Unboxing the Nano from CO Brewing

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As I sit here thinking. I'm now wondering if I've got the wrong idea about whirlpooling through my CFC. Those that use a CFC.... Are you whirlpooling through it? or just whirlpooling after turning off the element and then making one pass through the CFC on the way to the fermenter?
 
I always thought the point of the whirlpool was to limit the amount of material through the chiller. I've watched the video from Tim a few times and I thought you whirlpool for a bit prior to chilling. I don't have a system yet, but that's my take.
 
That's my plan for today. Gonna see how that goes. I'm just not sure that my ground water is cold enough to chill my wort with one pass on the way to the fermenter.
 
I plan to try using my immersion chiller in combination with recirc then whirlpool after I take the immersion chiller out if it disrupts the whirlpool then move to my fermenter. I'm not one who is real big on keeping out all the trub etc becaseu I don't use a plate chiller. I usually let it settle in my conical for about 30 minutes then dump the trub, oxygenate, and pout in my yeast. I know that's not helpful to the discussion here but that's my planned process.
 
sgraham602 said:
what are you guys using to chill? I was just running some more wet tests getting ready for my brew session tomorrow morning and the pump really struggles to whirlpool through my counter flow chiller. I'm starting to regret getting rid of my Hydra immersion chiller. I can get a pretty rocking whirlpool with no chiller, but as soon as I attach the counter flow the whirlpool drops pretty dramatically.
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I switched from a CFC to a plate chiller because I couldn't get the other to work. My sour is down to 3.6 PH this AM will be doing my first run with the plate chiller this afternoon. How is the brew day going?
 
Night and day compared to my first brew session. Got the recirculation on the mash to work perfectly without any hiccups. Whirpooled for 5 mins after the boil and then let it settle before pumping it through the CFC and into the fermenter. Coming out of the CFC I was at 86 degrees, which isn't too bad. I probably could have gotten lower if I had slowed the pump down a little. All in all the whole day went without any problems.
 
sgraham602 said:
Night and day compared to my first brew session. Got the recirculation on the mash to work perfectly without any hiccups. Whirpooled for 5 mins after the boil and then let it settle before pumping it through the CFC and into the fermenter. Coming out of the CFC I was at 86 degrees, which isn't too bad. I probably could have gotten lower if I had slowed the pump down a little. All in all the whole day went without any problems.
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Good news!![emoji106]
 
I'm brewing on an E herms and I go kettle>pump>cfc>kettle. Chilling the whole mass within a half hour. I set the PID to alarm at 100F, then add ice, water, an Epsom salt to my 50' prechiller set in a 5 gal bucket. Set PID for pitch temp. Alarm sounds, transfer to fermenters, oxygenate and pitch.

This has been the most successful for me after a few different set ups. Stainless CFC. 20 gallon kal clone kettle. Chugger center inlet pump.
 
sgraham602 said:
Night and day compared to my first brew session. Got the recirculation on the mash to work perfectly without any hiccups. Whirpooled for 5 mins after the boil and then let it settle before pumping it through the CFC and into the fermenter. Coming out of the CFC I was at 86 degrees, which isn't too bad. I probably could have gotten lower if I had slowed the pump down a little. All in all the whole day went without any problems.
Click to expand...
Slow the pump down and you can get it cooler. Then again your groundwater temps in NC this time of year may be pretty high depending on if it's well or city.
 
sgraham602 said:
As I sit here thinking. I'm now wondering if I've got the wrong idea about whirlpooling through my CFC. Those that use a CFC.... Are you whirlpooling through it? or just whirlpooling after turning off the element and then making one pass through the CFC on the way to the fermenter?
Click to expand...

I went straight to whirlpooling through the (Jaded) CFC with no issues to speak of. That said, probably couldn't hurt to get a little whirlpool/trub cone going before I send it through the chiller.
I haven't needed to use this function yet, but one of the reasons I went with this particular chiller is that you can easily brush the internal run clean. If I could go back, I'm not sure if I'd stay with the CFC or go immersion. Will need a couple more brews to tell.
 
30Bones said:
Slow the pump down and you can get it cooler. Then again your groundwater temps in NC this time of year may be pretty high depending on if it's well or city.
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Yea. I was starting to rush to get finish so I had the pump running pretty quick. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten it down closer to 70 or below if I had slowed down. Might need to consider a prechiller as we get into the summer months.
 
sgraham602 said:
Yea. I was starting to rush to get finish so I had the pump running pretty quick. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten it down closer to 70 or below if I had slowed down. Might need to consider a prechiller as we get into the summer months.
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If you use temp control for fermentation it's not a big deal to let the fridge take it down to pitching temps.
 
30Bones said:
If you use temp control for fermentation it's not a big deal to let the fridge take it down to pitching temps.
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True. that'll take some planning on my part. One of my fermentation chambers is not quite as "strong" as the others. Took most of the afternoon to take the carboys from 80 down to 60 (where I like to ferment WLP 029 Kolsch Yeast). However, my other chamber and temp controlled conical could have taken the temp the rest of the way easily.
 
UPDATE: Garage is finally rewired and 30amp gfci breaker has been installed along with outlet, lights and painted to help brighten it up. Did a dry run of putting together my brewing system. Was hoping to do a water test on wednesday and when I was installing the bar which holds the control panel I found that the holes didn't line up. I can get one screw in and the other is wonky. Screws on the arm are a hair to close to each other to get a perfect fit. Because I had no space to really put it together because of redoing my garage I only inventoried the parts (and found everything was here) and did not put it together. The other issue is the bar sits really low on the frame to me and I'm wondering if that is right. All the pics on their website show that the control panel is mounted higher. I've sent an email to them and I'm sure I'll hear back from them shortly.

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Just heard back from them. The customer service on these guys is great.The holes were that low on original design but he's sending me the new adjustable arm. Will update on first brew day when it happens.
 
I'm getting anxious to know when mine will ship. Only been a month but my order status hasn't changed
 
30Bones said:
I'm getting anxious to know when mine will ship. Only been a month but my order status hasn't changed
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I wouldn't rely on the notification. Mine said the same thing for 5 weeks and then I came home and bang, there it was. Happy relieved dance! And when you least expect it.
 
Ordered mine today. Added a whirlpool fitting to the kettle. Nano home with the fitting on the bottom of the kettle. I have a fab shop so I have some plans to modify the stand once it's in.
 
02RedWS6TA said:
Ordered mine today. Added a whirlpool fitting to the kettle. Nano home with the fitting on the bottom of the kettle. I have a fab shop so I have some plans to modify the stand once it's in.
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Nice! Good decision on the whirlpool, if I had it to do again I probably would opt for that.

Can't wait to see your mods. I am not skilled in that way but it'll be cool to see what you do!
 
30Bones said:
Was told today they were waiting on the mesh for baskets so it slowed some going out, min should be shipping in a few days
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well 5 weeks is certainly less than the lead time they quote on the site. I do hope mine comes that fast but like I said before Im content to get it quality built in a reasonable time frame. I have set a few things up including getting gfci etc but am waiting for the unit to arrive to design and create a ventilation system etc.
 
For now this will be used in an apartment so I am not getting to nuts. I have a vent fan and a ton of stuff for a home setup, but I may not buy for a year or so
 
Cleaned and rinsed and then filled and measured for gallon marks to put on the sight glass. That pick up tube is pretty sweet. I got all but a few ounces, not including what was in the lines. Tomorrow I'm brewing a saison.

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Sorry about the crick in everyone's neck while trying to view pics. I can't seem to figure out how to get them to turn.

Brew Day!

Went off without a hitch. Filled my kettle with 10" of water and got my water up to strike and mashed in 7# of grains. I didn't want to overdue it. Collected about 6.25 gallons of wort and boil went off without a hitch. I had about 3/4 gallon of boil off, which was surprising. Hit gravity and then some. I'm brewing again on Sunday. Brew day was done in about 3 hours and 45 minutes.

10" water at 57.4 degrees
Element on @ 815 going up to 160
142.5 deg @ 834

I thought I was going to lose a lot more in temperature when I added the grain than I did, but I hardly lost anything, so next batch I'll just heat to mash temp.

Mash in at 842 @154 deg
Mash 848 -948
Mash out 949-959 @168 deg

Took me a bit to get the basket raised and the arm out of the way.

Boil from 1020 - 1120

EOB gravity 1.049

I was truly impressed with this system. It blew my expectations out of the water.

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I just received my 15 gallon home system. Couple of questions:

Is the basket supposed to have feet? Or does the bottom just sit on the elements and temp probe?

The recirculation arm attachs with a screw. Is There supposed to be a hole for the screw to go through on the basket/kettle? The fit does not seem tight?

There are no connections for the pump. Does the system usually come with these connections or is this something I need to purchase?
 
NYY said:
I just received my 15 gallon home system. Couple of questions:

Is the basket supposed to have feet? Or does the bottom just sit on the elements and temp probe?

The recirculation arm attachs with a screw. Is There supposed to be a hole for the screw to go through on the basket/kettle? The fit does not seem tight?

There are no connections for the pump. Does the system usually come with these connections or is this something I need to purchase?
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No feet, the bar on the top holds it above the element.

Just tighten the screw it'll hold.

You should have received triclamp fittings for the pump, were they checked off on the packing slip? I was missing a few pieces then I realized they hadn't been checked off they showed up a few days later
 
I ordered mine on April 1st. The wait is killing me! Lots of great info in this thread though
 
wildseedgrrrl said:
I thought I was going to lose a lot more in temperature when I added the grain than I did, but I hardly lost anything, so next batch I'll just heat to mash temp.
Click to expand...

I noticed that as well. I can't figure out why but I also heat just to mash temp.

I hope to brew my second 10g batch today but I didn't set up my water last night so I might run out of time.
 
pretzelb said:
I noticed that as well. I can't figure out why but I also heat just to mash temp.

I hope to brew my second 10g batch today but I didn't set up my water last night so I might run out of time.
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I'm not a thermal engineer, but my guess would be thermal mass. Normal mash would be 1/2 the amount of strike water and thus less BTUs.
 
First Official brew day today was 5 gallon batch of Munich Dunkel and with this crazy heat we've been having I had to add water to my kettle toward the end of boil to get back up to what I'd need to hit 5 gallons in carboy and still ended up under. It had to have been 90 degrees in the garage at 10am. Ugh. Good side was that I had equally amazing efficiency this batch. My friend, Jeff came by to watch it in action because he'd stumbled across the website and was on the fence but leaning towards the dark side. LOL. I think watching today's brew day pretty much convinced him that this system is the way to go.We were done in about 4 hours. Still better than my previous brew days that were pretty much all day affairs.

So I have a question for folks: Who likes their sight glass? It seems pretty useless to me since I measure my liquid in kettle it never fully integrates with the rest of the wort. I'm considering adding a whirpool arm or just closing it off. Any suggestions?

Tomorrow will be a milk stout from a BIAB kit from work. We're not sure if it's still good since we've had it in the shop for so long, so I'm brewing it to see if they're worth keeping in stock. Lots of keg cleaning tomorrow to make room for all this beer I'm brewing!
 

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