Blichmann BrewEasy

[strangr419]

I have the Blichmann Hop Blocker attached to my BK. I purchased it separately from Great Fermenations. I can say that the initial flow of wort into the chiller was great. However, something must have come through towards the end and got stuck into the Therminator/plate chiller. I have a hop spider that my old man manufactured in his sheet metal shop but I neglected to use it on the first run of my Brew Easy. I will definitely employ it on the next brew. I'll post the events of Brew Easy brew day II when it happens. I'm excited to tackle this again and make some more beer on this system. Still some kinks to be worked out by me in the process (particularly the mash phase), but all in all I'm happy
with it.

I also noticed that there is about 2 gallons of trub loss at the end of transfer through Therminator to chill pate to fermenter. I think that's a safe trub loss estimate to plug into software or any calculations going forward.

Has everyone experienced the strike water temps going way above the temp set on the auto sparge/tower of power LTE? Looking back I recall the temps of the strike water during auto sparge/mash rising uncontrollably even though I had set it to 154 "auto." How did you fix this?

 

[aamcle]

If the controller is a PID retune it, most have auto-tune. Others than that and probably the quickest option is phone Blichmann and ask!

Atb. Aamcle

 

[the_mc]

I have the Blichmann Hop Blocker attached to my BK. I purchased it separately from Great Fermenations. I can say that the initial flow of wort into the chiller was great. However, something must have come through towards the end and got stuck into the Therminator/plate chiller. I have a hop spider that my old man manufactured in his sheet metal shop but I neglected to use it on the first run of my Brew Easy. I will definitely employ it on the next brew.

I am going to try this:
http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/hop-stopper


Here is what a few people have said about it including Kal the creator:

http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25519

 

[mash-mongrel]

I also noticed that there is about 2 gallons of trub loss at the end of transfer through Therminator to chill pate to fermenter. I think that's a safe trub loss estimate to plug into software or any calculations going forward.

I too found the loss to be high, I do not like the fact that it is this high.

I'm new to brewing, is a loss of two gallons a big deal, is it normal for other systems to have such a high loss?

 

[Jeffbeckley]

I really like the bling factor and reputation and quality of this system but after following this thread it has become apparent this system is great for single step mashes. Not so much for multi step.
The location of the temp probe makes for inaccurate readings with nowhere to really locate it effectively. Overshoots and undershoots and really slow ramp ups are worrisome for a two thousand dollar kettle. I'm still a fanboy and would like to see a solution. But what's the benefit of having a pid controlled device if we have to compensate add adjust to overcome inaccuracys?

 

[aamcle]

Its an update of the Brutus20, all full volume mashing (biab n so on) will be slow to change temperatures because ALL the wort has to reach the new temperature.
The temperature offset is just due to cooling in the long wort return tube, I don't know about gas systems, but there is no reason for temperature fluctuations if your PID is properly tuned. That is assuming no pump failure and that the float valve (easy sparge) doesn't move and restrict the flow.

Atb. Aamcle

 

[strangr419]

Keep in mind this is a totally new system for everyone and it'll probably take everyone a few brew days to perfect it's use. I'm hopeful that everyone on here will continue to post their experiences and we'll nail this down in time.

 

[flokason]

Just got my 20 gallon electric turnkey system
Did more than one floating arm come with the auto sparge?

I can now just find the shortest floating arm
Not sure if I lost the longer one while unpacking or whether it wasn't included

 

[strangr419]

I only received one. Yes, it is very short. It should be longer quite frankly in order to allow for 5 gallon batches. Maybe they'll manufacture one and put it out on the market or someone on here will come up with a clever way to deal with this.

 

[mash-mongrel]

They offer a 9" and a 12" besides the 6" that comes with the auto sparge.

I took my sparge arm to Home Depot and pick up a piece of 1/4 stainless threaded stock for cheep. I measured and cut two different lengths. The lengths are not the optional 9" & 12" because what I did cut seemed to work better. When I get home I can measure them.

The threaded stock is cheaper than what blichmann wants for one arm and its 3 feet allowing you to make several different lengths to suit your needs.

 

[strangr419]

Nice! I knew someone would figure this out thank you mash-mongrel! 👍🍻

 

[mcs]

I have the electric 5-gal Breweasy system. I installed the boilcoil in the 10-gal pot and the instructions say to re-install the diptube in between the coils. I can see how that probably works on the larger systems, but when I tried to put it in between the coils, it pushed the coil up so that it was almost touching the other coil...it did not fit. I tried putting the diptube above the top coil and that seemed to fit much better. I contacted Blichmann and they said it should go between the coils. Just want to see if anyone with the same setup had a similar issue and how they got it to work?

Either Blichmann is wrong on this 10 gal kettle (5-gal system), OR the holes were drilled wrong for the boilcoil.

 

[Shuasha]

Has anybody tried a 5 gallon batch in the 10 gallon system yet?

 

[RogueMonkeyBrewing]

I have the electric 5-gal Breweasy system. I installed the boilcoil in the 10-gal pot and the instructions say to re-install the diptube in between the coils.

we have a 5gal 240v system and indeed the dip tube does fit under the top coil. the coil will spread and it will also be touching the dip tube, not a problem. in fact we just added the hop blocker to the dip tube to help keep the boil crap from siphoning. you can just pull out the dip tube for cleaning and then just spread coil again to fit it back in.

 

[RogueMonkeyBrewing]

we have the 5gal 240v system and wish blichmann would make the adapter ring to fit a 10gal MT. we are finding the 7.5gal to be rather full with some brews grains right up to the bottom of the auto-sparge hole. but then again thats why we have a BrewMagic system too. both systems are awesome though.

 

[mcs]

we have a 5gal 240v system and indeed the dip tube does fit under the top coil. the coil will spread and it will also be touching the dip tube, not a problem. in fact we just added the hop blocker to the dip tube to help keep the boil crap from siphoning. you can just pull out the dip tube for cleaning and then just spread coil again to fit it back in.

Interesting...I'll try again tonight to see if everything is setup okay. With my initial install it definitely fit better above the coil. Will take pictures.

 

[mcs]

Here are the images of above and in between the coils. In both cases, the dip tube touches the coil. However, when I put it in between there is significantly more pressure on the coil, pushing it up and making them almost touch on the entry point. When I put it above, it still touches...but it's really just barely putting pressure on it. It's a bit hard to see in the pictures, but the spacing between the coils is much more even when I have it above. I'm pretty sure it will work just fine either way, but it seemed off when I first put it in.

Anyone with similar setup seeing something different?

 

[elerten]

Prolly wont hurt it either way

 

[cookinwood]

I bought it, I love it. I have brewed 3 manual batches and 1 top tier batch. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1421481432.063579.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1421481487.494457.jpg

 

[mcs]

Something that was brought up earlier but it was never resolved regarding the use of the orifice...

There seems to be some relation to the flow capacity and efficiency, as well as getting mash temperatures up quicker. Would it be easier to just adjust the flow (using the new linear flow valve) rather than inserting an orifice? Has anyone tried this, or is everyone using the recommended orifice?

 

[cookinwood]

I open both flow valves almost completely and insert the 1.25/gallon oriface in the flow tube out of the mash tun. I also set my autosparge arm to about 1/2" above the top of the bed after the suggested rest time of the dough in. The valves being all the way open do not matter because the autosparge arm will regulate the flow rate in unison with the oriface washer. If it is flowing too slow for you, put on the next oriface ring size. I personally started with the .75 and moved up 2 to the 1.25 you will notice the pump won't kick as much with a larger flow rate, and you will get a whirlpool that completes rotation around the tun. If you are having efficiency problems perhaps you are using a fly system recipe from in the past, just adjust your grain bill up a little bit without adjusting final boil volume. Remember you get a higher efficiency off the fly system because you were rinsing the grains with clean liquor, not recirculating wort. Hope this helps a little. Cheers!

 

[Hex23]

They offer a 9" and a 12" besides the 6" that comes with the auto sparge.

I took my sparge arm to Home Depot and pick up a piece of 1/4 stainless threaded stock for cheep. I measured and cut two different lengths. The lengths are not the optional 9" & 12" because what I did cut seemed to work better. When I get home I can measure them.

The threaded stock is cheaper than what blichmann wants for one arm and its 3 feet allowing you to make several different lengths to suit your needs.

Thanks for the idea, but I'm curious to know how this works for you given that it seems the threads are M6x1: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/blichmann-autosparge-rod-threads-334727/

I went ahead and bought a SS 1/4x20 threaded rod at HD, and sure enough it doesn't thread well - might get to about 1-2 threads before it stops. I need to brew tonight, so I'll prob just leave it this way for now.

 

[Shuasha]

For those that want to order it, here's a 1 meter M6x1mm rod from McMaster. They also sell a 2 meter, but it's probably not needed.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#94185a155/=vka9e8

 

[zentropy]

we have the 5gal 240v system and wish blichmann would make the adapter ring to fit a 10gal MT. we are finding the 7.5gal to be rather full with some brews grains right up to the bottom of the auto-sparge hole. but then again thats why we have a BrewMagic system too. both systems are awesome though.

That's what I would like too. I think the 7.5 gal pot is too small to be usable for higher gravity beers. I wonder if it is possible to mod the drain tube (re-bend it) in some way to use it with a 10 gal pot. I already have one, and wanted to use it in a breweasy system, but I don't make 10 gallon batches because I just don't have fermentation/serving space for that much beer. Seems like it should fit through the adapter lid if the valve is the same distance from the bottom of the pot as the 7.5 gal. It also seems like a 10 gal pot could sit on top of the adapter lid, only it wouldn't sit as snugly as the 7.5 to prevent sliding around.

 

[cookinwood]

Why not just use silicone tubing with a blichmann elbow so you can still use a flow oriface in place of the s/s drain tube get 3/4" od by 1/2" inner id heavy duty silicone tubing that you can buy on eBay at ~$3/foot

 

[Hex23]

Why not just use silicone tubing with a blichmann elbow so you can still use a flow oriface in place of the s/s drain tube get 3/4" od by 1/2" inner id heavy duty silicone tubing that you can buy on eBay at ~$3/foot

Sounds like a good idea. If anyone does this, they probably should plan on making something to ensure the tube exits across from the ball valve. I think that SS tube is shaped that way for reason ... I assume for helping heat distribution.

 

[cookinwood]

If the pump is running (collecting from the bottom pot) it is sending temperature info to the brain because the probe is on the backside of the pump reading the wort temp that is returning to the mash tun and will heat and turn off as needed. So it will continuously keep temp between both pots within 0.1F.

 

[mccullpl]

"Something that was brought up earlier but it was never resolved regarding the use of the orifice...

There seems to be some relation to the flow capacity and efficiency, as well as getting mash temperatures up quicker. Would it be easier to just adjust the flow (using the new linear flow valve) rather than inserting an orifice? Has anyone tried this, or is everyone using the recommended orifice?"

I decided to do just that, and messed around running water through the valve until I got it set for 0.75 gal/min (ends up being just under 1 full turn from closed). I also measured the flow rate of the 0.75 gal/min orifice, and it flowed a lot less than that...maybe 0.4 gal/min. I've done one batch since then, and still have to learn the quirks of the system, but I don't think I'll be going back to using the orifices.

Pat

 

[Want2BS8ed]

If the pump is running (collecting from the bottom pot) it is sending temperature info to the brain because the probe is on the backside of the pump reading the wort temp that is returning to the mash tun and will heat and turn off as needed. So it will continuously keep temp between both pots within 0.1F.

Two brews in on my 10 gallon natural gas system and I have not found that to be the case... I have not calibrated my TOP temperature sensor, but I did calibrate both of the Brewmometers against a lab grade thermometer.

In order to maintain 152°F in the mash-tun, the full TOP needed to be set at 160°F and the bottom kettle was running at ~158°F. All-in-all a much greater temperature differential than originally anticipated. FWIW the ambient temperature was in the mid-40's.

I have added a second valve to the bottom kettle to recirculate wort through my plate chiller during the last 15 minutes of the boil. I am wondering if SOP shouldn't be to bring the entire volume of water up to strike temperature in the bottom kettle and then fill the mash-tun circulating for a few moments to bring the pot up to temperature before adding grains and ultimately speed the process along.

Any thoughts?

Also, one lesson learned the hard way: when calculating your strike temperature, do it on the volume of the mash-tun. I merrily went on my way the way I always have for BIAB and entered the full volume of water in my handy app... needless to say, dropping 24#'s of grain into 8 gallons of water, I missed my dough-in temperature by ~10°! Fortunately when I started to recirculate, the temperature came back up quickly and stayed rock steady throughout the entire mash using the offsets above.

M

 

[cookinwood]

Well when I "watched" the instructions for the system on you tube, you bring water up to strike temp and then dough in. I circulate during this process to heat both pots up. If you are using the top tier application program, dough in wait 5 minutes then press start, open all valves and turn on the pump and wait until mash is complete!