Brew Boss 20 Gal Basket Capacity???
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It took me much longer than expected to switch over from propane and my cooler mash tun, but I finally brewed my first batch in the 20 Gal Brew-Boss. I first took some measurements: The COFI filter held about 50 lbs of uncrushed grain max. My recipe was 39 pounds. That 39 lbs crushed (0.025" very fine) just about filled the filter, so 40 lbs seems to be max capacity. That also equates to almost a 1.3X increase in dry grain volume after the crush.
I used 16.5 gal (66 qts) of water, which was 1.7X water to grist ratio. The wort level was right about 20.25 to 20.5 gal, which is pretty much as high as I want to go for the mash.
Those numbers equate to a wet grain increase in mash volume of about 0.39 qts/lb (after accounting for the approx 0.75 qt displacement of the filter itself), which is a bit higher than the 0.32 qt/lb usually quoted on the web.
After the lift/squeeze, I had about 13.5 gals of wort. That equates to about 0.31 qt/lb loss to grain absorption.
My conversion efficiency was 85% with an S.G. of 1.074, which is def higher than any batch with my cooler mash tun.
I did feel like the runnings were significantly cloudier than every batch I had previously made using the cooler mash tun. Possibly the Brew-Boss COFI filter mesh is too coarse for a 0.025 crush? I intend to add a filter bag inside the COFI filter next batch to see if there is a difference.
So for me, who only brews big beers in the 1.080 to 1.100 OG range, this 20 Gal system seems to max out at about a 40 pound grain bill, and can handle 10 to 12 gals final batch size.
I considered using a bag only (i.e. no COFI filter) for my really big barlywines, which can fit 50 to 60 pounds of grain, but the kettle volume would then limit the water to grist ratio to less than 1.25X, which would lower efficiency and prevent doing a full volume mash. The filter is so convenient, especially with the super simple lift/squeeze, that for those occasions I will probably just brew two separate batches. So I see no reason to ever not use the COFI filter and stick with 40 pounds or less of grist.
I was very impressed with the time savings due to the heater and using a single vessel, as well as how simple & efficient the COFI RIMS was. I will post a separate post how I controlled things and how the general brew day went, with some other changes I made to my 3 decades old process.
I used 16.5 gal (66 qts) of water, which was 1.7X water to grist ratio. The wort level was right about 20.25 to 20.5 gal, which is pretty much as high as I want to go for the mash.
Those numbers equate to a wet grain increase in mash volume of about 0.39 qts/lb (after accounting for the approx 0.75 qt displacement of the filter itself), which is a bit higher than the 0.32 qt/lb usually quoted on the web.
After the lift/squeeze, I had about 13.5 gals of wort. That equates to about 0.31 qt/lb loss to grain absorption.
My conversion efficiency was 85% with an S.G. of 1.074, which is def higher than any batch with my cooler mash tun.
I did feel like the runnings were significantly cloudier than every batch I had previously made using the cooler mash tun. Possibly the Brew-Boss COFI filter mesh is too coarse for a 0.025 crush? I intend to add a filter bag inside the COFI filter next batch to see if there is a difference.
So for me, who only brews big beers in the 1.080 to 1.100 OG range, this 20 Gal system seems to max out at about a 40 pound grain bill, and can handle 10 to 12 gals final batch size.
I considered using a bag only (i.e. no COFI filter) for my really big barlywines, which can fit 50 to 60 pounds of grain, but the kettle volume would then limit the water to grist ratio to less than 1.25X, which would lower efficiency and prevent doing a full volume mash. The filter is so convenient, especially with the super simple lift/squeeze, that for those occasions I will probably just brew two separate batches. So I see no reason to ever not use the COFI filter and stick with 40 pounds or less of grist.
I was very impressed with the time savings due to the heater and using a single vessel, as well as how simple & efficient the COFI RIMS was. I will post a separate post how I controlled things and how the general brew day went, with some other changes I made to my 3 decades old process.
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