ANVIL FOUNDRY ALL-GRAIN BREWING SYSTEM

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Can you elaborate a little more on this? Is there an adapter available that accomplishes this or would it have to be made? I'm interested in the foundry and 240v, but have little to no electrical knowledge/skill and am intimidated by the prospect of doing it myself.
H
Can you elaborate a little more on this? Is there an adapter available that accomplishes this or would it have to be made? I'm interested in the foundry and 240v, but have little to no electrical knowledge/skill and am intimidated by the prospect of doing it myself.
Here is the link:
 
Hey all. I'm flirting with the idea of scaling down to 2.5gal batches and going electric. The Foundry is at the top of my list. I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts or experience on the following:

a.) can I brew in the basement without ventilation if I already have a dedicated dehumidifier?
b.) how important is 240v for 2.5gal?
 
I do 2.5 or so on a 6.5 Anvil running 240V in my basement. I do a "steam slayer" though, mostly to keep the smell down and the wife happier. I boil off about 2/3 gallon over an hour, that is a decent amount of vapor to put into the air but not terrible. I'd suggest trying a batch or two and then go from there if you decide you need ventilation or a steam condenser or anything else.

I love having 240V but it was easy for me to add. If I didn't already have it, honestly 120V on the 6.5 would be fine. And having the switch means that here again you can start on 120V and move up later if you want. It's a nice feature.
 
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50% to get to mash temp (I use the timer), 35% during the mash (with recirculation), and 70% for boil.

For the mash, 35% seems to hold it really stable per its temp gauge and my own thermometer's readings.

For boil, 65% is a little on the weak side but fine, 70% is perfect to me, 75% is quite high, and any more than that the wort acts like it's trying to escape, it's beyond bubbling and really sloshing around.
 
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Hey all. I'm flirting with the idea of scaling down to 2.5gal batches and going electric. The Foundry is at the top of my list. I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts or experience on the following:

a.) can I brew in the basement without ventilation if I already have a dedicated dehumidifier?
b.) how important is 240v for 2.5gal?

I brew with a 6.5 in my kitchen @ 240v, it would work in a basement with a dehumidifier no problem.

I do 4.75gal batches and ferment in corny kegs, and the 240v is overkill. You boil a 22L batch at 70% (nice rolling), more vigorous at 80%. Any higher will cause a boil over.

For smaller batches such as you are suggesting, running on 120v will give very acceptable results.
 
Hey all. I'm flirting with the idea of scaling down to 2.5gal batches and going electric. The Foundry is at the top of my list. I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts or experience on the following:

a.) can I brew in the basement without ventilation if I already have a dedicated dehumidifier?
b.) how important is 240v for 2.5gal?
I use a mash-n-boil for 2.5 gallon batches. Usually start with 4 to 4.5 gallons H2O, as I don’t sparge.

With 120V, 4.5 gallons takes about 45 min to heat up to 160 for mash-in (on half-power/7.5 amps). Heating from mash-out to full boil takes about 30 min (with 15 amps). I find these wait times acceptable, but it’s a matter of personal preference. I do have to leave the lid partially covering the top to keep a vigorous boil. Never had any problem with DMS.

I just open a window during the summer to keep moisture in check. If I don’t, the humidity will spike to about 90 percent halfway through the boil. With the window open, it’s hardly noticeable. During the winter, the humidity would be welcome, but my wife doesn’t love the smell of boiling wort as much as I do :)
 
Hey all. I'm flirting with the idea of scaling down to 2.5gal batches and going electric. The Foundry is at the top of my list. I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts or experience on the following:

a.) can I brew in the basement without ventilation if I already have a dedicated dehumidifier?
b.) how important is 240v for 2.5gal?
JWHAZEL, here’s my 2 cents: I bought a 6.5 gal Foundry for doing quick test batches & teaching people interested in brewing. Mine has held temps closely, easy to clean, and minimal footprint. Yeah, I’m giving a shameless bias for purchasing a Foundry.

I wanted the 240V for rapid heating but I already had several 240V circuits available. I’d recommend the 240V and make up a 240V if you decide to go that route in future - you have both options. A mentioned above, Brian from Short Circuited Brewers has an outstanding video on YouTube showing how to make adapter without cutting the cord on Foundry. And check out some questions/answers under comments. Brian is solid and will really help if needed.

A 110V you won’t get a vigorous boil so other advice mentioned here on steam condensation is solid to try for your environment. Hope all goes well with whatever you decide.

Cheers 🍻
 
Before Anvil once in a while I use to brew double batches with my oldest son in my 15 gallon Boilermaker. About a couple weeks ago I set up dueling 10.5 Foundries to brew a Zombie Dust clone. I visit a couple places regularly to try to up my game. So I treated my water and he didn't, I used a bag without the pipe - he used the pipe, I recirculated with my RipTide - he forgot his Anvil pump so I rigged up an old $10 small x-fer pump, I mixed my grain very well every 10 minutes for first 30 minutes - he just mixed the top 1/3, I used these enclosed hop capsules that submerge and he used a 6" diameter basket (I've had this theory that boiloff is reduced due to smaller surface area with the bigger basket), and I dunk sparged in a big vessel and he just pulled the basket up and did a pour over.

My mash pH was 5.2 and his was 5.6 but our mash efficiencies were the same (actually his was 0.3% better), my theory was wrong - his boiloff was a little higher than mine, and my BHE was slightly higher than his but still within measurement error. So much for the science of brewing.

In a few weeks we will see who the winner is. We did this last year and our clone tasted better than the real thing!
 
forgive me being dumb, but can someone link me to the correct brewzilla false bottom to work with brew bag and anvil 10.5 gonna remove malt pipe on next batch and test
 
Its the 35L Brewzilla Malt Pipe Boiler Screen replacement that more beer sells. Thats where I got mine. Its about 11.5" in diameter, and I took out the pull ring in the middle. Works like a charm although it seems a little cheap but has supported about 25lbs of grains for me before with the 10.5gal foundry with no issues. You will have to either carefully bend the bottom supports to a "V" like I did or add some extension bolts like others have to allow the bottom to be above the dip tube. For $20 though its hard to beat.

https://www.morebeer.com/products/replacement-malt-pipe-boiler-screen-35l-robobrew-brewzilla.html
 
Its the 35L Brewzilla Malt Pipe Boiler Screen replacement that more beer sells. Thats where I got mine. Its about 11.5" in diameter, and I took out the pull ring in the middle. Works like a charm although it seems a little cheap but has supported about 25lbs of grains for me before with the 10.5gal foundry with no issues. You will have to either carefully bend the bottom supports to a "V" like I did or add some extension bolts like others have to allow the bottom to be above the dip tube. For $20 though its hard to beat.

https://www.morebeer.com/products/replacement-malt-pipe-boiler-screen-35l-robobrew-brewzilla.html


Thank you sir. Will prob order it all tommorow. Been working on perfecting my honey wheat recipe. Pale malt, flaked wheat, honey malt. Followed hallertau hops. Some orange peel cinnamon and allspice at flameout and orange blssom honey in the ferment. Turns out fantastic.
20210817_152037.jpg
 
I bought the Anvil Foundry 10.5 without the pump. I'm new to homebrewing and wondering what I need to do during the process to make up for the fact that I don't have the pump. Any recommendations?
 
And you can stir during the cool-down as well, that's another good point in time to be moving things around (it'll get the job done a lot faster). Pay attention to sanitization and such.

Also, during the actual mash (since we are talking about moving things around), a tip is to raise and lower the basket a few times too, get all that water from the sides mixed in. Otherwise it does a pretty good job of staying just water.
 
I bought the Anvil Foundry 10.5 without the pump. I'm new to homebrewing and wondering what I need to do during the process to make up for the fact that I don't have the pump. Any recommendations?

Anvil does sell the Recirculation Pump Kit separately.

And this Yeast and the Beast video has links to an alternative pump, hoses, and QDs.
 
Thank you sir. Will prob order it all tommorow. Been working on perfecting my honey wheat recipe. Pale malt, flaked wheat, honey malt. Followed hallertau hops. Some orange peel cinnamon and allspice at flameout and orange blssom honey in the ferment. Turns out fantastic.
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I have been using a false bottom and bag for several brews now. I see many are having success using the bag only without a false bottom. Even if the bag can take it doesn't this have an ill effect on recirculation?
 
I have been using a false bottom and bag for several brews now. I see many are having success using the bag only without a false bottom. Even if the bag can take it doesn't this have an ill effect on recirculation?
I agree, that's always been my worry. Plus I like to keep the dip tube pointed horizontally during the mash and not down so not sure it wouldn't catch. False bottom works well for me.
 
I would also expect a false bottom to work better from this standpoint. I mean - it kind of has to. If you care at all about consistency / uniformity, and maybe even accuracy from a temperature standpoint, a false bottom would be expected to help across the board.

If you stir the mash a lot, and are positive it's all getting mixed around and evenly extracted from, you don't exactly need the recirculation. But even if you don't burn the bag I'd think you won't have even heating (pretty hot on the bottom, pretty cool on top, relatively speaking). So you'd maybe want the element off. Then you just have a glorified Igloo.

Do you have to keep the bag up? No. Do you have to recirculate? No. Can you still make yummy beer? For sure. Will a false bottom help keep things even and consistent? Seems like for sure there as well.
 
Ok I pulled the trigger on the 10.5 in August and did my first brew today. I’m currently running it through the cleaning cycle and thought I’d report. There are a few things I know I want to upgrade- first the hoses for the chiller need to go! I initially had water spraying from the inlet all over( fortunately not into the wort!) I tightened the hose clamp some and that helped. Next is a bag! I wanted to keep it simple as this was my first brew( a kit from NB) but there was a lot of grain that got into the wort. Also cleaning the basket of all the grain was a pain! I didn’t spare also. The recirculating plate worked well but that bastard is sharp! Sliced my finger on the edge so I think I might do a dispersal tip like short circuit brewer did. Now here is where I need some help. If anyone can direct me to some information on how to use BeerSmith that would be helpful. I put the foundry as my equipment but am unsure of what to use as a mash profile. I ended up using the biab and the water amount was almost identical to the foundry directions. In the end I was very close on original gravity and amount into the fermentor so I call it a success!
 
Congratulations on your first brew. I was given a mill by a guy that brewed all grain on 3 vessel system and he did not stuck the mash so I did not change the settings. Had worked great and I don't end up with a bunch of grain in the boil. When you give it a few stirs during the mash did you accidentally stir too deep or not let it sit 10 minutes after mashing in before turning on the pump? Yes those hoses are way to soft, I will be replacing them before even using it. Using my NB 25' chiller right now.
I learned long ago on a production floor to always check and break the edges of sheet metal with a fine stone.
I will say that if you use the basket be careful of the legs, luckily they use multiple spot welds on them because the welds on one side have broken free
 
Congratulations on your first brew. I was given a mill by a guy that brewed all grain on 3 vessel system and he did not stuck the mash so I did not change the settings. Had worked great and I don't end up with a bunch of grain in the boil. When you give it a few stirs during the mash did you accidentally stir too deep or not let it sit 10 minutes after mashing in before turning on the pump? Yes those hoses are way to soft, I will be replacing them before even using it. Using my NB 25' chiller right now.
I learned long ago on a production floor to always check and break the edges of sheet metal with a fine stone.
I will say that if you use the basket be careful of the legs, luckily they use multiple spot welds on them because the welds on one side have broken free
Didn’t stir any grain into its just there was a lot of real fine crush in it. I will probably be looking into a mill sometime down the road
 
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I'm planning on brewing with the Anvil Foundry for the first time. I will be using a brew bag. Do I put the bag in the malt pipe or do I use the bag instead of the malt pipe?

I'm sort of hoping I can use the bag in the malt pipe because I'll be putting pumpkin puree in the bag (making a pumpkin ale) and the bag will probably be difficult to lift. I'm hoping I can just lift the malt pipe and let it sit there and drain.
 
I'm sort of hoping I can use the bag in the malt pipe because I'll be putting pumpkin puree in the bag (making a pumpkin ale) and the bag will probably be difficult to lift. I'm hoping I can just lift the malt pipe and let it sit there and drain.

You can do it this way, many others do. Or pipe only, or bag only. They all work, with their own pros and cons, but all work.
 
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I'm planning on brewing with the Anvil Foundry for the first time. I will be using a brew bag. Do I put the bag in the malt pipe or do I use the bag instead of the malt pipe?

I'm sort of hoping I can use the bag in the malt pipe because I'll be putting pumpkin puree in the bag (making a pumpkin ale) and the bag will probably be difficult to lift. I'm hoping I can just lift the malt pipe and let it sit there and drain.
Not a dumb question at all! If you read thia thread there is quite a debate on the pros and cons as Tracer mentions above.

I will say this- be careful if using the bag without a malt pipe as you might scorch your bag/grains/etc. i think this is an issue- and why folks on here use a false bottom OR really good clamps.

I would use the malt pipe for sure with puree. Sounds like a fun brew day!
Pumpkin spice everything is around the corner!!
 
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I'm planning on brewing with the Anvil Foundry for the first time. I will be using a brew bag. Do I put the bag in the malt pipe or do I use the bag instead of the malt pipe?

I'm sort of hoping I can use the bag in the malt pipe because I'll be putting pumpkin puree in the bag (making a pumpkin ale) and the bag will probably be difficult to lift. I'm hoping I can just lift the malt pipe and let it sit there and drain.

Good luck with your virgin brew day on the foundry! Is this a 6.5gal or 10.5gal system? As @Nate R mentioned above, peeps have used many different configurations with this with good success. Ive brewed with just the malt pipe, a bag inside the malt-pipe, and with the bag and a brewzilla false bottom. I can't speak to using the bag without any sort of false bottom personally but: 1) there is likely increased potential (not definite) for scorching without a false bottom or malt-pipe, 2) I am not sure if wort flow through the dip tube might be affected if a bag is pressed against it, and it also depends on the orientation of your dip tube during the mash. So IMO, there would be a higher risk of major issues trying the bag only for your first brew on this system.

If you read through lots of this thread you will probably see just as many people saying "cleaning the malt-pipe is easier than bag" compared to "cleaning a bag is easier than malt-pipe" lol. I personally didn't make my decisions based on ease of cleaning.

Question: are you running this with a sparge? If so, you would need a plan as to how you would accomplish this if you are not using the malt-pipe. Would you do a dunk sparge with the bag? Or drain the wort to a second vessel while keeping the bag in place? The malt-pipe does make it easier to sparge with for sure. If not sparging and not using the malt-pipe, you still need a plan for hoisting the bag. So the final answer really depends on your process.

I would recommend the bag inside the malt-pipe for your first brew overall. See how you like it. The malt-pipe is easy to rest at the top for sparging or simply draining while you ramp up temps for the boil. I also agree that if you are adding pumpkin puree without the bag that might not end of well.

What I do love about this system is that it IS flexible in how you want your process to be. So start with bag in malt-pipe and go from there.

Good luck and keep us posted!
 
Ok I pulled the trigger on the 10.5 in August and did my first brew today. I’m currently running it through the cleaning cycle and thought I’d report. There are a few things I know I want to upgrade- first the hoses for the chiller need to go! I initially had water spraying from the inlet all over( fortunately not into the wort!) I tightened the hose clamp some and that helped. Next is a bag! I wanted to keep it simple as this was my first brew( a kit from NB) but there was a lot of grain that got into the wort. Also cleaning the basket of all the grain was a pain! I didn’t spare also. The recirculating plate worked well but that bastard is sharp! Sliced my finger on the edge so I think I might do a dispersal tip like short circuit brewer did. Now here is where I need some help. If anyone can direct me to some information on how to use BeerSmith that would be helpful. I put the foundry as my equipment but am unsure of what to use as a mash profile. I ended up using the biab and the water amount was almost identical to the foundry directions. In the end I was very close on original gravity and amount into the fermentor so I call it a success!
Ok I pulled the trigger on the 10.5 in August and did my first brew today. I’m currently running it through the cleaning cycle and thought I’d report. There are a few things I know I want to upgrade- first the hoses for the chiller need to go! I initially had water spraying from the inlet all over( fortunately not into the wort!) I tightened the hose clamp some and that helped. Next is a bag! I wanted to keep it simple as this was my first brew( a kit from NB) but there was a lot of grain that got into the wort. Also cleaning the basket of all the grain was a pain! I didn’t spare also. The recirculating plate worked well but that bastard is sharp! Sliced my finger on the edge so I think I might do a dispersal tip like short circuit brewer did. Now here is where I need some help. If anyone can direct me to some information on how to use BeerSmith that would be helpful. I put the foundry as my equipment but am unsure of what to use as a mash profile. I ended up using the biab and the water amount was almost identical to the foundry directions. In the end I was very close on original gravity and amount into the fermentor so I call it a success!
Rick S mentioned he was uploading a Beersmith Profile for you 👍 Anvil actually did profiles for their Foundry (6.5 & 10) on Beersmith maybe a year ago. I’ve been using it since that time and find it to be spot on. If you don’t see it you may want to send Brad (BeerSmith) an email. You may need to check your version and ensure you can access their info from the Cloud.

Cheers 🍻

KBW.
 
Before Anvil once in a while I use to brew double batches with my oldest son in my 15 gallon Boilermaker. About a couple weeks ago I set up dueling 10.5 Foundries to brew a Zombie Dust clone. I visit a couple places regularly to try to up my game. So I treated my water and he didn't, I used a bag without the pipe - he used the pipe, I recirculated with my RipTide - he forgot his Anvil pump so I rigged up an old $10 small x-fer pump, I mixed my grain very well every 10 minutes for first 30 minutes - he just mixed the top 1/3, I used these enclosed hop capsules that submerge and he used a 6" diameter basket (I've had this theory that boiloff is reduced due to smaller surface area with the bigger basket), and I dunk sparged in a big vessel and he just pulled the basket up and did a pour over.

My mash pH was 5.2 and his was 5.6 but our mash efficiencies were the same (actually his was 0.3% better), my theory was wrong - his boiloff was a little higher than mine, and my BHE was slightly higher than his but still within measurement error. So much for the science of brewing.

In a few weeks we will see who the winner is. We did this last year and our clone tasted better than the real thing!
Hey MBG - who was the winner? Salivating beer lovers would like to knowl 🥴

If you have a recipe that was better than original please share...if you already have, my apologies. I’ll fire up the Foundry and try the clone 👍

Cheers🍻

KBW.
 
I suffered a brew day disaster today. I milled my grains, mashed-in at 122 degrees for a multi-step mash schedule and after 20 minutes at 122, I raised the Foundry temperature to 149 degrees. The system got the mash up to 131 degrees and then abruptly shut-off with an E3 error.
Having no idea what that was, I got out the manual and saw that E3 meant that the unit was operating without water and to "flip the unit over and push the reset." Obviously, it was being operated with 6.3 gallons of water and I couldn't flip it over with the mash in it. However, I was able to tilt it up enough to press the reset. I reset the Foundry temperature to 149 degrees, but the ACT displayed on the Foundry screen read 160 degrees. I used my digital probe, and it had the actual mash temp at 121 degrees. There was nothing I could do to cause the Foundry to display the correct temperature, so I was forced to abort and dump 9 lbs of mashed-in grains.
😪
The area around the temp sensor was perfectly clean.
What possibly could be wrong with the Foundry?
 
I suffered a brew day disaster today. I milled my grains, mashed-in at 122 degrees for a multi-step mash schedule and after 20 minutes at 122, I raised the Foundry temperature to 149 degrees. The system got the mash up to 131 degrees and then abruptly shut-off with an E3 error.
Having no idea what that was, I got out the manual and saw that E3 meant that the unit was operating without water and to "flip the unit over and push the reset." Obviously, it was being operated with 6.3 gallons of water and I couldn't flip it over with the mash in it. However, I was able to tilt it up enough to press the reset. I reset the Foundry temperature to 149 degrees, but the ACT displayed on the Foundry screen read 160 degrees. I used my digital probe, and it had the actual mash temp at 121 degrees. There was nothing I could do to cause the Foundry to display the correct temperature, so I was forced to abort and dump 9 lbs of mashed-in grains.
😪
The area around the temp sensor was perfectly clean.
What possibly could be wrong with the Foundry?

I had this same error show on my last brew.... freaked me out, but just unplugged and plugged back in hoping it would reset itself and it worked!!!! Not sure what caused it, but plugged mash temp back in and had no other problems throughout the rest of boil. No need to reset the button on bottom!!!
 
I suffered a brew day disaster today. I milled my grains, mashed-in at 122 degrees for a multi-step mash schedule and after 20 minutes at 122, I raised the Foundry temperature to 149 degrees. The system got the mash up to 131 degrees and then abruptly shut-off with an E3 error.
Having no idea what that was, I got out the manual and saw that E3 meant that the unit was operating without water and to "flip the unit over and push the reset." Obviously, it was being operated with 6.3 gallons of water and I couldn't flip it over with the mash in it. However, I was able to tilt it up enough to press the reset. I reset the Foundry temperature to 149 degrees, but the ACT displayed on the Foundry screen read 160 degrees. I used my digital probe, and it had the actual mash temp at 121 degrees. There was nothing I could do to cause the Foundry to display the correct temperature, so I was forced to abort and dump 9 lbs of mashed-in grains.
😪
The area around the temp sensor was perfectly clean.
What possibly could be wrong with the Foundry?
What was the total mash volume for this batch? Grains + strike water? By my calcs, I believe the malt pipe for the 10.5gal foundry is 7gallons. So was your total mash volume less than 7gallons? Ive never had this error in about 45 brews but Ive always had greater volume than the malt-pipe can handle so if the mash got stuck, the water would overflow and render any chance of a dry fire (E3) null. My guess would be is that you recirculated way to fast and compacted the grain bed on this brew and the remaining water filled the malt-pipe to the brim. Start recirculation very slow, ramp up a little when stepping but it also helps to stir at least the top of the grain bed to avoid compaction and stuck mashes.
 
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