Recent content by ryanj

You're right. I'm a stickler about cleaning. I usually turn it inside out, bunch it up with some soap and then rinse it out while brushing grain/husks away. I rinse probably 98% of the material off it. Then I place it over my malt pipe in my drying area and then shake it out once completely dry...

Yeah, I'm really leaning towards dumping the bag. I only ever brewed without the bag on my FIRST batch. I stirred too aggressively and punched out the bottom of the malt pipe while doing so which dumped a bunch of grain into the second false bottom and clogged my pump. DEFINITELY a lot of user...

I've been brewing on my BZ Gen 4 for the past 3 years now. I seem to be hitting 70% mash efficiency pretty consistently which sounds about right given the complexities and limitations of the narrow malt pipe. I incorporated using a brewing bag INSIDE the malt pipe like others which has allowed...

Learned a good lesson on this batch - always dry hop with the freshest possible hops. 6oz of whirlpool + 6oz of dry hops from older (2018-2019 harvest) hops results in some pretty powerful hop burn. Never experienced this before but wanted to use up some old hops I had sealed in the freezer. I...

Just kegged a batch last night with 6oz of DDH just thrown in. I kept the dip tube at 3:00, cold crashed for 2 full days, used an inline filter, and maybe rotated the pickup tube to 4:00 at the most. No problems. No clogs. Can't wait to sample in a day or two.

Fair point. Didn’t have to be like that, tho. :(

Oh it’s an option. The only reason I was considering a tea kettle is because of the ease and speed of heating. I have an electric range and it kind of sucks, but it would work just fine.

1.5qt/lb is like the default recommendation. I was advised a long time ago when I started brewing to increase that to 1.75qt/lb and it seems to have worked fine for me on my previous rig. The only reason I ask is because it seems like a lot of BZ owners are sparging with a very small volume of...

Well that answers it. More water up front, better efficiency, and I can probably get away heating my sparge water with a 2 qt tea kettle.

What kind of mash thickness is everyone using on their BZ? I hear folks sparging 1-1.5 gallons, and for a 5 gallon batch, that sounds like a really wet initial mash. 1.9-2qt/lb. I always batch sparged around 1.75qt/lb on my HERMS and got decent results.

Full disclosure: I have a pre-order in on a Gen 4 and I'm coming from a 3 vessel HERMS. From what I understand, the whirlpool arm is not necessary, but may help with chilling since you can whirlpool the hot wort while chilling and create more heat transfer which might cut some time off the...

I recently sold my 3 vessel electric HERMS and pre-ordered a Gen 4 Brewzilla. I haven't brewed in over a year because I lost interest dealing with all of the equipment and long brew day. I'm excited to get back into brewing. I feel somewhat prepared to brew on this much simpler all in one, but...

I've had a 7.5 gallon Anvil Bucket Fermenter for a few years and have been using a 5 cu ft chest freezer. My chest freezer died a few months ago and I got rid of it. Before I just go buy another 5 cu ft chest freezer, I wanted to see if anyone is using any specific mini fridges for this...

Hey folks. My chest freezer finally gave out so I'm on the hunt for a new fermentation chamber. Aside from just getting another chest freezer for my 7.5 gallon Anvil Bucket Fermenter, has anyone found any particular mini fridges that will fit it? I don't mind doing a little modification.

Yeah, I have a 1.5L electric kettle I use for coffee. Are you saying you use that to heat your sparge water a half gallon at a time? That certainly sounds interesting and pretty easy for me to do.