Lets Do This - 20 Gallon Concord 3 Vessel HERMS

[FuzzeWuzze]

Well i think im ready to brew tommorrow(Friday) ...i still dont have my chiller built but will have plenty of down time to get it built.

 

[iijakii]

Lookin good!

 

[fuzzybee]

Looks like what I'm planning on doing, so I'm subscribing. It doesn't look like your spreadsheet is available - could you link it again?

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Looks like what I'm planning on doing, so I'm subscribing. It doesn't look like your spreadsheet is available - could you link it again?

You can access it here
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/117zZAo04mOzwOFJNQF4DkmkH5xQZMxgXIBnALkNDu-Q/edit

Also had my first brew yesterday, decided just to do a small 5 gallon batch but then realized that the beer im doing has a really low amount of grain..and with the larger dead space under the false bottom there wasnt much water above it. Ended up just adding more water to mash with more and just fly sparge less water in..hit my 75% goal and i was just eyeballing my mill settings based on the gauge on the side of the Cereal killer to where .039 or so was..ill have to get feelers.

Everything went off more or less without a hitch, although it ended up taking like 6 hours total instead of 4 because of learning the process and having to step away a few times..not to mention my boil ended about 20 minutes before i was able to finish my CFC

 

[fuzzybee]

Thanks!

 

[BrunDog]

Congrats! First brews always a learning experience.

-BD

 

[Rivenin]

WOO! more electric brewers in the yamhill / washington county! HOLLA! haha

Glad to see! and yeah, one more brew day or two with fiddling with the buttons and you'll be set!

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

WOO! more electric brewers in the yamhill / washington county! HOLLA! haha

Glad to see! and yeah, one more brew day or two with fiddling with the buttons and you'll be set!

I didnt dry fire an element, so i considered the day a success

 

[brrman]

Awesome!

My new setup is nearly identical to yours and will be firing it up for the first time next weekend. I never even thought about the deadspace under the FB creating an issue for a 5 gallon mash...

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Awesome!

My new setup is nearly identical to yours and will be firing it up for the first time next weekend. I never even thought about the deadspace under the FB creating an issue for a 5 gallon mash...

Worked out fine, i just ended up mashing with 5 gallons for 5# of grain and then just sparging until i had like 7.5 gallons ...I got my efficiency so doesnt matter in the end.

 

[jcav]

Congrats on your first brew day with your new rig! Enjoyed following the progress of this build.

John

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

So I was brewing Bertus Brewery's latest Pliny the Elder clone last night and ran into something new and im curious if anyone else has had this happen. So it just had 14# of grain, put in my mash in water, wasnt quite enough so i added a bit extra...stirred it up and started the pump and everything seemed to be functioning as i would expect.

Then i noticed something weird, my sight glass was totally empty!? Wort was still flowing through the pump, but after a minute or two it would stall out...i assumed it was a stuck sparge because i havent done a grain bill this big yet with the Jaybird false bottom, stirred and it would start up then get stuck. On the 3rd time turning off the pump and stirring the mash though something weird happened...big giant bubbles coming up through my grain and wort splattering up inside my sight glass as it filled up to where it should be...i let it go for about 15 seconds until it stopped and then set the pump again and off it went for the remainder of the mash.

Did i create a vacuum under my false bottom!? How do you go about preventing such a thing? Not starting the pump open full throttle?

 

[iijakii]

Your grain bed was compacting and you didnt have enough liquid flowing through it. Your sight glass was reading empty because all of the liquid was stuck above port.

Definitely start the pump partially closed, could also try vorlaufing a bit. Could also try rice hulls.

 

[TexasWine]

So I was brewing Bertus Brewery's latest Pliny the Elder clone last night and ran into something new and im curious if anyone else has had this happen. So it just had 14# of grain, put in my mash in water, wasnt quite enough so i added a bit extra...stirred it up and started the pump and everything seemed to be functioning as i would expect.

Then i noticed something weird, my sight glass was totally empty!? Wort was still flowing through the pump, but after a minute or two it would stall out...i assumed it was a stuck sparge because i havent done a grain bill this big yet with the Jaybird false bottom, stirred and it would start up then get stuck. On the 3rd time turning off the pump and stirring the mash though something weird happened...big giant bubbles coming up through my grain and wort splattering up inside my sight glass as it filled up to where it should be...i let it go for about 15 seconds until it stopped and then set the pump again and off it went for the remainder of the mash.

Did i create a vacuum under my false bottom!? How do you go about preventing such a thing? Not starting the pump open full throttle?

We've had lengthy discussions about this very issue.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=543873

Some suggest waiting 10-15 minutes before starting the pump. Others say don't crush as fine. Me, I've found a way for the wort to short circuit the grain bed and get back to the bottom of the kettle.

One thing everyone agrees on. Don't start the pump full throttle.

 

[rafoster1987]

How are the kettles working out for you? I am considering doing a similar electric setup and going with three concord pots. I'll likely do a 30a PID system and source the parts myself or start with a diy kit from ebrewsupply.

 

[rafoster1987]

I'm reviving this thread as I am considering doing a similar build. FuzzeWuzze, how is your system doing now?