BrewBoss controlled Blichmann BrewEasy

[schiersteinbrewing]

Thought I would document my BrewBoss controlled Blichmann BrewEasy setup.

I have had the BrewBoss for 2-2.5 years now and was looking for an upgrade(why? I have no idea). I have had my eye on the BrewEasy but didn't want to buy another controller. So I bought a 7.5 gal Blichmann G2, 7.5 gal Blichmann false bottom, 10gal Blichmann G2 with Boil coil, 5 gal G2 BrewEasy kit. I saved about $200 by buying the scratch/dent Blichmann kettles, honestly the kettles I received I had to look very hard to find the "defect".

I already had a chugger pump and all the fittings and Cam Locks needed.

The wet run went well. Heated all the water 8gal in the boil kettle then pumped the water to the mash tun. Offset between kettles was 4 degrees F. The temp probe is in a T off the boil kettle valve. While bringing water to boil, so the BrewBoss would recognize the temperature, I recirculated the water back into the boil kettle. Once boil detect phase was complete I shut the pump off and the BrewBoss operates normally.

I will update after my first brew. Also thinking about adding a whirlpool arm to the boil kettle with cam lock fitting. That would make the recirculation until boil detect is complete much easier.

Side note, now I could brew 3 all grain beers all at once two 5 gal and one 10gal (3 controllers; 2-240v heaters 1-120v; 2 -240v outlets; 2 bayou kettles and BrewEasy setup; 1 chugger and 2-12v pumps) make that 4 beers I have a stove top "extract" kettle as well. That would be fun and vey trying, just don't have temp control or fermentation space for that amount.

 

[schiersteinbrewing]

First brew going down. A Gose. Probably shouldn't have gone with a wheat heavy brew for the first run, but it is doing very well.

5lbs Pilsner Malt
3lbs Wheat Malt
1lb Rice Hulls

8 gal RO
1.5g Epsom
1.5g Gypsum
3.5g CaCl
1 campden tablet
2ml Lactic Acid

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Mash Tun
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Brew Kettle (not sure how accurate this is as I have had to calibrate it serval times and it always off like 10min later)
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Heated all the water in the Brew Kettle to 152deg then pumped 3.5 gal of the 8gal into the Mash tun. Mashed in, I was spot on with 148deg mash temp. Let rest 15 min before turning on pump. Started pump and recirculation and timer. Let pump for 15 min then checked PH, at room temp PH was 5.8, added 2ml Lactic, ph is now 5.4 (all ph readings taken at room temp).

Its a balancing act trying to find the sweet spot between Controller temp/Brew Kettle Temp/Mash Temp. I will get it figured out soon enough, I have 3 others brews ready to go for this system.

6.75gal of 1.032 wort

85% conversion efficiency
72% pre-boil efficiency

Brought to boil chilled to 100deg added 10ml lactic acid to bring ph to 4.5(at room temp), pitched 1l Oyl-605 starter. Removed brewboss temp probe from T, sanitized and put probe over rim into Kettle, sanitized lid placed on kettle, wrapped lid/kettle with Saran Wrap (added measure to keep little gnats/flys out) , set brew boss to Maintain temp of 95 deg, wrapped kettle with blanket and placed in a garage.

This is when being in West Texas has its advantages; 105 deg outside. So the garage has kept the kettle at 96-97 deg easy.

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18 hours later ph 3.6

Finished the brew this morning. At 36 hours ph was 3.4. OG as 1.042 5 gal into fermenter.

Brew house eff 70%, about the same as my BIAB setup.

 

[swimIan]

I had a 2 vessel set up but then went single vessel last year. My 2 vessel had greater batch size flexibility. My single vessel is seems to get better efficiency though. Setup and clean up seem to be the same for both systems. In hindsight I liked two vessel better and wish I had a brewboss controller back then.

 

[schiersteinbrewing]

I had a 2 vessel set up but then went single vessel last year. My 2 vessel had greater batch size flexibility. My single vessel is seems to get better efficiency though. Setup and clean up seem to be the same for both systems. In hindsight I liked two vessel better and wish I had a brewboss controller back then.

I did 3vessel propane keggels for about a year, clean up was awful and used a lot of propane. Then switched to single vessel and electric did that for 4 years. So far the clean up is the same for 2 vessel and single vessel, I get a tad better efficiency with single vessel vs 2 vessel. I've only cranked out one brew so far with the 2v so I still have some dialing in to do. I also still need to figure out how to write the BrewBoss programs to work with the brew easy (mash wise). I ran it in manual mode this brew to see what temps looked like.

 

[schiersteinbrewing]

I had my second run with the BrewEasy, brewed the AHS Texas Bock. Worked great, still in manual mode, but taking notes for a program. I did do something a tad different and loved the turn out. I heated all the water in the brew kettle then attached the hose to the mash tun valve. Then filled the mash tun with enough water to cover the false bottom, added my grains. Then kept filling the Mash tun with water from the bottom until half the water volume was in the mash tun. This process worked very well, may be a tad difficult to do in auto mode more testing/brewing to come.

 

[schiersteinbrewing]

Finally got to brew again, family life has become very busy. Ran it in auto mode worked very well and without a problem. Just set your temp controller the few degrees higher you need for target mash temp.

 

[schiersteinbrewing]

An update a year later. I have got this brew boss and breweasy down. Hitting 80-85% efficiency hit 90% today. Ibhs e my grain mill set at 0.38in, 100% RO water treated with epsom, CaCl, Gypsum for style, and latic for PH. Using Brun water for water calculations. Typical mash is about 1.5hours with 45 min mash out (including heat time just setting controller to 170). Using the 0.75gpm oriface for the breweasy. Let drain and boil.


It's not record setting brewtime. Makes great beer tho. My son's like to help and we mow or clean the kitchen or other rooms while we brew.