Thinking about switching to e-BIAB with Brew-Boss

[SteveH aka shetc]

Have you considered using your current 10 gallon pot with an induction hot plate and doing BIAB with that. You'd have to be sure your pot is compatible with induction heating.

Which induction hot plate do you recommend?

 

[Rock_Toy]

Oh man....been looking at the brew boss system for a while now. Was thinking about just building my own but once I got down to pricing out all of the parts, it really isn't any cheaper and its definitely not as cool. Looks like I might be putting my Tax Refund to good use this year.

Just one question though. Is the software programmable based on the beer that you are making? Any way to get it to interact with my Beersmith software? That would be incredibly cool

 

[Menhir]

Oh man....been looking at the brew boss system for a while now. Was thinking about just building my own but once I got down to pricing out all of the parts, it really isn't any cheaper and its definitely not as cool. Looks like I might be putting my Tax Refund to good use this year.

Just one question though. Is the software programmable based on the beer that you are making? Any way to get it to interact with my Beersmith software? That would be incredibly cool

I can't answer your question about Beersmith but it's my understanding that the Brew Boss software is totally flexible as far as setting up your brew schedule. You should be able to set your times and mash temperatures based on what you are brewing. If you use their optional hops boss attachment you can set things up to automatically add hops according to your schedule. I'll know more once I get my system. Too bad the Kickstarter wasn't fulfilled as I could have gotten a really great deal.

 

[h22lude]

Oh man....been looking at the brew boss system for a while now. Was thinking about just building my own but once I got down to pricing out all of the parts, it really isn't any cheaper and its definitely not as cool. Looks like I might be putting my Tax Refund to good use this year.

Just one question though. Is the software programmable based on the beer that you are making? Any way to get it to interact with my Beersmith software? That would be incredibly cool

No you can't have it interact with beersmith. You would need to use beersmith to calculate the amount of water you need and your gravity readings. Everything else is done with Brew Boss. You can make any kind of beer with as many step mashes as you want.

 

[Rock_Toy]

No you can't have it interact with beersmith. You would need to use beersmith to calculate the amount of water you need and your gravity readings. Everything else is done with Brew Boss. You can make any kind of beer with as many step mashes as you want.

Fair enough. Still looks like an amazing system.

 

[MerlinWerks]

Fair enough. Still looks like an amazing system.

I hope so, ordered a 15G system yesterday

 

[njpatg]

Ill have a 15 gallon Brew Boss system as soon as I can scrape up the funds !

 

[SeeMont]

I am so hoping for the ground breakers with the Beer Boss. I placed my order last week for the 15 gallon system. I am just looking at changing my equipment profile in Beersmith. Has anyone added the Beersmith program to their Beer Boss Android tablet? Thanks in advance.

 

[wobdee]

What's the cost of these?

 

[bigdongsr94]

I'm going from Ebiab to a cooler mash tun. I don't have the time now but start a thread maybe after my first brew. I have reasons including beer quality and efficiency but this is all my personal experience. I will still heat water and then boil with my electric setup. I just don't get good results on biab but like I said, it's my problem not everybody's.

 

[SansPants]

Mine should be here tomorrow.

I will be pulling the 220 line this weekend and hopefully wet testing after that. I am a bit curious as to what it will take to get Beersmith dialed in.

Has anyone tried running the Brew Boss app on an emulator on a Windows PC? I have a 10" touchpanel PC that needs a new job.

 

[SansPants]

I brewed my first batch with this system today. I really like the system. Programming was easy. Temps stayed rock solid and heated much more quickly than I thought is would.

The app runs fine on an emulator. My only gripe is that the whirlpool arm is too short for 5 gallon batches.

 

[GoldDiggingBrewer]

I'm going from Ebiab to a cooler mash tun. I don't have the time now but start a thread maybe after my first brew. I have reasons including beer quality and efficiency but this is all my personal experience. I will still heat water and then boil with my electric setup. I just don't get good results on biab but like I said, it's my problem not everybody's.

I mothballed my cooler tun after going BIAB. The BIAB method is my #1 choice, and ironically I've hit my OG every time doing it that way. It is funny tho, last brew I was aiming for 4gals ~ OG1.077 and got 3.5gals ~ OG1.077. Worked for me. My only challenge is moving/sparging the grain bag without making a mess.

I usually Mash in the bag at 149-153F for 60, then 10mins at 168F. I lift the grain bag into a large strainer, and run 170F sparge water through it.

Less equipment, less cleaning,...My BIAB recipes take 3-5 hours from lights on to lights off.

BIAB BIAB

 

[jpb2716]

My only gripe is that the whirlpool arm is too short for 5 gallon batches.

I am ordering a 15 gallon Brew-Boss system soon and was wondering about the whirlpool arm being too short for 5 gallon batches. Could it be extended? Is it made from copper pipe like it looks like in pictures? Couldn't it be cut and an extension soldered in?

Thanks in advance.

 

[h22lude]

I just made one. Very cheap and easy to make. This was my second time soldering so it isn't as pretty but it works.

 

[wilserbrewer]

My only challenge is moving/sparging the grain bag without making a mess.

I have found the easiest and neatest BIAB sparge method is to use a ratchet pulley and let the bag hang and drain over the kettle. Then using a small 1-2 quart pitcher slowly pour your sparge water over and through the bag. It doesn't seem like it would work very well, but a BIAB bag is so porous that water seems to go right through it and through the grain effectively. The added bonus is that you can simply sparge until your proper preboil volume is in the kettle below. This method also removes any volume issues as you are simply measuring, not calculating in advance...jmo try it, it works surprisingly well, much easier and neater than dunk sparging in a separate container.

 

[jpb2716]

I just made one. Very cheap and easy to make. This was my second time soldering so it isn't as pretty but it works.

Did you make it out of copper? I'd like to see a pic if that's possible.

Thanks!

 

[Peruvian802]

I have found the easiest and neatest BIAB sparge method is to use a ratchet pulley and let the bag hang and drain over the kettle.

The ratchet pulley is a key component to easy BIAB.

 

[h22lude]

Did you make it out of copper? I'd like to see a pic if that's possible.

Thanks!

I did. It basically looks exactly like the one from Brew Boss but I drilled holes instead of cutting them like he did. I'll take a pic and post it

 

[jpb2716]

I did. It basically looks exactly like the one from Brew Boss but I drilled holes instead of cutting them like he did. I'll take a pic and post it

That would be great. Thanks!

 

[h22lude]

Sorry I completely forgot. Here it is. Very simple. I bought one copper pipe, one elbow, one cap and one male end. I already had the lead free solder and flux. The small arm is a piece cut off the longer pipe. I measured it so it almost hits the bottom so I can use it with a 5 gallon batch.

 

[jpb2716]

Sorry I completely forgot. Here it is. Very simple. I bought one copper pipe, one elbow, one cap and one male end. I already had the lead free solder and flux. The small arm is a piece cut off the longer pipe. I measured it so it almost hits the bottom so I can use it with a 5 gallon batch.

Thanks for posting the picture for me. Looks great and seems simple to make. How do you mount it during use?

 

[h22lude]

Thanks for posting the picture for me. Looks great and seems simple to make. How do you mount it during use?

For now I will just use a spring clamp I have but I will find a more permanent way. Probably something similar to what Darin has.

I do have a quick disconnect that I will use to make it easier going from this and the sparge arm.

 

[SansPants]

I am ordering a 15 gallon Brew-Boss system soon and was wondering about the whirlpool arm being too short for 5 gallon batches. Could it be extended? Is it made from copper pipe like it looks like in pictures? Couldn't it be cut and an extension soldered in?

Thanks in advance.

Sorry for the late reply. I cut and extended mine about 5" with female to female pipe fittings. It was a 5 minute job.

 

[flyingpole]

I brewed my first batch with this system today. I really like the system. Programming was easy. Temps stayed rock solid and heated much more quickly than I thought is would.

The app runs fine on an emulator. My only gripe is that the whirlpool arm is too short for 5 gallon batches.

As the creator of the Swirl-Boss I feel compelled to respond. Please see the video in this link.

The video shows how to install and position the Swirl-Boss properly to optimize the speed of whirlpool rotation and get the aeration benefits the device offers. The device is not designed to be positioned below the wort level and the operation manual clearly mentions that fact. Doing so, lowers the exit velocity of the jet considerably as the jet must overcome hydraulic forces due to being below the surface of the wort vs just competing with atmospheric forces. Same reason your ears hurt when you dive deep in the water, pressure increases dramatically compared to atmospheric pressure. The lower the wand is lowered into the wort the less efficient it becomes. Maximum exit velocity from the special E-Shaped nozzle occurs above the surface and also allows you to take advantage of surface tension. The video clearly shows how much faster the whirlpool is when used this way. Note that round holes create a very inefficient nozzle pattern with little frontal area, so surface tension effects with round holes will be inefficient. That is why the nozzle opening is shaped the way it is.

The aeration feature is also negated when used below the surface as the wort has no opportunity to contact air during the process. Notice in the actual brew video the bubbles created. As we all know, aeration of the wort is important for healthy yeast growth.

I don't recommend lengthening your Swirl-Boss, doing so will make it very difficult to use with full batches. The hose clamp is designed to allow you to position the nozzle above the surface, and with a real long wand the clamp will not be stable enough to support the wight of the extra hose you will need to reach the extended opening above the kettle.

I've also heard concerns from people regarding Hot Side Aeration (HSA) issues. I've been using this technique for a long time and have never experienced any issues relative to HSA, at least perceivable ones. Check out this real world study done on the subject.

I'm always available for discussions!

https://youtu.be/fI5cp9-uuG8

 

[SansPants]

As the creator of the Swirl-Boss I feel compelled to respond. Please see the video in this link.

Outstanding

Thanks for educating me, this was a misunderstanding on my part of the proper function of the whirlpool arm. I have returned it to the factory configuration and will give it a shot tomorrow!

 

[Swifty]

I brew E-BIAB and I switched from 3 Vessel AG.. like you said I did it because I needed to shorten my brew day but not so much that I could only brew with extracts (i havent used them in years).

I made a cream ale the other day and I started around 10am in my Garage. I finished up with cleanup by 1:30ish. Typically with my AG setups.. even my Brutus10 build an all grain day would take approx5-6 hours start to finish.

How did you get to 3.5 hours? I'm using no chill and am still 4 plus.

Do you mind throwing out a schedule?

Thanks man!

Swifty

 

[Mirilis]

Since my stuff is kept in the basement and my wife only lets me brew in the garage I get a lot of stuff set up the night before. That includes weighing and crushing my grain.

In the morning I get up turn the hose on (through my water filter), Once the water gets above my elements I turn them on. From that point until I am ready to dough in is roughly 35 minutes. Using 8:00am as an arbitrary start time I dough in at 8:35.

Mash runs 8:35-9:35 (if im falling behind I may cut 10 minutes out of the mash.. assuming conversion is done and my pH is correct). I let the bag drip while the wort heats to a boil

Next it takes about 20 minutes to heat to boil, and then 5 minutes into the boil i start my timer and dump in some hops. so this will be ~10:00am

Boil finishes at 11:00am and I turn on the chiller for roughly 10-15 minutes. Typically my chiller sucks and I only get down to the 80's, but it doesnt matter I put it in the fridge until the next morning anyway.

At this point its 11:15am, I next take 5 minutes to rinse out my kettle and then put the chiller exhaust water in there with some oxyclean and run the system for an additional 10 minutes and drain.. by then its ~11:30 and im done.

Sometimes I leave the gear upstairs and dont carry it down but thats a typical day .. about 3.5 hours.

Usually its only longer if I brew something with a lot of pilsner malt in it where i have to do an extended boil, or im doing a second BIAB batch on propane at roughly the same time as my electric batch. (those days I get 2 beers in 4-4.5 hours)

 

[SweetStout]

For those that have a 15 gallon brew boss setup, how much grain can you use in a 5 gallon batch (with BIAB)? Or asked a different way, what's the max OG you can achieve?

 

[ibrewmyown]

My neighbor and I purchased two 20 gallon Deluxe Cofi systems with the hops Boss and Whirlpool arm. They shipped today so we should have them before the weekend. We are both long time (10 years or so) 3 tier system brewers which we both built from scratch so moving to this pre-built, all in one, automatic system is going to be a huge change. The simplicity and automation is what made this system so fascinating and with the price being so much less than similar systems, it was a no brainer. I cant wait to start brewing with the system. Darin has been great to deal with and answer my many questions.

I love brewing big Belgian beers. Seeing that I could brew 10 gallons of a 10 - 12 % beer in a half barrel keg set up, I don't see why you couldn't do the same in the 15 gallon BIAB or COFI set up. If you cant add the full volume of water with the large grain bill, just add more water when you remove the grain. I'll be experimenting with high gravity beers very soon but my first brew will be a Saison and then a Oberon clone. If I can get 16 gallons from a session, that would be great.

By the way the app for the ipad is ready so it saved me $60 not having to get the android that comes with it.