Brew Boss Systems

[cooper]

Thanks guys! I'll look at the % settings and see where it's at adjust from there.

 

[akthor]

Will the brew boss control two 5500 watt heating elements at the same time?

I am moving to a 1bbl BIAB system and want to use two elemts in the one vessel.

 

[m00ps]

I think it might have the ability to, but not from the premade controllers that have. I have a 2-element 120v version so I know the controller is capable of doing 2 elements, but anything higher than that only has 1. Email Darin, he is super responsive and can maybe make a custom one

 

[kh54s10]

Will the brew boss control two 5500 watt heating elements at the same time?

I am moving to a 1bbl BIAB system and want to use two elemts in the one vessel.

Why don't you email Darin and ask him?

 

[stlblues5010]

Brad, Just a heads up... I posted to the Facebook page asking about a sale and was told the next one would be Black Friday.

Any idea what kind of sale pricing they would have?
I am REALLY looking at this system

 

[FreddyMar3]

I want to say the last one they did on the spring was 20%. I think it's on their FB page.

 

[akthor]

I did and it doesn't but he said they are working on a 1bbl system that will use 2 elements at the same time.

Why don't you email Darin and ask him?

 

[Rhumbline]

Any idea what kind of sale pricing they would have?
I am REALLY looking at this system

The last sale that I know of was 10% off. I don't know if that's normal, I lucked into it just when I was buying mine.

Just for the record, I'm very happy with mine. I just did my first partigyle and that seems to have been a success, won't know for sure for a few months.

 

[Hoppslover]

So I really like the looks of this system. Most of what I do is 5 and 10 gallon batches up to this point. I like the idea of a 20G kettle being able to do 15G batches. That said I would be giving up the ability to do 5G AG batches with that setup. How close is doing 10G batches in the 15G kettle to maxing it out? Is there plenty of room or is it right up to the elbow fitting? What are the thoughts 15G kettle vs 20G kettle? Thanks

 

[Rhumbline]

I got the 15 gallon. I recently did a 10 gallon batch with, I think, 18 pounds of grain in the COFI basket.

The water was maybe 2" from the top at the beginning of the mash, it went down pretty quickly as the grain absorbed water.

The boil was no problem. That 5500 watt element really gets the job done.

 

[Hoppslover]

Rhumbline So a 1.050 about the highest 10G batch you can make with a 15G kettle?

 

[Rhumbline]

Rhumbline So a 1.050 about the highest 10G batch you can make with a 15G kettle?

I don't know. The grain quickly absorbed water which made the level drop. The basket is claimed to hold 25 pounds of grain, I've had 23 in there and there was a decent amount of space left so 25 seems reasonable.

And I guess you could top off with water after the mash to get your boiling water capacity.

 

[SeeMont]

Rhumbline, "I just did my first partigyle and that seems to have been a success, won't know for sure for a few months." I have the same system you have and brewed parti-gyle with my old system. What process are you using to do a Parti Gyle with the Brew Boss?

 

[Rhumbline]

Rhumbline, "I just did my first partigyle and that seems to have been a success, won't know for sure for a few months." I have the same system you have and brewed parti-gyle with my old system. What process are you using to do a Parti Gyle with the Brew Boss?

Ok, the purists are probably going to have a fit, but here's what I did just as an experiment.

I brewed a five gallon RIS according to its recipe, then set the COFI basket aside during the boil. After the RIS was done I heated another eight gallons to mash temp and replaced the COFI for a 90 minute mash. After boil I added one pound of D-180 to the porter.

I'm still working on my efficiencies, I had the pump flow too restricted but the RIS came out at 1.070 and the porter at 1.044. They are both in secondary right now.

 

[Schumed]

Attempting to try some sour kettling with the brew boss

View attachment 1442027726269.jpg

 

[itsratso]

does anyone know what the smallest sized batch you can make in the 10 gal and 15 gal system is? i usually only make 3 gallon batches and i am trying to see if i could do it on the 15 gal system. that way i could occasionally do 5 gallon batches and also high grav 3 gal beers.

 

[Rhumbline]

does anyone know what the smallest sized batch you can make in the 10 gal and 15 gal system is? i usually only make 3 gallon batches and i am trying to see if i could do it on the 15 gal system. that way i could occasionally do 5 gallon batches and also high grav 3 gal beers.

The smallest the 15 gal will do Is five gallons. I'm not sure about the ten, but Darien is the developer and he's great about responding to emails.

 

[itsratso]

thanx for that. what is the limiting factor for this? in my brewpot i can make any size batch from 1 gal to about 7. i cant figure out why this would be different. i know the cofi is lifted a few inches but you should be able to compensate for that with a little extra water and grain if you wanted to?

 

[Schumed]

thanx for that. what is the limiting factor for this? in my brewpot i can make any size batch from 1 gal to about 7. i cant figure out why this would be different. i know the cofi is lifted a few inches but you should be able to compensate for that with a little extra water and grain if you wanted to?

2 gallons of water barley covers thr heating element on the 15 gallon which means if using the cofi not enough water

 

[Schumed]

Attempting to try some sour kettling with the brew boss

Brew boss did awesome holding 110 for 36 hours

 

[FreddyMar3]

That's awesome, schumed. Can't wait to give it a go. Did you have to have the pump cycling the whole time?

 

[Schumed]

That's awesome, schumed. Can't wait to give it a go. Did you have to have the pump cycling the whole time?

No

 

[FreddyMar3]

I am in the process of wiring up my garage and I have a question for those of you that opted to install a dedicated 30amp GFCI breaker in your panel or subpanel...

There are three wires (2 HOT, 1 GROUND) coming from the controller, so I'm using 6-2 wire to run from the controller to my subpanel and into a 30a GFCI breaker. The breaker has 3 inputs: 2 HOT, 1 NEUTRAL. It also has the neutral pigtail from the breaker that gets connected to the neutral bus bar, as with any GFCI breaker.

My question is this... If there is no neutral wire running from the BB unit to the GFCI breaker, will the GFCI breaker still work with just the pigtail running to the neutral bar?

From what I've read online, the answer is yes. I just wanted to see if anyone else already has it wired up like that.

 

[itsnotrequired]

I am in the process of wiring up my garage and I have a question for those of you that opted to install a dedicated 30amp GFCI breaker in your panel or subpanel...

There are three wires (2 HOT, 1 GROUND) coming from the controller, so I'm using 6-2 wire to run from the controller to my subpanel and into a 30a GFCI breaker. The breaker has 3 inputs: 2 HOT, 1 NEUTRAL. It also has the neutral pigtail from the breaker that gets connected to the neutral bus bar, as with any GFCI breaker.

My question is this... If there is no neutral wire running from the BB unit to the GFCI breaker, will the GFCI breaker still work with just the pigtail running to the neutral bar?

From what I've read online, the answer is yes. I just wanted to see if anyone else already has it wired up like that.

it will work, just follow the manufacturer's directions for wiring it up. ground wire goes to the ground bar.

 

[FreddyMar3]

it will work, just follow the manufacturer's directions for wiring it up. ground wire goes to the ground bar.

Great. Thanks!

 

[SeeMont]

Just brewed a big barley wine yesterday and then did a second running (Parti Gyle). The initial grain bill was 25 lbs. All went well 1.090 for the wine and the second running was 1.042.

 

[augiedoggy]

I would think you would be better off just buying the cheaper and easier to run 10/3 which is code for 30a circuits over using the 6 awg which is actually for 60a circuits and not having a proper neutral in your FCI panel.

Unless there is some other reason for your decision.

 

[itsnotrequired]

i didn't notice the #6 awg conductor before. be sure to check your breaker terminals, most 30 amp breakers (if not all) are only rated for a maximum #8 awg conductor. using conductor sizes larger than a terminal is rated for can result in poor connections. since the #6 awg is oversized compared to a #10 awg, you could conceivably trim a couple strands to make the conductor fit the lug but this is not best practice (it would violate the ul listing of the conductor).

 

[FreddyMar3]

Hmm, ok. I had some leftover 6-2 from wiring in my tankless electric hot water heater so I used that for the run to the controller. It fit in the breaker easily. Sounds like I should go with the 10-3 instead.

Although, I still don't understand why it's necessary to run the neutral if I am just going to have to cap it and not hook it up to the BB controller anyway.

Sorry if I am missing something, this stuff is new to me. Learning as I go.

 

[Rhumbline]

Hmm, ok. I had some leftover 6-2 from wiring in my tankless electric hot water heater so I used that for the run to the controller. It fit in the breaker easily. Sounds like I should go with the 10-3 instead.

Although, I still don't understand why it's necessary to run the neutral if I am just going to have to cap it and not hook it up to the BB controller anyway.

Sorry if I am missing something, this stuff is new to me. Learning as I go.

I don't understand what you mean by capping it and not hooking it up.

I hope I just misread that, you are going to have the controller grounded, right?

 

[FreddyMar3]

I don't understand what you mean by capping it and not hooking it up.

I hope I just misread that, you are going to have the controller grounded, right?

I think you misread that. There is no way to hook up a NEUTRAL to the BB so that needs to be capped. The ground will obviously be hooked up to the green wire coming out of the BB.

 

[Rhumbline]

Thanks, I was reading it as a three wire connection with only the hots connected.

Carry on.

 

[itsnotrequired]

a couple options here (assuming you are running nm (romex)):

1. install 10/3 cable. this will have one each of red, black, white and bare conductors. hook up the black and red to your breaker, the bare to the ground bar and the white would remain un-terminated (best to put a wire nut on the end to avoid any accidental contact with energized parts).
2. install 10/2 cable. this will have one each of black, white and bare conductors. hook up black and white to your breaker and the bare to the ground bar. to be fully code compliant, wrap some black or red electrical tape around the white conductor at the breaker and at your receptacle.

regarding option 2, it is a code violation for a white conductor to be utilized as an ungrounded (hot) conductor, unless it has additional markings to distinguish it as ungrounded. white is used for grounded (neutral) conductors. idea is that if someone else goes into the receptacle for any reason, they won't get zapped grabbing a white conductor, believing it is a grounded neutral.

 

[FreddyMar3]

Thanks for this (again). It sounds like either way I need to pull the 6awg and go to 10, so I might as well go with 10-3.

 

[itsnotrequired]

10-3 also gives the added flexibility if you want to go to a different system in the future which requires two hots and a neutral. the price difference should be pretty small. it will be a function of your circuit length but you should only end up paying an extra $0.30 or $0.40 per foot to go to the 10/3.

 

[FreddyMar3]

10-3 also gives the added flexibility if you want to go to a different system in the future...

Haha, I think my wife will kill me if I switch systems again. I've spent the last 5 months renovating/redesigning my garage around it. Even ripped up 85 feet of my back yard to run electric and water out to it.

In my head, this is the final frontier of my brewing advancement. Never say never, but I can't imagine needing to brew anything more than a half barrel at a time as a homebrewer and this controller seems to have all the bells and whistles covered at a reasonable price.

 

[ingchr1]

10-3 also gives the added flexibility if you want to go to a different system in the future....

That's what I used with mine for that reason, but I just put a 4-prong plug on the Brew-Boss (no wire on the neutral).

 

[itsnotrequired]

Haha, I think my wife will kill me if I switch systems again. I've spent the last 5 months renovating/redesigning my garage around it. Even ripped up 85 feet of my back yard to run electric and water out to it.

In my head, this is the final frontier of my brewing advancement. Never say never, but I can't imagine needing to brew anything more than a half barrel at a time as a homebrewer and this controller seems to have all the bells and whistles covered at a reasonable price.

have you run the electric yet? if you have gone to the rather large effort of ripping the yard up, might as well go for the 10/3. 'if you're going to step over the dog, you might as well step over it's tail', as my dad would say.

you mention ripping up the yard, is this a buried wire installation? are you putting in the wiring yourself or having an electrician do it? there are some special rules when going underground if you want to be code compliant.

 

[FreddyMar3]

My garage is off the back of the house quite a way so I had an electrician run a big ass supply line to a 125 amp sub panel. I'm in the process of wiring up the panel now before I put in the insulation and sheet rock.

So I'd only be replacing a 25 ft section of 6awg inside the garage with the 10-3.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1443651894.094517.jpg

 

[itsnotrequired]

ah, good call on dragging a big feeder out there, you should be fine with the 10/3 in the garage.

i presume you have a disconnect switch on the garage exterior for that 125 amp feeder?