Use a pitcher.
Use a pitcher.
Duh!! Problem is I've never seen a pitcher that was a specific useful volume, like 1/2 gallon or 1 gallon. And, where on that pitcher is the volume mark, 1" below the top, 2", to the brim?
There have got to be a zillion plastic pitchers with 2 and 4 qt markings. I have an old Rubbermaid one for mixing drinks, etc.
I completed my wet run on Saturday and noticed that it took a bit to get my pump primed. I had it at the same level as the kettle and even lowered it in an attempt to prime the pump. It eventually worked but took longer than I thought. I'm thinking that the pump really needs to be mounted below the kettle for easiest operation, at least priming. I also noticed that once the pump was pumping water nicely if I opened up the pump valve all the way for maximum flow it would suck the water in the site glass all the way down which caused air to get sucked in from the top of the site glass. This caused the flow of the pumped water to kind of oscillate between full speed and something short of full speed. I found that as long as I didn't let the water level in the site glass get all the way to the bottom it would pump just fine, but as soon as that water level in the site glass got all the way to the bottom by opening up the valve all the way it would begin to suck the air in through the top. I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong or if this is just the problem with the site glass being in-line with the kettle valve? Anyone install their site glass separate from the kettle valve, and if so, where did you install it? Did you use the same site glass that comes with the system?
Other than that I had no leaks right off the back and everything else seemed to work great. It sure was fun having that much control over temperature and playing around with the Brew Boss software! Oh yeah, how do you exit out of a loaded program in BB? After using the Wet Run program I couldn't figure out how to get out of that into just the manual mode. The brewing timer just kept running and running.
I have only done a wet run with my new 15 gal. Brew Boss so far but I'm wondering from those of you that have actually brewed a batch with it if I need to get a hop filter. I have the Swirl Boss to whirpool but I also have a plate chiller and I want to make sure I don't clog up the plate chiller. Are you guys using some sort of hop filter or are you finding that whirlpooling is enough to keep the hop debris and trub out of the chillers?
thanks
I'm hoping to hear from anyone that has tried to brew w/out a hop filter and how it went, particularly if they use a plate chiller.
I love the idea of using a SS hop filter like from Utah Biodiesel of Arbor fab but they aren't too cheap and I think I might be running out of understanding from my wife on spending money for my brew system after the big hit from buying the BB system.
Keeping hop debris out of the chiller and fermenter has been a bit of an obsession of mine and something I have researched thoroughly over the years. I definitely agree that free balling the hops would be the best method for utilization and flavor extraction, but I've yet to find a viable way to keep them in the kettle.
I've tried a bazooka screen, stainless scrub pad, whirlpooling, etc. Everything either ends up clogging with cold break or requiring extras steps/equipment, like filtering the wort hot and then chilling (I used to do that too).
When I designed my current system, I came up with what I think is a reasonable compromise between utilization and filtering. As I mentioned a few posts back, I decided to go the spider route and I use cotton muslin bags because I feel that they get good flow. I added a step to my boil to get better flavor and utilization from the hops (especially late additions).
With 10 minutes left in the boil, I crank up the heat and recirculate through my CFC and into the whirlpool inlet to start sanitizing everything. As you all know, this kills the boil momentarily. Once the boil is back up and running. I turn the three way valve at the whirpool inlet which sends the near boiling worth through another hose that runs into the center of my spider. This way I get 10 minutes of a hot wort shower on top of the hops in the kettle at the end of the boil. I took things one (likely unnecessary) step further and drilled out 15 inch long piece of copper, similar to the COFI rod. I sick that in the other end of the tubing and it works as an infuser inside of the muslin bag.
Now, I've only brewed one batch on my system and it was an OMS so I can't really say if this is truly more effective than any other method, but it seems to make sense that it would help with extraction.
Making an IPA next so I'll take pictures when I do this.
I just wanted to be able to easily remove most of them for cleaning. I ended short a few connectors so just used tc to barbs that I had on hand to finish it off. I only have to remove one hose clamp and the rest are cam
What does everyone recommend for a chiller with the Brew Boss. I've been researching all the different options. I was thinking that a whirlpool immersion chiller would be good.
What does everyone recommend for a chiller with the Brew Boss. I've been researching all the different options. I was thinking that a whirlpool immersion chiller would be good.
What does everyone recommend for a chiller with the Brew Boss. I've been researching all the different options. I was thinking that a whirlpool immersion chiller would be good.
Great idea about the latex glove on the sight glass. I always used a piece of tape.
I wanted to let you guys know that you will suck air through the site glass even if you don't have a pick-up tube. I have the inline site glass but DO NOT have a pickup tube and if you open the pump valve all the way air gets sucked in and disrupts the flow of fluid. I've only done a couple wet runs but I've found that as long as I don't let the fluid level in the site glass get all the way to the bottom it works fine. Plus, there doesn't seem to be much of a flow difference between closed enough to keep the site glass from sucking in air and open enough to get a fast flow of fluid. My point is that it has nothing to do with the pick-up tube. Having said that, it sure would be nice to have the site-glass off-line from the pump.
Cheers
Added support for the upcoming Hops-Boss with "Hot Break" detection.
So from the 1.2 update mentioned earlier:
Does anyone know if this is out? a boilover protection sensor would probably move the hops-boss from "neat gimmick" to "buy that" for me...
On a different note, has anyone been able to get email alarms to work? I've been able to re-configure my Brew-Boss for my home WiFi network and put my email address in the parameters screen but I don't get the emails. When it gets to an alarm stage there's a pop-up window saying that email was successfully sent but I don't get anything.
I just tested and it worked sending to my gmail account. That was with the test alarm and email menu option, and a mash out complete alert. I'm running the app on a Kindle Fire.
Have you tried a different email address? Maybe blocked as spam or filtered some other way?
Enter your email address to join: