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I am considering getting a hop spider, between the brew-boss one that is about 6"x16" long vs the standard 6"x14" long ones I find just about everywhere else.
I brewed a 5 gallon beer with not a whole lot of hops (just over 3oz in boil) and got some in the pump and in the whirlpool arm.

You guys like using the hop spider over just loose hops?
 
Yep, I use mine every brew and I brew nearly every week (46 - 50 batches/yr). I also harvest a lot of yeast so it helps to keep the cake cleaner. I had mine made at Arbor-Fab, 8" diameter, 15" H, 300 micron, $100. I got 8" to give the hops a slightly bigger swimming pool and I also leave a square griddle spatula in there to periodically give them a little swirl during the boil. As I mentioned I have no problem getting the amount of bitterness and flavor that I want.
 
MerlinWerks said:
Yep, I use mine every brew and I brew nearly every week (46 - 50 batches/yr). I also harvest a lot of yeast so it helps to keep the cake cleaner. I had mine made at Arbor-Fab, 8" diameter, 15" H, 300 micron, $100. I got 8" to give the hops a slightly bigger swimming pool and I also leave a square griddle spatula in there to periodically give them a little swirl during the boil. As I mentioned I have no problem getting the amount of bitterness and flavor that I want.
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I ordered a 6x14” one for under $20 to use on my next batches to see if I like using it. I have a nice stainless spoon that I used to use before I went brew boss for masking and stirring the boil/whirlpool so I’ll relegate that to stirring hops in the spider. We shall see how it works.
 
Has anyone tried distilling with the Brew-Boss? I thought at one point they were coming out with a seal and clamp for the lid so you could distill with it.
I have seen a lot of the other electric systems have distilling lids. Has anyone come up with something here?
 
Posted this in the other Brew-Boss Post, but I figured I would post here as well.

Finally got my stand/cart basically completed.
Still need to do clean up and mount the controller but the look won’t really change.

5426EA66-FFF3-48B2-B29B-4C8F6E47F3DA.jpeg
 
A while back I asked about problems using rye in the grain bill. The brew boss manual says don't do it. One of you said he used 40% in his grist with a little build up on the electric heating element.

Well, I did a batch with 17% rye. Major PITA; I spent countless hours scrubbing that stuff off my element. My mash schedule was 2.3 hrs and a normal 60 min boil. I'm not sure why but beware! And yes the beer tastes like its scorched. Darin suggested I set max power to 70% when messing with rye. I might muster the courage to try that some time.
 
cnash said:
Posted this in the other Brew-Boss Post, but I figured I would post here as well.

Finally got my stand/cart basically completed.
Still need to do clean up and mount the controller but the look won’t really change.

View attachment 619617
Click to expand...

Is that a Jaded IC ? I have been thinking about getting one of them but was concerned about it setting on the element during chilling. Have you had any issues or concerns using it ?
 
Don’t have a Jaded but I rest mine on the element with no problems.

Cnash- don’t make the same mistake I did and boil under Sheetrock! I move my stand under my garage door to deflect the moisture. Over time the humidity will make the Sheetrock tape come up.
 
azdavid said:
Is that a Jaded IC ? I have been thinking about getting one of them but was concerned about it setting on the element during chilling. Have you had any issues or concerns using it ?
Click to expand...

I love my Jaded Hydra. It does currently sit on the element without issue, but I am planning on fabricating something to support it so it doesn't potentially damage the element in the long run.

jturman35 said:
Don’t have a Jaded but I rest mine on the element with no problems.

Cnash- don’t make the same mistake I did and boil under Sheetrock! I move my stand under my garage door to deflect the moisture. Over time the humidity will make the Sheetrock tape come up.
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I'm not too worried about it, I'm renting. :D
Sometimes I move it under the garage door, but most of the time I just leave it where it is. When I buy a home I'm going to be building this system inside the house so I will have an exhaust fan at that point.
 
Finished up my first brew on the system. Feels like I'm starting over figuring out my efficiencies and boil off rate. I'll get it dialed in for the next brew.

Overall very happy with how it went.
 
dleonard5 said:
Wrt efficiency: I have a bb-15 and see between 78 and 83%. I know that stirring periodically helps a lot. You'll find some pockets on the COFI develop along the bottom edge. Normally I plan for 80 and usually get around that.
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Since I've started stirring around every 10 minutes during the mash I have been maintaining 80-82% efficiency.
 
cnash said:
Since I've started stirring around every 10 minutes during the mash I have been maintaining 80-82% efficiency.
Click to expand...
I too have found that stirring every once in a while during the mash helps improve efficiency--even with the COFI attachment. I'm averaging in the upper 70's based on BeerSmith3.
 
My first batch efficiency was around 65% with no stirring during the mash. I followed your advice and left the COFI filter lid off to stir every 10 min or so. Stirring brought my last brew efficiency up to 82%. Thanks!
 
I have started brewing a lot of NEIPAs with a ton of whirlpool hops. Just curious what you guys are doing when whirl-pooling hops? I’d like to throw them in loose but last time I did almost clogged the whirlpool tube. I’m using about 6oz hot side hops for 5 gal batches.

I have a hop spider but it seems to condense the hops and slow down my whirlpool. A slim and tall filter that would slide beneath the pickup tube would be nice option.
 
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jturman35 said:
I have started brewing a lot of NEIPAs with a ton of whirlpool hops. Just curious what you guys are doing when whirl-pooling hops? I’d like to throw them in loose but last time I did almost clogged the whirlpool tube. I’m using about 6oz hot side hops for 5 gal batches.

I have a hop spider but it seems to condense the hops and slow down my whirlpool. A slim and tall filter that would slide beneath the pickup tube would be nice option.
Click to expand...

Greetings:
I have been brewing with my 10/15 gallon BB system for a few years now. Here is what I do with NEIPA as well as brews with massive leaf hops additions. use your COFI. After I mash out, I clean my COFI cylinder and place it in the boiling wort, using it as a filter. This fall I did a Wet Hopped DIPA 5 gallon brew with over a 5 gallon bucket of hops. all late addition. Turned out great. Hope this helps.
 
I'm prepping!

Although, a bock was probably not the best choice.

I usually only brew a few batches a year anyway, but haven't recently due to my brew area (garage) having been cluttered with old furniture and starting up a reef tank that has taken a chunk of my free time.
 
augiedoggy said:
I think we will see a lot of folks that will find themselves with extra idle time to brew in the near future.
Click to expand...

As the panic increases.... I haven't run the percentages but there are about 143,000 cases worldwide out of a population of 7.77 billion. Serious yes. Cause for the panic that has set in - Definite NO. And if you are under 50 years old and no respiratory ailments your risk is virtually nil.
 
kh54s10 said:
As the panic increases.... I haven't run the percentages but there are about 143,000 cases worldwide out of a population of 7.77 billion. Serious yes. Cause for the panic that has set in - Definite NO. And if you are under 50 years old and no respiratory ailments your risk is virtually nil.
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Got enough ingredients on hand for about 7,200 glasses of beer. No need to panic! ;)
 
kh54s10 said:
As the panic increases.... I haven't run the percentages but there are about 143,000 cases worldwide out of a population of 7.77 billion. Serious yes. Cause for the panic that has set in - Definite NO. And if you are under 50 years old and no respiratory ailments your risk is virtually nil.
Click to expand...
The econimic impacts are very real.. The state has essentially shut my brewpub down for months and I still have to pay the bills.. we will be opening for very limited hours for takeout growlers, cans and meals to go but I dont think thats going to help much.
 
augiedoggy said:
The econimic impacts are very real.. The state has essentially shut my brewpub down for months and I still have to pay the bills.. we will be opening for very limited hours for takeout growlers, cans and meals to go but I dont think thats going to help much.
Click to expand...

I have to wonder what makes this pandemic so much worse than the ones in even the recent past that were about as bad. There were few closings etc. for those.... I think what is happening now might be necessary in the near future, but at present levels of infection I also think it is premature.

Hope you and all the other small business affected survive. Good luck.
 
augiedoggy said:
The econimic impacts are very real.. The state has essentially shut my brewpub down for months and I still have to pay the bills.. we will be opening for very limited hours for takeout growlers, cans and meals to go but I dont think thats going to help much.
Click to expand...
Ya, that's worrying in regards to small service-industry businesses. If the cashflow stops flowing, things could get bad fast.
 
kh54s10 said:
I have to wonder what makes this pandemic so much worse than the ones in even the recent past that were about as bad. There were few closings etc. for those.... I think what is happening now might be necessary in the near future, but at present levels of infection I also think it is premature.

Hope you and all the other small business affected survive. Good luck.
Click to expand...
I dont want to really go way off topic with a long post but this pandemic is much worse for 2 reasons, the virus is much more contagious then most in the past and it actually does have a much higher mortality rate than say the 0.02% of H1N1 or the 0.1% of the flu for example.. Ive been watching the numbers explode on this site since last week and its clear there will be no containing this.. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
 
This is a little off topic, but I noticed that there is not a brew-boss users group on Facebook. Would anyone be interested if I started one up? There is very little information out there for our systems and it would be nice to have another avenue to post and share on. I thought also about doing some review YouTube videos of the system in general, maybe a brew day here and there for people that are not familiar with Brew-Boss. What does everyone think? Would that be worth my time?
 
21jason21 said:
This is a little off topic, but I noticed that there is not a brew-boss users group on Facebook. Would anyone be interested if I started one up? There is very little information out there for our systems and it would be nice to have another avenue to post and share on. I thought also about doing some review YouTube videos of the system in general, maybe a brew day here and there for people that are not familiar with Brew-Boss. What does everyone think? Would that be worth my time?
Click to expand...

I would definately be interested in the facebook page as well as some you tube videos I enjoy seeing how others run thier systems.
 
ranchonodinero said:
Anyone going to get the Spike system? My Boss is around 6 years old and I'm thinking of switching.
Click to expand...
I don't plan to, I honestly think my Brew-Boss system is better. But I do have the latest version and it's not even 2 years old yet.

21jason21 said:
This is a little off topic, but I noticed that there is not a brew-boss users group on Facebook. Would anyone be interested if I started one up? There is very little information out there for our systems and it would be nice to have another avenue to post and share on. I thought also about doing some review YouTube videos of the system in general, maybe a brew day here and there for people that are not familiar with Brew-Boss. What does everyone think? Would that be worth my time?
Click to expand...

I'm definitely interested. Let us know.
 
ranchonodinero said:
Anyone going to get the Spike system? My Boss is around 6 years old and I'm thinking of switching.
Click to expand...
My Brew-Boss controller works just fine, no reason to switch.

If the controller did happen to fail, I would just try to replace what ever part broke. I did take the controller out of the box it came in and put into my own panel. I also use my own BIAB kettle.

Spike makes nice stuff, but if I had to get a complete setup I'd probably go with one of the options that's a lot less expensive.
 
21jason21 said:
This is a little off topic, but I noticed that there is not a brew-boss users group on Facebook. Would anyone be interested if I started one up? There is very little information out there for our systems and it would be nice to have another avenue to post and share on. I thought also about doing some review YouTube videos of the system in general, maybe a brew day here and there for people that are not familiar with Brew-Boss. What does everyone think? Would that be worth my time?
Click to expand...
I'd join the group.
 
I'm still wondering if there is a better way of whirlpooling with large hop addition without clogging the swirlboss. Im also not sure about using the mash basket in the boil, mine still has the rubber feet. I always forget to stir up the hops in my hop spider which i'm not certain it's really big enough.
 
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jturman35 said:
I'm still wondering if there is a better way of whirlpooling with large hop addition without clogging the swirlboss. Im also not sure about using the mash basket in the boil, mine still has the rubber feet. I always forget to stir up the hops in my hop spider which i'm not certain it's really big enough.
Click to expand...

I use a hop basket during the boil. I have found that I need to stir it every so often to ensure that there is good utilization of the the hop oils. It does a fantastic job of keeping the crud out of the swirlboss. Also, since it hangs on to the kettle, I hang it just past the swirlboss to maximize flow (at least theoretically) during whirl-pooling.
 
jturman35 said:
I'm still wondering if there is a better way of whirlpooling with large hop addition without clogging the swirlboss. Im also not sure about using the mash basket in the boil, mine still has the rubber feet. I always forget to stir up the hops in my hop spider which i'm not certain it's really big enough.
Click to expand...

I use a hop spider and my utilization seems to be fine. I currently have a 300 micron Hop Spider but I plan to potentially switch to a 400 micron spider with a support to sit above the element and to support my wort chiller.
 
21jason21 said:
This is a little off topic, but I noticed that there is not a brew-boss users group on Facebook. Would anyone be interested if I started one up? There is very little information out there for our systems and it would be nice to have another avenue to post and share on. I thought also about doing some review YouTube videos of the system in general, maybe a brew day here and there for people that are not familiar with Brew-Boss. What does everyone think? Would that be worth my time?
Click to expand...


I started a Brew-Boss User's Group on Facebook. If you have a Brew-Boss system or even a piece of the hardware, join and help get some good content on there.
 

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