The High Gravity Electric Brewery Thread

[Beer-lord]

I hope it's ok if I start a thread just for those who have, want or just want to hear about those of us who brew with the High Gravity Brewing Wort Hog systems. I know E brewing is gaining popularity and there are many great options for homebrewers and HG systems are one.

So, if you want to ask questions, share knowledge with this system or just BS about it, here's the place for it. Got tweaks, learned ways to brew better beer with it, problems, or whatever, let's talk!

Just FYI, I am not affiliated with HGB, I'm just a 5 month user who loves brewing with this system and like geeking about it.

 

[kevin58]

I bought the High Gravity 3vessel system this past fall. https://www.highgravitybrew.com/sto...ic-Wort-Hog-5-10-gallon-3-Vessel-445p5064.htm

Here's a tip for brewers who are also deer hunters... Don't have a brand new brewery system show up in October. First archery season... then firearms season... followed by black powder season. Then it's frickin' -30 outside. I still haven't fired mine up yet.

 

[Brewfreedom]

I bought the High Gravity 3vessel system this past fall. https://www.highgravitybrew.com/sto...ic-Wort-Hog-5-10-gallon-3-Vessel-445p5064.htm

Here's a tip for brewers who are also deer hunters... Don't have a brand new brewery system show up in October. First archery season... then firearms season... followed by black powder season. Then it's frickin' -30 outside. I still haven't fired mine up yet.

Literally timed my 3 vessle build to deer season. Controller should be shipping sometime in the next week from grounded brewing tech. Just took down the last of my hang on stands today.

 

[Beer-lord]

I bought the High Gravity 3vessel system this past fall. https://www.highgravitybrew.com/sto...ic-Wort-Hog-5-10-gallon-3-Vessel-445p5064.htm

Here's a tip for brewers who are also deer hunters... Don't have a brand new brewery system show up in October. First archery season... then firearms season... followed by black powder season. Then it's frickin' -30 outside. I still haven't fired mine up yet.

Ha! I don't hunt but fish but it's not the same. Priorities always shake their fist in your face!

 

[flubbss]

Can anyone explain the benefits/risks between a 3 prong vs 4 prong plug? I have an unused 3 prong dryer outlet open in the garage that I plan to use for brewing. I want to grab a high gravity brewing system and am not sure if I need to switch the outlet to 4 prong for safety reasons.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Beer-lord]

Before I had one installed, I did some googling and found this: https://fredsappliance.com/service/3-prong-vs-4-prong-dryer-outlets-whats-the-difference/
I spoke to an electrician and he told me that the 4 prong meets the new codes in my area though I admit, I didn't even check.

 

[sicktght311]

4 prong means 2 hot, a neutral, and a ground
3 prong is 2 hot, and a ground

4 prong allows you to operate both 240v and 120v devices from the same panel

3 prong means 240v control only since there’s no neutral

 

[flubbss]

4 prong means 2 hot, a neutral, and a ground
3 prong is 2 hot, and a ground

4 prong allows you to operate both 240v and 120v devices from the same panel

3 prong means 240v control only since there’s no neutral

So with the high gravity controller, would I be able to use the included pump if I select a 3 prong plug?

For those that know, how hard would it be to switch my dryer outlet from 3 prong to 4 prong?

 

[sicktght311]

AFAIK, 3 prong can use 120v, but not gfci protection since it would automatically trip a gfci breaker. So use at your own risk

The only way to retrofit a 3 prong outlet to 4, is either a) the wiring for 4 wire is already there, but they just didn’t wire in the neutral, so you just replace the receptacle and wire the neutral up, or b) if it’s 3 wire, you replace the 3 wire run with 4 wire, and replace the receptacle

 

[philm63]

Nice avatar! Still in the set-up phase on my 3-vessel HERMS system from High Gravity - 5-gallon batch size, 10-gallon kettles. Went with the 30 A controller figuring I'll ease my way into this electric brewing stuff. Doing a lot of thought experiments while getting it set up and am scratching my head regarding the pre-mashing process; specifically the strike water.

Because I went with the 30 A controller, I can only use one element at a time. Do I heat the strike water in the HLT - dough in, and add some water back to the HLT to get it back over the HERMS coil? Or do I heat the water in the HLT and switch over to the BK element to heat my strike water in the BK then pump it over to the MT and dough in?

The former seems like it would result in a drop in the HLT temperature for some period (no idea how long yet) which could have a negative effect on mash performance. The latter seems like it would take a while, having to heat two vessels of water but only being able to heat one at a time.

Should I have gone with the 50 A panel? Or is there a better way to get the necessary water up to temp and not have issues with having to refill the HLT or losing too much temp in the mash?

And lastly (not really, I'm sure...) do I need to recirculate the water in the HLT during the mash, seeing as I have only 10-gallon vessels? I've heard I do not need to recirculate with such a small vessel. Your thoughts?

 

[augiedoggy]

I bought the High Gravity 3vessel system this past fall. https://www.highgravitybrew.com/sto...ic-Wort-Hog-5-10-gallon-3-Vessel-445p5064.htm

Here's a tip for brewers who are also deer hunters... Don't have a brand new brewery system show up in October. First archery season... then firearms season... followed by black powder season. Then it's frickin' -30 outside. I still haven't fired mine up yet.

The idea and one of the main advantages behind electric is that you can use it indoors though?

 

[kevin58]

The idea and one of the main advantages behind electric is that you can use it indoors though?

Not with the layout of my house. Over the winter I actually considered a small batch eBIAB system to use indoors. Something similar to this...

 

[PsychoBiter]

Do the EZ boils in the current Worthog EBC-130 system have step mash capability?
I can find here they tell which EZ boil comes with it.

Also can you shut off just the element on the EBC-130 without power the whole unit down? say you are circulating and get a stuck mash and want to kill the element only.

 

[nik_taylor]

Do the EZ boils in the current Worthog EBC-130 system have step mash capability?
I can find here they tell which EZ boil comes with it.

If you email Dave at High Gravity Brew before you order you can make all kinds of changes to the build. I installed a EZBoil DSPR320 in mine (thread here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/ezboil-dspr320-experience.665739/#post-8607056) and had the plug changed to one that worked in my EV outlet. There's other threads on this forum where Dave has installed whirlpool returns and other kinds of things upon request. I spent a lot of time going back on forth with him on different options before I ordered. He was super helpful.

 

[Snark_Wolf_Brewing]

Seriously thinking about pulling the plug on the Wort Hog 120 volt 5 Gallon BIAB system from High Gravity Brewing when I get a little extra money I can spend.

 

[philm63]

I'm still in the setup phase for my 3-vessel HERMS with the EBC-330 for 5-gallon batches. The vessels are all 10-gallon G2's with 3750 W Boil Coils in the HLT and BK. I've written down what I believe should be all of the brew day steps for this new system in an effort to identify possible inefficiencies and work them out before I fire it up for the first time. I know; ambitious, but I really don't want to spend a bunch of time figuring this stuff out when I'm sure there are plenty of folks here who have already done that.

I currently see two very popular ways to mash in, but which is faster: Heating the HLT to strike temperature, then pumping the prescribed mash volume from the HLT over to the MT, then topping up the HLT and running it up to mash temperature; or filling the HLT, then putting the prescribed volume of strike water directly into the MT and heating both volumes together while recirculating through the HERMS coil?

 

[kevin58]

I'm still in the setup phase for my 3-vessel HERMS with the EBC-330 for 5-gallon batches. The vessels are all 10-gallon G2's with 3750 W Boil Coils in the HLT and BK.

Are you getting a whirlpool port in the boil kettle? This will reduce the overall volume of that kettle and can affect your total boil volume. I got a 15 gallon kettle and found that the effective volume that it will hold is around 13 gallons. It didn't work out well when I did a ten gallon batch that required a 14 gallon pre-boil volume.

 

[philm63]

I do have the whirlpool arm in the new BK. My max boil volumes in the past have topped out at 6.75 gallons (I usually shoot for around 6.5 gallons) and I had a whirlpool arm in my old 10-gallon G1 and 6.75 gallons in the boil did not present any issues even with a fairly rigorous boil.