Brewzilla Gen4 Discussion/Tips Talk

[Bottoms_Up]

Oh it’s an option. The only reason I was considering a tea kettle is because of the ease and speed of heating.

I have an electric range and it kind of sucks, but it would work just fine.

But I don't understand this need for "speed"? If you start heating the sparge water on the stove near the beginning of the mash - ot even later - there's no need for speed. It's all totally heated and ready to go by the time you need it, even on a slow stove. Oh, I get it. You're addicted to new "gadgets", right? LOL

 

[ryanj]

But I don't understand this need for "speed"? If you start heating the mash water on the stove near the beginning of the mash, there's no need for speed. it's all heated and ready to go by the time you need it. Oh, I get it. You are addicted toi new "gadgets"? LOL

Fair point. Didn’t have to be like that, tho.

 

[Bottoms_Up]

Fair point. Didn’t have to be like that, tho.

Just trying to be honest and practical - no criticism intended. I've been brewing for FAR too long! Started with the Charlie Papazian way when you had to rub sticks together to start a fire

 

[govner1]

I’m waiting on the availability locally of the 65L 220/240 system. My LHBS can get it for me and I’d prefer to give them the business.
I’ll be replacing a 3 vessel system, custom brew stand, plus a Blichmann floor burner. My kettles are all 15g G1 Blichmann as well. Not to mention the sundry accessories I’ll be eliminating.
I can brew inside year round but now without opening doors. I’ll add a steam condensation system and will use the water collected for cleaning and in the gardens.
Overall, I hope to reduce the footprint and complexity of my current system while hopefully reducing my brewday times.
As for sparging I’m getting the basic Digiboil 65L. This gives me a lot of flexibility for additional water needs.
I have to CFC systems and plenty of pumps so that shouldn’t be an issue.

 

[warx]

I'm curious about the pickup pipe being at the very bottom instead of a rotating racking arm like my Anvil. Do you have to transfer all the cold break/trub to the FV? Do you dump it until you get clear wort (or decide when you are OK with the amount of trub entering the FV?

With my Anvil if I don't use a hop spider and with a heavy grain bill I still get so much trub my pointing up racking arm is still well under the trub level anyways.

 

[Bottoms_Up]

I'm curious about the pickup pipe being at the very bottom instead of a rotating racking arm like my Anvil. Do you have to transfer all the cold break/trub to the FV? Do you dump it until you get clear wort (or decide when you are OK with the amount of trub entering the FV?

With my Anvil if I don't use a hop spider and with a heavy grain bill I still get so much trub my pointing up racking arm is still well under the trub level anyways.

Just today, I purchased a rotating sparge arm for my Brewzilla. The existing configuration using only a crude hose for circulation made little sense. With this rotaing sparge arm, most of the trub and cold break should hopefully remain at the top part of the grain bed. In addition, the wort should circulate through the entire grain bed much more efficiently. I'll use the sparge arm during my mash as well.

 

[Teufelhunde]

Just today, I purchased a rotating sparge arm for my Brewzilla. The existing configuration using only a crude hose for circulation made little sense. With this rotaing sparge arm, most of the trub and cold break should hopefully remain at the top part of the grain bed. In addition, the wort should circulate through the entire grain bed much more efficiently. I'll use the sparge arm during my mash as well.

Do you have a link to the one you bought?

 

[Bottoms_Up]

Do you have a link to the one you bought?

Yes, you can order it from here:

Sprinkler Head Sparge Arm with 26

The arm actually just fits inside the Brewzilla but is a little tight, so I'm planning to cut about 1/2" from each end of the arm. This is easily doable with a hacksaw. The rubber ends easily come off and on.

The only additional item you will need is an O-ring or some kind of clamp to keep the device at the proper height (I'm not sure why something like that wasn't included). I ended up getting one of those self-adjusting butterfly clamps, which makes it easier to make fine adjustments on the fly.

Easy-Turn (Butterfly) Hose Clamp for 7/16

 

[Teufelhunde]

Yes, you can order it from here:

Sprinkler Head Sparge Arm with 26

The arm actually just fits inside the Brewzilla but is a little tight, so I'm planning to cut about 1/2" from each end of the arm. This is easily doable with a hacksaw. The rubber ends easily come off and on.

The only additional item you will need is an O-ring or some kind of clamp to keep the device at the proper height (I'm not sure why somehting like that wasn't included). I ended up getting one of those self-adjusting butterfly clamps, which makes it easier to make fine adjustments on the fly.

Easy-Turn (Butterfly) Hose Clamp for 7/16

TY

 

[jtrainer]

I was poking about B3s site and noticed the 110v model is fully listed as available. Both of the 220v models are still tagged pre-order and not in stock yet. Patiently waiting.

 

[Yogi77]

I could never understand why it is necessary to purchase a tea kettle or an expensive sparge water heater. It is so incredibly easy and inexpensive to just heat sparge water in a pot on the stove. Why is that no longer an option?

hi all, might seem like a silly question but do you see a need to have to sparge water at 100c?
I use the hot water from my kitchen tap which comes out at 60c and always seems to be hitting my numbers so am not sure if that extra heat will benefit me or not.

 

[DuncB]

@Yogi77
Some people sparge with cold water, I would take the chlorine out of the tap water before sparging and consider ensuring the water pH is around 5.5.
The theory is that hot water makes the sugars runnier so they come out. If you're happy with the numbers and your brew, you can stay the same or experiment. Sparging with the water at mash out temperature is the " recommendation " but some don't mash out either.
Certainly wouldn't recommend boiling water meant to leach more tannins out of the grain husks.

 

[agentbud]

Does anyone know how many amps the 220v version of the Brewzilla Gen 4 pulls?

 

[DuncB]

How big is the element?

Current ( amps ) is Watts divided by Voltage

So if 3000 watt element and 220 volts ( volts will be around this figure but can vary if you check it at supply but not significant)

You would have a current of 13.6 amp. If you were at 240v then it's 12.5 amp.

My 3000 watt guten I run off a 15 amp plug on a 30amp fused spur with this the only thing on it.

That would be at full power of course.

 

[rtstrider]

Will be ordering the 9.25 gallon 110 volt unit next Friday. Figure I'll take it on a "dry" run first to get a feel for boil off and such before running a true batch through it. Was going to measure out 6.5 gallons of hot tap water, see how well the stamped lines on the inside line up with the actual liquid measurements, then let er rip/boil for 1 hour. Basically doing this so I can dial in the pre boil volume for mash/sparge water. Really excited to finally be moving to a much easier electric brew system!

 

[rtstrider]

The big question I have is will a hop spider be needed for this and what grain crush size is used? Right now I crush almost biab fine but am thinking the crush may need to be a pinch larger so it does not back up in the pump.

 

[amr]

Just got the 35L Gen 4 delivered (I live in India and was able to get the 240V one). Set it up on the RAPT portal and it there is already one OTA update (which I did). A weird thing though - when I first switched it on, the heating element went on and the temp went in excess of 126c. Hit the pause button but it seemed to not make a difference. So, I switched the power off, waited a bit and then put it back on and it seems fine now. The RAPT setup + OTA was after this.

So, word of caution for anyone who also experiences this. Do beware of this.

 

[agentbud]

How big is the element?

Current ( amps ) is Watts divided by Voltage

So if 3000 watt element and 220 volts ( volts will be around this figure but can vary if you check it at supply but not significant)

You would have a current of 13.6 amp. If you were at 240v then it's 12.5 amp.

My 3000 watt guten I run off a 15 amp plug on a 30amp fused spur with this the only thing on it.

That would be at full power of course.

The 220v version has 2 elements, a 1900W and a 500W. So, with both elements on at full power I would be looking at 2400\220= 10.91 amps. Is that correct?

 

[agentbud]

Will be ordering the 9.25 gallon 110 volt unit next Friday. Figure I'll take it on a "dry" run first to get a feel for boil off and such before running a true batch through it. Was going to measure out 6.5 gallons of hot tap water, see how well the stamped lines on the inside line up with the actual liquid measurements, then let er rip/boil for 1 hour. Basically doing this so I can dial in the pre boil volume for mash/sparge water. Really excited to finally be moving to a much easier electric brew system!

I'm interested in hearing some test numbers on temp ramp up times. I saw a video the other day where the guy at kegland said the elements in the gen 4 are sized so that you should get 1 degree per minute. That seems like a long time. I'm not that worried about the ramp up to mash temp since I usually brew at night so I have all day to let it get up to mash temps. But I am really interested in real-world testing on times getting from mash (ie 155) up to boil. At 1 degree per minute, that would be close to an hour.

 

[DuncB]

I'm interested in hearing some test numbers on temp ramp up times. I saw a video the other day where the guy at kegland said the elements in the gen 4 are sized so that you should get 1 degree per minute. That seems like a long time. I'm not that worried about the ramp up to mash temp since I usually brew at night so I have all day to let it get up to mash temps. But I am really interested in real-world testing on times getting from mash (ie 155) up to boil. At 1 degree per minute, that would be close to an hour.

That will be modern day temperature measurement I expect. We're using something called Celsius or centigrade in the future. In the past they used something called Fahrenheit!

 

[amr]

Just got the 35L Gen 4 delivered (I live in India and was able to get the 240V one). Set it up on the RAPT portal and it there is already one OTA update (which I did). A weird thing though - when I first switched it on, the heating element went on and the temp went in excess of 126c. Hit the pause button but it seemed to not make a difference. So, I switched the power off, waited a bit and then put it back on and it seems fine now. The RAPT setup + OTA was after this.

So, word of caution for anyone who also experiences this. Do beware of this.

Update: Heard back from kegland (through the distributor) and it looks like the unit should not even be switched on without water in it. Seems a bit weird seeing that they have a computer there - with which one can do OTA updates etc, but, well, that was the response.

 

[agentbud]

That will be modern day temperature measurement I expect. We're using something called Celsius or centigrade in the future. In the past they used something called Fahrenheit!

Yes, Fahrenheit. It's the only way!

 

[schmurf]

The 220v version has 2 elements, a 1900W and a 500W. So, with both elements on at full power I would be looking at 2400\220= 10.91 amps. Is that correct?

I'm a dummy when it comes to things like this, but I think 2400W is the theoretical effect, if you have 240V and 10 amps. If you only have 220V you probably only get 2200W... but I could be totally wrong!

 

[warx]

220V & 110V are old terms in regards to the US. It's been 120V single and 240V split-phase for many years which matches much of the rest of the world I believe.

 

[schmurf]

Where I live (Sweden) 230V is standard, but in practice it's about 224-226V at my house in the countryside.

 

[DuncB]

Where I live (Sweden) 230V is standard, but in practice it's about 224-226V at my house in the countryside.

@schmurf
You are right about variance of voltage, it wanders a lot.
I think elements reduce in performance over time and certainly can fail.
Just replaced the element in the lower oven in the kitchen.

 

[jtrainer]

While I await for my BZ4 to arrive, I have a question... I currently use a March 109 pump, it's fairly strong non-self priming. If I plumb the BZ4 to use the internal pump for re-circulation, do ya'll feel the March 109 will be too strong for pumping out via the drain valve?

Or should I add it to my existing post where I'm selling off the old 3v brewing system?

 

[stealthfixr]

While I await for my BZ4 to arrive, I have a question... I currently use a March 109 pump, it's fairly strong non-self priming. If I plumb the BZ4 to use the internal pump for re-circulation, do ya'll feel the March 109 will be too strong for pumping out via the drain valve?

Or should I add it to my existing post where I'm selling off the old 3v brewing system?

In a recent video, Kegland commented how on the generation 4 models the pump was stronger than generation 3. So using your March pump sound certainly possible, especially if you switch the plumbing to the side drain valve. But, you just may not need it.

 

[rtstrider]

Ordered the Gen 4 last night. Couldn't sleep! It's like a kid waiting to open presents Christmas day! It's supposed to be here Sunday Will be nice to finally do some real brewing! Ordered a hop spider too for giggles.

 

[rtstrider]

Is there a recommended mash thickness for these systems? I couldn't find anything in the documentation so was thinking about going with a 1.5qt per lb water/grist ratio.