Unboxing the Nano from CO Brewing

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cyclonebeer said:
For a simple brew - single infusion, no mashout, no hopstand - I can fill the fermenter in 3.5 hrs. and get started on cleanup.

I regularly get 82% - 85% efficiency (post mash). I do stir the mash alot and I squeeze or press the grain bed with a 5 gal bucket lid during the drain. That speeds up the draining a bit and helps me collect a bit more wort.
Click to expand...

I've been getting between 79-82% efficiency depending on the grind . I've been pretty happy with it. Previous systems I never got over 70%. I let it drain until it hits boil then I set the mashtun aside and whatever else I collect I dump in before the end of the boil.

This system was the best decision I made last year when I decided to upgrade. My brew days are about 3.5 hours without clean up. Usually I plan back to back brew days and so I'd fill the kettle up with pbw and run it through the system drain and give it a hot rinse and get it set up to dry ready for water in the morning.
 
wildseedgrrrl said:
I've been getting between 79-82% efficiency depending on the grind . I've been pretty happy with it. Previous systems I never got over 70%. I let it drain until it hits boil then I set the mashtun aside and whatever else I collect I dump in before the end of the boil.



This system was the best decision I made last year when I decided to upgrade. My brew days are about 3.5 hours without clean up. Usually I plan back to back brew days and so I'd fill the kettle up with pbw and run it through the system drain and give it a hot rinse and get it set up to dry ready for water in the morning.
Click to expand...


Wow! That is great! I don't know that I am getting that high of efficiency and my brew days seem about an hour longer but I love mine too! Only "wish I had added" is a whirlpool port.
 
@jready

I spent 6 months with fluctuating efficiency and water absorbtion. I had to take a step back. It was really helpful to read everyone's posts because it looked like we were all finding our way with this system. The advice folks have had in this thread has been a lifesaver.

Finally, I got it narrowed down to grind. I started going a lot finer than I had previously, and I've been running the pump and slowly recirculating the water as i was slowly adding the grain and that seems to have helped. I also have been experimenting with mash thickness.



I took off the sight glass and put in the whirlpool arm.
 
wildseedgrrrl said:
@jready

I spent 6 months with fluctuating efficiency and water absorbtion. I had to take a step back. It was really helpful to read everyone's posts because it looked like we were all finding our way with this system. The advice folks have had in this thread has been a lifesaver.

Finally, I got it narrowed down to grind. I started going a lot finer than I had previously, and I've been running the pump and slowly recirculating the water as i was slowly adding the grain and that seems to have helped. I also have been experimenting with mash thickness.



I took off the sight glass and put in the whirlpool arm.
Click to expand...


Sheer genius! This message just made the sun come out here in Nashville!! Coincidence I think not. Can you tell me more about how you modified the site glass? I hate that damn thing anyway!!
 
jready said:
Sheer genius! This message just made the sun come out here in Nashville!! Coincidence I think not. Can you tell me more about how you modified the site glass? I hate that damn thing anyway!!
Click to expand...

Just throw the sight glass away and use the port for the whirlpool. A place like norcal brewing can probably weld you up a whirlpool arm to a triclover, then you'll just need another triclover valve. Or I'm sure Tim would be willing to do it also.
 
02RedWS6TA said:
Just throw the sight glass away and use the port for the whirlpool. A place like norcal brewing can probably weld you up a whirlpool arm to a triclover, then you'll just need another triclover valve. Or I'm sure Tim would be willing to do it also.
Click to expand...


I think I figured it out Colorado brewing systems sells the whirlpool piece. I thought I had an extra valve but I didn't so gotta get that. I've got a farmhouse mashing right now. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1486936304.152384.jpg
 
LouBrew13 said:
Well today was my inaugural brew day. 10 gallons of pale ale and 10 gallons of a Belgian pale. Only hiccup was I needed to throttle back the pump on the first batch. Hit my numbers on the nose so I'm loving this baby!

Cheers
Click to expand...


Cheers and congrats!! This was my smoothest yet! Love this system.
 
LouBrew13 said:
Well today was my inaugural brew day. 10 gallons of pale ale and 10 gallons of a Belgian pale. Only hiccup was I needed to throttle back the pump on the first batch. Hit my numbers on the nose so I'm loving this baby!

Cheers
Click to expand...

What was your efficiency, I'm only getting around 60%, can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.
 
molson said:
What was your efficiency, I'm only getting around 60%, can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.
Click to expand...

My recipes are calculated at 75% and my gravity samples were above that. I mashed in with the pump slowly recirculating and stirred well and left it alone. First batch pumped over the rim of the basket and I shut it down and let it equalize then started slowing it down. After that I did use a smaller lid to squeeze the grains and poured a half gallon of water on them to rinse. If that's the key I'm sticking with it.
 
LouBrew13 said:
My recipes are calculated at 75% and my gravity samples were above that. I mashed in with the pump slowly recirculating and stirred well and left it alone. First batch pumped over the rim of the basket and I shut it down and let it equalize then started slowing it down. After that I did use a smaller lid to squeeze the grains and poured a half gallon of water on them to rinse. If that's the key I'm sticking with it.
Click to expand...

What amount of water and total grains? and also, do you use rice hulls or malt conditioning?

I have a system built with same design inner basket as these, and i have stuck-mash problem, as many others here..
I have already been thinking about ordering a mesh-sided basket, but would be happy if i don't have too (to much other things to put money into!)... Still only have two brews on it, so i will have to brew some more, and try with rice hulls and/or conditioning the malt..

Also i don't have the whirlpool recirculation, but rather a Ultimate sparge arm, which i'm re-circulating through... so that gives another difference.
 
I've been using 1/2 to a pound of rice hulls and haven't had an issue with stuck sparge. I also have the solid side inner basket. The only issue I've had is low efficiency. I'm thinking about trying to crush finer next time, just hoping that it doesn't cause a stuck sparge.
 
BTW just another plug for Tim. I emailed him about converting site glass into whirlpool over the weekend I asked him to check my order make sure I got what I needed. He responded Monday morning and updated my order with the pieces I had missed! Great service!
 
High guys thought Id pop in to talk about the SS brewtech manifold. I went ahead and ordered one. Today I did an IPA that had about 18 pounds of grain and included some rice and a pound of flaked wheat. That's a pretty big grain bill for what I typically do. I ALWAYS use rice hulls. I always have and I used about 4 ounces. I used the manifold and all I can say is that first tests indicate that it is a much better option than the tube that comes with the Nano. Bed temperatures reached stability faster and were right on target. I hit my numbers exactly coming in at about 76% efficiency with 12 gallons going into the fermenter. I ran it full open. There seemed to be some back pressure compared to the tube involved which I though was interesting but the flow rate was still significant. I used to just slip the hoses over the barb ends but had to put on clamps to hold them with the manifold in use because of the pressure. Anyway I was excited about how well it worked with almost no "drawdown" at all. When I pulled the grains I didn't notice any holes or anything etc so Ill assume the grain was flowing through the bed. It was a 35 buck experiment but at this point I do recommend. Ill wait to see how well it works with a wheat beer to give ya the final word though.
 
Thanks a bunch for the report. I brewed yesterday and the whole time was daydreaming about that thing. I got about 72% efficiency but I also did a fair bit of poking and stirring. I don't much care about maximizing efficiency, but I do want consistency and less fiddling around. If I could walk away from the mash entirely (after it's homogenized) and get anywhere in the 70s I'd be a happy camper.

I had a scare early in the brew day when the provided Topsflo pump would not start! I had to drain the kettle (preserving my modified water) and pull the pump out for inspection. After taking it apart and reassembling, it fired right up. Not sure what the problem was.

I was glad this happened though because I learned something... the pump is intended to be take apart over and over. I had always cleaned it fully assembled and was worried about getting water in the electronics, and as such didn't probably clean it so well.

Well, the moving parts are 100% isolated and easily detach from the motor housing. You can pull the metal part off and soak it in PBW, or disassemble it entirely and remove the impeller. It was a piece of cake, and all the fasteners use threaded metal sockets, so you won't wear them out with repeated reassembly. I was pleasantly surprised.

This may be obvious to y'all but this is the first brew pump I have owned and I was gunshy about disassembly. The manual showed the process, but it wasn't until I tried it that I realized it was no big deal.
 
Mine gets airlocked occasionally. To clear it I do one of a couple of thing. One I simply shut it off and wait a second then turn it back on that fixes it about 75% of the time. Two, I close the valve turn on the pump then open the valve back full. that also clears it often. if none of that works Ill take off the end hold the hose about the kettle open the valve and blow backwards through it close the valve reconnect and open the valve and turn the pump on. I took mine apart once too to check if it was clean etc. Ill never take it apart again unless it has a problem casue even after maybe 20 brew days it was still shiny like new inside. That said I clean in place and run my cleaner and lots of clear water through it at the end of a brew day.
 
I've been eyeballing this for a bit. I wondered how it would work out. Do you have the 15 gallon kettle?

manifoldssbrewtech.jpg
 
jabba11 said:
I have 20 gallon it worked just fine in it
Click to expand...

I'm also using it on the 20g kettle. The temp control seems improved but I'm not sure if it improves sugar extraction. Only minor issue is the barb size is small and requires a hose clamp.
 
pretzelb said:
I'm also using it on the 20g kettle. The temp control seems improved but I'm not sure if it improves sugar extraction. Only minor issue is the barb size is small and requires a hose clamp.
Click to expand...

I agree it did not improve my efficiency but it did seem to "like it" better. I guess it just seemed to operate better. Also it didn't seem to reduce my efficiency either though really. Maybe a point or tow but that's because with the tube I had to stir it a lot. With his batch I stirred it in and then never stirred it again. I do rinse my grains though at the end. I typically hold back a gallon of water for that. I'm not sure that even really has a huge effect but I do it anyway.
 
I notice that a lot of people are trying to improve the temperature consistency of the mash. I was worried about this also because when using the system for the first time I noticed the temp on the controller tended to vary some. I was skeptical of how accurate that was since the sensor is at the bottom of the kettle and isn't really measuring the temperate of the mash. I bought a Thermoworks DOT along with a water proof probe and stuck that in the middle of the grain bed during the mash. What I found was when I set the controller to maintain at 150, the DOT read 150 - 151 the entire time even though the controller ranged from 150-154. So even though the temp on the controller varies some the mash temp is being maintained pretty rock solid. It takes a lot to move the temp of the mash. Based on this I'm pretty happy with the system and don't stress when the temp readout on the controller varies.
 
molson said:
I notice that a lot of people are trying to improve the temperature consistency of the mash. I was worried about this also because when using the system for the first time I noticed the temp on the controller tended to vary some. I was skeptical of how accurate that was since the sensor is at the bottom of the kettle and isn't really measuring the temperate of the mash. I bought a Thermoworks DOT along with a water proof probe and stuck that in the middle of the grain bed during the mash. What I found was when I set the controller to maintain at 150, the DOT read 150 - 151 the entire time even though the controller ranged from 150-154. So even though the temp on the controller varies some the mash temp is being maintained pretty rock solid. It takes a lot to move the temp of the mash. Based on this I'm pretty happy with the system and don't stress when the temp readout on the controller varies.
Click to expand...

I agree Ive checked it dozens of times. Including recently with the addition of the SS brewtech manifold. While the temp controller does go up and down generally speaking the temp of the mash is accurate to within a degree or two with mine. What Id say is that at the beginning the temp controls varies widely using the supplied tube. When I used the manifold it seemed to me that it stabilized faster and the swings were smaller.
 
Horseflesh said:
I did a 1-gallon rinse once and got a noticeable efficiency boost. I'm still not sure what the best practices are for repeatability, though.
Click to expand...

I think tests have proven that any rinse will boost numbers but I have yet to try it while nailing down everything else. I might try it soon since I think my estimates outside of BS are becoming more consistent.
 
This weekend I brewed a 5 gallon batch and it worked amazingly with a 21 lb grain bill. But I had at least a gallon of additional wort after filling my fermenter. I'm still trying to master full volume mashing and the boil off rate. The mash process has been the easy part, but final volume but so much.
 
My final volume has been very predictable once I did 2 things. One, I had to dial in grain absorption--which is dependent on how I squeeze the grain bed with a pot lid. The other is boil-off rate. I did a boil test with water to determine this value and it worked out pretty well.

I also do 5-gallon batches, so I put in 7 gallons of water, ran it at 100% until boiling started, then reduced it to 65% for 1 hour, just as if I was boiling wort. Under those conditions and at my elevation, that is 1.3 gal/hr, pretty reliably. (Over 65% power with a 5 gallon batch I see increased browning, turning to a small area of scorching at somewhere around 80% power.)

Boil-off will vary a lot with power output and how full the kettle is, but a test at 7 gallons is close enough for my 5 gallon batches. If i was shooting for 10 gallons I'd probably do a test at 11 gallons of water and 75-80% power, but I am not sure how high you can run without scorching. YMMV.

If it will help I will dig my grain absorption value out of Beersmith tonight. I do squeeze the grain bed like it owes me money, pressing down hard all over with a pot lid.
 
jabba11 said:
I agree Ive checked it dozens of times. Including recently with the addition of the SS brewtech manifold. While the temp controller does go up and down generally speaking the temp of the mash is accurate to within a degree or two with mine. What Id say is that at the beginning the temp controls varies widely using the supplied tube. When I used the manifold it seemed to me that it stabilized faster and the swings were smaller.
Click to expand...

I've been looking at getting the manifold as well and this might of convinced me to pull the trigger. I'm planning on doing another batch next week, I'll see how it goes then make a decision.
 
molson said:
I've been looking at getting the manifold as well and this might of convinced me to pull the trigger. I'm planning on doing another batch next week, I'll see how it goes then make a decision.
Click to expand...

Its not terribly expensive. I guess if it was 150 bucks Id definitely pass and make do. I only have on brew with it as well so Im really waiting to see if it does this well with wheat beers or oatmeal stouts etc before I make my final "this thing is definitely worth it" statement
 
molson said:
I notice that a lot of people are trying to improve the temperature consistency of the mash. I was worried about this also because when using the system for the first time I noticed the temp on the controller tended to vary some. I was skeptical of how accurate that was since the sensor is at the bottom of the kettle and isn't really measuring the temperate of the mash. I bought a Thermoworks DOT along with a water proof probe and stuck that in the middle of the grain bed during the mash. What I found was when I set the controller to maintain at 150, the DOT read 150 - 151 the entire time even though the controller ranged from 150-154. So even though the temp on the controller varies some the mash temp is being maintained pretty rock solid. It takes a lot to move the temp of the mash. Based on this I'm pretty happy with the system and don't stress when the temp readout on the controller varies.
Click to expand...


Mine fluctuates but I found that double checking with a second thermometer always confirmed that my SV was accurate. Any ideas why the controller's PV fluctuates?
 
swimIan said:
Mine fluctuates but I found that double checking with a second thermometer always confirmed that my SV was accurate. Any ideas why the controller's PV fluctuates?
Click to expand...

My guess is because the temp probe is below the grain bed and close to the heating element.
 
molson said:
My guess is because the temp probe is below the grain bed and close to the heating element.
Click to expand...


I agree the grain bed has more mass so temp is going to stay more consistent than the environment below that was water that has been cooled somewhat by its trip through the grain bed and a huge heat source
 
My 20 gallon Nano Home finally arrived! I know next to nothing about electrical wiring though; does anybody have any tips for:
1. Connecting a 4-prong plug to the provided control panel power cable. Do I just strip the plug's cable's ends, twist together with the provided box's cable's same colors and tape the whole thing together? This will be plugging in to a standard 4-prong dryer outlet; do I need to be concerned about liquid or should that outlet already be GFCI protected (it's in the basement too if that matters)?

2. Connecting the heating element's power cable to the control panel. I assume the green wire gets attached to the screw in the box, but where do the white and black wires go? The wiring schematic makes it look like the left of the two black boxes but there are 4 slots open...

Thanks for any help; can't wait to fire this thing up this weekend!
 
1. Is your dryer outlet a NEMA 14-30? This is the wiring diagram:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=7757554&postcount=613

2. Hmm. My element came with a big fat plug and there was a matching receptacle on the control panel. If someone here doesn't know, send pics to CBS, they'll probably help you out pretty quickly.

Edit to add:

I suggest doing a boil-off rate test with water, before brew day. I would also run that pump for a few hours to make sure it isn't going to suffer from infant mortality in the middle if your first brew.
 
1. Yes, the outlet looks like a NEMA 14-30 (see attached pic for the plug and the cable it needs to be wired to)
2. Below is a picture of the white & black wires and the possible slots they go in (is it 1 & 2 or 3 & 4?)

DSC_0021.jpg


2017-02-22 16_08_35-Photo - Google Photos.jpg
 
For anyone else wondering about this, Jacob from Colorado Brewing got back to me and here's what he said referencing my above picture:

The green is the ground and needs to go on the silver back panel(anywhere). We usually put it to the side of the contactor (black box you referenced).
The white is leg one and needs to go to (4)
The black is leg two and needs to go to (3)
 
I wish they'd just hook this stuff up themselves. Mine was actually missing the power cable when I got it, and another part too... They did send 'em out super fast when I let them know, though.
 
Horseflesh said:
I wish they'd just hook this stuff up themselves. Mine was actually missing the power cable when I got it, and another part too... They did send 'em out super fast when I let them know, though.
Click to expand...

For some reason mine was all hooked up. I would have been upset otherwise. Maybe because mine was originally going to a brewery overseas.
 

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