System reconfiguration after a year of use.

[Jako]

looking at rebuilding my system for a few reasons. The first and most important reason is my RIMS system was scorching my wort. I have taken a few suggestions from some of you on this forum on ways to fix the issue and sadly i have still had issues. so what to do right? Buy a new element and run into the same issue or rethink the approach. Utah biodiesel supply is local to me and i have seen the name around a few times.

so i started looking into brew in a basket, something i have been opposed to in the past. the products look to be well made, moving to brew in a basket would help cut down on a lot cleaning and making the overall process easier. i want to brew more and want to focus on yeast health, recipe and consistency.

The more i started to look into the idea i noticed i almost had everything to go to a 1V BIABasket set up. I could make some modifications to my brew kettle and use my Auberins BIAB control panel to do step mashes and boil using my 240 5500W element. I have had 0 issues with this element and control panel and highly suggest it.

I am open for any suggestions before i start buying or maybe something i should get that would make things easier for me. i am over issues in my brewery takes all the fun out of the hobby and i am left with 0 beer and a angry wife due to wasted $$$.

I am going to attached a crude picture i worked up i did it while i was planning a vessel so its quick and simple.

 

[Noob_Brewer]

If you are wanting to go 1V BIAB style, do you have a strong preference on the custom basket vs a custom bag (wilser or brew bag) with a false bottom from brew hardware.com? Ive seen good reviews on these baskets and have no doubt about the quality of the product, but the bag is also great and cheaper even after you take into account the false bottom. Just a thought.

 

[RM-MN]

Have you seen major improvements in your beer by step mashing? Try BIAB single infusion with a bag. Skip the false bottom, just heat the water to strike temp and turn off the heat. Put the bag into the pot, stir in the grains and put a lid on. No heat added so you can't melt the bag, faster conversion than you think possible so heat loss isn't a bit factor. Pull the bag out and let it drain back into the pot while you bring the wort to a boil.

 

[Jako]

If you are wanting to go 1V BIAB style, do you have a strong preference on the custom basket vs a custom bag (wilser or brew bag) with a false bottom from brew hardware.com? Ive seen good reviews on these baskets and have no doubt about the quality of the product, but the bag is also great and cheaper even after you take into account the false bottom. Just a thought.

I like the basket idea as when I tried BIAB when I started brewing i burned my bag. I will check out the false bottom idea something I didn't know about.

 

[Jako]

Have you seen major improvements in your beer by step mashing? Try BIAB single infusion with a bag. Skip the false bottom, just heat the water to strike temp and turn off the heat. Put the bag into the pot, stir in the grains and put a lid on. No heat added so you can't melt the bag, faster conversion than you think possible so heat loss isn't a bit factor. Pull the bag out and let it drain back into the pot while you bring the wort to a boil.

I have done it both ways. Right now I have found lots of fun and historical interest in using heirloom malts and floor malted pilsner malt. Step mashing helps in this situation as we as decoction mashing. Also for me its I like the process.

If I wanted to brew a pale ale or whip up some random beer quick and do a single infusion I still have the option. Right now with my lifestyle (landscaping and acre and projects around my house while learning a very intense position at work) I am booked out. Brewing is still a priority for me but I need to streamline my process and cut out problems.

 

[madscientist451]

looking at rebuilding my system for a few reasons. The first and most important reason is my RIMS system was scorching my wort.

What size batches do you want to brew?

 

[RM-MN]

I have done it both ways. Right now I have found lots of fun and historical interest in using heirloom malts and floor malted pilsner malt. Step mashing helps in this situation as we as decoction mashing. Also for me its I like the process.

With decoction mashing the initial part is the same as a single infusion, heat the water, turn off the heat and add the grains. The heat doesn't get turned back on in the kettle until the mash is done. Other step mashing does risk burning the bag so a false bottom or a shorter bag would work.

 

[DawgPen Brewing]

It seems like you and I are very similar in our wants from an EBIAB system. If you care to look at my thoughts, here is what my system is roughly designed to be.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...-design-for-a-new-ebiab-basket-system.689237/
You already have a controller and kettle so all you really need to add is a basket. I didn't want the feet to hit the heating element or pickup tubes so I added a flange on the top side of the basket to limit how far it goes down into the kettle rather than support it from the bottom. As you will see if you read through the posts on my design many / most believe that the basket should have solid sides with only the bottom having an open mesh to force water to flow through the entire column of grain rather than short circuiting out of the sides of the basket. Mine is a hybrid of both ideas and I hopefully will have something to report on in the next couple weeks as I am waiting on the final delivery of some of the items.

One idea that Bobby commented on my post that I am incorporating is the use of a 3 way t-valve to allow for constant whirlpool and a spray up top during mashing. This makes a lot of sense to me as the water will constantly be moved away from the element during the boil and into the area of the thermocouple which I believe will create more consistent temps throughout the system.

Excited to see how your system turns out. Really excited to get to test mine and see if it works as well in reality as I think it will in my mind.

 

[Jako]

What size batches do you want to brew?

5- 10 G batches but mostly 5G i would assume. who knows how things will change for me.

 

[matt_m]

Ironically unless something has changed, Utah Biodiesel sources their baskets from a small business in SE Michigan about 20 minutes from me. I talked to them a bit about a custom basket. In then end though I went with a Brew Bag bag (400 micron) and am very happy with it.

 

[Jako]

It seems like you and I are very similar in our wants from an EBIAB system. If you care to look at my thoughts, here is what my system is roughly designed to be.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...-design-for-a-new-ebiab-basket-system.689237/
You already have a controller and kettle so all you really need to add is a basket. I didn't want the feet to hit the heating element or pickup tubes so I added a flange on the top side of the basket to limit how far it goes down into the kettle rather than support it from the bottom. As you will see if you read through the posts on my design many / most believe that the basket should have solid sides with only the bottom having an open mesh to force water to flow through the entire column of grain rather than short circuiting out of the sides of the basket. Mine is a hybrid of both ideas and I hopefully will have something to report on in the next couple weeks as I am waiting on the final delivery of some of the items.

One idea that Bobby commented on my post that I am incorporating is the use of a 3 way t-valve to allow for constant whirlpool and a spray up top during mashing. This makes a lot of sense to me as the water will constantly be moved away from the element during the boil and into the area of the thermocouple which I believe will create more consistent temps throughout the system.

Excited to see how your system turns out. Really excited to get to test mine and see if it works as well in reality as I think it will in my mind.

Going to give the thread a read, sounds like you had the same idea of a 3 way T valve but i plan on using a T tri clamp tube.

for cleaning i plan on buying tri clam 3 piece valves so i can drop everything in seconds and rinse / clean very fast. i also plan to add a try clamp attachment to the top of my kettle hood. this way i can hook up my CIP and knock it out in a flash. all of this should decrease my water usage. I don't care much about the water but i hate just dumping it. i try to reuse it for plants.


super far out project idea. i would one day like to pump waste RO / cooling water into a storage tank and use that for a green house in my back yard. the greenhouse would be used for hops and other things for beer.

 

[Jako]

Ironically unless something has changed, Utah Biodiesel sources their baskets from a small business in SE Michigan about 20 minutes from me. I talked to them a bit about a custom basket. In then end though I went with a Brew Bag bag (400 micron) and am very happy with it.

that's exactly right, found that out today when they replied back to my email. so far Utah Biodiesel has been extremely fair and transparent.

if i had to complain about one thing its price, but we all know the price of good stainless gear. one big thing for me was how annoying cleaning a brew bag was. could be me or how i did this but i would obsess over every piece of grain.

 

[RM-MN]

that's exactly right, found that out today when they replied back to my email. so far Utah Biodiesel has been extremely fair and transparent.

if i had to complain about one thing its price, but we all know the price of good stainless gear. one big thing for me was how annoying cleaning a brew bag was. could be me or how i did this but i would obsess over every piece of grain.

I just dump the bag of grain, turn it inside out and shake it. So there are bits of grain, know what I'm going to put in it next?

 

[matt_m]

I probably put twice that much work into it. I rinse for a minute or two with my sprayer.

 

[Mad Mann]

I installed a sprayer off of a three way valve from my HLT to rinse my BIAB.

 

[BrewZer]

if i had to complain about one thing its price, but we all know the price of good stainless gear. one big thing for me was how annoying cleaning a brew bag was. could be me or how i did this but i would obsess over every piece of grain.

I think it all depends on what kind of bag you use. I've used a new Brew Bag exactly once, and I was very surprised at how easy it was to clean out... put it upside down in a big plastic bag and grab the four tabs, turning it inside out, and 99.99 percent of what was in it stays in the plastic bag. Taking the bag to the utility sink and swishing around in warm water got rid of the other .01 percent.

As for baskets, I don't want to name drop (again) but the Bayou Classic 11-gal SS pot comes with a huge SS basket that holds the BIABag about two inches off the floor of the pot... I have external heat and didn't use it because I don't vorlauf, but if that's what you wanted to do, that would be a viable option in my book. Just insert some weldless nipples or have a local fabricator weld them into your big SS pot.

 

[Jako]

I'm not 100% done but I am getting close. Need the basket.

I used the solder fittings sold on brew hardware. But I made a huge mistake. For the TC I used the wrong hole saw size. I had to get crafty and turned my weldless old fitting into a solder fitting haha.

I also messed up the kettle trying to buff out the heat marks from the torch. It was my first time and used too much heat.

The lid will have a cam lock fitting that I will hook up my recirculation arm or CIP