5-15 gal eBIAB system + brewery build

[FreddyMar3]

Building a system very similar to this now. I see that you withheld 6 gallons on that big batch. Have you thought about putting the blichman down low, hooking the pump to the outlet and basically using it like a buffer tank. You'd still have a no sparge brew. I'm sure there's something I'm not thinking of but just a thought.

That's an idea I haven't thought of. On some 15 gal batches, I've run off excess wort before the rinse sparge before to make room and then added it back in after the sparge and removing the grains.

 

[dbarbagelata]

Glad to see you are still enjoying your system! I have a couple of questions I hope you don't mind answering: I see you have a whirlpool port. Does it not stick out into the kettle and interfere with your basket? Do you get a good whirlpool?

I'm assuming the port above your main drain port isn't used for anything?

Also, what would you think if your system had a solid sided basket like the Colorado Brewing System does? Do you think that would increase efficiency?

Outside of the basket being a little narrower and the feet being a little taller, is there anything else you would change on your system now that you've been brewing for a while? Would you possibly mount your recirculation device on the edge of the kettle somehow so you can see the mash in action instead of having to have the lid closed?

Thanks, man!

 

[FreddyMar3]

Glad to see you are still enjoying your system! I have a couple of questions I hope you don't mind answering: I see you have a whirlpool port. Does it not stick out into the kettle and interfere with your basket? Do you get a good whirlpool?



I'm assuming the port above your main drain port isn't used for anything?



Also, what would you think if your system had a solid sided basket like the Colorado Brewing System does? Do you think that would increase efficiency?



Outside of the basket being a little narrower and the feet being a little taller, is there anything else you would change on your system now that you've been brewing for a while? Would you possibly mount your recirculation device on the edge of the kettle somehow so you can see the mash in action instead of having to have the lid closed?



Thanks, man!

Sorry for the delay. Whirlpool port is flush with the curvature of the of the kettle. It gets a good whirlpool but because it's pretty low the chilled wort will stratify on larger batches and I'll have to switch the valve to the accessory hose to mix up the wort. Does that make sense? It's not a big deal to me. Just a few extra valve turns every few minutes.

I put a sample port above the main valve since the port was already there. It comes in handy for gravity and ph readings.

I think a solid sided basket would work just fine and looked at doing that but didn't want to make one myself and I don't think there was a place I could get one made custom at the time. Not sure if it would increase efficiency but you would definitely have to throttle down the pump a lot.

Other than what you mentioned I would make no other changes. After 250+ gallons, I have all my calcs tuned in to the system and can bang out 10 gal of beer in 3.5 hours barring anything out of the ordinary (long whirlpool addition, long mash/boil, etc.)

I like having the lid closed on the mash to help maintain consistent temps.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Tonight, I did my first brew after moving from a good nylon BIAB bag + false bottom, to a new ArborFab stainless mesh basket similar to FreddyMar3's.

- The recirculation flow issues I had with a bag are gone.
- took 3 hours and 20 minutes from "start heating water" to "chill directly into a fermenter", including a 25 minute hop stand.
I wish I had done this from the start. The ~200 dollars I "saved" were fully wasted by frustration and a scorched batch.

Made an 11Gal 1.065 IPA recipe (est 74%, 26lbs grains) and hit 1.069 for 79% efficiency with no squeeze or press of the grains. Mashed with 12.5 gallons, hoisted the basket and quickly poured over 2 gallons of cold water to sparge.

Set the basket on a tray when done sparging, and dumped the wort collected there into a jar for my next yeast starter -- I think that's my new strategy for starters.

Hopefully I can get the whole process down to 4 hours with cleaning for non-hop-stand beers, now that I'm more familiar with it.


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Regarding the other questions of solid-side baskets: IMO, while it is a interesting idea, I believe that it would be more trouble than it is worth for currently BIAB style mashing. I could see a case maybe for using one in what could essentially be a kettle-RIMS type setup sized down into a single vessel. You would still have the "old-style brewing" issue of stuck sparges, because a solid-side basket is essentially an un-insulated mash tun with a big mesh bottom.

 

[FreddyMar3]

Tonight, I did my first brew after moving from a good nylon BIAB bag + false bottom, to a new ArborFab stainless mesh basket similar to FreddyMar3's.

- The recirculation flow issues I had with a bag are gone.
- took 3 hours and 20 minutes from "start heating water" to "chill directly into a fermenter", including a 25 minute hop stand.
I wish I had done this from the start. The ~200 dollars I "saved" were fully wasted by frustration and a scorched batch.

System looks great! Glad the basket worked out for you and solved those issues. Do you do full mash and boil? I do 30-45 minutes each for most beers with no negative effects. That's how I can get down to a 3hr brew day w cleanup.

 

[dbarbagelata]

Tonight, I did my first brew after moving from a good nylon BIAB bag + false bottom, to a new ArborFab stainless mesh basket similar to FreddyMar3's.


What are you using to recirc your mash?

 

[FreddyMar3]

Tonight, I did my first brew after moving from a good nylon BIAB bag + false bottom, to a new ArborFab stainless mesh basket similar to FreddyMar3's.





What are you using to recirc your mash?

A March pump.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Tonight, I did my first brew after moving from a good nylon BIAB bag + false bottom, to a new ArborFab stainless mesh basket similar to FreddyMar3's.

What are you using to recirc your mash?

1/2" SS tubing with a 90 degree bend at the bottom in the kettle, 120 degree bend visible on top.
It doesn't actually make the mash "swirl" like the Colorado Brewing Systems videos, unless doing a full-volume low gravity beer for a super-thin mash, but it gets the liquid back in, and I can adjust the height and angle by sliding it up and down on the visible band clamp / spring clamp assembly.

 

[Irish-Brewer]

This is a homebrewer shout out to FreddyMar3 and Andrew. Thank you guys for helping me build my system. I finished a water leak test tonight and everything was good. Here are some pictures. I am waiting for the basket from Arbor Fab (hope to have later this week) and then she will be ready for her maiden voyage. I am using the SS Brewtech manifold for recirculation. Still trying to decide if I will use Tri Clamp T with two ball valves or a three-way ball valve to spit the circulation between the top of the mash and the bottom of the kettle. I like to brew beers with wheat so this may be necessary.

Sorry. I can't find the info to rotate photos.

 

[Trainman28]

Long time follower of this thread. Congrats to you Freddy, Andrew, and Irish brewer for building your dream brewing setup. I would love to build and own a similar setup. Have a Q about the ports on the pot. Are there 3, or 4 ports on the kettle? If you could explain what each port does, that'd be helpful. What is the purpose of the 1" ferrule? Thanks for the help

 

[andrewmaixner]

Long time follower of this thread. Congrats to you Freddy, Andrew, and Irish brewer for building your dream brewing setup. I would love to build and own a similar setup. Have a Q about the ports on the pot. Are there 3, or 4 ports on the kettle? If you could explain what each port does, that'd be helpful. What is the purpose of the 1" ferrule? Thanks for the help

I currently only use the 3 ports for the element, ball valve / pickup tube, and temperature probe, all at the bottom of the kettle.

The tangential whirlpool port, and the mid-kettle temperature probe/sample port, already came with the kettle that I wanted, but I find myself just capping them off. (They order them in bulk that way from China, and then do the further customization in the US.)

I whirlpool through the angled mash recirculation fitting, at the top of the kettle, because with my counterflow chiller, returning chilled wort to the bottom through the whirlpool port resulted in temperature stratification (I'd measured as much as 30F difference between top and bottom). Putting the cool wort in at the top makes it mix better automatically, and, when the overall temp hits 90-100F, I move the output right into a fermenter and it comes out at about about 70F.

 

[Trainman28]

I gotcha. I was wondering if they could possible move the tangical whirlpool to the bottom at stout. But now i may not even worry about it. And that (temp stratification) makes sense with your setup. I plan to go with an IC from jaded. I also plan on getting the biab controller from auberins with ezboil.

Looking back, are there any changes you would've made to the kettle design or setup to make things easier? Are you satisfied with the recirculation with the tangical port at the top, or would you think the SS recirculation manifold like Irish brewer would be better?

 

[andrewmaixner]

I gotcha. I was wondering if they could possible move the tangical whirlpool to the bottom at stout. But now i may not even worry about it. And that (temp stratification) makes sense with your setup. I plan to go with an IC from jaded. I also plan on getting the biab controller from auberins with ezboil.

Looking back, are there any changes you would've made to the kettle design or setup to make things easier? Are you satisfied with the recirculation with the tangical port at the top, or would you think the SS recirculation manifold like Irish brewer would be better?

Make sure you get your element port lower than the existing main ball valve port, so it has more room between the element and the basket.

My pump return return input level can be moved up or down by hand with a minimal effort, as the tube is just hose-clamped to the spring clip.

I'm sure there is some way to make my recirc return better (manifold, or COFI-tube like Freddie). I've occasionally had issue with my basket filling up and overflowing if I have the pump too high and the grains gum up the mesh basket sides. I believe that leaving recirc off for a bit at the beginning may help with this, and/or having the pump slower.
Do what ya want!

If I were to do it again, I'd not use an automated controller. While it is nice to walk away and know when the chill is done, or whatnot, I find that it is almost more trouble than it is worth. The basic controller like you mention, plus BeerSmith Mobile app, would be a great solution.

Adding a emergency electric cutoff / float switch inside the kettle at the bottom, so the element could never dry-fire, would be nice.

As far as my custom basket design, I am 100% happy with how that turned out.

 

[dbarbagelata]

Make sure you get your element port lower than the existing main ball valve port, so it has more room between the element and the basket.

My pump return return input level can be moved up or down by hand with a minimal effort, as the tube is just hose-clamped to the spring clip.

I'm sure there is some way to make my recirc return better (manifold, or COFI-tube like Freddie). I've occasionally had issue with my basket filling up and overflowing if I have the pump too high and the grains gum up the mesh basket sides. I believe that leaving recirc off for a bit at the beginning may help with this, and/or having the pump slower.
Do what ya want!

If I were to do it again, I'd not use an automated controller. While it is nice to walk away and know when the chill is done, or whatnot, I find that it is almost more trouble than it is worth. The basic controller like you mention, plus BeerSmith Mobile app, would be a great solution.

Adding a emergency electric cutoff / float switch inside the kettle at the bottom, so the element could never dry-fire, would be nice.

As far as my custom basket design, I am 100% happy with how that turned out.

Freddy and Andrew,

What are you guys using to measure your wort volume? I didn't see any sight glass or Kettle markings.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Freddy and Andrew,

What are you guys using to measure your wort volume? I didn't see any sight glass or Kettle markings.

several things:
I have a 1-gallon measuring cup, 5.25 gallon better bottles and buckets that I measured/marked by gallon increments, and a tape measure for estimation.

My kettle is 24.5 inches tall and holds ?21? gallons at the rim, so I could measure the empty distance and calculate when I care about boil-off, but generally I only measure the liquid in, liquid out, and gravities. Anything else can be estimated by calculation.


I'd like to electronically etch the measurements on the inside of the kettle, but have never gotten around to it.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Update on some brew strategies:

Split batches:
I did a 15 gallon brew day, for 3 completely different beers -- Gose, Tripple, and IPA
procedure:

1. Light base (2-row, rye, golden oats)
2. Mash for 16gal of 1.060 wort
3. bring up to pasteurize at 165F;
4. spend 1.5 hours figuring out why the BrewBoss controller app crashes nonstop (they have moved to an off-line sideload becasue of constant SW requirements changes on AppStores, had to delete BrewBoss Folder and install 2.10 app version.)
5. run off through chiller at 110F, 2.5 Gallons, dilute to 5.5ga, pitch L. plantarum + US-05 (added tinctures of .5oz coriander and 19g grey sea salt post-fermentation)
6. boil/bitter for 20 minutes (22ibu)
7. run off through chiller at 75F, 5.5gal triple + 3lb sucrose into fermenter, pitch WLP500
8. Boil another 20 minutes(33ibu)
9. chill(recirculate) to 165F, then hold temp and whirlpool w/IPA hops
10. chill to 85, add another 6oz hops in fermenter, pitch WLP644
11. done

Went relatively smoothly aside from step 4 (haha), the beers are all great.


High Gravity:
Belgian Quad (2x 5.5gal)
32lb pilsen, 2lb Special B (post-boil, add 2lb D180 sugar syrup)

1. Mash 20 minute at 144F with 12.3gal
2. 40 minutes step to 165F while recirculating
3. pull basket, pour-sparge with 3gal, (obtained 12.5 gallons in the kettle pre boil, at 1.077)
4. boiled 1 hour to 30 Ibu, OG 1.083
5. add 6 gravity points from d180 sugar = 1.089
6. cool and pitch 5.5gal with wlp500, 5.5 gal with WY1388

There was lots of room left in the basket, so I could probably push an 11 gallon all-grain OG to 1.090 very easily, 1.1 maybe