Brewie

[gamerc]

So, I've read this a bit, and I just cancelled my Picobrew Z2 pre order.... Help me want a Brewie+. Are the bugs from the B20 worked out? What are the issues that people are experiencing with the Brewie+?

 

[Nate R]

So, I've read this a bit, and I just cancelled my Picobrew Z2 pre order.... Help me want a Brewie+. Are the bugs from the B20 worked out? What are the issues that people are experiencing with the Brewie+?

Well my original Brewie is dead. I am supposed to flip it over (mind you it had 6.5 gallons of sugar water wort in it i had to siphon out- who knows what it will leak when i flip it over!) and unscrew the bottom, unhook the fans, and replace a fuse on my own. And hope that solves the problem.

That being said- buy the brewie+! It was like 1400 on amazon last i looked. ALWAYS update the software.
You have 100% freedom on the brewie.

Watch for deals. Dont pay full price. Get free shipping.
Most important- be willing to lose your entire cost of purchase if they fold.

It kicks azz man. Super easy and super easy clean up. It looks sexy. It feels modern.

Prost

 

[HarkinBanks]

So, I've read this a bit, and I just cancelled my Picobrew Z2 pre order.... Help me want a Brewie+. Are the bugs from the B20 worked out? What are the issues that people are experiencing with the Brewie+?

My saga has been detailed in this thread, many broken machines, even my first B+ failed. My latest B+ has worked perfectly for two brews. When it works, the machine is a wonder. When it fails, it fails epically. So I give it a very half-hearted recommendation.

For what it is worth, Brewie is offering the B+ on Black Friday for $1000 total. In my opinion, that can't be a good sign, and is much less than I paid as an original backer over 3 years ago. Doesn't sit well with me. Morebeer has to be miffed at that offer, while they offer it at $2399 and Amazon at $1599. I noticed morebeer doesn't have any of the brewie pads in stock, another sign their relationship and distribution may be coming to an end. Company price control has to be of utmost importance for a premium product ala Apple, Bose, Peloton, etc. Add this to the list of missteps.

That all being said, I would buy the B+ for $1,000 and understand you will likely be tinkering with the machine for the rest of its life. Have a back-up system on hand for the days the Brewie doesn't work.

 

[gamerc]

Yeah, I read your ordeal and it's the reason I steered clear of the Brewie originally. I have a grainfather that I use, but I was hoping to end up with an automated system that allows me to run a brew from the comfort of my phone

 

[Nate R]

My saga has been detailed in this thread, many broken machines, even my first B+ failed. My latest B+ has worked perfectly for two brews. When it works, the machine is a wonder. When it fails, it fails epically. So I give it a very half-hearted recommendation.

For what it is worth, Brewie is offering the B+ on Black Friday for $1000 total. In my opinion, that can't be a good sign, and is much less than I paid as an original backer over 3 years ago. Doesn't sit well with me. Morebeer has to be miffed at that offer, while they offer it at $2399 and Amazon at $1599. I noticed morebeer doesn't have any of the brewie pads in stock, another sign their relationship and distribution may be coming to an end. Company price control has to be of utmost importance for a premium product ala Apple, Bose, Peloton, etc. Add this to the list of missteps.

That all being said, I would buy the B+ for $1,000 and understand you will likely be tinkering with the machine for the rest of its life. Have a back-up system on hand for the days the Brewie doesn't work.

Do you think there is a NEW machine release in the future? I could see a bag-less version (maybe a grain gage, like their hop cages?) and a sparge arm in the future. Maybe the Brewie++ or some such crap.
I agree though- no way they are supporting their retailers on price.
I wonder if the Brewie packs just did not move for morebeer? I mean thier own kits are half the price.
This was my first brewing purchase. I looked harf at Pico, but original was a lot for only 2.5 gallons. I don't care for the serious control that Pico Z/C has. Maybe i mis-resd it, but that forum is brutal on it too.

Northern is 20% off right now. I think Grainfather has been the consistent winner in automated brewing right? A few manual steps but otherwise pretty easy. That comes in at about 800 or so. Plus better support i guess.

When it works, the Brewie is a thing of pure wonder!

 

[Nate R]

Yeah, I read your ordeal and it's the reason I steered clear of the Brewie originally. I have a grainfather that I use, but I was hoping to end up with an automated system that allows me to run a brew from the comfort of my phone

I have the Bet app for my original brewie. When it sinks up with my phone it is basically an extension of the screen on the machine.
I would say don't count on the app working. And for sure don't count on "running" it from your phone. You gotta be nearby if you add your own water (i.e. not hose in water), to move grain bags (if you want to do that to up effificency) and overall just keep an eye on Brewie - in case.

 

[HarkinBanks]

Do you think there is a NEW machine release in the future? I could see a bag-less version (maybe a grain gage, like their hop cages?) and a sparge arm in the future. Maybe the Brewie++ or some such crap.
I agree though- no way they are supporting their retailers on price.
I wonder if the Brewie packs just did not move for morebeer? I mean thier own kits are half the price.
This was my first brewing purchase. I looked harf at Pico, but original was a lot for only 2.5 gallons. I don't care for the serious control that Pico Z/C has. Maybe i mis-resd it, but that forum is brutal on it too.

Northern is 20% off right now. I think Grainfather has been the consistent winner in automated brewing right? A few manual steps but otherwise pretty easy. That comes in at about 800 or so. Plus better support i guess.

When it works, the Brewie is a thing of pure wonder!

My personal opinion, but I don't see another version coming until they recoup quite a bit more sales. They told me they are designing a removable mesh basket (like the Robobrew malt pipe) as an add on now. That will help with efficiency and clean up. It will also do away with the grain bags and any chance of scorching a bag or getting sucked into a drain. Honestly, with all of the recalls and wasted money on shipping, I am surprised the company is still in business. They have designed something that few others have been able to accomplish. The tech in this unit is pretty darn cool when all is said and done. I do hope they succeed, or someone bigger buys them out.

 

[Nate R]

My personal opinion, but I don't see another version coming until they recoup quite a bit more sales. They told me they are designing a removable mesh basket (like the Robobrew malt pipe) as an add on now. That will help with efficiency and clean up. It will also do away with the grain bags and any chance of scorching a bag or getting sucked into a drain. Honestly, with all of the recalls and wasted money on shipping, I am surprised the company is still in business. They have designed something that few others have been able to accomplish. The tech in this unit is pretty darn cool when all is said and done. I do hope they succeed, or someone bigger buys them out.

Yeah i agree. Really cool.
The machine big & heavy- exactly what is needed for a fully automatic brewer i would think.
Not sure how they are doing it financially, but it does seem like they are still trying. They lanuched the social page (whatever that is) and the app is techinically out now.
I finally have some free time today to open machine up and replace fuse. I am hoping the machine will fire up and i can get it cleaned ready for the next brew day.
If i can do this and save on shipping costs (for both me and them) i guess it is a win win.
Did they give you an eta on the grain basket? I feel like we could see efficiency in maybe the 80's with that... being able to stir the grain... gets me excited!

 

[HarkinBanks]

Yeah i agree. Really cool.
The machine big & heavy- exactly what is needed for a fully automatic brewer i would think.
Not sure how they are doing it financially, but it does seem like they are still trying. They lanuched the social page (whatever that is) and the app is techinically out now.
I finally have some free time today to open machine up and replace fuse. I am hoping the machine will fire up and i can get it cleaned ready for the next brew day.
If i can do this and save on shipping costs (for both me and them) i guess it is a win win.
Did they give you an eta on the grain basket? I feel like we could see efficiency in maybe the 80's with that... being able to stir the grain... gets me excited!

I got the invite for the social club today and it is being run on facebook. That's a no go for me and I let them know there was no way I was joining facebook. Marcel actually replied and said he understood.

The grain cage is still in prototype testing based on the last email I got from them. I offered to test it but haven't heard anything further.

Also, I just found a very limited amount of the brewie pads being sold by Brewie on Amazon.....at $19.99 including free prime shipping. That's quite a deal based on the cost of grain, hops and yeast included. I ordered several. Brewie gave me specs for all of the pads if anyone is interested, shoot me a pm. Perhaps they are getting out of the supply business. My original brewie pads several years ago were sent to me by one of my LHBS, a bit odd.

 

[Nate R]

~~~~
Well finally got an email from Brewie Support. (They are in another country/day/time zone, so I guess Tues AM for a Saturday ticket is more than fair). Turns out I get to fix my own machine for them! Note- I am posting this not as a gripe, but for full transparency on the Brewie, including customer service. I guess if they are telling me to open the machine up, it does not void the warranty. Anybody else a little concerned on a $2,000 machine to use a fuse between 15-20 Amp? That is quite a swing! (25%-33%?!?!?) Any suggestions on the fuse? Like, what store to grab it at?

I will admit- I am torn between should I be outraged I have to fix the machine myself vs. wow- is it this simple of a fix vs. heck yeah I get to open the baby up per manufacture's instructions- i.e. it won't void the warranty?!?!?

I will take some pics while I do it- anybody curios for anything in particular? Note- I do not this is unfair to Brewie since they are asking me to fix the machine for them, right? If it was proprietary, they would not want me to open it up.

~~~
Brewie Support, Tuesday 13. November 2018. 14:20
Hello Nathaniel,

If the machine does nothing (no beep, no clicking noises, no light) then I think it is the fuse that got blown. Please remove the bottom plate, and have a look on it. The fuse is located on the high voltage PCB close to the power cord. Let me know how it looks.

Please find attached the documentation about how you can turn the the machine upside down securely.

If it is broken please try to find a
- slow acting
- 15-20 AMP
- ceramic fuse with
- high temp operating range (well above 100C/212F)

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards;
Máté

Well I am back up and running! Turns out the fuse was bad. It was a 15A 250V "normal" fuse. I replaced it with a 20A 250V "Ceramic" fuse. Anybody know the difference between the two? I assume the Ceramic is a slow-blow maybe?

Anyways- it was a VERY easy thing to remove the panel. Didn't even have to un-clip the fans- there is enough play in the wires. Popped in a new fuse, sealed it up- easy peezy. The second longest/hardest part of the day was convincing swmbo to help- there was some stinky wort left over that came out when flipped up-side down.

The hardest/longest part of the repair is the cleaning. Needless to say, sugar water can get a little gross. I dumped some hot PBW water in the main tanks, scrubbed out the nasty, ran a full drain. Then ran a Quick Clean. Then ran a Full Clean. Finally I am finishing up with a Sanitizing Clean. Three clean sycles tonight, plus lots of elbow grease in-between. You will see in the pics below the tubes aint so white and clean.
Think the cleaning cycles were sufficient enough to clean it all out? Would hate to run a brew on this thing if there are contaminants left.

Pics below- including the fuse (darn thing broke in pocket on the way home the Hardware store). Not the best quality pics, but honestly not much more to see in there than what I already posted.

 

[HarkinBanks]

Thanks for the pics, they are great. Pumps, valves, two SSRs, plate chiller, motherboard, cool stuff. Nice to see some bits that I can replace when the warranty runs out, or if Brewie goes under.

I see a kink in one of your blue water lines. I would see if you could massage that one out at some point.

I would also run the test brew more than once in the next week or so. I think that will clean things out pretty good. I have seen residue work itself out of my system over time. The hotter, the better.

I thought I saw a glass fuse in the tech page they sent you. This is likely a slow blow glass fuse and they figured out a ceramic one would work better. I would guess the B+ now has a ceramic fuse, but I hopefully won't be opening up mine anytime soon.

 

[Blazinlow86]

Distilled water affecting health is very much a myth. Please remember that just because it is on the Internet, it’s not automatically true. Peer reviewed publication of valid scientific research is another thing... which doesn’t currently exist to validate any health detriments or benefits of distilled water. Conceptually, it does make sense that drinking distilled water will pull ions out of your body, but the chemistry isn’t that linear.

With respect to brewing, as noted above, that “article” doesn’t state the rest of the story, such that distilled water is a great base to build upon using appropriate salts and additives.

There is very little difference between distilled (fully pure) and reverse osmosis aka RO (which has some sodium and other ions sneak through the filtration, but nothing significant). These can be used basically interchangeably, and not require salt additions.

All this said, I know it sounds stuffy... you can make good beer lots of ways. Getting it to “great” which is indeed a matter of opinion, takes more science, patience, and tight processes.

Well said. It drives me crazy when people say "making beers easy cavemen did it". While it's true making *beer* is easy making *great beer* is imho quite difficult. I understand some people say this to new brewers to avoid discouraging them but I feel it can also have the opposite effect when the new brewers beers turn out mediocre compared to what they are used to buying and after a few tries they give up assuming they just can't do it. I doubt the beer cavemen made was very good. Cheers

 

[Nate R]

Thanks for the pics, they are great. Pumps, valves, two SSRs, plate chiller, motherboard, cool stuff. Nice to see some bits that I can replace when the warranty runs out, or if Brewie goes under.

I see a kink in one of your blue water lines. I would see if you could massage that one out at some point.

I would also run the test brew more than once in the next week or so. I think that will clean things out pretty good. I have seen residue work itself out of my system over time. The hotter, the better.

I thought I saw a glass fuse in the tech page they sent you. This is likely a slow blow glass fuse and they figured out a ceramic one would work better. I would guess the B+ now has a ceramic fuse, but I hopefully won't be opening up mine anytime soon.

Hey good eye!!! Yeah i saw that too! It is the water in to plate chiller line. I have always had a solid flow out of the chiller out line, so today i figured i wouldn't mess with it. This thing is easy to open up- everything in right there.

I was thinking if it ever totally fails, a clever person could maybe use the shell and run tubes to external pumps- just unsure on heat control.

 

[padair519]

I have a B+. First 2 brews went fine, low efficiency on first but increased sparge and mashout times and got better OG #'s on 2nd. Very close to by GF numbers.

Anyway, today was my 3rd brew and it would not boil. heating must of been working prior because boil tank was around my mashout/sparge temp. I let it be for a few hours and display finally did not go past 99% on boil progress and time remaining display started Into negatives now. I cancelled the brew and then did a full drain. I quick cleaned and then tried a sanitize clean. No water heating. I unplugged to reboot, waited 5 mins, then booted up, tried sanitize clean again with no luck on water heating.

Anyone else run into "dead" heating b+ units? I emailed support and am waiting. Curious if anyone else has any suggestions?

Also i heard the app is available but not on app stores. How do you get it? I'm on android.

Thx, Paul.

 

[Nate R]

I have a B+. First 2 brews went fine, low efficiency on first but increased sparge and mashout times and got better OG #'s on 2nd. Very close to by GF numbers.

Anyway, today was my 3rd brew and it would not boil. heating must of been working prior because boil tank was around my mashout/sparge temp. I let it be for a few hours and display finally did not go past 99% on boil progress and time remaining display started Into negatives now. I cancelled the brew and then did a full drain. I quick cleaned and then tried a sanitize clean. No water heating. I unplugged to reboot, waited 5 mins, then booted up, tried sanitize clean again with no luck on water heating.

Anyone else run into "dead" heating b+ units? I emailed support and am waiting. Curious if anyone else has any suggestions?

Also i heard the app is available but not on app stores. How do you get it? I'm on android.

Thx, Paul.

No idea. Maybe a fuse? (Sorry my smart response- see my previous issues above).
Probably a bad heating unit. Submit a ticket via the website.

App- ask for it via the customer service email. They will send you beta version info.

Good luck!!!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep us posted- on everything!

Thanks.

 

[HarkinBanks]

I have a B+. First 2 brews went fine, low efficiency on first but increased sparge and mashout times and got better OG #'s on 2nd. Very close to by GF numbers.

Anyway, today was my 3rd brew and it would not boil. heating must of been working prior because boil tank was around my mashout/sparge temp. I let it be for a few hours and display finally did not go past 99% on boil progress and time remaining display started Into negatives now. I cancelled the brew and then did a full drain. I quick cleaned and then tried a sanitize clean. No water heating. I unplugged to reboot, waited 5 mins, then booted up, tried sanitize clean again with no luck on water heating.

Anyone else run into "dead" heating b+ units? I emailed support and am waiting. Curious if anyone else has any suggestions?

Also i heard the app is available but not on app stores. How do you get it? I'm on android.

Thx, Paul.

Sorry to hear. Are the elements heating at all? There was a 99% boil problem with the original Brewie that was fixed by a software update. What version of the software comes up on your startup?

If the elements are not firing, my guess is a switching problem. I don't think the elements would both fail at the same time. Let us know what you hear.

 

[gamerc]

@HarkinBanks I confirmed with Brewie that it is a 1k discount and not a 1k price. They have a page on their site that says 1k, but I believe they are missing the word "off." So yeah, 1499 isn't enough to get me on the buying side of this yet, I don't think... The hunt continues, I guess.

 

[Nate R]

@HarkinBanks I confirmed with Brewie that it is a 1k discount and not a 1k price. They have a page on their site that says 1k, but I believe they are missing the word "off." So yeah, 1499 isn't enough to get me on the buying side of this yet, I don't think... The hunt continues, I guess.

Well that, AND you have to "sign up" for it- so no promises you can even get that discount.

 

[Nate R]

More Beer has original brewie for 899.99 on deal of the day. Just make sure to update software 2 or 3 tines before you brew AND calibrate every now and then

 

[HarkinBanks]

Great brew day with the B+. I hit 70% efficiency with a 12 lb grain bill into 6.9 gallons of total water volume. Same process as before, great crush, 5.2 mash stabilizer, two mash bags, 75 min mash at 150 and a 45 min sparge at 168. I trusted the software to target me for a 1.058 post boil OG and hit 1.060. The software estimated my recipe for 65% efficiency, so it was nice to see the small uptick in efficiency. Happy camper today.

 

[volx]

Well, Brewie+ was great while it lasted. Unfortunately, it didn't last very long.
My boil tank heating element does not turn on anymore after the sparge step. It works fine for heating up the mash water but after the rests and sparge, once the mash has been pumped back to the boiling tank, the temperature is dropping instead of rising. The user interface shows the heating element on the boil tank as “on” during this stage. I reproduced this also with the test recipe after a power cycle. With the test recipe, the instrument left the water in the mash tank, never pumped it back to the boil tank.

During the short clean afterwards, the instrument randomly rebooted ¾ of the way through the short clean cycle. Once back, the full drain was stuck at 99% and never finished.

This occurred on my 6th brew, since I received the Brewie+ in September 2018. I submitted a tech support ticket and will let you guys know what comes out of it. Disappointing! At least the brew is fine.

 

[Nate R]

Well, Brewie+ was great while it lasted. Unfortunately, it didn't last very long.
My boil tank heating element does not turn on anymore after the sparge step. It works fine for heating up the mash water but after the rests and sparge, once the mash has been pumped back to the boiling tank, the temperature is dropping instead of rising. The user interface shows the heating element on the boil tank as “on” during this stage. I reproduced this also with the test recipe after a power cycle. With the test recipe, the instrument left the water in the mash tank, never pumped it back to the boil tank.

During the short clean afterwards, the instrument randomly rebooted ¾ of the way through the short clean cycle. Once back, the full drain was stuck at 99% and never finished.

This occurred on my 6th brew, since I received the Brewie+ in September 2018. I submitted a tech support ticket and will let you guys know what comes out of it. Disappointing! At least the brew is fine.

Bummer. Sorry to hear that. Please keep us posted on the service.

Side note for anyone here who had to send a machine back- does brewie pay for shipping to return? If not, what does it cost to ship 50 (or 75 for original) pounds?

 

[HarkinBanks]

Bummer. Sorry to hear that. Please keep us posted on the service.

Side note for anyone here who had to send a machine back- does brewie pay for shipping to return? If not, what does it cost to ship 50 (or 75 for original) pounds?

Under warranty, I have never paid for shipping either way. Always ask them to email you a pre-paid UPS mailer, box it up and drop it off at a UPS store yourself. Don't wait around for them to come get it, that will take forever.

 

[Nate R]

Under warranty, I have never paid for shipping either way. Always ask them to email you a pre-paid UPS mailer, box it up and drop it off at a UPS store yourself. Don't wait around for them to come get it, that will take forever.

Well shoot that is good!!! I thought it was user paid one way.

Volx- i have heard you should take pictures of boxing it up as you go. Just fyi. (From the thread previously).

 

[gamerc]

I guess I'm glad I didn't buy one... I am really hoping for a more refined tool. It's beautiful, but seems like it's still baking.

 

[volx]

Brewie Tech Support already responded. They sent me instructions on how to open up the machine, check the pumps for clogs and how to unclog them. I will report back once I have tried this.

 

[HarkinBanks]

Brewie Tech Support already responded. They sent me instructions on how to open up the machine, check the pumps for clogs and how to unclog them. I will report back once I have tried this.

Please post the instructions if you can, thanks.

 

[Nate R]

Brewie Tech Support already responded. They sent me instructions on how to open up the machine, check the pumps for clogs and how to unclog them. I will report back once I have tried this.

Make sure you flip it over on a surface you can clean- you will get left-over wort running out.
Also- speaking from personal experience- the faster you can get this done, the better!

 

[volx]

Please post the instructions if you can, thanks.

Instructions for cleaning the pumps attached. Instructions to open the machine have already been posted.

I have cleaned the pumps as per instructions, took about an hour. I will report back later when I got a chance to do a test brew.
------------------

Brewie Support, Sunday 25. November 2018. 11:30

Thank you for the extra tests, so you say, that the machine heats up the water in the boil tank, only fails to proceed around the sparge step. Based on this, I think one of the pumps are failing, but I'm not sure yet. Please restart the machine, the collected brew data is not uploaded.

In addition, when the machine shuts itself off, it is a clear sign of stuck pump which can cause stuck draining.

It would be good to clean the pumps first, it's an easy exercise. Please find attached documentation for both sides, review the instructions and let me know if you have a question.

Once you have taken out the pumps, you'll see, there are 4 screws holding the housing together. Remove those. You'll find a ceramic shaft, a rotor and a ceramic washer inside. Move both ends of the rotor on the shaft to "polish" the inside of the rotor. At the end, when you spin the rotor it should move freely on the shaft.

Let me know if this works for you.

Regards;
Máté

 

[volx]

Pictures of Brewie+ innards attached. The buildup inside the silicone tubing between the junctions is worrisome. I guess I will have to do a full clean with PBW, if I can get it back to working.

 

[BrunDog]

The valves are pinch type valves it seems. Cool idea, but I wonder the long-term durability.

The SSR's are mounted to the circuit sub-enclosure. Probably enough to pull heat out of those, but I'm curious if it gets borderline since you cannot guarantee an effective heat-transfer interface since the thin aluminum wall will not be flat to the SSR mount plate.

 

[HarkinBanks]

The SSR's are mounted to the circuit sub-enclosure. Probably enough to pull heat out of those, but I'm curious if it gets borderline since you cannot guarantee an effective heat-transfer interface since the thin aluminum wall will not be flat to the SSR mount plate.

Very good observation. I'm surprised there aren't heat sinks in there, but space is tight I suppose. One of my SSRs blew on my first B+. The heating elements are sandwiched above this entire area so temps have to be high. I would be interested to see a vertical cut-away of the design.

 

[volx]

The pump on the mash tun side was gummed up. Cleaning it fixed my heater problem. My Brewie+ is back in business!
Still a bit curious how a pump issue manifests itself in a heating element not turning on. I smell some sub-optimal error handling/reporting in software.
All in all, I was impressed with the quick response from tech support. Being able to address issues like this myself with some help is exactly what I want. I have a coffee roaster that I have had for 15+ years and once in a while something craps out. Their support tells you what item you need to purchase and sends you replacement instructions. I have replaced or upgraded pretty much everything in that thing. Much cheaper than the alternative of sending it in every time for repair.

 

[volx]

The valves are pinch type valves it seems. Cool idea, but I wonder the long-term durability.

The SSR's are mounted to the circuit sub-enclosure. Probably enough to pull heat out of those, but I'm curious if it gets borderline since you cannot guarantee an effective heat-transfer interface since the thin aluminum wall will not be flat to the SSR mount plate.

I was wondering the same thing about the pinch valves. Once unscrewed you can slide them along the silicone tubing which would make it fairly easy to replace the valve and the tubing, at least.

 

[HarkinBanks]

I was wondering the same thing about the pinch valves. Once unscrewed you can slide them along the silicone tubing which would make it fairly easy to replace the valve and the tubing, at least.

So that is what all of the squeaking is! I thought they were some type of internal purge valves, but they are literally pinch valves squeezing the tubing, how interesting. Kind of like deconstructing a peristaltic pump. They are noisy, but do a good job of priming and moving liquid around.

Glad you were able to fix your mash pump. I am pleased with the response of Brewie and letting us open up the machine to fix things. I imagine the pumps will need servicing and cleaning over time.

 

[Nate R]

So i have a question- the brewie uses a plate chiller correct?
How do we know that chiller is getting cleaned? I hear of brewers soaking them, baking them, etc.
Will this be an area of potential infection?

 

[Nate R]

Pictures of Brewie+ innards attached. The buildup inside the silicone tubing between the junctions is worrisome. I guess I will have to do a full clean with PBW, if I can get it back to working.

You know, looking these pics compared to my original brewie, it seems there is more space in the plus. Or is that just me?
Kind of makes me excited to see the New model that is sure to come soon... maybe the B++, or the Brewie2, or something.
If they can keep the shell and add a grain cage, lose the bags, and add a sparge arm, this thing will rock!!
Oh- and ensure it works consistently, too!

 

[HarkinBanks]

So i have a question- the brewie uses a plate chiller correct?
How do we know that chiller is getting cleaned? I hear of brewers soaking them, baking them, etc.
Will this be an area of potential infection?

Yes, it is an area of potential infection. I checked with Brewie and the sanitizing clean circulates through the plate chiller to sanitize it, so that is good. There is also a step right before chilling when the boiling wort is circulated through the plate chiller before the chill water is activated, so that is also good. That all being said, the plate chiller looks to be easily accessible and it would probably be a good idea to remove it, soak it and bake it probably once a year.

 

[Nate R]

Yes, it is an area of potential infection. I checked with Brewie and the sanitizing clean circulates through the plate chiller to sanitize it, so that is good. There is also a step right before chilling when the boiling wort is circulated through the plate chiller before the chill water is activated, so that is also good. That all being said, the plate chiller looks to be easily accessible and it would probably be a good idea to remove it, soak it and bake it probably once a year.

That is good to know. That water is about 190 if i remember correctly.
Do you know if the Full Clean also does this?

 

[sniperd]

When I have done a full clean I keep adding in PBW, I'm guessing that should do a good job cleaning the plate chiller. Then towards the end of it all I toss some StarSan in with the water when it is in the rinse phase. I just sort of have guess on the timing but figure that is good enough. I'd be nervous to pull the plate chiller out after seeing the inside of the B-, I've yet to open up my B+ though.