Brau Supply

[whovous]

I may need to take back what I said about not having foaming, and the mother of all cold breaks.

My "cold break" looks like what this guy got:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=302543

The comments that follow are not helpful, because he said it happened as a cold break and they all wanted to talk about hot breaks.

Anyway, I recycled my wort through my plate chiller for about ten minutes or so following the boil, and that was what it looked like when I took the lid off of my pot when the temp got down to about 70F or thereabouts. I am not real sure anymore if it is a cold break or something else.

 

[TexasWine]

For those of you who have either the mini or another system, what are you setting your mill gap at when you crush? Hoping to avoid compacting the bed and having a BIAB "stuck sparge".

 

[whovous]

I buy my grain a batch at a time, and just ask my LHBS to simply run it twice through their grinder on its usual setting.

 

[singybrue]

What are the dimensions of the pot and basket on the mini system?
What is the boil-off?

 

[whovous]

It is a 24qt Bayou Classic pot:
http://brausupply.com/collections/brew-kits/products/small-batch-countertop-electric-brewery-biab-1

I am still dialing in the answer to the boil-off question.

 

[acarter5251]

As far as foaming goes, I did get a lot of foaming on the one batch I've done with the system. It was about 25% wheat though so maybe that was why, but it did start overflowing from the pot.

I typically mill my grain pretty fine. I have a corona mill and usually tighten the gap as tightly as I can and then back off about 1/2 turn.

 

[TexasWine]

I typically mill my grain pretty fine. I have a corona mill and usually tighten the gap as tightly as I can and then back off about 1/2 turn.

Good to know. Happen to have a picture of the crushed grain?

 

[acarter5251]

Good to know. Happen to have a picture of the crushed grain?

I don't but I'd say something along the lines of this:

 

[acarter5251]

This is what my foaming looked like by the way

 

[whovous]

This is not my photo, but my foam looked like this on the cold break. It happened while I was chilling the wort, so I assume it is a cold break, even though I don't think this is how a cold break should look.

 

[whovous]

Acarter5251, is there any chance you recirculated a lot of air along with your wort? The pump is pretty quiet, so long as it moves only wort and not wort plus air. If it is loud, that may be the cause.

 

[acarter5251]

There was a bit of air recirculating so yeah that probably led to a lot of foam

 

[brausupply]

I'm out of town but I'll try and find out my boil off #'s. Off the top of my head I think around 1.8L per hour

 

[daves21lax]

1.8L seems about right. I've been using .5 of a gallon in my water calculations and its been accurate after my last few brews.

 

[TexasWine]

Morning you fine folks! Just wanted to see how everyone's Brau Supply systems are treating them. Any lessons learned or new ideas? I had some technical issues with my controller, but Steven, as always, has solved all my problems.

The little clamps solved the leaks I had at the hose+QD connections. I determined that a plate chiller was not my cup of tea and have swapped to an IC. Still haven't used the IC though.

I've found hop stands are a cinch with this system. They'll become a more frequent thing for me.

Also, for 5 gallon batches I've found that I can run the pump at about half throttle before running into issues surf over flowing the kettle, pumping the bottom sump liquid to the top of the grain bed.

That's about it. Would love to hear what you all have learned.

 

[whovous]

I have a batch carbing now, but have had major issues with the controller for my fermentation chamber, so I've had to put off brewing for longer than I'd like. Meanwhile, Steven has sent me a replacement probe for my Mini, but I've not yet had a chance to use it and to confirm the problem was there and not in the box. With my FC controller, it was definitely the box. With the Mini, I was able to do pretty well without it for one brew, but it sure cut down on the automation element.

I tried doing a hopstand without putting the hops in a mesh bag and wound up clogging my bazooka screen. I think that will be the last time for awhile that I don't use a hop-bag. At least while I am pitching tons of hops into the boil or hopstand.

I am kinda split on the plate chiller. We have pretty cold water in the wintertime, so it worked really well then. It took wort temps from the boil to the 60s in about ten minutes. With temps in the 80s, my last brew was more trouble, and I wound up refrigerating and pitching the yeast the next day. I've bought a second pump from Steven and want to drop one pump into an ice bath while the other pump recirculates the wort. Probably a bit Rube Goldberg-y, but hey.

All I know for sure is that this last batch smelled and tasted spectacular when it came time to bottle. I am going to give them a full two weeks to carb up, then refrigerate for a whole week before drinking, but I am really not going to enjoy the wait; especially not with nothing in the pipeline and no chance of another boil before September.

 

[grantmichaels]

greetings folks!

i have had a little more free time in recents weeks than usual, so i've brewed a half dozen batches on the mini in short order =)

i'll have to get some pictures back onto my mobile devices, and then i'll post some ways i've extended my system in the coming days ...

cheers!

 

[grantmichaels]

been busily brewing on my mini these past months, let me gather some pics back onto my iPad and i'll post some conclusions i've drawn, share some ways i've extended the build, and maybe i can ask some ?'s i have on partial mashing to eek out the occasional five gallon batch (i have the 24qt, 120v 2k element version) ...

cheers!

 

[TexasWine]

I have a batch carbing now, but have had major issues with the controller for my fermentation chamber, so I've had to put off brewing for longer than I'd like. Meanwhile, Steven has sent me a replacement probe for my Mini, but I've not yet had a chance to use it and to confirm the problem was there and not in the box. With my FC controller, it was definitely the box. With the Mini, I was able to do pretty well without it for one brew, but it sure cut down on the automation element.

I tried doing a hopstand without putting the hops in a mesh bag and wound up clogging my bazooka screen. I think that will be the last time for awhile that I don't use a hop-bag. At least while I am pitching tons of hops into the boil or hopstand.

I am kinda split on the plate chiller. We have pretty cold water in the wintertime, so it worked really well then. It took wort temps from the boil to the 60s in about ten minutes. With temps in the 80s, my last brew was more trouble, and I wound up refrigerating and pitching the yeast the next day. I've bought a second pump from Steven and want to drop one pump into an ice bath while the other pump recirculates the wort. Probably a bit Rube Goldberg-y, but hey.

All I know for sure is that this last batch smelled and tasted spectacular when it came time to bottle. I am going to give them a full two weeks to carb up, then refrigerate for a whole week before drinking, but I am really not going to enjoy the wait; especially not with nothing in the pipeline and no chance of another boil before September.

Thanks for chiming in. I too have really hot ground water. I simply chill as far as I can, stick it in the fermentation fridge and let it coast down to pitch temps. I used to do no chill, so it doesn't concern me one iota to do this. The only reason I chill now is because I was having a hard time predicting my hop utilization and sometimes getting beers that were hoppier than I wanted. So now, as long as the temp is low enough to stop extracting bitterness from the hops, I'm happy.

I use bags to contain my hops like you but just recently acquired an Abor Fab 6x14 hop screen. Looking forward to trying that next brew day.

Forgot to mention the other thing I've learned about my system. It makes a great sous vide cooker! Used it to make some steak this weekend and holy guacamole were they tasty!

Keep us posted on how your beer turns out.

 

[whovous]

The one time I used the plate chiller with really cold water, I got an absolutely monstrous cold side break, and I've gotta think that helps clear my brew. I'm not getting real intense hot side breaks, so I want to clear as much protein as possible when it is possible.

I've never heard of Arbor Fabricating before, but wow is their stuff purty. I take it you have a full size rig, because 6 x 14 seems awful big to me. Let us know how you like it, and maybe post a pic in action. Does it hang over the rim or in the center somehow? I may have to get one of these if I can figure out the size for my Mini.

Sous vide remains on my figure out the heck that works list.

 

[brew-in]

Hmm..
I agree. DC motor speed controllers are correct for the application if you did feel the need. Again, I just use the ball valve and it hasn't cavitated even once. You could just install another ball valve on the outflow of the pump to satisfy?

I have another question for you all. Any excess foaming during the mash? And if you have experienced foaming, do any of you have any theories on this?

I suspect the foaming is due to the pump cavitating without a valve on the output....

 

[brew-in]

I suspect the foaming is due to the pump cavitating without a valve on the output....

sorry double post

 

[grantmichaels]

I haven't spent much time around here (yet) - is it OK to post brew session pictures in this thread/area? ...

CHEERS!

 

[TexasWine]

I haven't spent much time around here (yet) - is it OK to post brew session pictures in this thread/area? ...

CHEERS!

Please do!

 

[grantmichaels]

ok, 5/30 ...

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1440996449.299446.jpg

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1440996718.193173.jpg

working on my 4th-ever batch, an open-fermented saison using 3x BBS Jalapeno Saison kits, substituting orange zest for the jalapeno, and WLP565 for the dry yeast ...

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1440996873.334816.jpg

i didn't want to tackle plate chilling on my first outing ...

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1440996909.453552.jpg

hadn't read instructions for liquid yeast, didn't allow to acclimate to wort-similar temp ...

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1440997045.045183.jpg

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1440997139.967012.jpg

open-ferment ...

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1440997230.721599.jpg

but the yeast didn't like the thirty degree temp disparity, and i think i might have neglected to aerate the wort beyond straining it into the keg ...

so, i shook it up well, pitched a well-adjusted batch of ecy-08, and threwa fermwrap on it ...

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1440997535.072820.jpg

i let it go a week, and it ran nice and toasty ...

beer finished at 1.001 w/ a little bit of clove, orange, and twang ...

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1440997846.350655.jpg

first pull was def yeasty, lol ...

but by the 3rd, it was pretty clear, carbonated better, and tasty!

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1440998032.094982.jpg

CHEERS!

 

[TXCHASER]

I have brewed about 5 batches on this system and continue to struggle with foaming during mash. It seems that my larger grain bills have been the most difficult. When doing a begin triple yesterday I continuously had to turn the pump on and off during the mash, in addition to a dealing with a mess from the overflowing foam. I have tried to throttle the pump with the ball valve and this seems to help but hasn't eliminated the problem. Has anyone else figured out how to manage the foaming during mash recirculation on this system?

 

[TexasWine]

I have brewed about 5 batches on this system and continue to struggle with foaming during mash. It seems that my larger grain bills have been the most difficult. When doing a begin triple yesterday I continuously had to turn the pump on and off during the mash, in addition to a dealing with a mess from the overflowing foam. I have tried to throttle the pump with the ball valve and this seems to help but hasn't eliminated the problem. Has anyone else figured out how to manage the foaming during mash recirculation on this system?

I've heard several people talk about foaming, but I don't get any. Never have.

Where is your recirculation return in relation to the water level? What I'm getting at is if the water from the return is falling and splashing onto the water in the kettle then that's the likely culprit. The following is kind of weird/graphic, but think about when you're taking a piss and all those bubbles form in the toilet. Same concept, except you've got substances in the wort that prevent the bubbles from dissipating as quickly as the piss bubbles do.

If you haven't already, try making sure your return hose is slightly submerged under the surface of the water in the kettle. Maybe that'll help.

Or maybe research what would happen if you put some Fermcap S in during the mash.

 

[TXCHASER]

Thanks for the response.

I would say the return is usually submerged. I generally start with 4 gallons of water, so once I add the grain there is generally just a few inches between the water level and the lid.

I don't recall having any issues on the first batch when I had forgot to use the bazooka screen. I wonder if that could be causing the problem?

 

[TexasWine]

I think you've got to be getting air in there somewhere. Foam formation like this requires the introduction of a vapor. I wonder if any of your fittings might be a little loose and acting like an eductor to pull air into your pumped circuit.

Not sure about the bazooka screen. To me it doesn't seem like a likely candidate, but it might be worth a shot.

 

[whovous]

What about the connection of hose to barb? Are the hoses simply pressed on, or do you use some sort of clamp? The pump should be pretty quiet when operating; if it is not, then what you hear is the sound of air being pumped along with the wort. Similarly, if you can see the wort moving through the tubing, then what you are seeing is almost certainly air bubbles. I had some troubles on this score during my initial setup.