20 gallon SS Brewtech Infussion mash tun

[augiedoggy]

Interesting thread and good to see what others are brewing with. After following this and similar threads for years, and sampling beers made with expensive rigs at my brew club, I can't say for sure that a complicated brewing set up really makes better beer. But to each his/her own, Its fun to get new stuff and for some, the challenge of getting everything working right is part if the fun.

Guess I'm just simply a cheapskate, but spending $650 for a mash tun and then having to fuss with it to get it to work right doesn't seem like a good value.
I'm sticking with my cheapo cooler that holds the mash temp within a few degrees while the mash is doing its thing, doesn't recirculate, doesn't need heat and the beer comes out consistently better than the "craft beer" made in million dollar breweries.

Coming from someone who is guilty of having and wanting the toys and the joys of engineering a brewery (which is a fun hobby for the aspiring engineer at heart) I have to say I agree with you on this point. Thats pretty much what I was trying to say. For some reason I believe many of the owners of these will choose to see it differently though.. And I understand at that point.

Craft breweries have different motivation though (financial gain) and thats likely why your beers are better. You can make the same beer consistently with better equipment (and consistent mash temps) and thats important for some.

 

[geoffey]

I dont see how the grain stays at even temp with the heating pad at the bottom and no recirculation myself... You would need to constantly stir which would also cause huge temp losses. Otherwise you would have a hotspot down by the heater. Ask people that direct heat their mash tuns, this is why some put them in the oven to maintain temps.
Using a rims or herms makes the whole insulation bit pointless as was discussed in the smaller infussion thread.. Its just more costly more work to clean, redundant and not practical.

Not trying to be negative here but dont you think after paying so much for the insulated kettle and then all the work insulating hoses and such it would have honestly been better to just us a rims or herms? and by that same token if you use a rims or herms there will be no advantage of the insulated mash tun so why spend extra for it and deal this the additional bulk and hassle cleaning it?

In any case the stainless has to be working as a heatsink or the insulation itself may be inferior since from my experience with a regular beverage cooler it holds temps better with no heater or recirculation, and In my opinion SS should have done some engineering to make it work at least as good as a cooler...
Functionality shouldnt have to take a back seat to the cosmetics of stainless.

My guess is that the heater doesn't give off enough heat to make enough of a difference between the top and bottom of the mash. Remember, heat will travel up so there should be some natural convection happening here.

I totally agree on your point here though regarding getting this and using it for rims or herms setups. If that's what's required to maintain temps the. It defeats the purpose of the thing completely. I'm baffled at the reported performance of this (granted that's one user so far) compared to what's been touted by the manufacturer.

 

[augiedoggy]

compared to what's been touted by the manufacturer.

I think you mean marketing distributor . SS brewtech is in California I believe and their different products are made by different manufacturers in china for them. (This is how the bru gear conicals are made by the same people) They may or may not have a hand in drawing up the engineering plans for these (My guess is they do and that why they have good products) Usually after a period of time though, the manufacturers are allowed to implement their engineering advancements in their own products. Which is likely why bru gear was allowed to use the same base conical to improve on and all the other conicals like brewers hardware and glacier sells where exclusive for a while but now available direct form china or other distributors elsewhere. even the smaller stout conicals are available from "moonshiners" store on ebay now, identical in every way.

SS is likely going to continue to make improvements on this product if reviews and sales suffer...

This is the way it works with a lot of "stuff" being sold now

Because SS brewing usually has good quality products everyone keeps choosing to ignore where and who makes it and gives ss full credit. Yet with other products like stout I hear over and over how they are made in china which makes them inferior and stout just sells them however it the same exact scenario in reality.

If I had about 30 grand to start with I would consider ordering a bunch of pallets of gear like this built to my specs, and starting a business selling them as my own too... Many members here have done well with similar ventures..

This is also why I dont believe you always get what you pay for anymore either...

 

[dthompson79]

I thought I would post my experience from last Sunday. Made a best bitter 15 gallon batch. Mashed at a 1.5:1 ratio with a total mash volume of approx 13 gallons. I did not purchase the mash heater. Transferred 10 ish gallons of strike water to the cold tun at 175 degrees. temperature stabilized about 166. I tried waiting for the temp to drop but it was taking too long. Opened her up and stirred to drop the temp. once it fell to 161 I doughed in and hit 151.4 with room temp grain. mashed for an hour in a 38 degree garage. Temp only fell 2 degrees. There was still roughly 8-9 gallons of dead space in the tun so I feel this loss is well within reason. In similar conditions my igloo 10 gallon would lose 3-4 degrees. When I did recirculate at the end of the mash to vorlauf at the end temp fell very quick. but it was inconsequential at this point.

I did buy this with the intention of going to a full electric RIMS system in the future and I do believe the insulation will still hold value at that point for quicker response for any type of step mashing I do.

 

[Sconnie12]

I think you mean marketing distributor . SS brewtech is in California I believe and their different products are made by different manufacturers in china for them. (This is how the bru gear conicals are made by the same people) They may or may not have a hand in drawing up the engineering plans for these (My guess is they do and that why they have good products) Usually after a period of time though, the manufacturers are allowed to implement their engineering advancements in their own products. Which is likely why bru gear was allowed to use the same base conical to improve on and all the other conicals like brewers hardware and glacier sells where exclusive for a while but now available direct form china or other distributors elsewhere. even the smaller stout conicals are available from "moonshiners" store on ebay now, identical in every way.

SS is likely going to continue to make improvements on this product if reviews and sales suffer...

This is the way it works with a lot of "stuff" being sold now

Because SS brewing usually has good quality products everyone keeps choosing to ignore where and who makes it and gives ss full credit. Yet with other products like stout I hear over and over how they are made in china which makes them inferior and stout just sells them however it the same exact scenario in reality.

If I had about 30 grand to start with I would consider ordering a bunch of pallets of gear like this built to my specs, and starting a business selling them as my own too... Many members here have done well with similar ventures..

This is also why I dont believe you always get what you pay for anymore either...

You're an idiot. The things you spew boggle my mind. Starting a business is so easy! I'll just get $30k and call up China. "Hey China send some equipment my way." Ok! Forget any engineering, design work, R&D, marketing, QC, accounting, having a warehouse, shipping, staff, etc, etc, etc, etc. You'd be pumping out the same crap that's on eBay right now. No testing, no QC, no R&D; just a design rushed to market made as cheaply as possible. That's not a business. SS has a business.

Should't have clicked the view post button. Dohhhh :smack::smack::smack:

 

[augiedoggy]

You're an idiot. The things you spew boggle my mind. Starting a business is so easy! I'll just get $30k and call up China. "Hey China send some equipment my way." Ok! Forget any engineering, design work, R&D, marketing, QC, accounting, having a warehouse, shipping, staff, etc, etc, etc, etc. You'd be pumping out the same crap that's on eBay right now. No testing, no QC, no R&D; just a design rushed to market made as cheaply as possible. That's not a business. SS has a business.

Should't have clicked the view post button. Dohhhh :smack::smack::smack:

Not surprising considering most of your posts are negative and to bash people here.. As opinionated and arrogant as I can be your even more pompus.
Which is probably why you despise me so much for some reason.

I'm not an idiot. I have customers at work that have done this. Its done quite a bit... It doesnt cost much to hire an engineer to draw you up some plans and contact a manufacturer in china... and that if you dont chose to just let them design it or market an existing product as your own which happens a lot.
Your exaggerating and over simplifying what I said to try to make your point which makes it even less credible and you less reasonable to converse with...
Perhaps you should find another outlet for you anger management issues..

You dont need a big crew This is one of the reasons SS has no phone number or actual customer service reps.. When i asked them why they didnt have a phone number and the guys was emailing me at 9:30 at night the rep from SS brewtech basically told me just that, They are a tiny operation with low overhead. Im sure they've grown since then.
all you need is some rented warehouse space and a a small crew to box and ship... 30K would be plenty to get things started. There are plenty of businesses that they can contract out the other stuff such as billing and tax paperwork. You place small order's with the manufacturers once you have secured enough orders yourself to help cover costs. which is why many offer preordering on products not yet in stock.

and I think all the complaints about damage and quality issues with this product is an indication that sometimes there isnt really enough quality control... I think the same thing may have happened to stout once they got too many orders to worry about at the time.

I never implied running such a business would be easy. I'm told from others that do this that you have to be vigilant on making sure your products quality doesnt go down hill once they try to cut corners in manufacturing and they almost always do. And some people put a lot of money and time in developing a product... Drawing up a conical or mash tun for home brewing is not one of those complicated undertakings I would say qualifies though. Especially since virtually identical products are already on the market.

 

[augiedoggy]

I thought I would post my experience from last Sunday. Made a best bitter 15 gallon batch. Mashed at a 1.5:1 ratio with a total mash volume of approx 13 gallons. I did not purchase the mash heater. Transferred 10 ish gallons of strike water to the cold tun at 175 degrees. temperature stabilized about 166. I tried waiting for the temp to drop but it was taking too long. Opened her up and stirred to drop the temp. once it fell to 161 I doughed in and hit 151.4 with room temp grain. mashed for an hour in a 38 degree garage. Temp only fell 2 degrees. There was still roughly 8-9 gallons of dead space in the tun so I feel this loss is well within reason. In similar conditions my igloo 10 gallon would lose 3-4 degrees. When I did recirculate at the end of the mash to vorlauf at the end temp fell very quick. but it was inconsequential at this point.

I did buy this with the intention of going to a full electric RIMS system in the future and I do believe the insulation will still hold value at that point for quicker response for any type of step mashing I do.

And I should share that up until this post all that was shared here was multiple complaints of temp issues. My posts and some others were based one that.. Now we have different people claiming different results..
You claim just the opposite of results from both the igloo and this product than anyone here so far.

You also say you think the insulation will have some sort of real effect on your step mash performance with a rims.

Your already appear biased against anything I have to say but.

I can offer my experience here, I had seen no such gain in performance when switching from an insulated mash tun with a rims to an insulated one... nothing I was able to see or measure.. I went from a smaller 10 gallon orange (thicker insulated one) to a larger 16 gallon bayou kettle. Maybe brewing out in 38 degree temps may make a noticeable difference but it didnt for me with my mash tun in front of a window with a fan in it during the winter to expel steam. I went with electric to avoid the extreme temps.

 

[dthompson79]

And I should share that up until this post all that was shared here was multiple complaints of temp issues. My posts and some others were based one that.. Now we have different people claiming different results..
You claim just the opposite of results from both the igloo and this product than anyone here so far.

You also say you think the insulation will have some sort of real effect on your step mash performance with a rims.

Your already appear biased against anything I have to say but.

I can offer my experience here, I had seen no such gain in performance when switching from an insulated mash tun with a rims to an insulated one... nothing I was able to see or measure.. I went from a smaller 10 gallon orange (thicker insulated one) to a larger 16 gallon bayou kettle. Maybe brewing out in 38 degree temps may make a noticeable difference but it didnt for me with my mash tun in front of a window with a fan in it during the winter to expel steam. I went with electric to avoid the extreme temps.

Well I wasn't referencing or disputing anything you said. This was my experience. Though I am biased, I like my shiny new huge mash tun, and the many benefits to me and my current and future set up, I was merely reporting my experience and the numbers I saw. I did not have any of the problems stated in the rest of the thread. I don't know if it was my particular mash tun or my process, but from the numbers I stated I think it did pretty darn good for a single infusion mash. Will it make better beer than the next guy with just a few igloo coolers and a pot with a solid process, likely not. This is my hobby, I like purpose built stainless vessels, pumps, control panels, and taking things to the nth degree. This has gone way past making good beer at an economical price. Maybe I miscalculated in thinking this thread was about telling others your experience with said product. If so I will go elsewhere.

The long and short. This was my experience and I told you the parts of my process I felt were relevant. The numbers don't lie bias or not

 

[augiedoggy]

Well I wasn't referencing or disputing anything you said. This was my experience. Though I am biased, I like my shiny new huge mash tun, and the many benefits to me and my current and future set up, I was merely reporting my experience and the numbers I saw. I did not have any of the problems stated in the rest of the thread. I don't know if it was my particular mash tun or my process, but from the numbers I stated I think it did pretty darn good for a single infusion mash. Will it make better beer than the next guy with just a few igloo coolers and a pot with a solid process, likely not. This is my hobby, I like purpose built stainless vessels, pumps, control panels, and taking things to the nth degree. This has gone way past making good beer at an economical price. Maybe I miscalculated in thinking this thread was about telling others your experience with said product. If so I will go elsewhere.

The long and short. This was my experience and I told you the parts of my process I felt were relevant. The numbers don't lie bias or not

No, its not about my experience... I shared that because I felt that it may be beneficial to you to know I have done what you plan to do to improve your step mashing ability. That being use an insulated Mashtun with a rims, and as you say "the numbers dont lie"

I have to say though just as you are taking my experience with a grain of salt, So am I with your comments. Being that you had such poor performance of a cooler yet claim the stainless cooler works so much better (which is the opposite of a couple others here as well as my cooler experience) coupled with your "like" on the childish insults above... It almost seems that because of your bias here, you are going to "see" the opposite of what you think I would expect anyway just to argue what you want to believe.. because you think I'm against you and your choice in some way? The truth is i just feel the product should hold its own and hold mash temps at least as good as a cooler and that wasnt what the earlier feedback on two different threads has been saying up until your post.

The fact that the other owners of these things should also be positively biased in favor of them are seeing different results and not all positive makes them more credible and realistic to me. This of course is just how it looks to me and yes it may not be true... But one person seeing 4 degree or more temp loss in a room temperature room vs you stating that unlike the cooler you used before your superior stainless cooler holds temps great in a near freezing 38 degree room? Somethings missing here or someone is not reporting the facts as far as it looks to me..

The fact that you joined this forum today just to argue this point also makes me question things.. Honestly, for all anyone knows you could work for Brewtech yourself right?

 

[dthompson79]

No, its not about my experience... I shared that because I felt that it may be beneficial to you to know I have done what you plan to do to improve your step mashing ability. That being use an insulated Mashtun with a rims, and as you say "the numbers dont lie"

I have to say though just as you are taking my experience with a grain of salt, Being that you had such poor performance of a cooler yet claim the stainless cooler works so much better (which is the opposite of a couple others here as well as my cooler experience) coupled with your "like" on the childish insults above... It almost seems that because of your bias here, you are going to "see" the opposite of what you think I would expect anyway just to argue what you want to believe.. because you think I'm against you and your choice in some way? The truth is i just feel the product should hold its own and hold mash temps at least as good as a cooler and that wasnt what the earlier feedback on two different threads has been saying up until your post.

The fact that the other owners of these things should also be positively biased in favor of them are seeing different results and not all positive makes them more credible and realistic to me. This of course is just how it looks to me and yes it may not be true... But one person seeing 4 degree or more temp loss in a room temperature room vs you stating that unlike the cooler you used before your superior stainless cooler holds temps great in a near freezing 38 degree room? Somethings missing here or someone is not reporting the facts as far as it looks to me..

I didn't address your reference to the step mashing because I am not there yet. So I can't speak to that. I wouldn't say you are wrong when I have no experience there. Entropy says it will make a difference, but i may be negligible. FWIW thanks for the input.

As far as the like. The statement struck me as funny so I liked it. I have a weird (childish) sense of humor. nothing more nothing less

It may be a quality issue with the other posters mash tuns. Though I hope not. I do like the brand and want to see them do well. I actually went into the brewday with guarded expectations because of what I had read on this forum. I did notice that the stainless initially acts as a big heat sink until it reaches equilibrium (20 minutes in my case) Though RIMS would negate this effect

The comparison to the igloo was at similar temps and going from memory of last winter, It really isn't a fair comparison seeing as no drink cooler mash tun I have seen insulates their lids.

Maybe I had better luck because of my batch size, and higher water to grain ratio. I could definitely see a mash tun not performing well if the thermal mass wasn't high enough relative to the volume of the tun.

BTW sweet set up. I have lurked on here for a while and yours has given me a few ideas.

Cheers!!

 

[dthompson79]

Just to show, at least in part I didn't make this up and am really a sleeper agent for brewtech, here is a brewday pic. I know it doesn't prove anything or confirm my claims. All temps were verified with the green thermapen you see by the tun. Look at the relative fill level in the manometer. If i had to guess the other users had smaller grain bills and therefore lower thermal mass. I can see how that could effect the temp loss greatly. I did a 5g batch of a mild (roughly 7 lbs) in my ten gallon cooler and saw similar temp loss as others are stating. It is all about relative surface area, thermal mass, and dead space in the tun.

Though I do agree that the MTSS should be able to mitigate any loss regardless of these factors.

Another thing I have the recirculation manifold and I didn't recirc for a sec before i attached it to get rid of the initial grain that makes it through the false bottom and it promptly clogged the manifold. So don't do that

 

[augiedoggy]

For the record I have nothing against them or anyone else who imports good to sell..Ive dealt with them and the conicals I ordered for my friend are great! Personally I think for the money they should include all sanitary fittings but hey I dont know how much these are costing them to be made either so.. If there are issues with these I am sure they will make every effort to sort them out because that seems to be why they are excelling in this market.

I just meant to point out that there products are made to order for them and not by them since so many think otherwise for some reason and got carried away I guess.

 

[sredz]

Just to show, at least in part I didn't make this up and am really a sleeper agent for brewtech, here is a brewday pic. I know it doesn't prove anything or confirm my claims. All temps were verified with the green thermapen you see by the tun. Look at the relative fill level in the manometer. If i had to guess the other users had smaller grain bills and therefore lower thermal mass. I can see how that could effect the temp loss greatly. I did a 5g batch of a mild (roughly 7 lbs) in my ten gallon cooler and saw similar temp loss as others are stating. It is all about relative surface area, thermal mass, and dead space in the tun.

Though I do agree that the MTSS should be able to mitigate any loss regardless of these factors.

Another thing I have the recirculation manifold and I didn't recirc for a sec before i attached it to get rid of the initial grain that makes it through the false bottom and it promptly clogged the manifold. So don't do that

Thank you for posting your results! I suspect having a larger mass of grist makes a difference. I will be brewing again this weekend and making a couple of adjustments to try and better minimize my heat loss. Will report back on how it goes.

 

[dthompson79]

So, if the headspace is the issue. What always worked for me using a cooler was to put foil as a radiant barrier on top of the mash. I have also seen reflectix or foil wrapped foam board as a radiant barrier, though I don't have experience with the latter methods

Just spitballing here


edit: verbiage

 

[Ianflean]

Hi all,

Just got this delivered here in Europe. Can echo the tilt of the tap and issue with the false bottom.

It says to wash with Tri Sodium Phosphate before first use. I've looked around and i can't find it at the normal places. Any suggestions on similar cleaning agents I can use instead?

Cheers!

 

[augiedoggy]

Hi all,

Just got this delivered here in Europe. Can echo the tilt of the tap and issue with the false bottom.

It says to wash with Tri Sodium Phosphate before first use. I've looked around and i can't find it at the normal places. Any suggestions on similar cleaning agents I can use instead?

Cheers!

Any non abrasive stainless cleaning agent? I would google for one myself..
bar keepers friend works but you cant use it near the etched markings.

 

[crooow]

I'm thinking of getting this thing. Are people still having problems with maintaining temps and/or build quality?

 

[sredz]

I'm thinking of getting this thing. Are people still having problems with maintaining temps and/or build quality?

I have been able to get more stable temps by mashing in with a slightly greater volume of water and also insulating around the temp probe and recirculation valve. My last batch held temps within 1 degree. It's a big mash tun and I've found minimizing head space is key for holding temps. Here' s picture of the probe insulation, it seemed to be losing a fair amount of heat in this area.

 

[dthompson79]

Currently 5 batches in on mine. Always held within .2-1 degree fahrenheit. I do 10 gallon batches so it has always been at least half full and as much as 3/4 full in garage temps. roughly 30-65 degrees. I believe that headspace is the issue. Same is if you took a 10 gallon igloo and tried to do a 5 gallon batch of mild. i.e. mostly empty. I would say if you do 5 gallon batches get the 10 gallon model unless all you do is old ales, barleywines, Russian Imperials

 

[crooow]

Currently 5 batches in on mine. Always held within .2-1 degree fahrenheit. I do 10 gallon batches so it has always been at least half full and as much as 3/4 full in garage temps. roughly 30-65 degrees. I believe that headspace is the issue. Same is if you took a 10 gallon igloo and tried to do a 5 gallon batch of mild. i.e. mostly empty. I would say if you do 5 gallon batches get the 10 gallon model unless all you do is old ales, barleywines, Russian Imperials

This is really useful to know. I mostly do 5 gallon batches, but I occasionally do a 10. I wanted the 20 gallon because it has the recirculation port, but obviously, if I'm going to lose temps on it, it's not worth it. Thanks.

 

[dthompson79]

I think it would work just fine small volume or not if you used their MTS heater. Though I cannot speak to this with certainty because I do not own a MTS

 

[crooow]

Anyone know at what gallon marking level the thermowell is in the 20 gallon?

Also, does it come with a plug for the recirculation port? I imagine lots of heat is lost from there.

 

[sredz]

I believe the temp probe is at about the 5 gallon mark. No plug for the recirculation port, just 1/2" male npt inside & out. I added a 90 degree elbow on the outside and wrapped it with insulated pipe tape.

 

[9Dave]

I’ve had the 10g Ss Infussion since January and have made 18 batches with it so far. Hands down it’s the worst homebrewing purchase I’ve made since I started brewing in 2008. Sorry this is so long, but I assume some people will appreciate all these details in deciding whether to buy this expensive equipment.

First, the LCD thermometer that comes with it jumps around much more than I’ve seen on other thermometers. And both that and the Temp Control readings seem completely unreliable. I have three handheld thermometers that are calibrated (glass, analog, and digital). At the end of the mash, I’d note the temp on the Ss thermometer I was using, take off the lid, and then insert one or some of my thermometers into the mash right next to the tip of the thermowell and take a reading. The LCD thermometer was different by the following degrees F from my calibrated equipment: -0.8, +2.0, +3.5, +3.5, -4.2, +6.1, and -4.9. On the Temp Control unit, I got spreads of +6.2, +8.6, -6.1, -5.3, -5.1, +1.1, -3.8, -4.2, and -5.4F. So a varying spread of 11.0F and 14.7F, respectively.

For the Temp Control unit, their advertising includes: "it can help with fine tuning your strike water temp those last few degrees" and "For a typical strike water volume (approx. 5gals), the heater will increase strike water temps by roughly 5F/hour." I was not experiencing this so I did some tests (all with the lid never removed).

I tested the system out with just water inside my house, at 65F, with the heating unit. The temp was stabilized at 133.5. I turned the heater on. Two and a half hours later the temp was at 136.5. So it rose 3 degrees in two and a half hours. And I was doing this at an even lower temp than a normal single infusion dough-in temp. In another test, after the temp stabilized at 144.5, I let the heater go until it raised the temp 5 degrees. It took six and a half hours.

Their Customer Service said: “We test in Southern California at 65-80 degree ambient temps, so your low ambient temps are definitely the crux of the issue in this case.” I had already explained that while the brew day problems I had with it were outside (winter in Zone 6b), I did these tests inside at 65F. But I waited until summer and collected some more data. I’d start my brew day early so I could let the strike water sit and test out the Temp Control unit while it was in the 70’s and 80’s outside. On one brew day, I added 160F water at my full strike volume to the MLT to preheat it. After 10 minutes, the Temp Control unit read 154.5F. I wanted it at 156F strike so I plugged in the heating unit. After 48 minutes the temperature dropped to 154.0F.

Next brew day, I added 4.35 gallons of 167F water. At 10 minutes it was stabilized at 161F. I then set the heater to 165F. 95 minutes later the strike water dropped to 159.8F.

Next brew day, I again added 4.35 gallons of 167F water. After 10 minutes it was 162.1. I then set the heater to 167. After 3 hours and 5 minutes, the temperature dropped to 160.8F. (Note that I turned it on dry before adding the water and it did get the bottom hot - a test they previously told me to try that I’ve done a couple of times to confirm it’s working.)

I tend not to use the Temp Control unit during the mash itself because of how unpredictable it is. But on one brew day at 23 minutes into a 90 minute mash, I plugged in the heater. It was 146.3F at 23 minutes (target 149F). At 60 minutes it was 145.7F. At 90 minutes it was 146.6F. So it dropped and then only rose a total of 0.3F over 67 minutes. On the brew day above when I had the heater on for over 3 hours to try and raise my strike water, I left it on through my mash. I lowered the target to 154F. 10 minutes into the mash, it was 150.6. At 60 minutes, it was 156.5. So it finally worked but it overshot by 2.5F.

In sum, I no longer have consistency and repeatability for my mashes. I’d like to switch out the thermometer to a more reliable analog thermometer but this requires ⅜” NPT, which even Ss doesn’t carry. The only ones I’ve found so far are expensive and with lots of S&H. My LHBS couldn’t find any in that size through their supplier.

There are lots of other miscellaneous issues. For example, the gasket around the false bottom started fraying after just a few uses. I cut off that fray but now it’s started fraying again in a few spots. The rubber feet pop off easily (lost one in the yard for a while). You can feel a weak spot in the design where it’s warm at the indentation around the thermowell (seems like that could have been avoided but I’m no engineer). After just 6 months, one of the LCD bars on the Temp Controller is out. And, at the end of running off when it starts sputtering, it often begins to pull through grain into the BK. I didn’t have this problem with my cooler MLT and I wonder if it’s the 5 degree sloped bottom design, which is meant to catch small grain that makes it through the false bottom. When it’s sputtering at the end, I’m guessing it creates enough force to pull many of those bits off. If anyone has thoughts on how to prevent this (other than trying to turn off the ball valve as quickly as possible), please let me know since I don’t like lots of grain bits in my BK.

 

[crooow]

I tend not to use the Temp Control unit during the mash itself because of how unpredictable it is. But on one brew day at 23 minutes into a 90 minute mash, I plugged in the heater. It was 146.3F at 23 minutes (target 149F). At 60 minutes it was 145.7F. At 90 minutes it was 146.6F. So it dropped and then only rose a total of 0.3F over 67 minutes. On the brew day above when I had the heater on for over 3 hours to try and raise my strike water, I left it on through my mash. I lowered the target to 154F. 10 minutes into the mash, it was 150.6. At 60 minutes, it was 156.5. So it finally worked but it overshot by 2.5F.

In sum, I no longer have consistency and repeatability for my mashes. I’d like to switch out the thermometer to a more reliable analog thermometer but this requires ⅜” NPT, which even Ss doesn’t carry. The only ones I’ve found so far are expensive and with lots of S&H. My LHBS couldn’t find any in that size through their supplier.

There are lots of other miscellaneous issues. For example, the gasket around the false bottom started fraying after just a few uses. I cut off that fray but now it’s started fraying again in a few spots. The rubber feet pop off easily (lost one in the yard for a while). You can feel a weak spot in the design where it’s warm at the indentation around the thermowell (seems like that could have been avoided but I’m no engineer). After just 6 months, one of the LCD bars on the Temp Controller is out. And, at the end of running off when it starts sputtering, it often begins to pull through grain into the BK. I didn’t have this problem with my cooler MLT and I wonder if it’s the 5 degree sloped bottom design, which is meant to catch small grain that makes it through the false bottom. When it’s sputtering at the end, I’m guessing it creates enough force to pull many of those bits off. If anyone has thoughts on how to prevent this (other than trying to turn off the ball valve as quickly as possible), please let me know since I don’t like lots of grain bits in my BK.

This is really disappointing to hear. Are the mash fluctuation temperatures you report from the brewtech thermometer or from one of your calibrated thermometers?

 

[9Dave]

Good question, the mash temps from when I'm trying to heat are from the Ss Temp Control unit, not my calibrated thermometers. So it does add a variable since those temperatures are unreliable. I assume the Infussion holds temperatures reasonably well. But I don't know that since both their thermometer units are unreliable and vary (the LCD one that comes with it and the one on the Temp Control unit). But even with that unpredictability, I've still seen plenty of indications that the heater does not warm the strike water or mash as advertised. Every now and then the mash will get a bump from it, but it's behavior (even when I'd reference with my calibrated thermometers) is too unreliable. I'm better off just adjusting with hot or cold water.

 

[Ianflean]

I've got the 20 gallon and didn't bother with the heater as mine holds the temp pretty much perfectly for 60/75 minutes.

I can echo the problem with the feet though. After a couple of moves they've all vanished. Bad flaw.
Also with the grain... I had problems with lots of grain coming through the false bottom. The customer service guys suggested re-circulating the mash for the last 10 mins of the mash and that has worked clearing it up, however at the end of the sparge (fly sparge) when the last bit of liquid comes through, it's always full of grain.

Any ideas how to stop this?

Cheers!

 

[dthompson79]

I have the same experience with my 20 G too much grain getting through even with a lengthy vorlauf. The false bottom is just ill designed. One thing that a fellow brewer discovered and I plan on implementing soon is Blichmanns 20 gallon false bottom fits perfectly. It even allow you to use the same gasket. I know this is an additional expense most won't want to spend but Blichmanns false bottom in my opinion is the best in the market. It will solve the other issue i have with their recirculation manifold from getting clogged with grain. Otherwise I love this thing. Sturdy, big, and great eff. Holds temps great. Can't speak to the MTS but it didn't sound like a good idea to me in the first place. not surprised people are having lackluster results.

edit: the feet do suck if you move it at all. The should've provided post to thread those into. additional cost but this thing runs $550.00. I see these issues as growing pains for a great company that is growing its product line perhaps a little too fast. You are bound to have design flaws.

 

[brewbama]

Though I do not have this MLT, I solved a similar problem of grain slipping past my screen in my MLT by using a Brew Bag filter. It works like a charm : no grain bits what so ever.

 

[9Dave]

dthompson79, please keep us posted on whether the Blichmann false bottom fixes it.

When I've cleaned the MLT in place by scooping out the grain, I've noticed that after I lift out the false bottom, you'll see small bits of grain on the sloped bottom, which I'm pretty sure their materials say it's designed to do. When you add water to clean and drain it, you can watch how some stuff will hang around until it's nearly empty and then the last thin layer of water sloshing around can jar them loose, which I think is the problem. So even longer recircs at the beginning as Ianflean noted may not solve that since I think it'll just help with the grain bed and not what's below on the slope. If the Blichmann let's even a little bit through initially before the bed settles, then that may not solve it. I guess a brew bag may solve it, but part of the reason I bought this was to reduce the amount of synthetic materials on the hot side. I think the key is to either prevent the small bits from getting through the false bottom and onto the slope (maybe Brew Bag or Blichmann) or to find a way to jar them loose during the vorlauf so the slope is cleared before run off. Perhaps speeding up the vorlauf would help, but then you could risk a stuck sparge. Hmmm....