I'll report back this evening. Still going strong, going to be taking out in 6 hours or so. Talk about a long mash!How did they turn out?
I'll report back this evening. Still going strong, going to be taking out in 6 hours or so. Talk about a long mash!How did they turn out?
Ahh I see when you say grill that' BBQ, to me grill is the top heat bit of the oven. Looks good.
Dishwasher works well for salmon.
Finally got my 65L. Installed the sight glass and did some volume testing with hot water in order to mark the sight glass. Has anyone else noticed the stamped volume markers inside are significantly off? Mine expressed about 0.75 gal more than was actually measured.
- Boil happens at 203-204 F. Seems like a wild difference that I could calibrate for? This depends on your elevation to sea level…I’m right at sea level so mine boils at like 210-212. Doesn’t really matter what temp it is as long as its boiling right?
- The bottom pump valve is crooked, does it rotate? I don't want to break the inner parts to straighten it for the sight glass that I finally found in stock. Are you talking about the nut or the valve on the outside? If it’s the valve on the outside you can rotate that to make it straight if you need to.
- Camlock for the arms keeps popping open on its own when the pump is running. Is this normal behavior for it? It won't "lock" at all. I wouldn’t say this normal at all, however I would ask are you sure you’re pushing in the recirc arm all the way down before clamping down?
- Ball valve attached to it is completely broken right side up, the ball is loose inside and only works when I turn it upside down. Mine is broken as well, I have to use a wrench to turn it but I keep mine wide open most of the time so it’s not a big issue for me. I’m going to replace it eventually but for now it’s doing the job.
- Rubber footing is uneven so the unit wobbles a bit. Not a huge thing but potential safety issue? This is strange and something I would consider contacting Morebeer or Kegland depending on where you are in the world.
- A bunch of cosmetic dents/dings and scratches, inside and out. Scratched stainless isn't the end of the world, I guess? Personally, I don’t care about that kinda stuff unless it is major and causes problems. However, you did spend good money and I would expect it to come in nicely. When I unpacked mine the first time it was pristine so it might not be a bad idea to give them a call and see what they can do. Just remember, they are having major issues with materials now so it could be some time before you could get a replacement.
I calibrate mine around 150F since mash temps matter most and then put in any offset. My kettle boils around 208F after my calibration (~400ft elevation). I don't care for the temperature probe location on these units. I actually wired in a temperature probe for the controller that's attached to the side of the kettle which I'll be testing out next brew day.Thanks for the feedback! I'll probably just forget about contacting them and find replacement parts on my own since those things are available on brewhardware/amazon and only ~$30 total, it's just not a great experience for "brand new" equipment.
Also at sea level. It's not the fact that boil is wrong numerically, but rather the temp probe being incorrect, so I'll have to keep testing with other thermometers because mashing will be a failure if I'm off by ~10 or more degrees and don't calibrate beforehand. I think you can only tweak by 10F in either direction IIRC?
I was able to rotate the upward facing elbow every so slightly, which straightened it enough, but wasn't sure if it would break a welded bit inside the base, as there's no indication it's meant to rotate and was stiff. Unlike the spigot which has a black gasket. Anyhow, so far it seems to be ok.
As far as the camlock assembly goes, yeah, I've pushed in all the way. Both the whirlpool and sparge arm have the same problem. Took out the gasket to see if maybe the rubber was too thick and of course it's too loose without, so I'll have to look for a replacement to at least experiment with -- if it's supposed to lock, as the name implies. First time using one surprisingly.
Oh well, hopefully I'll be able to get in my first brew in a few weeks once I can fix all these things, it looks like a great system otherwise and I'm excited to finally try it out
I'm interested to hear how the different position temp probe works for @Henbrew as I might consider that when my smartpid arrives.
I think the issue is that there isn't enough movement of the wort over the element and hence the probe in it's present position, a cross flow arrangement might be better. I see a big difference in temperature during the boil phase if there are a lot of hops and the trubtrapper holds those over the element and the probe is outside of this. The probe can read 10 celsius less than the temperature, which I can clearly see is boiling. This settles if I recirculate using the whirlpool ( at the end of boil ) really quickly. So position is important.I'm interested too, I did a step mash in my last brew and the temperature overshot by quite a bit. I did a protein rest at 122F and then it ramped up to my mash temp of 154, however I was reading temperatures 165+ before it stabilized. I don't have any major issue doing a single temperature mash but I wanted to try moving the probe away from the heat source to see if it helps.
I guess this is moot, since this sight glass didn't even survive the calibration process with water before experiencing multiple cracks at the bracket. I've got MoreBeer sending a replacement, and I'm going to do some custom fitting to pad that interface. Going to baby the hell out of this one.Finally got my 65L. Installed the sight glass and did some volume testing with hot water in order to mark the sight glass. Has anyone else noticed the stamped volume markers inside are significantly off? Mine expressed about 0.75 gal more than was actually measured.
I guess this is moot, since this sight glass didn't even survive the calibration process with water before experiencing multiple cracks at the bracket. I've got MoreBeer sending a replacement, and I'm going to do some custom fitting to pad that interface. Going to baby the hell out of this one.
Even though I'm in the US, I was browsing Keg Land's website and saw they sell a Boiler Extension that clamps down to the top of the Brewzilla to add a few more gallons of capacity/space during the boil.
I'm curious to see how they make that "boiling-liquid tight".
@IanJ
I think that you should raise the issues of camlock and QC with morebeer and kegland. I'd mention it in this thread and you should get a response,
https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/kegland-questions-and-answers.98306/
although I do get good responses direct from Kee at Kegland via email. Usually of the oh that's never happened before when having problems with Maltzilla psu ( which blew up when first turned on) and a hopmissile that was razor sharp and had to be filed down rather than exchanged ( indicating to me a batch or system wide problem).
I started with a robobrew 3.0 and now a Guten 70 and they have a way to reset/ calibrate the temp readout.
I calibrate mine around 150F since mash temps matter most and then put in any offset. My kettle boils around 208F after my calibration (~400ft elevation). I don't care for the temperature probe location on these units. I actually wired in a temperature probe for the controller that's attached to the side of the kettle which I'll be testing out next brew day.
Yep!@IanJ
Was it this mod?
View attachment 748640View attachment 748641
with whirlpool on the inside of tap site
View attachment 748642
I used mine yesterday for the first time. Efficiency was low, I think because the top mash screen wasn't level and maybe because it was a half batch using only five gallons of water to start. I don't love the loooong time getting to strike temps, even using the jacket. It is a handy and convenient tool.
When you your brewing space invades your wrenching space...Thanks, I have seen that. But I don't have a dedicated brewing space. I don't want to leave it in the driveway overnight, and my wife won't want it on the counter overnight!
Yeah. It's just enough to reach over to the mouth of my fermenter. But not so long as to drag on the ground when sitting on the floor.@RePete
Stubby little tube on the tap, do you use that for transfer? As it's getting cold there I have fitted some pipe insulation onto the recirc tubing before the valve and also a piece round to the point it goes into the kettle, held on with some cable ties. Just keeps it that bit warmer and also made a " tea cosy " for the lid.
Sounds like a good recipe to lay down though, we're heading into summer so I'm planning a hefeweizen.
The methods I used were reiterated mash (just remove the center pipe, put in a stainless bolt, and biab inside the malt pipe. Then pull first grains to dunk in another pot/kettle with some other strike water, and add second grains in a second bag).
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