Biggest one is the app. I don't know any other system that uses an app to control everything. Other systems use a manual control box.
Brew Boss Systems
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Biggest one is the app. I don't know any other system that uses an app to control everything. Other systems use a manual control box.
I second info on this. I am at the early planning stages of an in door move and am really having trouble deciding b/t BB , Brew Easy, and Colorado.
MBN
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Well I must say thanks to everyone's input. I've decided on a 2 vessel system. I've ordered 2 15 gallon Spike brew kettles. I'll use one as the mash tun and the other as the boil kettle. As I'm mashing I'm going to use a blichman auto sparge to recalculate from one pot to the other. Then when I'm done drain down into the brew kettle for the boil. I think I can use the brew boss controller for this I just need to set up the steps to take into account the other vessel. I'll get a second temperature probe for the other mash kettle to keep temperature even in the 2 vessels. The bold kettle will be the main heat source with a 5500 watt element.
andrewmaixner
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that's called "kettle RIMS" like the blichman breweasy, I'm sure you'll like it.
I strongly considered it, though I eventually decided on 20gal eBIAB for simplicity and smaller equipment footprint.
Don't forget that with that setup, for low/medium strength batches, you can still get a bag and just use one kettle for less cleaning and faster brewday!
MBN
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Good point! I didn't think it would add to much time, though. I should be able to clean up the Mash tun as the boil start to heat up.
MBN
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I thought the price had gone up. I just found High gravity's controllers. They look nice! I priced out making my own just with a PID. After everything was bought I was in the $300 range. I didn't go with the eBay finds for part. Everything I priced came from Auber. When it comes to electronic components, I don't like to go cheep . They tend to fail faster and in the long run you end up spending the same amount. So many choices coming out now also. It's making my desicion difficult.
HLSheppard
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Looks like Darin has moved away from Chugger pumps as well. He has a new pump that attaches right to the ball valve on the kettle. Interesting... I still love my setup!
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Maybe the extra time on the kettle rims is from transferring between vessels prior to dough-in and then while setting the autosparge. I did kettle rims for awhile but now I am switching to recirculating eBIAB with a stainless basket.
quaboagbrewing
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I love the idea of using the BB controller as the ability to control the entire process from my android tablet would be great but my concerns are what if something in that system fails. With a manual control box using PID's, relays, etc.....it would be a matter of replacing out a few relatively inexpensive parts but with the BB I am guessing outside of whatever warranty period Darin offers you'd be screwed. Not sure if anyone else shares the same concerns. I was also looking at the hosehead uno controller from brewtronix but in a similar vein have concerns about what happens if a component of that fails.
andrewmaixner
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Darin sells replacement parts also when it is out of warranty.
Beavdowg
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Yesterday was my first brew session with my new 15 gal COFI Brew Boss system. It was a mixed bag but only because I didn't think through one aspect of my brewing day and it cost me big time! This was my first experience with an electric system and BIAB after years and years of all-grain using cooler and propane burners. My main reason for moving to BIAB and an electric system was to shorten my brew day. I could never get my previous brew sessions any shorter than 5 hours, at best. I have a family and just don't have time to dedicate 6 hours to brewing beer. I'm hoping to get my brew day down to a consistent 4-4.5 hour session every time including clean up. Everything went beautiful up to time to chill. I really loved how quiet the session was and how I could so confidently set the mash and forget it. I even walked my kid to school during the mash, came back and the mash temp was dead on 154 *F. My pulley system worked awesome except that it was a little harder than I thought to pull the COFI basket away from over the pot (my pot sits on a Costco table). That's a small detail that I can work on. The poop hit the fan though once it was time for me to cool. Actually, it started when I began to recirculate the wort through the pump and plate chiller to sanitize it prior to cooling. Let me preface with the fact that I used whole leaf hops, I always have and have never had a clogging problem. In my previous system I wrapped a copper scrubber around my pick-up tube and never, ever had a problem and I used the same March pump and plate chiller. Suffice it to say, having no way to filter hops out did work, AT ALL, yesterday. As I was thinking it through I thought I'd use the whirlpool attachment to see if I'd get all the hop debris in the middle of the pot before cooling. Well, it didn't take but 30 seconds to clog the outlet of the whirlpool. To make a long story short, this whole fiasco including getting all the hop debris out of the wort added several hours to my brew day.
Here's the moral of my story, if you're going to use whole leaf hops with the Brew Boss you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO either have some sort of filter before you're pick-up tube or outlet port or use a hop spider set-up to keep all the hop debris out of the wort. I wished this would of been clarified for me or I would of realized it going into my first brew session because it was a major PITA.
I would love to hear how all of you with Brew Boss systems are filtering out your hop debris. Are you only using pellets or do you all have hop spiders?
I do believe once I correct this part of the system it will be really nice and quick.
Cheers!
Here's the moral of my story, if you're going to use whole leaf hops with the Brew Boss you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO either have some sort of filter before you're pick-up tube or outlet port or use a hop spider set-up to keep all the hop debris out of the wort. I wished this would of been clarified for me or I would of realized it going into my first brew session because it was a major PITA.
I would love to hear how all of you with Brew Boss systems are filtering out your hop debris. Are you only using pellets or do you all have hop spiders?
I do believe once I correct this part of the system it will be really nice and quick.
Cheers!
andrewmaixner
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....I would love to hear how all of you with Brew Boss systems are filtering out your hop debris. Are you only using pellets or do you all have hop spiders?
I do believe once I correct this part of the system it will be really nice and quick.
Cheers!
Recently I did a 10gal batch of IPA with 2oz for bittering and then 12oz of mixed pellet and leaf for a half hour whirlpool. I put the whirlpool 12oz addition into my old cheep 10-gal BIAB bag, which then was recirculated into for the hop stand. I could then pull it, squeeze out the hoppy goodness, and proceed to chill. (3/8" stainless counterflow)
If I had a plate chiller, I'd probably put the bittering hops into some kind of straining device also.
As a side note, 30' 3/8" stainless counterflow really doesn't cut it with summer groundwater temperatures. I'll probably start to use my old copper immersion chiller with a bucket of ice water as an inline pre-chiller once the wort gets below 120F, to cut another 20 minutes off my day ... or go to direct carboy filling from the chiller, though that takes it out of line for whirlpool pre-chilling, unless I get another 3-way valve...
HLSheppard
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Took my SS Chugger pump head apart and I am pleased to say it was pretty darned clean! At least now I know. It was super easy except for one of the screws NOT wanting to move. I damned near stripped the Phillips head...
I hate it when a 5 minute job takes an hour due to something like that!
I hate it when a 5 minute job takes an hour due to something like that!
andrewmaixner
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Disassembled my pump head for the first time last night after brewing. It was mostly clean, the only issue was that on the round metal part of the impeller assembly, where I assume it is magnetic, there were evenly spaced, 3mm wide lines of black crusty gunk, in-line with the bore axis, which appeared to be dried or burned on. A non-scratch scrub pad did not getting them off with reasonable difficulty, so I set it aside for the night to look at later.
I don't find any pictures of anything similar with a couple google searches. I've always recirculated PBW followed by water, and have done about 6 or 8 batches on the system so far. I may start heating the recirculation to 180F as some of the R-eBIAB systems suggest for CIP to see if that prevents it in the future.
I don't find any pictures of anything similar with a couple google searches. I've always recirculated PBW followed by water, and have done about 6 or 8 batches on the system so far. I may start heating the recirculation to 180F as some of the R-eBIAB systems suggest for CIP to see if that prevents it in the future.
HLSheppard
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I had the beginnings of exactly what you describe. Mine cane off pretty easily with a spray of Star-san solution and a toothbrush. I would say the marks on mine were maybe 1mm wide and not thick (but could be with time!).
I get the same thing as well, cleans off with a scotch brite. FWIW I always heat my PBW and rinse water to 150F minimum, usually closer to 160F, I recirculate both the PBW and rinse for 20 minutes and I still get those deposits...
FreddyMar3
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I did the same thing after reading the recent posts and had the exact same result. I did end up using a scrub pad to get them off. My guess is that there is a small air bubble that forms in that spot during pump operation and that the recirculation of hot wort through the pump causes it to cake up there. I also use turbinado a good bit in brewing so it could be sugar that is not fully dissolved caking up. either way, I got that same pattern and will now be disassembling my pump way more often.
Don't have a brew boss, but my last brew I decided to circulate hot PBW through my pump and plate chiller using my submersible pump, flowing through both in reverse of normal flow. I got all kinds of interesting, stringy brown stuff from the pump doing this.
You might find that you get better removal of gunk by not running the pump.
You might find that you get better removal of gunk by not running the pump.
Beavdowg
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Any hop containment practices that anyone wants to share as per my previous post?
Cheers
Cheers
andrewmaixner
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Don't dump a bunch of pellet hops right into the kettle by the wort outlet to the pump while the pump is running. Pump will make funny noises and stop pumping
They will soften up and fall apart quickly and it will start working again.DIY spider with Insinkerator flange, SS bolts and custom Wilser hop bag which is ~2X as big as his production hop bag. Periodically stir hops inside the bag during the boil.
My brew boss controller for around 20 brews not. Great bit of kit until internet signal is lost momentarily and the boil cycle is terminated at an unknown point when
you are not near it to see if it has stopped. The idea of it, I thought, I was to set and forget. Not the case it seems. Very frustrating. Maybe some can educate me on what I am doing wrong please?
you are not near it to see if it has stopped. The idea of it, I thought, I was to set and forget. Not the case it seems. Very frustrating. Maybe some can educate me on what I am doing wrong please?
I understand your frustration. Have you talked with Darin at Brew Boss about this? I had the same problem, Several things I do, No other programs on the tablet, only brewing, shut out any other wifi accounts on tablet. Turn off any Blue Tooth devices, Unplug other radio devises, Microwave, etc. any interference will cause problems. If yo have any questions, call Darin, Good Luck
I have a SS 400 6 inch screen cylinder that I use for pellet hops. I will also use muslin or paint filter sacks with or without my hop spider, holding them above the heating element. I just brewed an 5 gallon IPA with 8 ounces of chinook leaf hops using a sacks suspended in the wort.
Are you connecting to your home wifi, or using the BrewBoss (SSID) wifi? If using the BrewBoss (SSID) wifi how far away is your tablet?
Using a cheap iRulu tablet and the BrewBoss (SSID) wifi I couldn't even have the controller in the garage and the tablet in the utility room (only separated by drywall and insulation) without it dropping the wifi connection every 5-10minutes. The tablet only had the BrewBoss app on it also.
Once I tied the BrewBoss controller to my home wifi/SSID that problem was fixed.
mcgimpkins
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What size pots are you guys using? What are the dimensions for the Wilser bag? I had been squeamish about having a bag in because I figured it would end up touching the element and melting/burning up.
quaboagbrewing
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Has anyone tried building their own version of the COFI filter? I was thinking about trying to have something very similar fabricated as it would be much less expensive then paying close to $500 for the one from BB. Just wondering if anyone has done this and if so has any pics they could share on the build.
16 gal bayou classic with a JayBird false bottom.
Just make sure your bag isn't so long that it touches the element. The bag moves around quite a bit during the boil. I've never measured the bags.
Thought about it but the price still stops me. My Wilser bag works very well. Once it's seen a better day I will.
Hi. Thanks for your response. Yes same....cheap irulu tablet, but I see no need for anything expensive. No other programs loaded. just brewboss. Used to work fine out in the garage, but I must have had a poor signal on both brew days.
FreddyMar3
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My hop bag attaches to the spider with a SS hose clamp so it can be adjusted in height to just above the heating element...
bowtie
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I bought this from Utah biodiesel supply. It is 16" tall and 10.5" diameter. It hooks on the lip of the 20 gallon pot and is high enough to clear the heating element and fat enough to get good hop utilization! The mesh is 400 microns.
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