Recent content by bur

I’ve done several beers, a couple neipa’s, and had no issue with just tossing the hops right in. Boil coil rinses off fine with a spray of warm water. I follow up with PBW to be thorough. But it’s a nonissue.

Nice! FWIW I haven’t had any stuck mash issues since I (a) switched to a slightly coarser brew bag and (b) started using rice hulls. Honestly I think the rice hulls are the clear difference maker. I switched back to mashing a little more fine as well. Brewed an ESB, Helles, and NEIPA with no...

Yeah, the basket fits really snug so it wouldn’t allow for the other style that comes in near the top, so I went with one that has the whirlpool outlet near the bottom. It works very well. I do have a steam condenser installed in the upper port though (which works great!).

I've done three brews on the system and haven't had an issue though. I don't *think* mine is touching the coil but it certainly is pretty close. Unfortunately I'm unable to verify at the moment. It probably has or does contact it a little. You could probably bend the coils a tiny bit so they...

Yeah - the trub dam in the SS kettle has a little elbow that allows for pick up near the bottom of the kettle. Hence why I use a bit lower number there. I'm also not too picky about getting trub into fermentor and will tilt the kettle a bit. One advantage to having the probe near the coil is...

Yep, sure did.

This should work. Note you must add the starter at/near the peak of fermentation. This is more than just rehydrating dry yeast, you need to ferment it in a 1-2L starter of 1.035-1.040 wort. You want the yeast to be very active when you pitch it in. Once the starter is really rolling, dump it...

Just finished my 3rd brew in this yesterday (an ESB). I tried the grain conditioning, a coarser crush (0.04ish), and switched out to a bag that was also coarser. No mash issues - which was great! I had a thinner mash too (and no wheat malt this time, which I am sure was a factor as well)...

I had an email exchange with HG folks and asked about the temp probe location near the heating element and here is what they said:

When you conditioned at 12C was it still on the yeast? Or was it moved off the yeast? After running into a diacetyl issue with a lager I now do a diacetyl test with them before cold crashing so I have some assurance the yeast are done. If it’s not a fermentation issue, and honestly it sounds...

A really good point. I have an old bag from a previous BIAB system (gas burner system) and took a look at the mesh yesterday. It's much, much coarser than than the BrewBag that came with the HG system. This is definitely a significant factor - I can't see how it wouldn't be. I never had...

Thanks for sharing! I've not had any foam issues yet, but haven't run it wide open either as in the first case I didn't see a need to do so. In the second case I didn't since the mash was stuck. I'm wondering if they switched back after some calls from customers - maybe they check HBT...

Been an HBT lurker for a very long time and have been watching this thread for a while. I purchased the 15gal HG system in Nov. of 2018 (Happy New Year!). I finished up my second brew on this system today. The first brew went pretty well but today's was different. I ran into the mash issues...