Brewzilla Gen4 Discussion/Tips Talk

[DuncB]

The gen 4 I bought doesn't have the half way feet... trying to find out if there is a diy way to add them?
They don't come on the US models?
Thanks

If you have a 35litre brewzilla it's not really a big deal lifting it all up as it's not that heavy.
Or you could rig up a pulley system and then pull it any amount you want.

 

[mashdar]

The gen 4 I bought doesn't have the half way feet... trying to find out if there is a diy way to add them?
They don't come on the US models?
Thanks

Someone was talking about some stainless hardware, and I thought there waas a photo but I couldn't find it.

1. Definitely stick to stainless steel.
2. Probably need washers to ensure bilt heads don't pull out. Can trim bolts and just let the weight sheer on them, or use brackets (better but harder to trim)
3. Probably need to disassemble and clean regularly.

 

[P_Bio]

Brewed my first batch today on the gen 4 35L and I was happy until...

1. Mash went fine, I mashed in around 1.65 qt/lb and I didn't experience any stuck mash or sparge. Hit my pH and pre-boil gravity perfectly.

2. Boil went fine. I did not recirculate during the boil since I'm worried that it could be bad for the pump long term. Kegland says their pumps are rated for 121 deg C

3. After the boil, I put the whirlpool arm on, where I ran into an issue. The hop matter plugged the pump during the boil or at least when I turned the pump on. I couldn't even drain because I didn't re-plumb the T joint like some recommend (I will do that for my next batch). So I had to scoop out the wort with a pitcher into a bucket. I turned the unit upside down, and I had to disassemble the pump head to clear out all of the hop trub. Once I did that, I poured the wort back in and it worked fine.

4. Whirlpooled and chilled fine.

Overall, I'm pretty annoyed that the pump clogged just from the hop trub. I had maybe 3 oz of total hops in the boil. When I took apart the pump I realized how small the openings are into the impeller. I guess I either need to use the hop spider or recirculate during the boil to prevent the hops from accumulating. It looks like my pump protective cover doesn't stop much of the hop trub. I guess this is why kegland recommends you pump during the whole brewing process, to avoid any clogs.

So any advice? Have others had the same thing happen? I don't like using the spider, but I could always just increase my hops by about 5% to account for loss of utilization.

 

[Willy]

Brewed my first batch today on the gen 4 35L and I was happy until...

1. Mash went fine, I mashed in around 1.65 qt/lb and I didn't experience any stuck mash or sparge. Hit my pH and pre-boil gravity perfectly.

2. Boil went fine. I did not recirculate during the boil since I'm worried that it could be bad for the pump long term. Kegland says their pumps are rated for 121 deg C

3. After the boil, I put the whirlpool arm on, where I ran into an issue. The hop matter plugged the pump during the boil or at least when I turned the pump on. I couldn't even drain because I didn't re-plumb the T joint like some recommend (I will do that for my next batch). So I had to scoop out the wort with a pitcher into a bucket. I turned the unit upside down, and I had to disassemble the pump head to clear out all of the hop trub. Once I did that, I poured the wort back in and it worked fine.

4. Whirlpooled and chilled fine.

Overall, I'm pretty annoyed that the pump clogged just from the hop trub. I had maybe 3 oz of total hops in the boil. When I took apart the pump I realized how small the openings are into the impeller. I guess I either need to use the hop spider or recirculate during the boil to prevent the hops from accumulating. It looks like my pump protective cover doesn't stop much of the hop trub. I guess this is why kegland recommends you pump during the whole brewing process, to avoid any clogs.

So any advice? Have others had the same thing happen? I don't like using the spider, but I could always just increase my hops by about 5% to account for loss of utilization.

1) Do you use the HED (heat exchanger disk) - makes a big difference in catching hops.
2) did you use a whirlfloc tablet? Helps with clumping and this might also help.
3) lots of times ... If you turn the pump off, and then on. (Repeat if needed a few times). Many times it unclogs itself.

Hope this helps.

 

[razzman]

If I get a clogged pump post boil I refit the recirculation arm and blow down the silicone tubing, it clears straight away.

 

[P_Bio]

If I get a clogged pump post boil I refit the recirculation arm and blow down the silicone tubing, it clears straight away.

1) Do you use the HED (heat exchanger disk) - makes a big difference in catching hops.
2) did you use a whirlfloc tablet? Helps with clumping and this might also help.
3) lots of times ... If you turn the pump off, and then on. (Repeat if needed a few times). Many times it unclogs itself.

Hope this helps.

Yes to the HED and Whirlfloc. I tried to blow through the tubing as well with no luck. When I took the pump apart it had dried hop matter, so I wonder if when I turned the pump on I got a burst of hot air that dried out the trub? I just want to know how to avoid it. I could just run the pump during the boil.

 

[mashdar]

Were the hops bagged?

121C is above boiling; the pump is rated food grade for use during the boil.

 

[Willy]

Yes to the HED and Whirlfloc. I tried to blow through the tubing as well with no luck. When I took the pump apart it had dried hop matter, so I wonder if when I turned the pump on I got a burst of hot air that dried out the trub? I just want to know how to avoid it. I could just run the pump during the boil.

I run the pump to recirc during the boil - helps to keep the temp more constant for a more uniform boil.

When you whirlpool - what's your method and timing? I whirlpool for 10-15 min. while reducing boil temp to 170°F. Then begin cooling and shut off the whirlpool for 15 min to let it settle.

 

[P_Bio]

I run the pump to recirc during the boil - helps to keep the temp more constant for a more uniform boil.

When you whirlpool - what's your method and timing? I whirlpool for 10-15 min. while reducing boil temp to 170°F. Then begin cooling and shut off the whirlpool for 15 min to let it settle.

I'll try that nest time. I also do the same whirlpool method you described. Whirlpool for late hop addition for 10 - 20 minutes. But I use a counterflow chiller so I don't wait for anything to settle since I need to pump to chill anyways.

 

[hungupdown]

If blowing out a clog, post boil. I'd then boil and recirculate, for another 10 minutes, to sterilise again.

I no longer get this problem, since using a large SS hop spider. With recirculation through it for whole boil time, to make sure hops are well utilised.
But as little as little of 20g of hop pellets, at start of boil, can clog the spider - causing overflow if max flow continued. With reduced flow, the small amount of escaped hops has never caused a clog (using heat exchanger disc).

I sometimes wonder if it might be better, to add hops to main vessel (slowly), while recircilulating via the hop spider. A large proportion, would settle on the false bottom and HED. And those recirculated would end in spider.
Just wish cone hops, of more varities, were available.

 

[hungupdown]

I had an issue with this, but did not have a wet interface that I'm aware of. Kegland said that they see this in some cases when the cord doesn't get fully seated into the brew unit. I couldn't say for sure how careful I was of that before (but I for sure am now!). I went for a slightly longer cord (but not too long such that I'd get more voltage drop and suffer with less heating element power), and went to copper terminals (lower impedance). Here's the cord I ordered off of Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RVDPJ3B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

An IEC C13 is rated 15 amps. At 120V, that's 1500W.
Not sure, but believe the US model has 1000W and 500W elements. So the connector is run at it's maximum rating. Never a good idea.
The G4 35l 230V version, has 1900W and 500W elements. Total 2400W, or about 10.4A at 230V, which is reasonably underrun. But I've still heard of failures!

Overheating will just be due to high contact resistance. At 15Amp, just 1 Ohm resistance will produce 15W, which is too much for these connectors to dissipate, without melting.
A little liquid on the connector contacts, in itself, wouldn't cause overheating. But might lead to corrosion, leading to increased resistance. Squirting silicone spray (or even WD40) on the connectors, might help, by repelling moisture.

Best bet, is to remove and re-insert the connector, a couple of times before each brew. The 'wiping' action will clean the contacts.
If the connector ever feels hot, try cleaning BZ pins and cable sockets using a needle file - with the cable unplugged!

 

[Antbeer]

Brewed my first batch today on the gen 4 35L and I was happy until...

1. Mash went fine, I mashed in around 1.65 qt/lb and I didn't experience any stuck mash or sparge. Hit my pH and pre-boil gravity perfectly.

2. Boil went fine. I did not recirculate during the boil since I'm worried that it could be bad for the pump long term. Kegland says their pumps are rated for 121 deg C

3. After the boil, I put the whirlpool arm on, where I ran into an issue. The hop matter plugged the pump during the boil or at least when I turned the pump on. I couldn't even drain because I didn't re-plumb the T joint like some recommend (I will do that for my next batch). So I had to scoop out the wort with a pitcher into a bucket. I turned the unit upside down, and I had to disassemble the pump head to clear out all of the hop trub. Once I did that, I poured the wort back in and it worked fine.

4. Whirlpooled and chilled fine.

Overall, I'm pretty annoyed that the pump clogged just from the hop trub. I had maybe 3 oz of total hops in the boil. When I took apart the pump I realized how small the openings are into the impeller. I guess I either need to use the hop spider or recirculate during the boil to prevent the hops from accumulating. It looks like my pump protective cover doesn't stop much of the hop trub. I guess this is why kegland recommends you pump during the whole brewing process, to avoid any clogs.

So any advice? Have others had the same thing happen? I don't like using the spider, but I could always just increase my hops by about 5% to account for loss of utilization.

I use a “brew in the bag”, bag for my hops, with the recirculation pipe in the bag. This has the added advantage of filtering all the way through the boil and there is very little trub to go into the fermenter.

 

[theredviper]

I had to make this repair recently. It did look like bad termination. The melt pattern on the C14 connector was the same on the front and the back, so it was hard to say which side had the bad connection. With enough tugging I was able to get the cord out, but both the cord and the socket were a lost cause. When installing the new panel connector I carefully tightened up the wire disconnect terminals with pliers before pushing them onto the back tabs. One brew in, no problems. Fingers crossed.

(Trying to double-check if I had the right name for the connectors, I bumped into another of life's mysteries - why is a connector that looks like a fork called a spade connector, which then apparently relegates connectors that looks like spades to being called disconnect terminals.)

I'm a few brews into my own replacement and the connection is cooler than ever. Seems like a bit of a defect from the factory that hopefully is sorted out now. I got the Gen4 as soon as it was available in my country.

 

[theredviper]

If I get a clogged pump post boil I refit the recirculation arm and blow down the silicone tubing, it clears straight away.

Yeah I have done this too. Never had a problem when I was using rice hulls but ran out and now occasionally I get this behavior.

 

[rtstrider]

Well I've had the replacement Gen 4 for around a month. The pump seized during brew day. I will say there were quite a few exquisite vocabulary expanders used at the end of that session but the batch is fermenting now. I did take the head cover off the pump and verified the impeller is seized. It's the weirdest thing though. It spins free at mash temps. When it gets to boil temps the impeller stops working. I initially thought this might be cavitation so I further tested via draining the Brewzilla, removing the plastic cover, and watching the impeller. I even tried to kick start it for giggles and it was still a no go. When the temps lower back to room temp the pump works again no issue. Really odd! Anywho I'll be reaching back out to the vendor to see if they want to try a replacement pump or another full unit swap out. I'm game for either

 

[theredviper]

Well I've had the replacement Gen 4 for around a month. The pump seized during brew day. I will say there were quite a few exquisite vocabulary expanders used at the end of that session but the batch is fermenting now. I did take the head cover off the pump and verified the impeller is seized. It's the weirdest thing though. It spins free at mash temps. When it gets to boil temps the impeller stops working. I initially thought this might be cavitation so I further tested via draining the Brewzilla, removing the plastic cover, and watching the impeller. I even tried to kick start it for giggles and it was still a no go. When the temps lower back to room temp the pump works again no issue. Really odd! Anywho I'll be reaching back out to the vendor to see if they want to try a replacement pump or another full unit swap out. I'm game for either

That's a bit weird. Maybe part of the reason they upgraded the pump for the Gen 4.1? Anybody know if you can put that pump in a 4.0?

 

[rtstrider]

Definitely! I didn't have issues with the pump in the unit prior to this one. Morebeer is shipping a full Brewzilla replacement so will be running this through it's paces as I have a brew day lined up this weekend

 

[mashdar]

Definitely! I didn't have issues with the pump in the unit prior to this one. Morebeer is shipping a full Brewzilla replacement so will be running this through it's paces as I have a brew day lined up this weekend

If you have a "dead" unit, maybe you can swap pumps?
Did you get a replacement and are getting a second replacement? (#1395 says you've had it, #1397 says they're shipping one?)

 

[rtstrider]

If you have a "dead" unit, maybe you can swap pumps?
Did you get a replacement and are getting a second replacement? (#1395 says you've had it, #1397 says they're shipping one?)

I had the initial unit for almost 2 years but the plugs were burning out and eventually it fried the ribbon cable. I got really lucky and Morebeer shipped a replacement unit around a month ago. It worked without a hitch until last week. The pump would work at mash temps but not at boil temps. At first I thought it might be cavitation. From there I ran a plain water batch and same thing it cut out at the boil. So I drained the unit, took the pump head off, and the impeller was seized at those high temps. Morebeer has shipped another replacement unit that should be here tomorrow.

tldr I will be on the third Brewzilla unit tomorrow

 

[mashdar]

Well dang, that's customer service for you.

 

[rtstrider]

Reporting back. I received the Brewzilla Gen 4.1 and finally got a brew day knocked out with it over the weekend The main changes I noticed are the malt pipe only has one row of feet at the bottom, the lid clamps are adjustable and coated in a rubber coating, it comes with the sight glass (which is a plastic resin deal), and that's about it. Now I will say the brewday was uneventful and went extremely smooth! Once this was over, and the unit cleaned, I did take the pump head cover off the unit to make sure it was clean, which it was, and it definitely spun more freely than the 2nd Brewzilla unit. I really enjoyed the sight glass! It neat to be able to visually see the wort go from cloudy to crystal clear! Also it was a huge help in not having to shine a light down in the boiler itself to make sure the preboil volume was where it should be (25L/6.75 Gallons) in my case. Going to get a few more brews in on the Gen 4.1 and will report back again. Hopefully the next brews are just as uneventful

 

[jdubdvdt]

Reporting back. I received the Brewzilla Gen 4.1 and finally got a brew day knocked out with it over the weekend The main changes I noticed are the malt pipe only has one row of feet at the bottom, the lid clamps are adjustable and coated in a rubber coating, it comes with the sight glass (which is a plastic resin deal), and that's about it. Now I will say the brewday was uneventful and went extremely smooth! Once this was over, and the unit cleaned, I did take the pump head cover off the unit to make sure it was clean, which it was, and it definitely spun more freely than the 2nd Brewzilla unit. I really enjoyed the sight glass! It neat to be able to visually see the wort go from cloudy to crystal clear! Also it was a huge help in not having to shine a light down in the boiler itself to make sure the preboil volume was where it should be (25L/6.75 Gallons) in my case. Going to get a few more brews in on the Gen 4.1 and will report back again. Hopefully the next brews are just as uneventful

The sight glass seems like a nice feature to add.
I have a late model gen 4.0, not sure if they called it anything else. It has adjustable lid clamps with rubber, but not a coating, more like a heat shrink wrap. It also only has one row of a feet at the bottom which I am still frustrated about.

What does the sight glass read up to? I make 6.5 gallon post boil volume batches in my gen4. Wonder if I can buy an upgrade kit to get the sight glass?

Also, a small update on mine. My pump went out, not sure why. It was quickly replaced under warranty, but sad that it failed in under 10 brews. They were adamant it was clogged. They hushed up quickly when I told them it failed when making a seltzer and I went to pump the liquid out.

 

[theredviper]

The Gen 4.1 has a new stronger pump so weird that it failed like that. I was thinking about upgrading the pump for my 4.0, but maybe I'll wait.

 

[cfrazier77]

I believe the stronger pump is only in the 65 liter unit.

 

[jdubdvdt]

The Gen 4.1 has a new stronger pump so weird that it failed like that. I was thinking about upgrading the pump for my 4.0, but maybe I'll wait.

I'm considering upgrading to the pump they offer on the 65L. Maybe if mine fails again I'll ask for a discounted upgrade. It seems to be more robust. Obviously I use my pump to chill my wort and the standard one does not seem to be rated for it

I believe the stronger pump is only in the 65 liter unit.

I believe it is on the 65L and the 100L unit.
Per this kegland video they mention you can upgrade (not sure if that applies in the USA since we already get cucked on the malt pipe)

 

[theredviper]

If somebody has retrofitted the new pump onto a 35L (120V at that) I'd love to see a video.

Although, if the stronger pump doesn't solve any problems, that's moot. The flow rate of the 4.0 pump is fine, clogging is the issue.

 

[rtstrider]

The sight glass seems like a nice feature to add.
I have a late model gen 4.0, not sure if they called it anything else. It has adjustable lid clamps with rubber, but not a coating, more like a heat shrink wrap. It also only has one row of a feet at the bottom which I am still frustrated about.

What does the sight glass read up to? I make 6.5 gallon post boil volume batches in my gen4. Wonder if I can buy an upgrade kit to get the sight glass?

Also, a small update on mine. My pump went out, not sure why. It was quickly replaced under warranty, but sad that it failed in under 10 brews. They were adamant it was clogged. They hushed up quickly when I told them it failed when making a seltzer and I went to pump the liquid out.

I wonder if it would be counterintuitive to remove that spindle right in the middle of the pump head? It seems like that could be a huge cause for clogging. Is that "spindle" with three arms actually needed?

 

[agentbud]

I wonder if it would be counterintuitive to remove that spindle right in the middle of the pump head? It seems like that could be a huge cause for clogging. Is that "spindle" with three arms actually needed?

Sounds like the subject of a Far Side cartoon. "Marvin wondered aloud if he should remove the spindle thingy and he was never seen or heard from again."

 

[mashdar]

Hmm. Was prepping strike water last night and noticed a little puddle under the unit when I moved it. The silicone elbow from the bottom drain into the pump has degraded and was slowly dripping.

I tried to replace it with a straight 1/2" segment, but it kinks. I unmounted the pump for now.

Anyone know where to buy such a beast? 1/2" food grade silicone 90? I'm also open to reworking it, although with the out-of-the-box configuration, there's not much room for tube - stainless elbow - tube.

I'm not sure why it rotted out. I run oxiclean sometimes, but no acid sanitizers etc. It may just be heat + vibration.

 

[Willy]

Hmm. Was prepping strike water last night and noticed a little puddle under the unit when I moved it. The silicone elbow from the bottom drain into the pump has degraded and was slowly dripping.

I tried to replace it with a straight 1/2" segment, but it kinks. I unmounted the pump for now.

Anyone know where to buy such a beast? 1/2" food grade silicone 90? I'm also open to reworking it, although with the out-of-the-box configuration, there's not much room for tube - stainless elbow - tube.

I'm not sure why it rotted out. I run oxiclean sometimes, but no acid sanitizers etc. It may just be heat + vibration.

Here's a link. https://www.morebeer.com/products/r...HYDBjJyeVvg_OdMwqnevhPLR-4EFHuVhoCZGUQAvD_BwE