Brewie

[Nate R]

Hello Again Everyone,

So a few weeks back I had a brew day and unfortunately I could not reach boil temperature. This resulted in me running back and forth from my Brewie (in the basement) to the stove upstairs with pots full of wort in an attempt to keep the volume low enough to boil. It was a bit of a fiasco but I’m somewhat to blame. I should have read this forum in its entirety because then I would see all of the heating element posts and upgrading the connectors and adding in an additional fan.

I’m planning on diving back into this and opening up the Brewie to look at the heating elements. I’m suspecting to see some scary stuff upon opening it up.

Does anyone have any update after several brew days of the connector and fan mods? I’m a little nervous to do this myself as I don’t have some of the tools that other members have that make for a very solid and secure connection.

The information is somewhat scattered throughout this post too so if anyone has a BOM of what they used, I would be forever in your debt and would be willing to Venmo you some beer brewing money. If no one has that information available, I’ll spend some time gathering everything I can find and providing a BOM and basic work instructions. Thanks everyone!

What is BOM?
I put together a parts list and general cost back around October 2019 and posted it here.
Are you the B20 or B+?
I did the wires and skipped the fan mod. I do add an external fan (although that is not nearly as good!)
I have since done about a half dozen batches and it always gets to a rolling boil at 214 or so, and i max out the water too.
I am so happy with it! I will edit this with my post number when i find it.

 

[Bryce Brewer]

Sorry about that, a BOM is a Bill of Materials, aka a parts list. And I have B20. I just got down to the heating elements and found some of the yellow connectors that have turned brown but not nearly as bad as other peoples and what I was expecting to see.


Awesome to hear that yours has worked and held up. That makes me feel better that the work will be worth it instead of it only lasting a couple more brews.

I’m going to start digging back through the forum now and see what I can find as well. I plan on getting at the mash element as well and replacing everything so that hopefully I won’t have any heating element issues again. I’ll let everyone know how it goes, I don’t have any parts yet so I’ll have to source them as well

 

[Nate R]

Good morning all!
I wanted to again thank you all for the help, advice, and posts to links that I could (should?) have found on my own with a little bit of work.
I decided to create a spend tracker for my records, but figured it might help others to have a list of what is needed.
Some of these items you may not need, or already have, etc.
Also, I may have ordered too many crimp ends- but since I am doing the mash side as well, I wanted to make sure I have plenty of parts.

Post 2366 from 11/1/19.
I did not need the fans or the micro connectors.
I also have B20

 

[Serio]

Hello to all,
I need your help, the heating ten connectors were burned out, I replaced them, but now the machine began to hang on the "barbotage" process, on any firmware. I do not know what to do.

 

[Bryce Brewer]

Hello to all,
I need your help, the heating ten connectors were burned out, I replaced them, but now the machine began to hang on the "barbotage" process, on any firmware. I do not know what to do.

Hello Serio,

I’m not familiar with the “barbotage” process you are referring to, can you elaborate? Is this something that happens during boot up and you are unable to get to the main screen? It sounds like you have tried changing firmware so I’m at a loss but maybe someone else here has encountered this.

My Digikey order just arrived so I’ll be making the repairs/upgrades this weekend!

 

[Serio]

Hello Serio,

I’m not familiar with the “barbotage” process you are referring to, can you elaborate? Is this something that happens during boot up and you are unable to get to the main screen? It sounds like you have tried changing firmware so I’m at a loss but maybe someone else here has encountered this.

My Digikey order just arrived so I’ll be making the repairs/upgrades this weekend!

Hello Bryce.

it turns on normally, starts also freezes at the "3 stage" of cooking.

 

[Nate R]

Well, i can't read that language, but i bet you have boil element wire issues- like all of us have.
Read through the last 5 pages here, that should help.

I cannot recall the step 3- maybe it is a valve or pump issue (clog?) But just guessing it is a wire issue

 

[Serio]

it looks like mash heater burned down again

 

[ronaldombre]

Hi everyone,

This thread helped me get my Brewie up and running again, and I just wanted to post my two cents just in case people haven't thrown their Brewie's away yet!

This thread is so long that I don't know if my feedback is helpful or not (Google brought me in on page 33 of 66!). I had been dreading a heater failure since reading about it, but my machine was going strong. My brew times were getting longer, but I attributed it to recipe changes. Then I started measuring the power to the Brewie, and discovered that while it was supposed to be heating, it would shut off. My last batch couldn't even keep the boil and slowly cooled off. But when the heater cycled on and off, I could hear a metallic clink.

I found this forum where someone posted instructions on how to get to the heater from Brewie, and I went in to diagnose it. My wiring looked fine, (I have a slightly newer version delivered early 2019) with silicone quick connect sleeves. However, the epoxy looked like it had been baked (golden brown to dark brown in places). My thought was the over temperature switch was faulty, which it was. Measured over 0.15 ohms, and would get really hot just with the current running through it. So it would read artificially high and shut down while heating, doing so more and more often as it approached boiling.

I went ahead a bought a replacement by Honeywell, and had almost the same rating (121C instead of the 120C stock one), and did a heating test, which the Brewie heater stayed on for over an hour, reached boiling, and started cycling on and off because of the software boil control.

Long story short, people's wiring may be fine (albeit burnt or overheated), but that temperature switch is bad. I didn't see anyone talking about it so I wanted to bring it up. In my case, I left everything as-is except for the temp switch. I'm hoping a brand like Honeywell makes a higher quality switch than the stock one!

Ron

 

[volx]

...
Long story short, people's wiring may be fine (albeit burnt or overheated), but that temperature switch is bad. I didn't see anyone talking about it so I wanted to bring it up. In my case, I left everything as-is except for the temp switch. I'm hoping a brand like Honeywell makes a higher quality switch than the stock one!

Ron

Good to hear that your Brewie is up and running again. The root cause for both the burned wires and the breaking temperature switch is a scorching ambient temperature, as discussed in this thread before. I had fixed my wiring before but had it burn off the connectors again a mere 4 brews later. After that I also did the fan mod (in this thread) and have done about 30 brews since with no issues. My case may not representative but if you continue to have this issue, consider adding the fan mod, it is cheap and easy to do.

 

[ronaldombre]

Thanks volx. I may give that a go because I don't want any problems down the line. I already reassembled my unit, but I'm also thinking about replacing the temperature switch on the mash side and checking the wiring there. At first I decided it wasn't necessary, and now I can't stop thinking about it!

I do have one problem with my Brewie that just popped up, though I'd be lying if I said it hadn't slowly been getting worse. The right side of the touch screen doesn't seem to be responsive. Really the only letter that is that far over is 'P', all the rest can still be pressed (although 'L' and backspace and feeling dangerously close to the dead zone. While my Brewie was disconnected getting repairs, it must have forgotten my wifi, and of course I have a 'P' in the password.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is that white cover that holds it on just double sided sticky tape? I'm tempted to pry that off and clean the screen area better. I'm sure some beer has spilled down the screen and maybe that's throwing off the sensor.

Ron

 

[Nate R]

Thanks volx. I may give that a go because I don't want any problems down the line. I already reassembled my unit, but I'm also thinking about replacing the temperature switch on the mash side and checking the wiring there. At first I decided it wasn't necessary, and now I can't stop thinking about it!

I do have one problem with my Brewie that just popped up, though I'd be lying if I said it hadn't slowly been getting worse. The right side of the touch screen doesn't seem to be responsive. Really the only letter that is that far over is 'P', all the rest can still be pressed (although 'L' and backspace and feeling dangerously close to the dead zone. While my Brewie was disconnected getting repairs, it must have forgotten my wifi, and of course I have a 'P' in the password.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is that white cover that holds it on just double sided sticky tape? I'm tempted to pry that off and clean the screen area better. I'm sure some beer has spilled down the screen and maybe that's throwing off the sensor.

Ron

#1- first try gently cleaning the screen. Gently. This always helps me.
#2- reboot once or twice. Sometimea my screen gets a little "glitchy". A rebot can fix almost all brewie problems (except the big ones... lol).
#3- dont pry off. B20 has screws, B+ has a process
Go to brewieforum.net for repair guides for both. Maybe loose wire?

I have guides on my pc. If you pm i can shoot them to you when i am at the pc.

 

[Bryce Brewer]

Glad to hear that ronaldombre's problem was the thermal switch and not a larger issue. As everyone has said, definitely still recommend replacing the wiring if you haven't and venting. Ironcyberia did a test on page 32 of this thread (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/brewie.506703/page-32) and the graphs show you all that you need to know. Every single Brewie (B20 and B+ included) that was ever made will have issues on the boil side overheating. It isn't a matter of if, its a matter of when and it should be assumed it will be the next batch. The mash side you may get away with not replacing wires, switches, and not venting, but I wouldn't take the risk. This is a large investment that a couple hours and $40 of components could fix for the long haul. I hope that everyone who has one has looked at this forum for the fix.

I have all the components in to do mine and the Brewie is disassembled down to the heating elements. Just need to get in there and do it here soon.

For the screen, as Nate mentioned, there is a set of work instructions for how to take it apart. It was very easy on my B20. I would start with the least intrusive options that he mentioned though. I imagine that the entire screen could be replaced relatively easily but there may need to be some drivers installed. I'm not a microelectronics expert but I'm getting there haha

On a brewing note, I am certainly a novice and I've only done 2 batches. Both were undrinkable unfortunately and seem to both have been corrupted by the same thing. I did my first brew forever ago but when I took my first sip of the fermented wort (I wouldn't go as far as calling it a beer), I immediately recognized the burning alcohol flavor that ruined my first batch. The first batch was the Rusty Rex and I wasn't expecting much since it was older, I just wanted to use it and work out any kinks since it was my first time. I chalked it up to that being the reason and maybe the yeast was bad.

For this batch, it was the moreHaze NEIPA from morebeer. I used Gigayeast Vermont IPA liquid yeast and made a liter starter. Everything that I can find sites that too high of a fermentation is what causes these off flavors. The recipe called for 70F so that is what I went with. My basement was below that so I didn't bother putting it in the keezer. I checked on it quite a bit and I don't think it over temperature as I have a thermowell with a probe in there to check it at least twice a day.

The smell and taste has an uncharacteristic sweet smell that I can't put my finger on (I unfortunately don't have a refined enough palate to provide anything better). It isn't anything I have ever smelled with other beers. My beer also looks thin around the edges of the glass. I mashed at the recipes suggested 153F and did two dry hops which I imagine I did introduce some oxygen in. I wasn't able to achieve a very good boil but I don't know if that would be my problem based on research I have done. Any thoughts?

Maybe something to do with my sanitizing regimen? I do make up a batch of Starsan at the recommended dose and have that in a bucket to dunk virtually everything in, even if it is hot side. I also swirl this in the fermenter and have a spray bottle of it made up. Not sure what to do but I don't want to have to throw the next batch down the drain and explain to my wife why I can't make a beer with the equipment that costed too much money (in her eyes). Thanks in advance!

 

[volx]

The smell and taste has an uncharacteristic sweet smell that I can't put my finger on (I unfortunately don't have a refined enough palate to provide anything better). It isn't anything I have ever smelled with other beers. My beer also looks thin around the edges of the glass. I mashed at the recipes suggested 153F and did two dry hops which I imagine I did introduce some oxygen in. I wasn't able to achieve a very good boil but I don't know if that would be my problem based on research I have done. Any thoughts?

Maybe something to do with my sanitizing regimen? I do make up a batch of Starsan at the recommended dose and have that in a bucket to dunk virtually everything in, even if it is hot side. I also swirl this in the fermenter and have a spray bottle of it made up. Not sure what to do but I don't want to have to throw the next batch down the drain and explain to my wife why I can't make a beer with the equipment that costed too much money (in her eyes). Thanks in advance!

Without tasting your beer I can't really tell you what's wrong with it for sure but I suspect you have contamination issue once the wort leaves the Brewie, rather than an issue with your wort. Did you hit your O.G., within some tolerance? Do you use the Brewie for chilling? Do you ferment in glass carboys, plastic buckets, kegs? I am not 100% clear on how to clean the plate chiller in the Brewie, since I am not using it, maybe others can chime in, but if a full clean runs hot water through it, add some PBW. I would also clean everything with hot PBW that can be cleaned with it that touches your wort once it is chilled. Once cleaned, sanitize it again prior to brewing.

I would also recommend brewing something quick, easy and cheap until you find the root cause. A blond ale, California Common (steam beer), pale ale, come to mind. Also, don't do a yeast starter for these beers. Others might disagree with me, but you want to eliminate variables and that definitely is one.

Once you make a defect free beer more than once, try making your favorite one again. I find really hoppy beers challenging because they are so susceptible to O2, but it can be done. I know how frustrating this is, I had contamination in 2 of my kegs that survived regular sanitation and since I rotate through many kegs, the issue seemed random and it took me months to figure it out.

 

[Nate R]

Glad to hear that ronaldombre's problem was the thermal switch and not a larger issue. As everyone has said, definitely still recommend replacing the wiring if you haven't and venting. Ironcyberia did a test on page 32 of this thread (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/brewie.506703/page-32) and the graphs show you all that you need to know. Every single Brewie (B20 and B+ included) that was ever made will have issues on the boil side overheating. It isn't a matter of if, its a matter of when and it should be assumed it will be the next batch. The mash side you may get away with not replacing wires, switches, and not venting, but I wouldn't take the risk. This is a large investment that a couple hours and $40 of components could fix for the long haul. I hope that everyone who has one has looked at this forum for the fix.

I have all the components in to do mine and the Brewie is disassembled down to the heating elements. Just need to get in there and do it here soon.

For the screen, as Nate mentioned, there is a set of work instructions for how to take it apart. It was very easy on my B20. I would start with the least intrusive options that he mentioned though. I imagine that the entire screen could be replaced relatively easily but there may need to be some drivers installed. I'm not a microelectronics expert but I'm getting there haha

On a brewing note, I am certainly a novice and I've only done 2 batches. Both were undrinkable unfortunately and seem to both have been corrupted by the same thing. I did my first brew forever ago but when I took my first sip of the fermented wort (I wouldn't go as far as calling it a beer), I immediately recognized the burning alcohol flavor that ruined my first batch. The first batch was the Rusty Rex and I wasn't expecting much since it was older, I just wanted to use it and work out any kinks since it was my first time. I chalked it up to that being the reason and maybe the yeast was bad.

For this batch, it was the moreHaze NEIPA from morebeer. I used Gigayeast Vermont IPA liquid yeast and made a liter starter. Everything that I can find sites that too high of a fermentation is what causes these off flavors. The recipe called for 70F so that is what I went with. My basement was below that so I didn't bother putting it in the keezer. I checked on it quite a bit and I don't think it over temperature as I have a thermowell with a probe in there to check it at least twice a day.

The smell and taste has an uncharacteristic sweet smell that I can't put my finger on (I unfortunately don't have a refined enough palate to provide anything better). It isn't anything I have ever smelled with other beers. My beer also looks thin around the edges of the glass. I mashed at the recipes suggested 153F and did two dry hops which I imagine I did introduce some oxygen in. I wasn't able to achieve a very good boil but I don't know if that would be my problem based on research I have done. Any thoughts?

Maybe something to do with my sanitizing regimen? I do make up a batch of Starsan at the recommended dose and have that in a bucket to dunk virtually everything in, even if it is hot side. I also swirl this in the fermenter and have a spray bottle of it made up. Not sure what to do but I don't want to have to throw the next batch down the drain and explain to my wife why I can't make a beer with the equipment that costed too much money (in her eyes). Thanks in advance!

Bryce, fwiw:
I have brewed on my brewie the Morebeer HazeCraze a few times. (Not the kit, but i used their recipie and my own ingredients. Dont worry- they have received more than a few of my paychecks over the years!!! They are my favorite online store ANR lhbs!!!)
While it is not the kit you brewed, here are my thoughts on why you may have issues:
-grain bill size. The Brewie struggles with efficency as is. That grain bill pushes 16# or more i think. If you split it up with 2 or 3 bags, or an arbofab basket, it helps. But the Brewie, imo, maxes out at 15#. I think 12# is ideal.
-crush. Did morebeer grind the grain? Most people don't like their crush. Certainly not for biab.
-bittering. Sometimes thoose kits may have older hops. I think there is a fine balance between bitter and sweet with a hazy. Like it has to be perfect.
-water profile? I am not 100% sold on the water HAS to be perfect, but for a hazy i think it really helps. This is a HUGE learning curve for me at least.

As mentioned above, your fermentor may play a bigger part for oxygen. For a NE you almost have to have a pressure conical or similar. It's just too much delicate flavors for a regular bucket or carboy.

If it helps, both my attemps came out a touch too sweet as well. And i ferment in a temp control cf5.
I think part of it is using Brewie with too much grain.
Maybe try 12# grains, add some dme in the dme in the boil? Might be worth a shot. Or as mentioned above, try a basic reciepie. I LOVE the hefe's i make- having the programmable step mash precise temp control kicks azz!!!

 

[Bryce Brewer]

Thanks for the response guys, appreciate the input. I know it is hard to know without tasting and unfortunately I would try to bring it to the local homebrew club for some thoughts but that will obviously have to wait.

I do use the heat exchanger in the Brewie and I go into the developer mode to make sure it is getting clean in there with some PBW. I missed my OG, but I totally agree with Nate that it was partially Due to having a large grain bill. I did use the Brewie bags but I’m thinking about moving to a large muslin bag that I have to see if I like the ability to easily stir the mash. Then I’ll upgrade to the mash basket .

I am planning to try my hand at a SMaSH beer or two in the interim to see if I can get more practice batches that don’t cost an arm and a leg if they are sub-par. The next batch I’m trying to use dry yeast to eliminate the starter variable as well. If I’m close to cell count (which I shouldn’t be since I’m going for a low abv), I can always pick up another.

For my fermenter, I use a Catalyst 7 Gallon Conical with the Trub Dump. Believe my cleaning/sanitizing regimen with that is pretty good. I might take it apart and run it through the dishwasher before my next brew just to make sure.

I do not have a grain mill unfortunately so I went with their crush. I was hoping they would provide what was needed or at least would be better than me who hasn’t ever crushed before haha

For the water profile, I used RO water and brewing salts to make the water to the preferred water profile for a NEIPA so I don’t think that was it.

I think my next step is to get everything working again and I’ll run to the LHBS to grab a simple 2.5 gallon batch and see how it goes. At least then I’ll only be out like $15 or $20.

Thanks again guys, appreciate the help and input

 

[Nate R]

How often do you run a Full Clean?
I run it after every brewig session (which is usually 2 brews ober 2 days) then put it away.
I think the full clean runs through the chiller. Also, i know right before the chill the machines recirculates the boiled wort throigh it.

If you're gonna brew for real, you might look at a mill. They are a pain in the azz because, like evrything in this darn hobby, you can spend an s-ton of dough on it. But i think $99 if you already have a drill can work. This way you crush your own grain to your specs. Get a sack of base grains for less than $1.00 a pound from your lhbs.
Order a pound of hops (or 1/2), keep 'em in the freezer (vacumn seal if you can). Anything from a hops place will be vastly fresher than any kit you order.
It will pay for itself in a few batches.

 

[Bryce Brewer]

I do a quick manual clean right after with just hot water to get the worst of the gunk out and then do a full clean with PBW after each brew. Before brewing I’ll run some water through but lately I’ve been in it so much I’m constantly running water through it so I didn’t do it last time.

I’m definitely going to be in brewing for the long haul, I will work through any kinks and do what I have to in order to learn and improve. I am still enjoying the process even with the hiccups and yet to produce a drinkable beer. I mean it’s in my last name, I have to succeed! Haha

I’m just not currently in a position to purchase more equipment as I’ve made a couple purchases lately for brewing and otherwise. The latest addition was a tool box/cabinet that is perfectly sized for the Brewie and I can organize everything in it. Definitely recommend. Also on the list is a pump in case if I get a clog in the Brewie I can manually move wort around and it will be helpful for other tasks.

I figured leaving the milling variable out would be a good idea since I don’t know what I’m looking for even. I’ll do some research online about how to get a good crush. I have a drill that I can use with one so if I can find something ~$150 that should last me for a few years at least I will go for it.

Vacuum sealer is on the list for sure as well (I have expensive, equipment intensive hobbies I determined). I would use it for saving hops and specialty malts, use the Brewie for sous vide potentially, and I’m a hunter so I can always use it for packaging meat. Between hunting and brewing I think I’m digging myself a hole with my wife... guess I can’t be too upset with her shopping since I definitely outspend her. But mine are investments, or so I justify anyway

 

[Snuffy]

BrewToaster!

 

[Nate R]

I do a quick manual clean right after with just hot water to get the worst of the gunk out and then do a full clean with PBW after each brew. Before brewing I’ll run some water through but lately I’ve been in it so much I’m constantly running water through it so I didn’t do it last time.

I’m definitely going to be in brewing for the long haul, I will work through any kinks and do what I have to in order to learn and improve. I am still enjoying the process even with the hiccups and yet to produce a drinkable beer. I mean it’s in my last name, I have to succeed! Haha

I’m just not currently in a position to purchase more equipment as I’ve made a couple purchases lately for brewing and otherwise. The latest addition was a tool box/cabinet that is perfectly sized for the Brewie and I can organize everything in it. Definitely recommend. Also on the list is a pump in case if I get a clog in the Brewie I can manually move wort around and it will be helpful for other tasks.

I figured leaving the milling variable out would be a good idea since I don’t know what I’m looking for even. I’ll do some research online about how to get a good crush. I have a drill that I can use with one so if I can find something ~$150 that should last me for a few years at least I will go for it.

Vacuum sealer is on the list for sure as well (I have expensive, equipment intensive hobbies I determined). I would use it for saving hops and specialty malts, use the Brewie for sous vide potentially, and I’m a hunter so I can always use it for packaging meat. Between hunting and brewing I think I’m digging myself a hole with my wife... guess I can’t be too upset with her shopping since I definitely outspend her. But mine are investments, or so I justify anyway

If you hunt, then make a foodsaver vacumn sealer #1!! Costco puts them on sale every 3 months or so. It makes meat sooooo much better to feeeze. And aous vide? Fo-getta bout it!! Best thing ever!!! Gotta have it!!

 

[volx]

I figured leaving the milling variable out would be a good idea since I don’t know what I’m looking for even. I’ll do some research online about how to get a good crush. I have a drill that I can use with one so if I can find something ~$150 that should last me for a few years at least I will go for it.

What will also help if you buy at your local home brew store is to mill the grains twice.

 

[ronaldombre]

Hi all,

I took my screen completely out, and still no luck. I thought maybe the adhesive holding the screen might have some liquid that could affect the touch screen, but I popped it out, removed it, and still nothing. I tried googling screen calibration stuff, but I don't know Linux/Android enough to know if there is some type of calibration file to work with. Anyway, very dissapointing, but I guess it still works, I just won't be able to monitor it remotely unless I want to change the wifi password.

On a side note, when I opened up my mash side heater, everything looked great, no burnt adhesive or anything. However, one of the clamps that holds the heater down was broken clean off. I drilled a new hole the the piece that was left and put it back in. Must have happened during shipping or something!

Bryce,

I have brewed the morehaze kit from morebeer, and it turned out great both times I did it. I don't claim to be an expert, but I think there are 3 important things that have helped my beers turn out good. When I first got into it, I would get the "hot" flavors and alcohol burn. I like the cleaner flavors in my beer, not a lot of esters, etc., so I always advocate fermenting cooler. You can never go too cold, in my opinion. If it's 68 degrees in the room, it could be warmer in the beer (but you have a thermowell, so you would know better than I would!). I try to keep my beer less than 68 degrees, hopefully closer to 66 if not colder. Also make sure the beer isn't too warm when pitching. Pitch with fresh yeast, as the only times I get slow starts is with 3 month+ old yeast. Oxygen is your friend and enemy. Give it as much oxygen as you can when you start fermenting, but once the fermentation starts, keep the oxygen out. I recommend dry hopping before fermentation finishes, as close to the end as possible. That way the yeast can scrub it out and not have your hop charge infuse a bunch of oxygen and turn your batch brown. If you keg, it's easy to keep oxygen out, but if you bottle, do it slow as steady. Don't slosh the beer. Pour it, siphon it, stir it as gentle as possible. Try to get enough foam when you're bottling to reduce the air in the headspace, but that's tough to do, in my opinion.

I've both bottled and kegged the morehaze kit, and both worked great, so I hope you find the problem, because that's a great beer!

I'm a big advocate of adding gypsum to the RO water. I typically do 150ppm for the mash. Also, I used to use the morebeer grain mill, which did cause me lower efficiency, but the grain bed was more open and worked nicely. I use a monster mill now, and crush at a medium fine setting. That produces enough flour that it makes a thick grain bed, and can cause the Brewie to make that suction that bends the false bottom and reduces efficiency. It's a fine balance. If you do get a mill, I recommend slowly turning the grind finer, because it improves efficiency, until the mash doesn't flow smoothly!

My 2 cents.

Ron

 

[Didroxus]

Hi everyone!
I had a problem with my Brewie B20. After many successful brews, my machine stopped booting. When I turn it on I hear clicking sounds but there is no beep and the screen does not turn on. I reinstalled the firmware on the card, but the machine does not boot. Does anyone know how to fix this?

 

[Nate R]

Hi everyone!
I had a problem with my Brewie B20. After many successful brews, my machine stopped booting. When I turn it on I hear clicking sounds but there is no beep and the screen does not turn on. I reinstalled the firmware on the card, but the machine does not boot. Does anyone know how to fix this?

Did you replace the SD card with a new one or just re-flash it?
I had to replace my SD card when the same thing happened to me

 

[Didroxus]

Did you replace the SD card with a new one or just re-flash it?
I had to replace my SD card when the same thing happened to me

No, I did not change the SD card I just re-flash it. But I checked the card with different programs and it does not have bad sectors.
Ok, I"ll try to replace it

 

[Nate R]

No, I did not change the SD card I just re-flash it. But I checked the card with different programs and it does not have bad sectors.
Ok, I"ll try to replace it

Give it a shot. No promises but that is what i was told to do right from Brewie when they still emailed people.
(I have a theory they are still in buisness- just not for North America)

 

[Snuffy]

Hi everyone!
I had a problem with my Brewie B20. After many successful brews, my machine stopped booting. When I turn it on I hear clicking sounds but there is no beep and the screen does not turn on. I reinstalled the firmware on the card, but the machine does not boot. Does anyone know how to fix this?

Do these things have an internal HD or are they strictly SD? Not familiar with these units as such, but a clicking sound with no boot - from a PC standpoint - is usually a bad hard drive. Western Digital drives are notorious clickers when they die. Seagates will die in stages after lots of odd errors. If there is no internal HD, then my next guess would be power supply.

 

[Ajes]

It's strictly an sd card. The internals are essentially like a raspberry pi connected to an arduino mega.

 

[Nate R]

Do these things have an internal HD or are they strictly SD? Not familiar with these units as such, but a clicking sound with no boot - from a PC standpoint - is usually a bad hard drive. Western Digital drives are notorious clickers when they die. Seagates will die in stages after lots of odd errors. If there is no internal HD, then my next guess would be power supply.

Internal SD.

The "clicking noise" is what you want to hear on startup with the Brewie. It is the pincher valves opening and closing, or some such. Always happens. Its a good sound.

 

[Ethologus]

after flashing the sd card i just popped it in and it booted up fine. I'd play with it for a bit like this before going on to the next stage. maybe a test brew.

To fix my other issues (update the microcontroller) here are the steps that worked for me:

These are windows based instructions. If you're familiar to run Linux you probably know enough to skip most of the Windows stuff and just ssh into the brewie and type the commands.

It'll make it go better if you can verify file names and locations since you may have a different build than i do. download a program called winscp. once installed it should ask you to login. enter fields as shown below but use your brewies ip for the host name (in the brewie-settings-wifi menu). password is 'terminatorottvagymeg'. in here you can dig around and verify files and names in a windows-like way.

once open on the right side of the screen you'll see something like this:

the firmware update files should be here:
/usr/share/brewie/
the files should end in *.hex

now pop back up using the top folder (..) til you get all the way to the main directory.

now go to /usr/bin/
you should see the update files. the update script won't work because their update servers are down (this is what they use to remotely update your machine). the upload-fw is what will flash the microcontroller but we have to do it manually.

1) open command prompt:
start -> type 'cmd' (no quotes), hit enter
2) in the window, type 'ssh root@[brewie ip address (found in brewie wifi settings)]
3) type 'yes' if your computer complains about authenticity whatnot
4) type 'terminatorottvagymeg' for the password (it won't move the cursor when you do this, just hit enter when done, if you get the # you win!)
5) type 'cd /usr/bin' [this will get you to where the upload-fw files are]
6) type 'brewie-upload-fw /usr/share/brewie/control.ino.brewie1.hex' (i used the file typed here, make sure the second part matches the directory/file that you saw earlier in winscp) - i think the brewie1 and brewie2 files deal with slightly different b20 hardware (I know they charged the weight sensor board at some point). I used 1 and it seemed to work fine for me. 2 would probably work for most as well (is a bit larger file though, maybe more updates). I'm guessing the mega is an older version (smaller and dated much earlier). If you use one file and things are weird you can pretty easily try again. Maybe 1 is for serial numbers < a certain number and 2 is after that.
7) this will show some dialog and indicate whether it wrote succesfully. it may crap out on the verification. Once the write is 100% complete, if it craps out halfway in verify, hit ctrl+c a few times until it gets back to the command line (#).
8) now you could run the temp fix if you think it'll help (you could always wait and see if its a problem first as i'm not sure exactly what it does).
9) the temp fix is here:
type: cd /usr/share/brewie/updatetemp_hw2/
type: install.sh
10) i didnt' get a any feedback on whether this did anything, so maybe it didn't.
11) after I did both of these, when i went over and checked my machine i had a red x in the top right corner of the screen. (scared the crap out of me at first)
12) i rebooted and it came up normal and things were doing what they should.

Good luck!

@Hamboner would it be possible to reupload the images? Thanks!

 

[jordo_99]

This may seem to be an odd request... but if someone has a unit that is not working due to broken hardware, or a lone microcontroller board, I’d be interested in buying or borrowing it to see if we can load BruControl firmware on it. I realize that defeats the purpose of the existing interface, but might provide a path for users to have a functional unit.

I don’t think this will be a tough task... the uC on the brewie is the Atmel 2560, which we support.

Did anyone ever take you up on this offer?

 

[HarkinBanks]

Just a small update, two flawless brews with my B+ in the past 3 weeks. My ebay B20 (just like my 3 prior B20s) continues to struggle with overshooting water volumes. I think the weight sensors in the original B20 were a poor design. I will keep it as a backup for spare parts if anything breaks in my B+. Really happy with my B+, the beers keep getting better as I lock in my process.

 

[Nate R]

Just a small update, two flawless brews with my B+ in the past 3 weeks. My ebay B20 (just like my 3 prior B20s) continues to struggle with overshooting water volumes. I think the weight sensors in the original B20 were a poor design. I will keep it as a backup for spare parts if anything breaks in my B+. Really happy with my B+, the beers keep getting better as I lock in my process.

How do you know it is overshooting?
And do you know by how much?

I recently moves from bottled water to an in-line filter... mostly because of the expense. Man was i glad i did when the H20 hoarding first began!!

Anyways... i wonder if i should look for any ssues, and how.

Thanks

 

[HarkinBanks]

How do you know it is overshooting?
And do you know by how much?

I recently moves from bottled water to an in-line filter... mostly because of the expense. Man was i glad i did when the H20 hoarding first began!!

Anyways... i wonder if i should look for any ssues, and how.

Thanks

I have always used the auto water inlet, but my B20 typically draws too much water even after calibrating. A lot of the early B20s would have the mash tun overflow and I suspect this was because there was too much water being let in. A lot of my early B20 recipes would have super low efficiency, and again I suspect too much water. The easiest way I have figured out how to check things is to plug the boil side holes with stoppers and pour in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 gallons and mark the levels on a brewing spoon with o-rings. Then on brew day I can generally measure the water volume draws with my spoon. My B+ doesn't have this issue so I suspect this is why Brewie did away with the weight sensors in the B20 and went to pressure measurement in the B+.

 

[c06u]

I have always used the auto water inlet, but my B20 typically draws too much water even after calibrating. A lot of the early B20s would have the mash tun overflow and I suspect this was because there was too much water being let in. A lot of my early B20 recipes would have super low efficiency, and again I suspect too much water. The easiest way I have figured out how to check things is to plug the boil side holes with stoppers and pour in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 gallons and mark the levels on a brewing spoon with o-rings. Then on brew day I can generally measure the water volume draws with my spoon. My B+ doesn't have this issue so I suspect this is why Brewie did away with the weight sensors in the B20 and went to pressure measurement in the B+.

I had only one overfill in about 30 brews so far on my B20, it was early on with one custom brew, (brewie bags were never a problem) I later found a double mill cures that and gives me brews right on the numbers, no efficiency problems, I do about three stirs during the mash, extend sparge to 30 mins, extend boil by a 15 min unless brew calls for even more boil time

 

[jordo_99]

After replacing the wiring on my 2nd ebay b20 (first ebay B20 is doing great) and putting it back together, it turned out that I also had a bad thermostat switch.

I replaced that today and put it back together and now everything on the control board fails to work once the B20 is fully booted up...but when it starts up all of the valves are clicking away just fine.

I've tried dev mode in v3.0 (!#43374#) as well as v3.12 (morecontrol) and it's the same for each...I'm actually seeing what I believe to be more evidence that the control board firmware is shot (the temp and water volumes all show -1).

Everything except the boil side had worked a few weeks ago after the wiring upgrade (except for the boil heater).

I think tomorrow I'll get in vis SSH and try forcing a firmware update to see if that get breath life back into it. Any other ideas or comments would be great since this is pretty much all I can think of right now.

 

[jordo_99]

Got to poke around with this over my lunch today and got it working with a firmware update to the control board:

Booted up the B20 on v3.0 and went into WIFI settings to get the IP.

...a lot of this information is on page 57 -- those instructions are for v3.1.2 but the same steps work for v3.0 except the .hex files are different.

1. From my computer, I used putty and connected via SSH to the Brewie's IP.
2. signed in using credentials user: root password: terminatorottvagymeg
3. /usr/bin/brewie-update-fw /usr/share/brewie/control/[filename.hex] [filename.hex] -- don't remember the exact name but it started with "control" and ended in ".hex"

For #3, it ran for a little over 5 min before stalling out at 52%...I ran into the exact same thing with my first B20 and flashing v3.1.2 firmware. I re-ran the same command again twice more and it finished in seconds each time successfully (which I believe means it worked the first time but just stopped reporting back).

Went back over to the Brewie touchscreen and it still wouldn't respond in dev mode...rebooted and everything was working again!

I'll probably upgrade to v3.1.2 and then re-flash the firmware again (I'm fairly sure that fixes/improves the water calibration).


Hope this helps others if they ever find themselves in the same situation.

Time to start running some cleaning/sanitizing cycles and get brewing!

 

[jordo_99]

I've been documenting all the repair parts that I saw posted here and on the FB groups and thought I'd share what I've found so far:


Replacement Wires -- I'm using a 12AWG version of this from Amazon since I wanted them sooner and it works great.

SRML WHITE 10 AWG 10' FT FIBER GLASS BRAID APPLIANCE HI TEMP WIRE MOTOR LEAD | eBay​

Replacement hose -- This seems to be the same size as the draining tubes as well
This is something I attempted to measure myself using a ruler (I couldn't find my Digital Caliper).
Silicone Tube 12mm ID X 16mm OD

Replacement Pump -- This is from FB...these are crazy expensive for what they are so I'll probably just get something else
“TS5 FG 12-1403 pump with 4 wires. It is on the TopsFlo site”

Replacement Valve -- This is the servo motor only...Plastic pinch/lever/case likely needs to be 3d printed
Motor = MG996R


Replacement SSR --
https://www.digikey.com/product-det...n-and-safety/G3NA-220B-DC5-24/Z2253-ND/368912
ThermoStat -- I've actually replaced one of these already...I went with 130C because the 120C had a minimum order of 1000

150C Temp Switch​

It is Digi-Key Part Number: 1862-1073-ND​

Manufacturer Part Number: 1NT01L-7950​

120C TempSwitch​

Possible Volume/Weight Sensor -- This is for the Brewie+

[Hot Item] Cost-Efficient Absolute Gauge Piezoresistive Air Liquids Water Customized OEM Pressure Sensor MPM281​

Fan Mod -- I'm running this in mine right now...I had to cut/splice the wires to get it to reach to the control board but the connector fits if you trim it slighly with a razor/exacto blade.

https://www.digikey.com/product-det...rporation/1606KL-04W-B50-L00/P12817-ND/740174​

 

[Still Brewn]

https://www.european-business.com/interviews/brewie/a-new-gateway-to-home-brewing
Sorry I have not contributed in a while. I was considering a brew this weekend so I thought I would see what is new around here

 

[Still Brewn]

apparently nothing new at brewie.... I have been in the process of bringing an art gallery into the 20th century..... hopefully I can bring it into the 21st century but that is a lot to ask of a guy that was born in 1939 and still writes paper receipts and does the book work in a little black book.