High Gravity Custom eBIAB System

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Hmmm, I never even thought of trying that and just simply trusted the PID for accuracy. Dumb move on my part but come next weekends brew day, you can bet I will.
I've got no idea what gives except, as you say, maybe a bad cable. I did buy an extra probe and cable to keep as a spare in case of problems on brew day but am taking extra care of my kit when cleaning and storing.
Let us know what you find out.
 
When my probe started reporting erroneous values it was extremely obvious, the readout was crazy numbers. After that I change the cable and the probe and tested with a thermometer and it was pretty much spot on. I would guess that it is the controller and not the probe and cable on your system.
 
Beer-lord said:
Hmmm, I never even thought of trying that and just simply trusted the PID for accuracy. Dumb move on my part but come next weekends brew day, you can bet I will.....
Click to expand...

Yeah, I didn’t either until I started having an off flavor I couldn’t figure out with pretty much every beer on this system.
 
stevedasleeve said:
When my probe started reporting erroneous values it was extremely obvious, the readout was crazy numbers. After that I change the cable and the probe and tested with a thermometer and it was pretty much spot on. I would guess that it is the controller and not the probe and cable on your system.
Click to expand...

Mine was the same as far as extremely obvious. It was jumping all over. I’m thinking controller too.
 
Yambor44 said:
Today I am brewing a mini mad/extract kit and I am back to having 20° discrepancies.

Once the wort got closer to boiling (212° for me) the difference dropped to 10° but that was as close as it got. I unplugged each end of the temp probe cable and reinstalled. Didn’t make a difference.

I can only assume the PID itself is off or the cable is bad. I’ll contact Dave tomorrow to see if there is a calibration I can do on the PID.

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

Click to expand...

Where is your temperature probe located? Mine is in a tee fitting on the lid that relies on the wort being recirculated to be accurate. During the boil with the lid of the readings show room temperature. But the element won't heat without the temperature probe being connected.

Try swirling the wort into a whirpool then see if the temperature difference is any better.
 
ScrewyBrewer said:
Where is your temperature probe located? Mine is in a tee fitting on the lid that relies on the wort being recirculated to be accurate. During the boil with the lid of the readings show room temperature. But the element won't heat without the temperature probe being connected.

Try swirling the wort into a whirpool then see if the temperature difference is any better.
Click to expand...

My probe is located in the back right corner of the kettle. I only stopped the recirculation long enough to do the video. The temps were the same while it was running.

Not sure why they moved the temp probe location from the lid to the kettle. The probe sits only about a 1/2” above the boil coil. Seems to me that would give a false reading.
 
So happy to have found this thread! This system from high gravity is EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR. I was gonna wait for ss brewtech to release their 20 gal electric BIAB system (spring 2019) but this setup looks about a grand cheaper. And you still can get the ss brewtech kettle. Got the electrician coming by next week to wire up a 240v outlet and then I will he placing my order.
 
All the new systems have the probe near the BoilCoil. I don't even think you have an option an longer from HG to have it in the tee since late 2016. I'm going to check my temps before brewing this week but based on the beers I'm brewing, I'm golden. They have all been very good and I'm pleased with them. I'm sure not all of the systems made are perfect but I do believe that for the money, they are very good.
 
I had an email exchange with HG folks and asked about the temp probe location near the heating element and here is what they said:

The probes are Class A pt100 precision thermistors, and they come in a variety of package styles. We moved the probe to the vessel itself in close proximity to the heating element. This provides tighter control over a wide range of conditions.
Click to expand...
 
I asked as well and got a very similar answer. I've read that is best for recirc systems but for those with these systems that turn off the heat and let the mash sit, it is NOT the best location.
 
Beer-lord said:
I asked as well and got a very similar answer. I've read that is best for recirc systems but for those with these systems that turn off the heat and let the mash sit, it is NOT the best location.
Click to expand...
I would argue the opposite is just as true when recirculating the mash. With the probe mounted in the lid just ahead of the spray nozzle, you are measuring the temperature of the wort as it comes in contact with the grain bed. But I also I don't understand why anyone would buy a recirculating system in the first place if they weren't going to heat and recirculate the mash the entire time.
 
Spoke with Dave earlier, after going through the parameters it seems my controller needs to be replaced. He is providing a shipping label so I will ship mine to him, have him replace it and then send it back.

On a side note, is anyone using any type of extension to allow more drainage from the kettle? I was thinking of adding a stainless elbow but it will hit the boil coil. I'm assuming this would be a problem.
 
Beer-lord said:
Screwy, those are my exact thought as well.
I wonder if the fact that the newer systems use the BoilCoil was the main reason for the change for moving the temp probe.
Click to expand...
The location change may have preceded the use of the boil coil. The controller needs to have the temperature probe connected to it for the heating element to work. For my setup that means keeping it connected to the lid during the boil even though the lid isn't used during the boil. Dave would have to verify but placing the probe in the kettle wall allows it to remain connected during the boil too.
 
Brew #5 done today. Things worked so much better! First, was looking for 1.057 and got 1.056 which is 72%, still below my 78-80% I was getting before going electric but I can take that.
No rice hulls today and I crushed a bit finer. I let things sit 10 minutes than used a low flow and never had problems or even close to it. This brew and last brew I did switch to the Wilsner bag though I can't say that's made any difference.

After reading about temps, I decided to check myself. Based on 2 Thermopens, it the HG system is 2 1/2 degrees lower. Not a huge deal as I've not noticed anything odd in the last 4 beers I've brewed with it. I was mashing at 153 so 150.5 isn't too bad but as I was looking for more mouthfeel, we'll see where that ends up. I did check all thru the wort as well as the spray and it was the same. I'll keep testing as it runs up to boil next time and if it's indeed off, I'll just compensate by setting the Wort Hog 1 degree higher or so.

So for me, it was near perfect as I'm finely dialing in almost everything to where it should be. Still loving the shyte out of it!
 
Beer-lord said:
Brew #5 done today. Things worked so much better! First, was looking for 1.057 and got 1.056 which is 72%, still below my 78-80% I was getting before going electric but I can take that.
No rice hulls today and I crushed a bit finer. I let things sit 10 minutes than used a low flow and never had problems or even close to it. This brew and last brew I did switch to the Wilsner bag though I can't say that's made any difference.

After reading about temps, I decided to check myself. Based on 2 Thermopens, it the HG system is 2 1/2 degrees lower. Not a huge deal as I've not noticed anything odd in the last 4 beers I've brewed with it. I was mashing at 153 so 150.5 isn't too bad but as I was looking for more mouthfeel, we'll see where that ends up. I did check all thru the wort as well as the spray and it was the same. I'll keep testing as it runs up to boil next time and if it's indeed off, I'll just compensate by setting the Wort Hog 1 degree higher or so.

So for me, it was near perfect as I'm finely dialing in almost everything to where it should be. Still loving the shyte out of it!
Click to expand...

Do you know if you can calibrate the temp probe? I can seem to find my manual.
 
You can. I’d suggest calling Dave at HG and he can walk you through it. We were going to try that with mine but it was so far off he decided to replace the controller.
 
Yeah mine seems to only be 1 degree F off and that may just be the difference between the probe location and where I’m measuring so I’m not worried about it. However, I wasn’t sure if these may drift out of calibration over time like most measuring devices can. If would be good to be able to correct if needed. I know I saved my manual as well...just need to go dig for it.
 
I know how to get into the parameters I just can’t remember the name of the one you can adjust. Mine was set to zero (as it should be) and it would go up (1,2,3 etc)or down (-1,-2,-3 etc)with the turn of the dial from there.

Holding the dial for 5 full seconds then release and dial thru “boil”, “mash” and then to “syst” and click the dial on “syst” to get into parameters.
 
I found the manual, well, 4 pages that came with my kit. I didn't spend the time to read it all but looked online at https://www.auberins.com/ but can't see my exact model. I think next time I do a brew, when done and I'm in cleaning mode, I'll play with it and check the temps at different levels.......75 degrees, 150, 212 etc.
Before I make any changes, I want to be very sure I don't mess things up because they are working great now.
 
Thanks for the link! I agree, mines working well now and I haven’t done a through assessment of accuracy of the temp profile and still need to validate against another thermometer.
 
Just finished my 3rd brew in this yesterday (an ESB). I tried the grain conditioning, a coarser crush (0.04ish), and switched out to a bag that was also coarser. No mash issues - which was great! I had a thinner mash too (and no wheat malt this time, which I am sure was a factor as well).

Regarding the temps: I had a probe sitting in the middle of the grain bed to compare against what the wort hog showed. After mashing in, the temperature reported from the grain bed probe dropped quite a bit. This change in temperature was *not* show on the wort hog probe as it's close to the element and not in grain bed itself. So I boosted the mash temp a few degrees and got to stirring intermittently. After 20ish minutes I brought the wort hog temp back down to my planned mash temp and after that the grain bed probe was reporting to within 0.5 deg of the wort hog temp. So keep in mind the wort hog temp most definitely != the grain temp. This should be easy to account for by adjusting the strike water temp up a bit and then backing down the temp on the wort hog following mashing in. You should get really close and stay there throughout the mash.

My brewhouse efficiency was pretty crummy this brew, around 58-60%. I was hoping for a 1.055 OG brew using about 12.44 lbs of malt mashed at 151 degF with a 60min boil. I realized this wasn't going to happen and extended the boil an extra 10mins and feebly tossed in a cup of DME (didn't have much on hand). Ended up at about 1.050 for 5.5 gal into the fermentor. It's still within style parameters and not a big deal. I would like to get that up to 70% or so and more predictable.

I'm really curious as to what others have set for their equipment profiles. Here is my profile from BrewersFriend that I used in my recent batch (tweaked since I use a steam condenser and use the 15gal ss brewtech kettle with trub dam):

BOIL EVAPORATION RATE: 3 qt​
GRAIN ABSORPTION: 0.3 qt/lb
HOPS ABSORPTION: 0.15 qt/oz or
KETTLE DEAD SPACE: 1.5 qt
MISC LOSSES: 1 qt
COOLING SHRINKAGE: 4% [Volume lost when cooling wort from boiling]

So still dialing it in, but certainly moving in the right direction! I think I'll crush a touch finer next time to see if i can get the efficiency a little better.
 
bur said:
Just finished my 3rd brew in this yesterday (an ESB). I tried the grain conditioning, a coarser crush (0.04ish), and switched out to a bag that was also coarser. No mash issues - which was great! I had a thinner mash too (and no wheat malt this time, which I am sure was a factor as well).

Regarding the temps: I had a probe sitting in the middle of the grain bed to compare against what the wort hog showed. After mashing in, the temperature reported from the grain bed probe dropped quite a bit. This change in temperature was *not* show on the wort hog probe as it's close to the element and not in grain bed itself. So I boosted the mash temp a few degrees and got to stirring intermittently. After 20ish minutes I brought the wort hog temp back down to my planned mash temp and after that the grain bed probe was reporting to within 0.5 deg of the wort hog temp. So keep in mind the wort hog temp most definitely != the grain temp. This should be easy to account for by adjusting the strike water temp up a bit and then backing down the temp on the wort hog following mashing in. You should get really close and stay there throughout the mash.

My brewhouse efficiency was pretty crummy this brew, around 58-60%. I was hoping for a 1.055 OG brew using about 12.44 lbs of malt mashed at 151 degF with a 60min boil. I realized this wasn't going to happen and extended the boil an extra 10mins and feebly tossed in a cup of DME (didn't have much on hand). Ended up at about 1.050 for 5.5 gal into the fermentor. It's still within style parameters and not a big deal. I would like to get that up to 70% or so and more predictable.

I'm really curious as to what others have set for their equipment profiles. Here is my profile from BrewersFriend that I used in my recent batch (tweaked since I use a steam condenser and use the 15gal ss brewtech kettle with trub dam):

BOIL EVAPORATION RATE: 3 qt​
GRAIN ABSORPTION: 0.3 qt/lb
HOPS ABSORPTION: 0.15 qt/oz or
KETTLE DEAD SPACE: 1.5 qt
MISC LOSSES: 1 qt
COOLING SHRINKAGE: 4% [Volume lost when cooling wort from boiling]

So still dialing it in, but certainly moving in the right direction! I think I'll crush a touch finer next time to see if i can get the efficiency a little better.
Click to expand...
Did you recirculate during the mash?
 
bur said:
BOIL EVAPORATION RATE: 3 qt​
GRAIN ABSORPTION: 0.3 qt/lb
HOPS ABSORPTION: 0.15 qt/oz or
KETTLE DEAD SPACE: 1.5 qt
MISC LOSSES: 1 qt
COOLING SHRINKAGE: 4% [Volume lost when cooling wort from boiling]

So still dialing it in, but certainly moving in the right direction! I think I'll crush a touch finer next time to see if i can get the efficiency a little better.
Click to expand...

My kettle dead space is a little over 1 gallon. I just checked it the other day with water only. Are you using any type of elbow at the drain? I asked about thoughts on this above but didn't get any feedback.
 
bur said:
Regarding the temps: I had a probe sitting in the middle of the grain bed to compare against what the wort hog showed. After mashing in, the temperature reported from the grain bed probe dropped quite a bit. This change in temperature was *not* show on the wort hog probe as it's close to the element and not in grain bed itself. So I boosted the mash temp a few degrees and got to stirring intermittently. After 20ish minutes I brought the wort hog temp back down to my planned mash temp and after that the grain bed probe was reporting to within 0.5 deg of the wort hog temp. So keep in mind the wort hog temp most definitely != the grain temp. This should be easy to account for by adjusting the strike water temp up a bit and then backing down the temp on the wort hog following mashing in. You should get really close and stay there throughout the mash.
Click to expand...

This is why I am wondering why they moved the temp probe to the side just above the boil coil. When you factor in the basket, the probe is sitting aprx 5/8" above the boil coil and only about 1/2-5/8" below the basket. Seems this would create a pocket of much warmer wort especially once the basket heats up.
 
Yambor44 said:
My kettle dead space is a little over 1 gallon. I just checked it the other day with water only. Are you using any type of elbow at the drain? I asked about thoughts on this above but didn't get any feedback.
Click to expand...

Yeah - the trub dam in the SS kettle has a little elbow that allows for pick up near the bottom of the kettle. Hence why I use a bit lower number there. I'm also not too picky about getting trub into fermentor and will tilt the kettle a bit.

Yambor44 said:
This is why I am wondering why they moved the temp probe to the side just above the boil coil. When you factor in the basket, the probe is sitting aprx 5/8" above the boil coil and only about 1/2-5/8" below the basket. Seems this would create a pocket of much warmer wort especially once the basket heats up.
Click to expand...

One advantage to having the probe near the coil is the ability to monitor the temps during chilling - which I really like quite a bit. For me I'd rather have the probe near the coil and then monitor with a second probe in the grain bed (personal preference) since the probe near the coil allows for greater flexibility. If you want to move it I imagine you could put a blank in the hole on the side of the kettle and pick up an appropriate fitting from some place like brewhardware to move it up top for the recirc.
 
bur said:
Yeah - the trub dam in the SS kettle has a little elbow that allows for pick up near the bottom of the kettle. Hence why I use a bit lower number there. I'm also not too picky about getting trub into fermentor and will tilt the kettle a bit.
Click to expand...

Does it come into contact with the boil coil element at all? I'd like to put something in mine but all the elbows, bazooka tubes etc I have tried hit the coil and I wasn't sure if thats bad for the element or not.
 
Yambor44 said:
Does it come into contact with the boil coil element at all? I'd like to put something in mine but all the elbows, bazooka tubes etc I have tried hit the coil and I wasn't sure if thats bad for the element or not.
Click to expand...

I've done three brews on the system and haven't had an issue though. I don't *think* mine is touching the coil but it certainly is pretty close. Unfortunately I'm unable to verify at the moment. It probably has or does contact it a little. You could probably bend the coils a tiny bit so they don't as they are slightly malleable (I wouldn't advise going overboard). I'm not terribly concerned though since the trub dam sits in hot boiling wort anyway. Of course I would imagine the coil gets much hotter.
 
Yambor44 said:
Does it come into contact with the boil coil element at all? I'd like to put something in mine but all the elbows, bazooka tubes etc I have tried hit the coil and I wasn't sure if thats bad for the element or not.
Click to expand...

Here's the trub dam with the boil coil.

vFwgfAi.jpg
 
That looks like the SS Brewtech kettle I have (15 gal) and my probe is located the same place.

@bur, is that a whilrpool port at the bottom next to the valve? Dave had put mine at the top where your nut is located with an arm that hugs the side so the basket could fit. Just curious about your set up.

Anyone else test the PID vs. a good thermometer to check for temp accuracy?
 
Y'all had me curious about the temp probe being off, so last night during my brew I took a few readings with other thermometers. The most I was ever off was 1 degree.
 
Beer-lord said:
That looks like the SS Brewtech kettle I have (15 gal) and my probe is located the same place.

@bur, is that a whilrpool port at the bottom next to the valve? Dave had put mine at the top where your nut is located with an arm that hugs the side so the basket could fit. Just curious about your set up.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the basket fits really snug so it wouldn’t allow for the other style that comes in near the top, so I went with one that has the whirlpool outlet near the bottom. It works very well. I do have a steam condenser installed in the upper port though (which works great!).
 
I just received my 20 gal ss brewtech kettle with electric setup from high gravity. Very happy with the looks of things. I’ve been busy building a solid work bench for the new setup. Reviews to soon follow
IMG_0590.JPG
 

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