Blichmann BrewEasy

[hmattar]

There is absolutely something wrong. I can fill my BK to the top with 20 gallons of water and have it to a rolling boil in about 20 minutes, without the lid on. at full power the boil coil with fog out my garage (as seen in my video) and boil off 2+ gallons per hour.

Check to make sure you have it turned up to "ON" power, and also that the toggle switch is turned up to "ON". Beyond that its got to be an issue with your electrical source or a defective boil coil.

The results you described are what I would expect from a 120V version

I did a test on the Auto mode.
It tooke me 12 min and 30 sec to go from 45Celsius(113F), to 65C(149F)
and i just had 9 gallons of water in the Kettle.

I used the Multimeter in the outlet and I got 220v in my outlet(220v is the standard here in Brazil, I think you guys in US got 240v).

If I have a faulty Tower of Power or Boilcoil it will be a pain in the ass to send back to US for repair.


EDIT: When I followed the Manual to change from Fahrenheit to Celsius, I saw a lot of different settings in the TP menu. Maybe there's something there that could fix this and save me the trouble of sendint it back? The manual does not explain any of these settings except the one to change from Fahrenheit to Celsius.

 

[flokason]

What you're planning is correct. I actually have 2 different hoses for my setup...

-For transferring wort from the kettle to the conical, I have a length of hose that has a Blichmann Thrumometer on it... which i highly recommend by the way.

..problem with the thrumometer is you can only run liquid up to 140 degrees through it.

-I have a second length of hose that I use mainly for cleaning purposes, when I recirculate PBW at 200 degrees, or even to run used cleaning liquid out of the garage and into the driveway.... you can see it in the video when I sanitized the conical, instead of trying to lift 20 gallons of spent starsan and dumping it, I just hook that long hose up to it and run it out of the garage.


The thrumometer hose stays sanitized, and I usually have no reason to sanitize the other.

By the way, buy silicone brewing hose. I get mine from MoreBeer. It's expensive, but there's no going back to that brittle, cheap plastic junk once you use it.









Just did the math today, 97.5 gallons of beer produced with the BrewEasy to date. Will break 100 next week!

Thanks again

I bought 8ft og silicone brewing hose to go from the therminator to the conical. I don't have theThruMeter, I'll maybe buy it later. I do have a Thermapen and will monitor the temperature to the conical that way.

So when the mash is finished, I will have to pbw the recirculation hoses.
I was thinking I would fill the conical with hot PBW water. Then when the mash is finished, drain the conical through all the hoses and pump(recirc maybe), and then fill(Well maybe not fill, it is 26 Gallon, but alot atleast, maybe recirculate it) the conical with star san and then when the boil is almost finished drain the star san through all the hoses.

I have the 20 Gallon electric breweasy, 14 gallon blichmann fermentor with extension, so I can ferment 20 gallon in it. I have a coka cola fridge like you that the conical fits in.

Then I also have the Therminator, Hopblocker and tri clamp blow off for the conical

I will be using all of this equipment for the first time this weekend, I'm really excited
I'm planning on doing the Centennial Blonde recipe from this this site (I won't be needing a blow off for that )

 

[chewymatingcall]

flokason - how did the first 20 gallon batch go? What was your total brew day time? How was your efficiency and did you adjust your water?

 

[mfabe]

Ive got two brews under my belt with my new 10 gallon electric brew easy, but I'm averaging only about 65% efficiency. I hope that I can get that up to over 70... any tips/best practices from you guys with many brews under your belt on this system?

Ive been hitting my strike temps, and have not had any lautering problems. Ive also been raking the top 3-5"s of grain bed every 15 mins or so during the mash. The last brew I adjusted my linear valve to drain the final runnings very slowly into the BK as was mentioned earlier in the thread. I guess I might have to tighten up my crush as a next step. My wort has been ultra clear and the brews have come out fantastic, just looking to squeeze a few more efficiency points!

as a side note both brew's grists have been heavy on wheat (Belgian wit and Dunkelweiss). I might see better results with a more traditional grist composition?

I will say that the BE has cut down my brew length to roughly 4 hours WITH cleaning. Shaved 2 hours off my previous system. I'm loving the system so far.

 

[flokason]

flokason - how did the first 20 gallon batch go? What was your total brew day time? How was your efficiency and did you adjust your water?

The first 20 gallon batch went really well. I mashed at 65°c, had the temp controller set at 67.7°c and my mash was stable at 65°c the whole time.
The whole process was really smooth and I really liked the system.

They whole brewday was quite long since I was setting up the system for the first time.. did a run with water, had to set up the electricity and that all.

But the time from adding the grain to the water at strike temperature to be finished to transfer the wort to the conical (through the therminator) was about 3.5hours
Pretty good for the first time using a new system

My effiency was about 72%

I did the centennial blonde recipe from this site

I added 20gr Gypsum, 35gr Calc. Chloride and 20gr Epson salt
That gives me 5.45 pH mash according to EZ water
Resulting water profile according to EZ water:
Calcium 142ppm
Mg 19ppm
Sodium 2ppm
Chloride 174ppm
Sulfate 195ppm
Chloride /Sulfate ratio 0,89

 

[hmattar]

In the tower of power panel, right next to where it says "heat" there's "AT" and if you press enter it asks if you want to enable.
Mine is off by default.

What this AT means?

 

[strangr419]

Just did the math today, 97.5 gallons of beer produced with the BrewEasy to date. Will break 100 next week![/QUOTE]

I brewed 10 this weekend too so we're over 100

 

[strangr419]

First off this forum is phenomenal. This appears to be the only place in the known universe we can get real assistance with the process of using the new BE. This has been invaluable.

QUESTION: I brewed my third batch on the BE this weekend. I had trouble getting the RIMS to circulate. The pump seemed to not pull and would not establish pressure/vacuum to begin pulling off the boil kettle/HLT. I disconnected then reconnected everything. Nothing. Tried swapping the hoses and connections, reconnecting the plastic clamps that came with the system. Nada. Finally I disconnected the probe attachment to the pump and reapplied plumbers tape and retightened. I then pumped the lines with my hand by squeezing the silicone hose going from the pump to the MT and it started flowing.

Anyone else have this problem and if so what did you do to establish suction/vacuum/pressure in the RIMS hoses during mash? Thank you!

 

[hmattar]

First off this forum is phenomenal. This appears to be the only place in the known universe we can get real assistance with the process of using the new BE. This has been invaluable.

QUESTION: I brewed my third batch on the BE this weekend. I had trouble getting the RIMS to circulate. The pump seemed to not pull and would not establish pressure/vacuum to begin pulling off the boil kettle/HLT. I disconnected then reconnected everything. Nothing. Tried swapping the hoses and connections, reconnecting the plastic clamps that came with the system. Nada. Finally I disconnected the probe attachment to the pump and reapplied plumbers tape and retightened. I then pumped the lines with my hand by squeezing the silicone hose going from the pump to the MT and it started flowing.

Anyone else have this problem and if so what did you do to establish suction/vacuum/pressure in the RIMS hoses during mash? Thank you!

Yes, but I had this problem with my pump even before Breweasy.
I usually take the silicone tube that goes all the way up and disconect from the autosparge and suck with my mouth. it gets the flow running.

 

[mash-mongrel]

First off this forum is phenomenal. This appears to be the only place in the known universe we can get real assistance with the process of using the new BE. This has been invaluable.

QUESTION: I brewed my third batch on the BE this weekend. I had trouble getting the RIMS to circulate. The pump seemed to not pull and would not establish pressure/vacuum to begin pulling off the boil kettle/HLT. I disconnected then reconnected everything. Nothing. Tried swapping the hoses and connections, reconnecting the plastic clamps that came with the system. Nada. Finally I disconnected the probe attachment to the pump and reapplied plumbers tape and retightened. I then pumped the lines with my hand by squeezing the silicone hose going from the pump to the MT and it started flowing.

Anyone else have this problem and if so what did you do to establish suction/vacuum/pressure in the RIMS hoses during mash? Thank you!

Yes, but I had this problem with my pump even before Breweasy.
I usually take the silicone tube that goes all the way up and disconect from the autosparge and suck with my mouth. it gets the flow running.

Me too, I basically did what hmattar suggested. I removed the hose from the auto-sparge on the MT and lowered it near the floor allowing gravity to siphon wort into the pump. Once the wort was passed the pump I returned the hose to the auto-sparge. This phenomenon is common and it is called Airlock, it happens in cooling systems of vehicles from time to time.

 

[hmattar]

There is absolutely something wrong. I can fill my BK to the top with 20 gallons of water and have it to a rolling boil in about 20 minutes, without the lid on. at full power the boil coil with fog out my garage (as seen in my video) and boil off 2+ gallons per hour.

Check to make sure you have it turned up to "ON" power, and also that the toggle switch is turned up to "ON". Beyond that its got to be an issue with your electrical source or a defective boil coil.

The results you described are what I would expect from a 120V version

I think I may have found my problem.
The Boilcoil is 5000W rated at 240v. Here in Brazil we have 220v. Using a calculator it shows that at 220V the BoilCoil will justs generate 4200W.
Using the same calculatotr, inputing my data(time to boil, etc) it shows that i'm getting 3800W. Maybe this 400W difference is due to efficiency or whatever.

:/

I have to check if I can install a 30GAL boilcoil in my 20GAL Boilermaker.
That way the calculator shows that I will get 4800W out of the 5700W boilcoil.

 

[flokason]

.




Once it's rinsed, I sanitize the chiller for it's next use, so I don't have to worry about it on brew day. I fill the kettle up with about 4 or so gallons of water, then add starsan. I cycle it thru the chiller and back into the kettle for a couple minutes, then i pump it thru the chiller and into the yard. When it has all cycled through, I use a sandwich bag, wrap it around the chiller ports, and secure it with tape... sealing the last bit of starsan in there. This way it's sanitized and ready to roll for the next brew day. I also bag and tape my "out" hose, so it is also sanitized for next use as well.

I was reading the therminator manual and it says:
Caution: StarSan users – this is an acid based sanitizer, and although it will not harm copper for short periods, it will harm the unit if exposed for extended periods. Prior to storage rinse the unit thoroughly (both wort and cooling water sides) with hot tap water to remove the residual sanitizer from the unit.

I had my therminator stored with star san like you said, but once I read this I went and rinsed it with water.
What is your opinion on this, is it ok to store star san in it?

 

[nooloo]

Just wanted say thanks for all the great info on the BE. Ordered a 10 gallon gas last week. Looking forward to it arriving and getting some hands on experience with it. I will make sure to follow up with my experiences.

 

[strangr419]

Me too, I basically did what hmattar suggested. I removed the hose from the auto-sparge on the MT and lowered it near the floor allowing gravity to siphon wort into the pump. Once the wort was passed the pump I returned the hose to the auto-sparge. This phenomenon is common and it is called Airlock, it happens in cooling systems of vehicles from time to time.

Thank you hmattar and mash-mongrel. I'll give that a try. Will try not to burn my mouth in the process, sounds dicey! LOL

 

[hmattar]

Thank you hmattar and mash-mongrel. I'll give that a try. Will try not to burn my mouth in the process, sounds dicey! LOL

hahaha I never did. Usually it get stucks at the beginning, while things are not that hot, you do it once and never have to worry again.

If you want, you can install a Tee at the pump output with another ball valve justs to bleed the air.

 

[The_Bishop]

You could also just push down the auto-sparge float so the valve opens, this will let the trapped air out.

 

[chewymatingcall]

I ordered the 20 gallon gas BrewEasy without the Tower of Power. The Tower of Power will follow in a couple months. I'm excited to be able to brew on my back porch instead of the front yard.

 

[BierHausPR]

After meticulously reading the entire thread, and brewing my first 12gal batch with a 20gal Gen1 electric BE, I began dialing in the losses into Beersmith.

My MT deadspace, after reading a prior post, was my biggest worry, since the dip tube arches up, and someone reported that the post-mash wort leftover in the MT was significant.

I discovered that if the MT valve is fully open, the siphon sucks almost completely the MT's contents into the kettle. If I throttle the valve, once the water level clears the top of the diptube, there are about 2-3 gals of water left over.

No throttling left about 3 cups of water in a 20gal Gen1 MT, which is significantly less than my prior 25gal custom built MT, which left about 1.25 gals in deadspace.

So, moral of the story is open wide your MT valve after mashout, and cut your deadspace losses.

Hope this helps!

 

[flokason]

After meticulously reading the entire thread, and brewing my first 12gal batch with a 20gal Gen1 electric BE, I began dialing in the losses into Beersmith.

My MT deadspace, after reading a prior post, was my biggest worry, since the dip tube arches up, and someone reported that the post-mash wort leftover in the MT was significant.

I discovered that if the MT valve is fully open, the siphon sucks almost completely the MT's contents into the kettle. If I throttle the valve, once the water level clears the top of the diptube, there are about 2-3 gals of water left over.

No throttling left about 3 cups of water in a 20gal Gen1 MT, which is significantly less than my prior 25gal custom built MT, which left about 1.25 gals in deadspace.

So, moral of the story is open wide your MT valve after mashout, and cut your deadspace losses.

Hope this helps!

Did you check out the BrewEasy equipment profile for Beersmith?
I downloaded them and used them. I didn't verify the deadloss numbers though. But now that you have done that, you could verify that profile

 

[BierHausPR]

Did you check out the BrewEasy equipment profile for Beersmith?
I downloaded them and used them. I didn't verify the deadloss numbers though. But now that you have done that, you could verify that profile

I haven't seen the profile. Please link me up!

 

[BierHausPR]

Nevermind. I found it! I'll check the losses and see if they correlate. :rockin:

 

[BierHausPR]

Beersmith's BE MT deadspace is set at .35gal, whereas my measurement was closer to .19gal. Not too much off, unless you wanna be nitpicky about it.

 

[strangr419]

Beersmith's BE MT deadspace is set at .35gal, whereas my measurement was closer to .19gal. Not too much off, unless you wanna be nitpicky about it.

Where exactly can that profile be found on BeerSmith 2? I assume it's in equipment profiles but I don't see a profile for the BE. I know I have the latst version of the software too because I checked for updates.
I have searched it and can't find the BE profile. I had to manually enter it and I'm not certain that's the best way to do it.

 

[BierHausPR]

Where exactly can that profile be found on BeerSmith 2? I assume it's in equipment profiles but I don't see a profile for the BE. I know I have the latst version of the software too because I checked for updates.
I have searched it and can't find the BE profile. I had to manually enter it and I'm not certain that's the best way to do it.

Profiles>Equipment>Add-ons

 

[mash-mongrel]

I ordered the 20 gallon gas BrewEasy without the Tower of Power. The Tower of Power will follow in a couple months. I'm excited to be able to brew on my back porch instead of the front yard.

I ordered a 15 gal and a 20 gal G2's with the stacking kit that came with the auto-sparge with intentions of manual throttling a propane burner at first with the electric Tower of Power controller and BoilCoil to follow. Only after one 10 gal batch freezing my a** outside I couldn't do another.

I just installed the BoilCoil and I'm testing how long it takes to boil water as I type. Imagine my excitement brewing in the basement with 5ft of snow outside the house although today's temperature is surprisingly 2 degrees Celsius and sunny but -25 windchill yesterday.

 

[Danam404]

The first 20 gallon batch went really well. I mashed at 65°c, had the temp controller set at 67.7°c and my mash was stable at 65°c the whole time.
The whole process was really smooth and I really liked the system.

They whole brewday was quite long since I was setting up the system for the first time.. did a run with water, had to set up the electricity and that all.

But the time from adding the grain to the water at strike temperature to be finished to transfer the wort to the conical (through the therminator) was about 3.5hours
Pretty good for the first time using a new system

My effiency was about 72%

I did the centennial blonde recipe from this site

I added 20gr Gypsum, 35gr Calc. Chloride and 20gr Epson salt
That gives me 5.45 pH mash according to EZ water
Resulting water profile according to EZ water:
Calcium 142ppm
Mg 19ppm
Sodium 2ppm
Chloride 174ppm
Sulfate 195ppm
Chloride /Sulfate ratio 0,89

Ive got two brews under my belt with my new 10 gallon electric brew easy, but I'm averaging only about 65% efficiency. I hope that I can get that up to over 70... any tips/best practices from you guys with many brews under your belt on this system?

Ive been hitting my strike temps, and have not had any lautering problems. Ive also been raking the top 3-5"s of grain bed every 15 mins or so during the mash. The last brew I adjusted my linear valve to drain the final runnings very slowly into the BK as was mentioned earlier in the thread. I guess I might have to tighten up my crush as a next step. My wort has been ultra clear and the brews have come out fantastic, just looking to squeeze a few more efficiency points!

as a side note both brew's grists have been heavy on wheat (Belgian wit and Dunkelweiss). I might see better results with a more traditional grist composition?

I will say that the BE has cut down my brew length to roughly 4 hours WITH cleaning. Shaved 2 hours off my previous system. I'm loving the system so far.

So after reading these two posts back to back, its seems like one of you checked pH and used water modifiers, the other did not.

ding ding ding.


this is the #1 most important efficiency factor with this system. It bumped my efficiency from the low 60's to the high 70's, consistently. Ive even hit the 80's with one batch.





I'm doing a write up and instructional video this week for Great Fermentations on my process and how to get the most out of your system.... keep an eye out for it next week.

 

[Danam404]

I was reading the therminator manual and it says:
Caution: StarSan users – this is an acid based sanitizer, and although it will not harm copper for short periods, it will harm the unit if exposed for extended periods. Prior to storage rinse the unit thoroughly (both wort and cooling water sides) with hot tap water to remove the residual sanitizer from the unit.

I had my therminator stored with star san like you said, but once I read this I went and rinsed it with water.
What is your opinion on this, is it ok to store star san in it?

I store mine with Star San in it... but then again I've not seen this note. I may indeed change my process if this is the case. Let me do some more research and I shall report back..

 

[strangr419]

Danam404 please let us know when that is up on great fermentations. I've been reading up on water profiles and just recently received my water report from Ward Laboratories. I also purchased a ph meter. My efficiency has been down and I need a boost.

 

[strangr419]

Profiles>Equipment>Add-ons

Got it. Sweet! Thank you!

 

[strangr419]

Profiles>Equipment>Add-ons

Got it. Sweet! Thank you!

 

[strangr419]

Profiles>Equipment>Add-ons

Sweet! Got it. Thank you!


Sorry group, damn mobile device.

 

[hmattar]

Just did my second batch. Still getting my numbers right.
Used too much water on both batches.

First batchIPA)
24,4lbs of grain(fine crush).
15.8gallons of water (added 18% more water than beersmith told me to)
MASH PH: 5.3
Beersmith estimated post-boil: 9 gallons at 1,070
My numbers: 11.8 gallons at 1,062

Calculated efficiency: 72,4%

My Second batch: (Robust porter)
39.6lbs of grains (crush wasn't fine as usual)
23 gallons of water. (added 6% more water than beersmith told me to)
MASH PH: 5.4
Beersmith estimated post boil: 15.3 gallons at 1,065.
My numbers: 17.7 gallons at 1,056.


End result: 66,6% efficiency(really bad crush)


My second bash had a really bad crush. So the lower efficiency was expected.

I will brew a Saison this weekend and will trust beersmith water volume this time.

I realize after this last batch that 40lbs of grains is the maximum I can safely use with my system.

Now i have 11 gallons of IPA and 16 gallons of porter fermenting

 

[flokason]

So after reading these two posts back to back, its seems like one of you checked pH and used water modifiers, the other did not.

ding ding ding.


this is the #1 most important efficiency factor with this system. It bumped my efficiency from the low 60's to the high 70's, consistently. Ive even hit the 80's with one batch.





I'm doing a write up and instructional video this week for Great Fermentations on my process and how to get the most out of your system.... keep an eye out for it next week.

Well I did not check the pH with a meter. I used the EZ water spreadsheet to calculate the water additions, the spreadsheet calculates the estimated pH value witch I mentioned.


Maybe some day I'll buy a pH meter

I'll be looking forward to your write up and video

I really appreciated all the things you have written here as well as the youtube timelaps video

Here are two photos from my first brew, first one I'm still mashing, the late one I have finished everything, the the beer is fermenting there

 

[Danam404]

Well I did not check the pH with a meter. I used the EZ water spreadsheet to calculate the water additions, the spreadsheet calculates the estimated pH value witch I mentioned.


Maybe some day I'll buy a pH meter

I'll be looking forward to your write up and video

I really appreciated all the things you have written here as well as the youtube timelaps video

Here are two photos from my first brew, first one I'm still mashing, the late one I have finished everything, the the beer is fermenting there

Great looking set up man! That 20 gallon is a BEAST

 

[BierHausPR]

One batch down, cryastal clear wort.

4 degree F difference between ToP and middle of mash, so had to compensate. Everything else ran smoothly.

Cinder block stand upgraded to 24x24" stainless table.

 

[flokason]

Nice setup BierHausPR

I'll have to find some table like that

But yeah I agree, the wort is super clear

 

[Danam404]

One batch down, cryastal clear wort.

4 degree F difference between ToP and middle of mash, so had to compensate. Everything else ran smoothly.

Cinder block stand upgraded to 24x24" stainless table.

Stainless porn......

 

[Wonputt]

I'm doing my first breweasy this weekend. I have the 10G gas system. I have some questions on what mash profiles to load into my software. I use the iBrew 2. Any information on grain absorption, cooling shrinkage, hourly boiloff, mash tun loss, & kettle trub loss would be appreciated. I plan on brewing a 5 gallon simple pale ale for my first trial run. Any other suggestions, hints?

Thanks! My first post on this forum.

 

[mash-mongrel]

I am going to do a 10 gallon batch of a Labatt Blue clone which is a Pilsner and a staple around here.

I'll definitely start a new thread with updates reporting time, losses and upload pictures.

 

[BierHausPR]

I am going to do a 10 gallon batch of a Labatt Blue clone which is a Pilsner and a staple around here.

I could stream this live if anyone was interested; I would take advice and constructive criticism at the same time.

I'll definitely start a new thread with live updates reporting time, losses and upload pictures.

Link me up for the streaming. I'd love to see a pils brew up north. Chilling to pitching must be a breeze.