Recent content by volx

What will also help if you buy at your local home brew store is to mill the grains twice.

Without tasting your beer I can't really tell you what's wrong with it for sure but I suspect you have contamination issue once the wort leaves the Brewie, rather than an issue with your wort. Did you hit your O.G., within some tolerance? Do you use the Brewie for chilling? Do you ferment in...

Good to hear that your Brewie is up and running again. The root cause for both the burned wires and the breaking temperature switch is a scorching ambient temperature, as discussed in this thread before. I had fixed my wiring before but had it burn off the connectors again a mere 4 brews later...

I don't think this is the case. Most have figured out their issues and their machines are working, so there are less reasons to post and ask for help/advice. My Brewie+ has done about 30 brews with ZERO problems since I replaced the heating wires and installed a small fan, as suggested here.

FYI, there is a potential software bug in 3.1.2 with the Brewie+: during a full clean, after the second water addition cycle has drained (the one where you add tabs/PBW/detergent/etc.), the water I add for the third cycle to rinse out the detergent immediately drains again without warning...

I had a similar issue once (although not during boot up) where the Brewie+ would spontaneously turn off. In my case it was a clogged pump on the mash tun side. In my case this was an easy fix but I am not sure your issue is related, just FYI.

You can do all that now in developer mode. I basically do what you described above. I just switch to developer mode after the boil and do this manually. I agree with you that this could/should? be a software feature.

Fair enough! However, the agitation generated by the whirlpool still aids in the hop oil extraction. I guess technically you have flame out hop additions and whirlpool hop additions, you are correct.

The idea of the whirpool is to separate the wort and the trub using a centrifugal force. The way the Brewie is designed, this is really not necessary. That said, a welcome side effect of the whirlpool is also improved extraction of hop oils for hops added at flame out. If you look at my previous...

Thanks! Another little trick that occurred to me that can be done with the grain basket: if you are short on wort after the initial transfer from mash tun to boil tank (+10 minutes or so), you can do an old fashioned manual sparge. Just heat up some water to 170 F and slowly pour it over the...

I am pretty consistently getting 70% +/- 3% efficiency. Only once did I get 80% with a lot of stirring but that is not the point of this machine, at least for me. I am more concerned about consistency and knowing ahead of time that I will hit my numbers. Last brew was a German hef. The 6-step...

Another perfect brew day. A little over 5 gallons of yield, O.G. hit to the point with 67% efficiency. Minimal interaction with the machine. I really really like the Arborfab grain basket. My efficiency is now pretty consistent and cleanup is a breeze. I love my Brewie+ when it works ! :-)

I haven't seen release notes for it but what I noticed: - no delay on the power button anymore - you can skip steps during the brew now (with confirmation dialog) - estimated completion time is more accurate - no updates to iOS app - no fermentation tab Overall runs fine. So far no software...

I have firmware 3.1.2 but it might be a beta version that is not yet officially available. I signed up for the beta testing program.

Thank you for emphasizing that using a higher temperature switch is not much safer than bypassing the switch altogether. Anyone doing this should be aware. Firmware 3.1.2 has dry run protection, but there might still be some risk, e.g. in developer mode. As for your other questions, the...