Blichmann BrewEasy Brewing Challenges

[pegasusherd]

Hi All,
I bought the BrewEasy (5-gal) in 2016 around the time it first came out. I used it a few times without ever truly dialing in my process, and after many years hiatus, I started again in 2023. Unfortunately, I still have yet to get my process fully dialed in, and would love some feedback from anyone who uses the system successfully.

(1) Mash-In. I calculate water temp with BeerSmith paying attention to also input correct gain temp. At first, when grain is sitting ~10 min in MT with ~50% of the water (the other 50% is below in BK), the temp is significantly low. Once I start recirculation, I have a lot of trouble getting MT up to correct mash temp. A few observations:
-- I think some heat is lost during the 10-15 min mash-in (prior to recirculation). This could probably be remedied by mashing in with water a few degrees hotter.
-- I’ve been making beers with a fair amount of wheat, oats, etc. and have had some issues with slow or stuck mashes. This contributes to the problem because the MT temp is initially low and when I cannot get the recirculation going quickly, the temp keeps falling.

(2) Big Beers. For the first time I tried making a beer with a LOT of grain in the mash. 9 lbs two row, 3 lbs carapils, 5 lbs flaked oats, and 1.5 lbs rice hulls (pre-soaked). Many of the problems above were exacerbated and then some. MT temp was low to begin with. Had some trouble getting the recirculation going cleanly and by this time, MT was even lower and so the Boil Kettle had to ramp up temps very high (180 at one point) to get the MT back to temp. I assume this denatured a good portion of the enzymes because after a very long mash, I had absolutely terrible efficiency and ended up needing to compensate with DME.

Overall, I think the solution is to get the recirculation started rapidly after the 10-15 min mash-in period. Rather than trying to perfect this with simple recipes, I’ve been using lots of wheat, oats, etc. which is not helping the process.

Overall, to any BrewEasy users out there, any tips for (1) mash-in and (2) big beers that you can share? Thanks for reading, and for any suggestions you may have.

Chris

 

[Jag75]

I use a Grainfather, basically same type of system (aio) . You should have your full amount of water when you mash in . Your grain will drop the temp , especially if you only have 50% of the water in it.

Dough in shouldn't take 10-15. The quicker you start your recirc the better . When i brew 3bbls the dough in to recirculation is probably 10 min tops .

 

[pegasusherd]

I use a Grainfather, basically same type of system (aio) . You should have your full amount of water when you mash in . Your grain will drop the temp , especially if you only have 50% of the water in it.

Dough in shouldn't take 10-15. The quicker you start your recirc the better . When i brew 3bbls the dough in to recirculation is probably 10 min tops .

Hi @Jag75 , thanks for the feedback. I believe one key difference (if I understand GF correctly) between BrewEasy and Grainfather is that BE is two vessel. So when I mash in, the full volume of water is actually in the system, but it's split about 50/50 between MT and boil kettle. So that was my reference to ~50% of the water ...

Noted you dough in for 10 mins max. Realistically, 10 mins is probably what I do. Despite my impatience to get going, I have been trying to wait at least 10 mins to let the grain bed settle to mitigate stuck mash.

 

[Bobby_M]

1. Start with most of your water in the mash with just enough in the BK to cover the element with about 1/2" of wort. Be absolutely sure the autosparge is set perfectly so that you cannot drop the BK level to expose the element.

2. Be sure you calculate your strike water temperature via software to land at your desired first rest temp at dough in to prevent having to chase it.

3. No need to wait a full 15 minutes before recirculating. Give it 3 minutes after you stop stirring to settle and create a loose filter bed, then ramp up the flow very slowly.

The conundrum with K-RIMS designs is that the mash operates as a full volume mash, "no sparge" from a total water calculation perspective (total volume and water salts/acid/pH) but the initial temperature calculation has to only consider the volume that's in the mash tun if you leave them isolated for too long. That's why you're seeing such a low temperature. If you get it recirculating earlier, you can calculate the strike temp at the full volume. If you want to wait, you'll have to set the software as a batch sparge where the "sparge" volume is what's in the kettle and the strike is what's in the tun. You'll hit the initial numbers better that way. I hope that makes sense.

Finally, when you're tired of fiddling with that thing, remove the mash tun and put a bag in the boil kettle.

 

[k c]

I know this was posted a while ago, but I've been brewing on the 5 gallon BrewEasy since just about when it came out, and I have it dialed in pretty good so figured I'd give some insights on what works well for me.

• I use Brewfather to calculate the mash water strike temp (100% of the water in the kettle and the float set towards the upper limit depending on the amount of grain). My grain is usually sitting at about 67 degrees when I start, but I found by the time it gets ground and mixed up in the pail, it warms up to room temp, so I set the grain temp in the BrewEasy equipment profile to 70 degrees. When I use that setting, the temp is exactly on after I add the grains. For this example (Imperial Stout) , the strike temp was 158.7, the saccharification temp was 151, and the mash out was 167.
• I use a 1.5 BrewEasy Orifice in the downspout.
• I use a Spike Grain Mill set on 4 for my grain milling, and I never run the flaked oats or flaked wheat through the mill, I just add those in whole as they are already "flaked".
• Don't add your grains until the mash kettle water temp is stable at the target strike temp. In this example, that is 158.7. When it is stable and you are ready to add grains, drop the PID temp setting down to your target saccharification temp (plus whatever loss you have, in my case that is 2 degrees, so I set the PID to 153).
• When you add grains, keep the circulation running full time. I've heard of some people stopping the flow to add grains and then start it back up again, but I've found through the years that I simply add the grains 1 cupful at a time into the flowing mash water, and they settle themselves well with the flowing water. The grains being added cool the water as it is flowing through the system. After I'm done adding grains, I give one stir about 50% deep into the grain bed with a paddle, and that's it... I cover the kettle, check the target temp on the mash kettle (which will read 151 now), and start the fermentation timers.
• I typically use a 2-step mash with saccharification at 151 degrees (in this case) for 60 minutes. Then I heat the water to 167 and when the upper kettle reads 167, I start the mash out timer (10 minutes). Heating the water for mash out can be a little slow, so what I do is set the PID 10 degrees over target, and when the PID temp sensor hits my target temp, I back the PID back down to 2 degrees over target. This slight overshoot works great and by the time the temp settles to the mash out target in the mash kettle (168 in this case), the PID is stabilized pushing 169 degree water through (I lose about 2 degrees in the flow, so I always set the PID 2 degrees over my target temp). With this process, I've never had a stuck mash (knock on wood).
• After the mash out, I shut off the pump and let it drain.
  • If I'm in a hurry, I'll start to heat the wort while it is draining
  • If I'm doing a 2 part brew (sometimes I mash one night, and boil the next night) I'll just shut off the pump and coil and let it drain overnight which gives a teeny bit more efficiency.
• I get roughly 69-70% efficiency, so that is dialed into the equipment profile and the software adjusts the grain bill based on equipment efficiency. If I'm a little high or low, I just compensate in the boil, but generally I'm hitting right on target for the plato reading.
• On the big beers - you have a grain limit with the 5 gallon setup, but you can get a pretty good brew with that. I just did a 9 percent Imperial Stout and the kettle was full to the brim with a starting volume 9.3 gallons (which is about the most I've done). The grain bill was 18.3 lbs, and I don't think I could fit more in the mash kettle. If you need more OG than grain you can fit in the mash kettle will allow you, you have to augment with sugar during the boil... I'd say 18 lbs is just about the maximum this setup can do.

Hope this helps...
Ken

 

[BrewinSoldier]

I know this was posted a while ago, but I've been brewing on the 5 gallon BrewEasy since just about when it came out, and I have it dialed in pretty good so figured I'd give some insights on what works well for me.

• I use Brewfather to calculate the mash water strike temp (100% of the water in the kettle and the float set towards the upper limit depending on the amount of grain). My grain is usually sitting at about 67 degrees when I start, but I found by the time it gets ground and mixed up in the pail, it warms up to room temp, so I set the grain temp in the BrewEasy equipment profile to 70 degrees. When I use that setting, the temp is exactly on after I add the grains. For this example (Imperial Stout) , the strike temp was 158.7, the saccharification temp was 151, and the mash out was 167.
• I use a 1.5 BrewEasy Orifice in the downspout.
• I use a Spike Grain Mill set on 4 for my grain milling, and I never run the flaked oats or flaked wheat through the mill, I just add those in whole as they are already "flaked".
• Don't add your grains until the mash kettle water temp is stable at the target strike temp. In this example, that is 158.7. When it is stable and you are ready to add grains, drop the PID temp setting down to your target saccharification temp (plus whatever loss you have, in my case that is 2 degrees, so I set the PID to 153).
• When you add grains, keep the circulation running full time. I've heard of some people stopping the flow to add grains and then start it back up again, but I've found through the years that I simply add the grains 1 cupful at a time into the flowing mash water, and they settle themselves well with the flowing water. The grains being added cool the water as it is flowing through the system. After I'm done adding grains, I give one stir about 50% deep into the grain bed with a paddle, and that's it... I cover the kettle, check the target temp on the mash kettle (which will read 151 now), and start the fermentation timers.
• I typically use a 2-step mash with saccharification at 151 degrees (in this case) for 60 minutes. Then I heat the water to 167 and when the upper kettle reads 167, I start the mash out timer (10 minutes). Heating the water for mash out can be a little slow, so what I do is set the PID 10 degrees over target, and when the PID temp sensor hits my target temp, I back the PID back down to 2 degrees over target. This slight overshoot works great and by the time the temp settles to the mash out target in the mash kettle (168 in this case), the PID is stabilized pushing 169 degree water through (I lose about 2 degrees in the flow, so I always set the PID 2 degrees over my target temp). With this process, I've never had a stuck mash (knock on wood).
• After the mash out, I shut off the pump and let it drain.
  • If I'm in a hurry, I'll start to heat the wort while it is draining
  • If I'm doing a 2 part brew (sometimes I mash one night, and boil the next night) I'll just shut off the pump and coil and let it drain overnight which gives a teeny bit more efficiency.
• I get roughly 69-70% efficiency, so that is dialed into the equipment profile and the software adjusts the grain bill based on equipment efficiency. If I'm a little high or low, I just compensate in the boil, but generally I'm hitting right on target for the plato reading.
• On the big beers - you have a grain limit with the 5 gallon setup, but you can get a pretty good brew with that. I just did a 9 percent Imperial Stout and the kettle was full to the brim with a starting volume 9.3 gallons (which is about the most I've done). The grain bill was 18.3 lbs, and I don't think I could fit more in the mash kettle. If you need more OG than grain you can fit in the mash kettle will allow you, you have to augment with sugar during the boil... I'd say 18 lbs is just about the maximum this setup can do.

Hope this helps...
Ken

View attachment 866205

Hey Ken,

I’m going to bring this back up as I’m in the same boat.

I just bought a Breweasy 15/20G surface with the tower and flow control that mounts on the tower. I plan to use this primarily for 6.5 gallons into the fermenter, as well as an occasional 12 gallons or big 6.5 gallon batch of Imperial Stout.

I’ve been playing with it the past two days with just water making sure I don’t have any leaks and then checking flow rates/etc. Man am I having issues with keeping the flow rates even and with the temp differential between the mash tun and surface kettle. I’ve tried the .75 orfice and the 1.0 orfice. I’ve dialed the pump flow between .75gpm and 1.0gpm but the heat difference between the two kettles is like 15-20°. This makes me feel like I’ll never be able to do a step mash for lagers. I’m going to brew a Munich Helles tomorrow for an event so I’m keeping it simple with a 149° mash temp with a 168° mash out.

I’m also using a Spike mill and was going to start with 4.5 on that.

Curious if you are using a tower with the flow control, and if so what flow rate are you running that? If not, are you running the pump wide open with the 1.5 orfice, or are you choking it down?

 

[k c]

Hey Ken,

I’m going to bring this back up as I’m in the same boat.

I just bought a Breweasy 15/20G surface with the tower and flow control that mounts on the tower. I plan to use this primarily for 6.5 gallons into the fermenter, as well as an occasional 12 gallons or big 6.5 gallon batch of Imperial Stout.

I’ve been playing with it the past two days with just water making sure I don’t have any leaks and then checking flow rates/etc. Man am I having issues with keeping the flow rates even and with the temp differential between the mash tun and surface kettle. I’ve tried the .75 orfice and the 1.0 orfice. I’ve dialed the pump flow between .75gpm and 1.0gpm but the heat difference between the two kettles is like 15-20°. This makes me feel like I’ll never be able to do a step mash for lagers. I’m going to brew a Munich Helles tomorrow for an event so I’m keeping it simple with a 149° mash temp with a 168° mash out.

I’m also using a Spike mill and was going to start with 4.5 on that.

Curious if you are using a tower with the flow control, and if so what flow rate are you running that? If not, are you running the pump wide open with the 1.5 orfice, or are you choking it down?

I use a Blichmann pump and have it wide open. The 1.5 orifice seems to work great for me, and the temp sensor on the output of the pump runs about 1.5 to 2 degrees lower than the temp in the mash tun kettle, so I just set the PID to 2 degrees over my target. The temp on the gauge in the lower kettle doesn't really get used for me because most of the time it is out of the water anyway, so I just use the temp sensor on the outlet of the pump to control the PID. Can't imagine why your temp delta would be so high, it is a constant flow of water, so the delta should only be the heat loss between the 2 kettles (in my system with about 3 feet of silicone tubing, that is about 2 degrees). Are you sure your temp gauges are accurate? Have you tried other measurement mechanisms (like a BBQ pen or an infrared thermometer gun)?

 

[k c]

Hey Ken,

I’m going to bring this back up as I’m in the same boat.

I just bought a Breweasy 15/20G surface with the tower and flow control that mounts on the tower. I plan to use this primarily for 6.5 gallons into the fermenter, as well as an occasional 12 gallons or big 6.5 gallon batch of Imperial Stout.

I’ve been playing with it the past two days with just water making sure I don’t have any leaks and then checking flow rates/etc. Man am I having issues with keeping the flow rates even and with the temp differential between the mash tun and surface kettle. I’ve tried the .75 orfice and the 1.0 orfice. I’ve dialed the pump flow between .75gpm and 1.0gpm but the heat difference between the two kettles is like 15-20°. This makes me feel like I’ll never be able to do a step mash for lagers. I’m going to brew a Munich Helles tomorrow for an event so I’m keeping it simple with a 149° mash temp with a 168° mash out.

I’m also using a Spike mill and was going to start with 4.5 on that.

Curious if you are using a tower with the flow control, and if so what flow rate are you running that? If not, are you running the pump wide open with the 1.5 orfice, or are you choking it down?

I use the Blichmann pump and leave it wide open. I use the 1.5 orifice and it seems to work great for all of my brews. I have a thermocouple at the output of the pump, and that is what controls the PID. I get about 1.5 to 2 degree loss between the output and what I end up with in my mash tun kettle so I set the PID control to 2 degrees over my target. At temp it is incredibly stable. I don't use the temp gauge in the lower kettle at all because when there is no grain in the system, the lower gauge isn't even in the water, so it is kind of useless - thus I only use the thermocouple temp (via the PID) and the upper mash tun kettle temp (via the kettle gauge). I can't think of how you would get that big of a temp delta between the kettles - the thermal loss is just what you get in the hose going through the system and I can't imagine how that could be more than a few degrees. I lose about 1.5 degrees through 3 feet of silicone tubing between the thermocouple and the temp of the water in the mash tun. I'd question your temp gauges - have you double checked those with a thermo-pen or an infrared thermo-gun? The numbers don't make sense, you can't have that much heat loss through a simple pump and tube.

 

[BrewinSoldier]

I use the Blichmann pump and leave it wide open. I use the 1.5 orifice and it seems to work great for all of my brews. I have a thermocouple at the output of the pump, and that is what controls the PID. I get about 1.5 to 2 degree loss between the output and what I end up with in my mash tun kettle so I set the PID control to 2 degrees over my target. At temp it is incredibly stable. I don't use the temp gauge in the lower kettle at all because when there is no grain in the system, the lower gauge isn't even in the water, so it is kind of useless - thus I only use the thermocouple temp (via the PID) and the upper mash tun kettle temp (via the kettle gauge). I can't think of how you would get that big of a temp delta between the kettles - the thermal loss is just what you get in the hose going through the system and I can't imagine how that could be more than a few degrees. I lose about 1.5 degrees through 3 feet of silicone tubing between the thermocouple and the temp of the water in the mash tun. I'd question your temp gauges - have you double checked those with a thermo-pen or an infrared thermo-gun? The numbers don't make sense, you can't have that much heat loss through a simple pump and tube.

Yeah I think I have a few issues that need to be addressed.

1)The flow from mash tun to boil kettle. The 1.0 orfice isn’t enough. So the tower flow control I will throttle way down and the auto sparge stays closed most of the time. I’ll try the 1.5 orfice.

2) the temp delta has to do with a few things I believe. First being the above. Not enough water is circulating or circulating fast enough to be able to warm up the mash tun water. I also feel like this is due to the probe location on the surface. I feel like I need to move it to either the output of the pump or even on the tower flow control. That way it’s close to the mash tun. My worry having it too far from the surface is that the surface would heat up the wort too much. I’ll attach a picture of my setup and I’m curious what route you think would be better?

I do use a thermapen to check temps. I think it’s hard to dial in the system without grains in the mash tun. That may change things a little. I wanted to get the 10/10 system but they didn’t have it with the surface so I went up to the 15/20. I do know it’s causing issues with levels being low and the sensor not being fully submerged because of the volumes which is why I need to move the probe.

 

[Gary25]

BrewinSoldier, I also have the 15/20G Brew Easy (10 gallon batches). I use the 1.5 gallon orifice and it works well. There is a small temp drop between the kettle and the temp sensor (about 3 degrees) but my sensor is under the flow valve, just above the flow meter. Looks like yours is in the kettle(?). I ended up calibrating my sensor to match the mash tun, allowing me to set the brew commander to the actual mash temperature.

Put another way, during the mash the actual temperature of wort entering the top of the mash tun is about three degrees higher than the mash temp, keeping it stabilized at the desired mash temp.

I started with the 1.25 GPM orifice, but found the 1.5 GPM gave me a more consistent mash temp.

 

[Bobby_M]

It's impossible to separate the mash from the heat source without some system offset being in play but there's more heat loss in pure water than thick mash so it will get much better with an actual mash.

The probe is in the ideal location IF the inflow from the mash has enough velocity to stir the wort in the boil kettle. There are probably 10 different locations you COULD put the probe but they all have bigger downsides that ultimately lead to overheating or more likely cyclical under/over shoot.

Recirculation as fast as you can get away with will help. A couple layers of reflectix insulation on the tun will help. Keeping the lid on... etc.

 

[k c]

Yeah I think I have a few issues that need to be addressed.

1)The flow from mash tun to boil kettle. The 1.0 orfice isn’t enough. So the tower flow control I will throttle way down and the auto sparge stays closed most of the time. I’ll try the 1.5 orfice.

2) the temp delta has to do with a few things I believe. First being the above. Not enough water is circulating or circulating fast enough to be able to warm up the mash tun water. I also feel like this is due to the probe location on the surface. I feel like I need to move it to either the output of the pump or even on the tower flow control. That way it’s close to the mash tun. My worry having it too far from the surface is that the surface would heat up the wort too much. I’ll attach a picture of my setup and I’m curious what route you think would be better?

I do use a thermapen to check temps. I think it’s hard to dial in the system without grains in the mash tun. That may change things a little. I wanted to get the 10/10 system but they didn’t have it with the surface so I went up to the 15/20. I do know it’s causing issues with levels being low and the sensor not being fully submerged because of the volumes which is why I need to move the probe.View attachment 882556

Yeah I think I have a few issues that need to be addressed.

1)The flow from mash tun to boil kettle. The 1.0 orfice isn’t enough. So the tower flow control I will throttle way down and the auto sparge stays closed most of the time. I’ll try the 1.5 orfice.

2) the temp delta has to do with a few things I believe. First being the above. Not enough water is circulating or circulating fast enough to be able to warm up the mash tun water. I also feel like this is due to the probe location on the surface. I feel like I need to move it to either the output of the pump or even on the tower flow control. That way it’s close to the mash tun. My worry having it too far from the surface is that the surface would heat up the wort too much. I’ll attach a picture of my setup and I’m curious what route you think would be better?

I do use a thermapen to check temps. I think it’s hard to dial in the system without grains in the mash tun. That may change things a little. I wanted to get the 10/10 system but they didn’t have it with the surface so I went up to the 15/20. I do know it’s causing issues with levels being low and the sensor not being fully submerged because of the volumes which is why I need to move the probe.View attachment 882556

It looks like you put your thermocouple in the brew kettle - I would think that should be at the output of the pump. It looks like it is sitting right above the heating coils so it may be giving you much higher readings than what is actually flowing out through the pump. I would move that and plug the hole, or simply add another thermo-couple to the pump output and use that as the controller. This is where mine is mounted:

 

[Bobby_M]

It looks like you put your thermocouple in the brew kettle - I would think that should be at the output of the pump. It looks like it is sitting right above the heating coils so it may be giving you much higher readings than what is actually flowing out through the pump. I would move that and plug the hole, or simply add another thermo-couple to the pump output and use that as the controller. This is where mine is mounted:

As I was suggesting, pros and cons to every probe location.

In the kettle, it's hopefully reading a average temp of all the wort that is in that kettle BUT is has to be actively stirring for that to be true. With a decent flow in from the mash tun it should be swirling pretty good.
Con: If the wort isn't moving enough, it could be reading hot or cold spots.

In the pump plumbing loop:
Pro: In theory it's pulling wort of average temperature so less hot/cold spotting.

Con: If the pump fails or clogs and you lose flow, it will call for heat forever and cook your wort.

In my opinion I'd rather leave the probe in the boil kettle and use a tee on the pump output to feed back into the kettle whirlpool to more aggressively stir that zone. That eliminates the "con" of a kettle probe.

 

[BrewinSoldier]

As I was suggesting, pros and cons to every probe location.

In the kettle, it's hopefully reading a average temp of all the wort that is in that kettle BUT is has to be actively stirring for that to be true. With a decent flow in from the mash tun it should be swirling pretty good.
Con: If the wort isn't moving enough, it could be reading hot or cold spots.

In the pump plumbing loop:
Pro: In theory it's pulling wort of average temperature so less hot/cold spotting.

Con: If the pump fails or clogs and you lose flow, it will call for heat forever and cook your wort.

In my opinion I'd rather leave the probe in the boil kettle and use a tee on the pump output to feed back into the kettle whirlpool to more aggressively stir that zone. That eliminates the "con" of a kettle probe.

That's actually a really good idea. I may give that a go.

 

[BrewinSoldier]

So a little update. After playing around with the temps(I moved the probe to the tee right above the flow glass), I seemed to get the temp dialed in. Definitely not something I can set and walk off like I can on my 3 vessel, but once I get it dialed in it holds well. I have a Thermoworks RFX with a 12" probe I put in the mash to monitor and see where I'm at. Id say it works well once you get it where you want and figure out how to manipulate the temp differential. I've also used some of the tricks above like setting to 10 degrees over to get up to mash out then kicking back down.


I have run into a few other issues though so looking for some advice on those.

1) My pH is way off using Brewfather. I've never had that issue before on any of my other systems. I'm wondering if it's because of how the system works and it's not mashing full volume? But both batches have been almost .2 off of what Brewfather says. Has anyone else had this issue? I've corrected by adding more lactic to the mash tun after seeing the high numbers. Brewfather has been pretty dead on with that on how much more to add, but I'd like to get it right the first time around.

2) This last batch I got quite a bit of grains into the boil kettle. The first batch I had zero. Same mill(Spike Pro) and same crush size(4.5) on both batches. I'm thinking about trying to put a long mesh net on the sparge arm to catch all the initial grains. Any tricks to this? I tried the adding one cup at a time on the first batch which worked great, but it was a pretty small grain bill. This one had a large bill and would've taken forever doing it that way so I did the dump and stir method.

3) My volumes are way off. I've been working on trying to dial this in so that I get 6 gallons on clear wort into the unitank. I'm having a really hard time doing that for some reason. I'm running 80% power during the boil(I'm in northern Idaho so boil is like 208 here). For instance, this batch I was supposed to end up with 7 gallons into the fermenter. I figured since it was an IPA and I'd have more wort lost to hops, I bumped it up to 7 so that I could get 6 into the fermenter. Well after chilling, I had just under the 7 gallon mark in the kettle. I only got 5 gallons into the fermenter which sucks because I still have to dryhop so I'm going to lose more there. May only end up with 4 into the keg. I adjusted the batch size from 6 gallons to 7 gallons this last batch, I adjusted boil off to 1.25gph(@80%), and I adjusted mash tun loss to .5 gallons. I filled my CFC up with wort and drained it out into a measuring jug because it's a big CFC and I thought I was losing a bunch there, but it's only .25 gallons so not much. I bumped trub/chiller loss up from .75 to 1.5 for this next batch. Doing all this dropped my brewhouse efficiency down to 59.4 though. At our scale I don't care about an extra few bucks in grain, but after a long brewday, I want a full 6 gallons into the unitank. Just having a hard time getting that for some reason. Any suggestions or anything I'm missing with that?

I'm going to brew batch 3(cold IPA) as soon as I can make it down to the LHBS next week hopefully and will try to implement whatever advice is given.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Bobby_M]

Share your last recipe via the "share" button on brewfather so we can see all the parameters in detail including the equipment profile. If you're short on volumes at the end, one of the losses parameters is set incorrectly. You set a 1.25 boil off. Is that what you measured? The sightglass gives you direct measurement of your preboil and post boil volumes so that should be easy to verify and correct.

The pH issue might be an equipment profile problem as well. It should be set to No Sparge.

 

[Gary25]

When I started with my BrewEasy a few years ago, I documented my process and also kept records of volumes, pH, temperatures, etc to help dial in the system. For example, for and IPA, I typically need 12.1 gallons of wort into my fermenter to get 10 gallons of IPA into two kegs. At any rate, I've attached a PDF with both the process I use and the stat sheets I keep on each brew. You may find them helpful.

 

[BrewinSoldier]

Share your last recipe via the "share" button on brewfather so we can see all the parameters in detail including the equipment profile. If you're short on volumes at the end, one of the losses parameters is set incorrectly. You set a 1.25 boil off. Is that what you measured? The sightglass gives you direct measurement of your preboil and post boil volumes so that should be easy to verify and correct.

The pH issue might be an equipment profile problem as well. It should be set to No Sparge.

Here's the recipe. The boil off I measured and is set in the profile. I will say I bumped the trub/chiller loss up from .75 to 1.75 now after this batch. Everything else is the same. Curious to know what you think. I appreciate it man.

https://share.brewfather.app/YnaLynbA3RfgRx

 

[BrewinSoldier]

When I started with my BrewEasy a few years ago, I documented my process and also kept records of volumes, pH, temperatures, etc to help dial in the system. For example, for and IPA, I typically need 12.1 gallons of wort into my fermenter to get 10 gallons of IPA into two kegs. At any rate, I've attached a PDF with both the process I use and the stat sheets I keep on each brew. You may find them helpful.

I'm actually helping a buddy brew today. Getting him started in the water chemistry world. I try to help where I can because I hate seeing this hobby die. I will definitely check that out when I get home.

I've been trying to dial in my numbers. I'd really like to dial in this system. I'm actually thinking of getting a bag for the mash tun to prevent ANY grain from getting into the kettle.

 

[Gary25]

I've been trying to dial in my numbers. I'd really like to dial in this system. I'm actually thinking of getting a bag for the mash tun to prevent ANY grain from getting into the kettle.

I have not had any issues with grain getting into the kettle. I have followed the recommended 10 minute rest after dough in, then recirculate for 60 minutes followed by mash out. Seems to work fine.

My numbers are pretty dialed in, so I’m sure you’ll solve that in short order. OG can be a point or two off the estimated value, but otherwise no issues.