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- Dec 23, 2020
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thank you very muchTwo best i found. This guy claimed in one of his videos that he got 87% efficiency.
Start at 11:10
Start at 6:35
thank you very muchTwo best i found. This guy claimed in one of his videos that he got 87% efficiency.
Start at 11:10
Start at 6:35
Just to be clear. I put the top screen on during the entire mash. Then put the lid on top, so it is all closed up, and recirculate through the hole in the lid. So there is water/wort on top of the grain bed the entire time. The overflow runs down the center pipe. When mash is done, I lift the malt pipe, and add the sparge water to the pool on top. For me, it has always drained slowly.
How much water did you start with? If the mash is coarse enough, maybe the water never built up enough to the overflow. Not sure that's a problem, as long as you are hitting your target numbers. I guess I have my mill set tight enough that I always have overflow down the center pipe.OK i tried it last night but didn't have enough liquid to reach the top of the pipe. I know it's adjustable but it was too late to adjust it. What happens if you can't reach the top of the pipe? (see pic)
Lol i can't get this right
How much water did you start with? If the mash is coarse enough, maybe the water never built up enough to the overflow. Not sure that's a problem, as long as you are hitting your target numbers. I guess I have my mill set tight enough that I always have overflow down the center pipe.
The intent is that water only spills down through the center pipe if you are experiencing a partially to fully stuck mash. It is a safety valve which prevents the region below the malt pipe from running dry and causing the heat element to scorch or outright burn out.
Another question I have is about sparging. (Brewzilla 65) We installed a pully. When we lift up to drain, it drains really fast. By the time we get it set on the "feet" to hold in place (maybe 30/45 seconds), it's drained a significant amount. by the time I start adding sparge water it's drained too much to keep a constant few inches abovethe grain bed/ screen. Does this sound normal?
My mash never drains that fast. I have the smaller 35L unit, so maybe that makes a difference? My guess is that you could improve efficiency by milling the grain finer. I have my mill dialed in to where the mash drains very slowly, but I’m not getting stuck sparges.Another question I have is about sparging. (Brewzilla 65) We installed a pully. When we lift up to drain, it drains really fast. By the time we get it set on the "feet" to hold in place (maybe 30/45 seconds), it's drained a significant amount. by the time I start adding sparge water it's drained too much to keep a constant few inches abovethe grain bed/ screen. Does this sound normal?
By what magic might Wort overflowing down the center pipe improve anything? You want the Wort to flow through the grist whereby to extract the sugars released via saccharification, as this is the entire reason why we mash in the first place.
Same thing happens to me with my 65L BrewZilla. As soon as I lift the malt pipe it gushes out the bottom and the grain bed dries out. No matter how fast I sparge I can't keep the sparge water above the grain bed.Another question I have is about sparging. (Brewzilla 65) We installed a pully. When we lift up to drain, it drains really fast. By the time we get it set on the "feet" to hold in place (maybe 30/45 seconds), it's drained a significant amount. by the time I start adding sparge water it's drained too much to keep a constant few inches abovethe grain bed/ screen. Does this sound normal?
That is what I thought at first. Now I open up the valve enough that there is constant flow down the center. This helps maintain temperature by keeping heated wort on top. It's just a matter of how much you open the recirculation valve. I use to keep it so there was just a trickle, to avoid overflow. Now I open it up more and let it flow. But it really works either way.As mentioned, you don't want wort running down the centre tube, that defeats the entire purpose of what you are trying to achieve. It's there as a safety backup only.
At what point did the pump clog? I noticed when I used the whirlpoolarm after the boil. It creates a nice mound of hops in the middle leaving the pump hole clear. Knocking on wood. I'm 3 hoppy brews in and no clogs. I have a hop spider but still haven't used it
I would be curious to hear what others are using also. I just got myself a mill. It’s a MillMaster with fluted rollers. Even at 1.1mm gap it’s splitting almost every husk in half when milled at about 120rpm. So I can’t believe some of the smaller gaps I’ve read people are using.What’s a good mill size for brewzilla?
I’ve been milling at 0.75mm on a Evil Twin mill. That is wrong. Super stuck mash. Tons of goopy flour mess under the screen...fully clogged pump and screen for the entire brewday. Never ending lauter and sparge was over an hour. Gave up on cool down with immersion chiller after 2 hrs in an ice bath. Only got to 73. My longest brewday ever.
Its a PITA taking that pump apart to clean it. Happened to me once and I was using a hop spider.Welp, I'm never throwing in loose hops EVER again! Clogged the pump and pipe from the pump...going to use the paint strainer bag from now on. Lesson learned!
Its a PITA taking that pump apart to clean it. Happened to me once and I was using a hop spider.
I’m milling at 0.032” (0.81mm), works great for me on a 35L. Only issue I have is with a few recipes where I use a local malt house - their grain seems to be smaller than typical, last brew was 0.29”I would be curious to hear what others are using also. I just got myself a mill. It’s a MillMaster with fluted rollers. Even at 1.1mm gap it’s splitting almost every husk in half when milled at about 120rpm. So I can’t believe some of the smaller gaps I’ve read people are using.
I did discover malt conditioning, and when I tried that I get about 90% intact husks at 1.1mm gap. First brew using the mill is a Barley Wine in a couple of days, so I’ll stick with that setting used with malt conditioning.
With that gap, are you pulverising the malt into small pieces? So do you have it set that tight to get better efficiency?I’m milling at 0.032” (0.81mm), works great for me on a 35L. Only issue I have is with a few recipes where I use a local malt house - their grain seems to be smaller than typical, last brew was 0.29”
I was having a terrible time achieving efficiencies. I have a barley crusher which was factory set to 0.039” and I dialed it down over a few brew sessions to 0.032”. The crush looks pretty normal to me and my sparge time averages maybe 30 mins. At this gap I’m getting 75% and into the 80s efficiency, even with large grain bills.With that gap, are you pulverising the malt into small pieces? So do you have it set that tight to get better efficiency?
I’m wondering if the main downside to a fine crush is a slow sparge.
Also, I only use European malt. Is that perhaps slightly bigger than US malt, hence our different mill gaps.
I had a very slow sparge last session, Rye IPA. This had local malt which I milled at .029 and standard malt milled at .032 including rye malt and flaked rye. The rye itself can cause a slow sparge, the mash was pretty gummy. Sparge took well over an hour. I hit my pre-boil SG but still managed to miss OG by a lot (@6.9% ABV vs. 7.7 target). This one has me puzzled.I could never set mine that tight. The one time I did I had a stuck sparge. So I put it back.
Its a PITA taking that pump apart to clean it. Happened to me once and I was using a hop spider.
Something to try, if this happens again, is to use an air compressor to blow the hops out. If you have one, it can save a lot of time. I’ve only had a clogged pump once, but after letting it dry blasted air down the recirculation tube. The hops flew right out. Problem solved.Yeah it was an absolutely horrific experience that I intend to never do again...im thankful it was only a 6.5 gallon batch....
In both cases (planned and actual), your grist ratio was similar to what I use on my 35L for large grain bills (1.6 qt/L). I’m guessing the mash was pretty soupy once you got recirculation going. Next time you could try to reduce mash water further to fit all the grain in and add it to the sparge, shift some base grain to DME, or a little of both (I do both with my Barleywine recipe).What’s the most grain anyone has managed to force into their 65L? I was told by KegLand you could get up to 18kg in there.
I did a Barley Wine today with 15.5kg. I started off with all the water in the BrewZilla ready to go, which was 51L. It didn’t look to me that all that water and grain would fit, so I dropped it to 45L and started mashing in. I got 13kg in by the time it was about to overflow. The mash was really thick by that stage, so there’s no way I could have used less water in order to get more grain in. I don’t see how you can get anywhere near 18kg in there.
I decided to just throw the last 2.5kg in the 6L I had heated up and did a basic mash in that pot. When I lifted the malt pipe I just poured the second pot into the malt pipe. Obviously I had no water left for sparging, so the efficiency was really poor. But I still managed to get to 1.116. Not quite as high as I hoped though. Anyway, it was another good learning experience.
The problem with the 65L is the 10L of water below the malt pipe that you can’t use to mash the grain in to. So I was mashing at 2.6L/kg which is thicker than you do, but I’ve not had trouble with that ratio on smaller grain bills. But by the time the BrewZilla was full the malt was quite thick and dry at the top. Taking more water out and mashing even thicker than that wouldn’t work.In both cases (planned and actual), your grist ratio was similar to what I use on my 35L for large grain bills (1.6 qt/L). I’m guessing the mash was pretty soupy once you got recirculation going. Next time you could try to reduce mash water further to fit all the grain in and add it to the sparge, shift some base grain to DME, or a little of both (I do both with my Barleywine recipe).
Question, did you achieve your target volume?
The two systems are different animals, but high level, if you’re recirculating then technically you’re using the dead space for the mash. On large grain bills it seems to me the mash is absorbing all the water until the grain settles and recirculation takes over. I view the dead space as sort of a hot liquor tank at times, pushing that wort close to the element up on top to filter down.The problem with the 65L is the 10L of water below the malt pipe that you can’t use to mash the grain in to. So I was mashing at 2.6L/kg which is thicker than you do, but I’ve not had trouble with that ratio on smaller grain bills. But by the time the BrewZilla was full the malt was quite thick and dry at the top. Taking more water out and mashing even thicker than that wouldn’t work.
When I found my pre boil SG was low I added 1kg of DME. Ended up with 22L in the fermenter which is what I planned for. The volume was more important to me that the gravity, so I can fill a keg to overflowing at the end of fermentation and put it away for 6 months before bottling.
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