plan is to just put 1.5 gal aside and use a pitcher to pour over the grains while the basket is draining. I'll report back on that.

Here is the build thread I posted with lots of pics: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=573718
 
Really appreciate the response! I am waiting for CO Brew to get back with me on a couple of questions, then it's time to make a decision!
 
I had a bit of a bummer today, first brew of this year. When the heaters powered I was met with a nice loud POP and magic smoke escaping from the heater.



The heater itself ohms OK, obviously a short somehow. I noticed that the strain relief connector was not gripping the insulation, the cord had slipped through it.

Good news is that everything else seems to be OK with the exception of the relay controlling the heaters. The relay is stuck on with no control voltage present.
 
Finally pulled the trigger and ordered the deluxe 20 gal system. Not sure what the lead time is on shipping? Excited to get brewing!
 
SansPants said:
I had a bit of a bummer today, first brew of this year. When the heaters powered I was met with a nice loud POP and magic smoke escaping from the heater.



The heater itself ohms OK, obviously a short somehow. I noticed that the strain relief connector was not gripping the insulation, the cord had slipped through it.

Good news is that everything else seems to be OK with the exception of the relay controlling the heaters. The relay is stuck on with no control voltage present.
Click to expand...


I hope you aren't planning to use that in some way without voltage control.

If the element is ok you might be able to rewire it, but I would only use it if it was fully rewired.....
 
kh54s10 said:
I hope you aren't planning to use that in some way without voltage control.

If the element is ok you might be able to rewire it, but I would only use it if it was fully rewired.....
Click to expand...

Replacement element and relay are on the way. Not planning to use it.
 
dbarbagelata said:
Really appreciate the response! I am waiting for CO Brew to get back with me on a couple of questions, then it's time to make a decision!
Click to expand...

Wanted to say that I did my first 10 gal batch last weekend. Oatmeal Stout with 27.5 lbs of grain and 14 gal of water. I held back 1.5 to sparge with and the thickness was still perfectly fine. Looked like a non-biab mash. There was plenty of headspace to go bigger, just not sure that I could do 15 gal of that exact recipe without supplementing with some extract or sugar. Lots of adjuncts and specialty grains.

I'll have to try a 15 gal batch soon.
 
FreddyMar3 said:
Wanted to say that I did my first 10 gal batch last weekend. Oatmeal Stout with 27.5 lbs of grain and 14 gal of water. I held back 1.5 to sparge with and the thickness was still perfectly fine. Looked like a non-biab mash. There was plenty of headspace to go bigger, just not sure that I could do 15 gal of that exact recipe without supplementing with some extract or sugar. Lots of adjuncts and specialty grains.

I'll have to try a 15 gal batch soon.
Click to expand...
Anyone calculated the reasonable max gravity by batch size, based on the limitations of dead-space, kettle size, and how much water you would need to cover the grains?
 
Andrew, just want to be clear my response was in regards to my diy system that is similar to BB but not BB itself.
 
Had my first electrical issue...my breaker tripped and now wont set back...does that mean the breaker has gone bad?
 
Schumed said:
Had my first electrical issue...my breaker tripped and now wont set back...does that mean the breaker has gone bad?
Click to expand...

Just a little more detail...breaker tripped while heating up water....I unplugged everything...tried to move breaker to off position than back to on...several times

I've brewed several dozen batches now with the system...first time ever having an issue.

Going to have an electrician come check things out
 
Schumed said:
Just a little more detail...breaker tripped while heating up water....I unplugged everything...tried to move breaker to off position than back to on...several times

I've brewed several dozen batches now with the system...first time ever having an issue.

Going to have an electrician come check things out
Click to expand...

If your breaker tripped, it would already be in the off position? So all you need to do is flip it once. I may just be reading your post incorrectly.

If you flipped it back to on and it is still not work, you might have a bad breaker (doesn't happen often but it can). Have you tried checking with a voltmeter?
 

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