My eBIAB single-vessel build

[Ragtop232]

The only issue you'd have with a keggle is the opening. That would have to be large enough to accommodate the inner basket and the inner basket would have to be large enough to hold your grain bill.

Jim

 

[jonurban]

Thanks ragtop, I found something that will fit in my keggle, i'm ordering parts and will hopefully be assembling in the next week or so... can you show us how you have your lid set up for recirculating?

Do you have tubing on the inside of the return, or does it just pour onto your interior grain container.

did you use the 1" pickup or a 90 degree for the return, i didn't see a 90 degree in your parts list.

Thanks

 

[Ragtop232]

I had to add a few parts for the lid. From Brewers Hardware, they welded a "barb" fitting underneath the lid at the triclover fitting that's on top. I just use about a 18" of high temp silicone tubing pushed up on the barb and curl on the top of the grain. I added a 90 degree to the top of the triclover on the lid and I also moved the probe from the lid inlet as you see in the photo below to the main outlet. I think I get more stability and accurate reading there.

We just brewed a Honey Nut Brown yesterday, OG 1.060 and I'm still amazed with the efficiency. This was our sixth batch on the new system and we have never been below 82%. I suspect though a larger grain bill with higher gravity in mind would bring the efficiency numbers down.

Jim

 

[shuckit]

82% efficiency is my standard setting for my BIAB setup on beers below 1.070. My largest beer was a 1.100 imperial stout and the efficiency was low 70s.

 

[klaiguy]

Hi Ragtop232.

Love your build. I'm thinking about doing a similar eBIAB setup with top-bottom recirculation instead of a Braumeister-style bottom-top recirc through a malt pipe. My question though is have you ever had issues with scorching on your element, overflows, or running your pump dry from low flows through your grain bed?

I see this as being an issue with wheat or rye beers. How do you control your flows on this rig? And how closely do you need to watch your flows throughout the mash cycle to ensure you don't have these problems?

Or do you just let-er rip and have never had a problem?

Cheers

 

[Ragtop232]

klaiguy -

I have never had a scorching issue. I use a 4500 watt 240v ULWD element. I use a blichmann false bottom that is welded to a 9 gal Bayou Classic SS kettle. We cut the bottom off the BC kettle leaving about a 1" lip on the bottom to weld the Blichmann false bottom to. Never had a stuck grain bed and we've now done 15 brew sessions. As far as the flow goes, my routine is to allow a recirculation flow about the size of a pencil. On dough-in, I cut the heat and get the grain bed set. Once the flows have neutralized, I then turn the heat on with this contoller at about 40%. I'm constantly getting 80 - 82% efficiency with this system. We are now doing all 10 gallon batches, starting out with 11.75 gals of water to dough in 22 to 24 lbs of grain. We then have another SS kettle that we keep 3.5 gal of 175 degree water in to sparge the grains after lifting the grain kettle from the boiler. It works out great for me.

Jim