Brew Boss Systems

[jturman35]

Well I know it was only a matter of time but my pump finally died. Well actually the rod the impeller sits on broke somehow. What is everyone using as a replacement pump? Any reason this pump wouldn’t work?

FERRODAY Wort Pump Brewing Pump Magnetic Drive Pump Food Safe Water Pump High Temp Pump Stainless Head Wort Pump 15RM with 1/2"NPT Thread Homebrew Pump Brew Beer Pump - Grey https://a.co/d/6uHhQfr

 

[ehall]

I see that brewboss.com is down completely now, does Daren not answer emails anymore? I would have to look it up but I would think any pump with similar GPM volume would work. I take it that rod was 'welded' in there? can't be taken out and replaced?

 

[jturman35]

Too much trouble to try and repair, the rod appears to be pressed in.

I confirmed a 120v pump will work with my BB system. This $63 Amazon Ferroday pump looks identical to the one NB has listed for $109. Think i am just going to roll with this one on Amazon.

 

[brewswithshoes]

I believe the direct replacement is a Topsflo TD5 pump. I replaced mine a few years back and think it was identical looking & performing.

 

[Mike Howard]

This is what I used here

 

[kc.rkitek]

Well I know it was only a matter of time but my pump finally died. Well actually the rod the impeller sits on broke somehow. What is everyone using as a replacement pump? Any reason this pump wouldn’t work?

I diy'ed my kettle/pump/plumbing and went with the MP-15RM pump.

 

[jturman35]

Not sure if this is the right thread but has anyone tried this for big whirlpool additions? Or would this clog after 4-6 oz of hops?

I feel like my hop spider really restricts my hop additions. Thought about using the grain basket for my WP additions.

 

[ehall]

I don't feel I have any issues with the hop basket, I've had both types of hops get 'loose' and its a bitch to unclog. you could def use the basket to try it out, I would only advise whole hops if you do though.

 

[brewswithshoes]

Not sure if this is the right thread but has anyone tried this for big whirlpool additions? Or would this clog after 4-6 oz of hops?

I feel like my hop spider really restricts my hop additions. Thought about using the grain basket for my WP additions.


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I’ve tried this above without much luck using a regular sized spider. I ended up using the COFI filter one time for a massive whirlpool addition. It worked well to keep away clogging, but was a real nightmare trying to clean it after.

 

[ehall]

Just got this back from Darin this morning...
We have closed up shop. Sold my heater inventory to Bobby at brewhardware.com. he can help you out.

 

[Mike Howard]

I wonder if Darin is going to open source the controller software, there are some changes I would like to make.

 

[ehall]

email him.

 

[Mike Howard]

email him.

I did, waiting on a response.

 

[cnash]

I did, waiting on a response.

Did you ever hear back?
He’s been pretty good about answering emails as after 4 years of use I finally had a couple hardware issues.

 

[rfinley]

I did, waiting on a response.

I would like to control when boil starts..... maybe a auto/manual detect ?? I've been stocking up on parts to build a control box if the Brew-Boss controller acts up. I hope he opens the software up !!

 

[SeeMont]

Thanks all for keeping the Brew Boss system alive. I appreciate any work you can do to update the software. What is sad is that no one is picking up this system. The Brew Boss is a great system. I like it better than the new systems out there.

Filtering Hops, I have the 15 gal system, brewing 10 gallon batches, I regularly use the COFI with my whole leaf/cone hop additions when brewing a NEIPA. it works great. After mash out, I empty the COFI of spent grain and then lower it onto the wort. using the pump to circulate wort through the hops.
I grow my own hops, so I do massive late and end of boil additions. At the end, I install the lid, raise the COFI, squeeze out the wort and remove. Simple.
Good luck out there Cheers

 

[Mike Howard]

@rfinley Are you looking to do something different than what is already available for "auto-boil detect"? Because the system already handles detecting when the boil starts and then moves to the next step.

As to hearing back from Darin on the open sourcing of the code, no response. I'll reach out again.

@SeeMont I agree. At our brewery we exclusively use the 20 gallon BrewBoss system for our pilot batches because its basically a "set it and forget it" brew day. We can multitask and get a lot done on that day knowing the system will do what its programmed to do. We love it.

I just use a Hop Spider hanging on the side and have never had any issues.

 

[rfinley]

@rfinley Are you looking to do something different than what is already available for "auto-boil detect"? Because the system already handles detecting when the boil starts and then moves to the next step.

As to hearing back from Darin on the open sourcing of the code, no response. I'll reach out again.

@SeeMont I agree. At our brewery we exclusively use the 20 gallon BrewBoss system for our pilot batches because its basically a "set it and forget it" brew day. We can multitask and get a lot done on that day knowing the system will do what its programmed to do. We love it.

I just use a Hop Spider hanging on the side and have never had any issues.

I've been using Brew-Boss for around 10 years, the early days !! I would like to be able to set the "Reached Boil" flag manually. I've got enough batches to know 208 is my boil temp. So I would like to set the flag and continue with the step file. In fact I'm leaning towards no step file and brew manually.

 

[cnash]

I've been using Brew-Boss for around 10 years, the early days !! I would like to be able to set the "Reached Boil" flag manually. I've got enough batches to know 208 is my boil temp. So I would like to set the flag and continue with the step file. In fact I'm leaning towards no step file and brew manually.

If you set your boil to 208 instead of 220 or 212 it’ll automatically start the timer when it reaches that and skip the boil detect prompt.

 

[rfinley]

If you set your boil to 208 instead of 220 or 212 it’ll automatically start the timer when it reaches that and skip the boil detect prompt.

But doesn't it reset the 45 second boil detected if it goes to 207 then 208, 207, 208 ?? it would be so much simpler to just set a flag that I'm at boil. At this stage of the product, I'm soon to build my own control panel. This was just something I would want if I had the code to look at.....

 

[Mike Howard]

Depending upon the specific gravity of your wort, altitude and barometric pressure, your boil temps can be drastically different. I frequently reach boil anywhere from 209F to 212F, depending upon what and when I'm brewing. I definitely wouldn't want to be standing there watching the entire time waiting for my temps to reach a certain point. I like the boil detect "set it and forget it" process.

Now, I have been standing next to my kettle when the system entered a boil, and if there was a button i could press to go to "next step" that would keep the current boil temp and just move on using the Boil Power (PwrB) setting, that might be convenient for some. Its not the way I currently use the system, but I can see how that might be useful. In reality though, you are saving only 45 seconds, possibly 1 minute 30 seconds and in the overall brew day, I'm ok with that.

One thing I have done is that I have several different parameter files that I'll load, depending upon the time of year and what I'm brewing, that helps cut down on that time. I'll adjust the PwrS, PwrL and PwrB (among others) settings in each file, because I know how the system behaves in my environment. Our brewery is cold and dry in the winter and hot and humid in the summer, so having different parameters is almost a requirement for us. I have a chart next to the brew system that tells us what parameter file to load when we get ready to brew a batch. Figured that out in the first year we got the BB and started developing the files. Been almost 5 years now, and we brew two 20 gallon specialty batches each week, to augment our core beers.

Would be great to get access to the code, maybe hosted on GitHub, so everyone could have a branch with their own unique processes and hardware.