Clawhammer V2 BIAB

[Andrew Hodgson]

I had another brew day on my v2 120v system yesterday. I will say I have been able to adapt to the system and cut down the time of my brewday a good amount. I turned on the controller at around 10A and finished the entire brew-day including clean-up by 3:30P ( I had an assistant for the cleaning).

I found that the best way to do it obviously would be to set up the rig the night before with your brewing water and then when you wake up turn it on immediately. I did the next best thing and when I woke up I put 2.5 gallons in a normal pot on my stove on high while I set up, when I started adding water to get my full volume the total water was already about 120F which cut down on the heating time to mash temperatures considerably.

Then I experienced a really pleasant surprise when I removed my grain let it drain and turned the rig up to 100% power, I was at 207 in about 40 minutes, with the kettle wrapped in insulation and a sleeping bag. I have used this setup before and had it still take close to an hour, I will not complain and hope it goes this quickly moving forward. Maybe my time checking is inaccurate because I can't figure out why there would be such a discrepancy although my last batch was a huge grain bill compared to yesterday's and I reckon that plays a factor.

Grain bill was 13lbs of Marris Otter for a Mosaic SMaSH, because I suck at IPA's and need to learn.

 

[Keith Neiswender]

So I finally got around to using my Clawhammer v2 setup. Man it was a learning experience.

The equipment itself I found very easy to use and pretty self-explanatory. I was biting off a lot with this brew-day (first milling grain myself, first non-extract batch, first time using a plate chiller, assistant fell asleep etc. etc.) but most of the issues I faced were due to my own time management, not the system. And I will say for the logistical things one must take into account for using a plate chiller, as someone who only used ice-bath chilling before I found that having my wort down to pitching temp in about 25 minutes to be awesome and with re-circulation it was a breeze. Once I get a T with a hose connect added to the under-sink cold line it will be even easier (no running the outside hose inside etc.).

The only issue I encountered based on the equipment is all the aforementioned lack of power when heating. I used a sleeping bag to insulate as soon as I realized I would grow old waiting for it to get to boiling, next brew I will be properly insulating it from the jump to cut down on the brew-day time. In the future I will be brewing in the morning. I figure if I mill the grain and setup most of the gear the night before so I can wake up and turn on the element for mashing immediately I could have the whole brewday wrapped up in 4-5 hours.

One of the things I am also learning are all these efficiency calculations but as far as I can tell using Brewer's Friend I got 68% brewhouse efficiency which I know is low but I deem to be acceptable as a first attempt on this equipment.

One pain point was the handle for the grain basket came loose and almost destroyed my entire brew day and covered me in hot wort. Luckily I was able to semi-gently set the basket back in, re-attach one side of the handle and pull it out paying more attention to the fact that the handle can come off. Live and learn and not in the ER, thankfully.

1.040 IPA in the can.

Do use Brewer’s Friend if you do what is your setup numbers for it thanks