Brew-Boss Opinions

[Lax coach]

If you have the 20 gallon system like I have, you must be very aware of the size of the grain bill. I made a Brickwarmer Holiday ale today with a grain bill over 13 pounds. When I lowered the grain filled basket into 10 gallons of strike water, it did not cover the grain bed.

No, my system is the 15 gallons (on a truck for delivery today!), for precisely this reason. I wanted to be able to brew any 5-gallon recipe that interested me without jumping through any extra hoops.

But....my fermenters didn't come yesterday, and are now status "pending" with no delivery date. But at least they're in my state, so maybe they'll come tomorrow. If not, I'll have to put the inaugural brew off for probably two weeks. Next weekend I'm going straight from my son's Lacrosse tournament to my data center to do a complete gut and rebuild. So I'm going to be dead on Sunday.

Edit: Fermenters will be here tomorrow! Stopping by the LHBS tonight for ingredients.

 

[cnash]

My packages (3 of them) are scheduled for delivery on Monday 12/3.

 

[Mike Howard]

@TennBrewer what's the largest batch you have brewed and at what OG? We brew a lot of beers at around 1.060 - 1.075 and I am wanting to brew 15 gallon batches of these.

 

[Lax coach]

Mine arrived yesterday. FedEx just left it sitting on my wet driveway in front of the garage and didn't ring the doorbell. Started assembly last night, but quit after the element, temp sensor and accessory port because my son wants to help and it was time to start getting him to bed.

Also stopped by the LHBS and got my grain bills for Resilience IPA and Centennial Blonde. Forgot the fermcap and whirlfloc tho, so I'll be back today.

Everything was well-packed and seems very high quality. Controller is WAY lighter than I expected. I shouldn't be surprised that there's not a whole lot of hardware in there, after all the reason I chose this system is that the magic's in the software.

Planning to complete assembly tonight and try to get a water test in. Tomorrow I should be able to get everything cleaned and lay out the brewery, then hopefully get my first brew in on Sunday.

 

[Mike Howard]

Mine showed up in Texarkana today, so its only 3 hours away, still scheduled for Monday....

 

[Conodor]

"The boys are thirsty in Atlanta and there's beer in Texarcana.
And we'll bring it back no matter what it takes."

 

[Conodor]

"The boys are thirsty in Atlanta and there's beer in Texarcana.
And we'll bring it back no matter what it takes."

edit:
can't ever hear that town name without thinking of that song!


haha i hit quote not edit. I haven't even had a beer yet!

 

[Mike Howard]

Arrived early...didn't expect it until Monday! I won't be able to unbox it until tomorrow though....working today.

 

[Lax coach]

Got my brewing area mostly set up, have a few more tweaks to do. Planning on doing a water test this afternoon, but probably wont be able to actually brew for a week or two

Edit: Wet test was successful once I figured out how to connect to the controller. Couldn’t do it out of the box, Darin had me change the controller IP in the app parameters, so it knew what to connect to.

This thing is going to be awesome. Can’t wait for a real brew.

 

[Conodor]

great to hear LAX. i got mine yesterday, unboxed it today. set up some of it today. i ordered the chiller online. so i need to get some connectors. Probably get the electric sorted out this week. probably do my first brew around the 21st. that's the goal!

 

[TennBrewer]

@TennBrewer what's the largest batch you have brewed and at what OG? We brew a lot of beers at around 1.060 - 1.075 and I am wanting to brew 15 gallon batches of these.

I have only done 5 gallon batches in my 20 gallon kettle but I am now ready to go up to 10 gallons. That will be the limit for my batch size. I've been honing my procedure and checking the brews carefully, I have had a few batches I've dumped so losing 5 gallons is not as bad as losing 10. But, everything seems to be working perfectly now so I can make 10 gallon batches.

 

[TennBrewer]

I have only done 5 gallon batches in my 20 gallon kettle but I am now ready to go up to 10 gallons. That will be the limit for my batch size. I've been honing my procedure and checking the brews carefully, I have had a few batches I've dumped so losing 5 gallons is not as bad as losing 10. But, everything seems to be working perfectly now so I can make 10 gallon batches.

The OG for most of the brews I have made so far would average between 1.045 and 1.050. If you want to do 15 gallon batches of big beers, you should have the half barrel size system.

 

[Conodor]

most my beers will be 5 gallon batches. I was on the fence of a 20 or 15 gallon system. Darin said if i ever planned on doing 10 gallon batches i would prefer the 20 g. system. so i went that way.

If it's a bigger beer i'll just make a batch big enough to keg 5 gallons, and just bottle any extra. i have 2 fast ferments. so 1 for the keg. the rest i'll bottle.

 

[cnash]

Mine came in today. Haven't gotten a chance to open the boxes (Maybe tonight?)
But the FastFerment box was a little beaten and it seems like one end is sticking out of the box slightly and the threads are a little marred.
We will see how bad it is, I was planning on probably selling the FastFerment since I have an Anvil coming tomorrow.

 

[Lax coach]

Those of you with the 15-gallon, this dolly fits the bottom of the pot perfectly, as you can see in my picture above. The pot is actually 17 inches across, but the bevel at the bottom allows it to sit snugly in the 16" dolly. I have tried it with the trivets it feels more sturdy without them, and I don't suspect the plastic will draw that much heat out of the pot. I use mine to allow me to roll it under the counter when not in use, and back out under the hoist when I want to brew.

Certainly not as nice as the brew boss stand, but cheap and highly mobile.

 

[Mike Howard]

The 20 gallon pot appears to be 17 3/4 inches in diameter....fwiw


The 16 inch Devault on Amazon is here: DEV3000B

 

[cnash]

Those of you with the 15-gallon, this dolly fits the bottom of the pot perfectly, as you can see in my picture above. The pot is actually 17 inches across, but the bevel at the bottom allows it to sit snugly in the 16" dolly. I have tried it with the trivets it feels more sturdy without them, and I don't suspect the plastic will draw that much heat out of the pot. I use mine to allow me to roll it under the counter when not in use, and back out under the hoist when I want to brew.

Certainly not as nice as the brew boss stand, but cheap and highly mobile.

According to the Brew-Boss website the 15 Gallon Kettle is "Dia 400mm X H 480mm (15.75 in x 18.9 in) This is an optimum 1.2:1 ratio kettle!"

The 20 Gallon Kettle is "Dia 450mm X H 540mm (17.75 in x 21.25 in) This is an optimum 1.2:1 ratio kettle!"

 

[Mike Howard]

I think I am going to Frankenstein a "Barney" like stand to mount my hoist to and hold the kettle until I can get my "Brew-Boss" style stand fabricated. Heading up to the hardware store tomorrow with a parts list...

 

[Conodor]

Sorry whats a Barney like stand?

 

[Mike Howard]

Like this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/the-barney-brewstand.324822/

 

[Conodor]

interesting. never seen that. just looking at the picture. not sure how you would make it strong enough unless you put some face panels on it. but at that point. might as well use 2x4's and plywood.

If money wasn't an object.. and you don't have time or the tools. you can build one out of this stuff on this site https://www.8020.net i've built a bunch of stuff for work out of these. it's basically an erector set for adults!haha

you can order things cut to length from that site. or you save money and order it all from mcmaster carr much cheaper.

 

[Mike Howard]

Apparently they are pretty sturdy, as I see them all over the web in use as brewing stands. I only need it temporarily and my local big box store carries 6 foot lengths of this stuff. I'll add additional corner bracing and structural support where needed, but it'll do in a pinch.

 

[KIDD69]

Those of you with the 15-gallon, this dolly fits the bottom of the pot perfectly, as you can see in my picture above. The pot is actually 17 inches across, but the bevel at the bottom allows it to sit snugly in the 16" dolly. I have tried it with the trivets it feels more sturdy without them, and I don't suspect the plastic will draw that much heat out of the pot. I use mine to allow me to roll it under the counter when not in use, and back out under the hoist when I want to brew.

Certainly not as nice as the brew boss stand, but cheap and highly mobile.

That dolly would be perfect for anyone with a FastFerment, that needs to move it from one location to another. They’re very awkward to move when full.

 

[TennBrewer]

I have the 20 gallon system with the stand and this dolly can be sized to fit perfectly: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C2MDXLB/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[chiefwigms]

Don't have a brew boss, but here's my stand/setup that works real well for BIAB:
Stand
Setup

FYI - this pan works great after the basket is hoisted up.. put it between kettle & basket, lower to ground, and squeeze on ground (I have a press plate that fits in the basket), then pour back into kettle

 

[Conodor]

Anyone make any progress? I coach hockey and had back to back out of town tournaments. I hope to do some work on mine here and there this week. Still planning on doing my first brew December 22nd.

 

[Mike Howard]

I am currently building a temporary setup for the 20 gal system as I wait on my brew-stand to be built. I picked up a metal shelf system as my brew table, fabicrated a crossbar to hold the electric hoist and I am currently waiting on mounts for the controller and the pad. I am also having to wire in a 240 volt outlet, but once that is done I'll move the system into its location and post some pics. I suspect I am about a week out from running my water test.

 

[cnash]

I haven't had time. All my stuff is still in the boxes.
Hopefully I can get everything out of the boxes and assembled this weekend. Do a test run and then plan out the brew stand/hoist.

I doubt if I'll be able to brew before Christmas, but who knows. I need to get a new chiller first. :/

 

[Lax coach]

Was hoping to brew on Sunday, but my overnight work project took WAY longer than expected--3:15 pm Saturday until 6:45 am Sunday. Then I was hoping to brew today, but we had issues yesterday so I cancelled my day off.

So maybe this weekend?

 

[Conodor]

(for a basement set up)
As i said before i am totally against moving my entire set up back and forth. My thoughts, constantly moving something with hoses and wires connected to it will eventually create failure. So with lifting the COFI filter and moving it has been my main concern. I think this is the solution i will be using.

Unistrut channel system with a trolly.

Channel $31
https://www.mcmaster.com/3310t62

Trolley $30

https://www.mcmaster.com/3626t11

Some random lag bolts and washers for stops on either end.


The rail can easily be Lag bolted to my floor joists, The trolley will hold 300 pounds. I can use a chain to hold my hoist to the trolley, and slide it back and forth out of the way. This is more than enough strength, clean look and easy to use.