Unboxing the Nano from CO Brewing

[jabba11]

I am right there with you. Tim told me $130 is the credit. Seems fair. I agree, take the hit and make a deal with March.

Oddly my box of tri clamp parts included a 3/4" NPT threaded triclamp.....only place that works is on the inlet of a......you guessed it. Chugger pump head.

Mine arrived..same as yours, I sent him an email about getting a refund on it, haven't heard back but Ill give him a few days to respond.

 

[jabba11]

Just a quick follow up about the topsflo pump that was sent to me. Rest assured I was not pleased with what happened. After some emailing back and forth with Tim I have decided to keep the pump and give it a try. Tim assured me that they will back the pump if there is a problem with it. I will say that their response to me has been very timely and good and cordial etc. In the end I decided to keep it to see if it really is an alternative to my chugger (which I already own fyi). it does have some benefits especially since it can be mounted right to the kettle (it is light enough for that) and then the valve for the kettle can be attached to it. Ill take a pic if people aren't familiar with this setup so you can see but if you look up topslfo pump in the forums you can see plenty of pics. Ill report back with its use this weekend as I am brewing a marzen for Oktoberfest.

 

[30Bones]

Never thought of mounting it to the valve itself. I may have kept it. Then again I have a 3way valve off my chugger and have zero hose changes from mash to boil to chill.

 

[pretzelb]

View attachment 361377
PID set at 151. Top of mash is pretty close. Pump output is around 3/4 with good whirl pooling around top of mash. This is 29.4 pounds of grain. Started with 14.5 gallons of water. I am basically going to fly sparge once I lift the basket so I get 14 gallons of wort. This is a bells two hearted clone. Plenty of hop absorption. Still not quite sure on boil off. I'm guessing 1 gallon an hour. Wish me luck! Lol
It seems the longer it circulates the better. It's really spinning after the mash hour is over. I may let it sit and spin for about 15 minutes just for the heck of it.

Whoa. 29 lbs grain and 14.5 gallons of water and the whirlpool worked? What was the grain crush?

 

[jabba11]

Never thought of mounting it to the valve itself. I may have kept it. Then again I have a 3way valve off my chugger and have zero hose changes from mash to boil to chill.

this is what it will look like

 

[30Bones]

Well done. Hope it works.

 

[Horseflesh]

Never thought of mounting it to the valve itself. I may have kept it. Then again I have a 3way valve off my chugger and have zero hose changes from mash to boil to chill.

Can you post a photo? And how much is a 3-way valve?

I'm still an Igloo cooler brewer, so even remedial pump and valve information is new to me!

 

[sabo38]

I have my mill set at a loose .45. This is the better of the 2 brews that I have made so for.
As far as the pump, not sure if I'll even use it. I have a chugger that I have been using and it's worked as good as I need it to. Seems as though we did kinda get the shaft as far as quality? I haven't used pumps before so I am new to all the styles and brands.

 

[jabba11]

I have my mill set at a loose .45. This is the better of the 2 brews that I have made so for.
As far as the pump, not sure if I'll even use it. I have a chugger that I have been using and it's worked as good as I need it to. Seems as though we did kinda get the shaft as far as quality? I haven't used pumps before so I am new to all the styles and brands.

Im only willingly to give it a try because there are some advantages IF it works as designed and lasts etc. There are some other new pumps that have come out recently that are similar. Im okay with being the guniea pig but if this was my only pump I would have wanted a refund and bought a march if a chugger wasn't available etc.

 

[sabo38]

Your right. I may give it a try too. Maybe it's a new groundbreaking idea. We wouldn't want to be behind the times.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Can you post a photo? And how much is a 3-way valve?

I'm still an Igloo cooler brewer, so even remedial pump and valve information is new to me!

BrewersHardware has TriClamp 3-way valves for about $40-60, and NPT for cheaper, depending on your size and connection type/ (3 I/O ports with four settings: all 3 open, 1<-->2, 1<-->3, 2<-->3, so it needs another valve before in input if you want to control the flow rate in.) I like mine. Drew a "T" on the handle in marker to keep track of the internal ball's flow dynamics.

 

[30Bones]

Can you post a photo? And how much is a 3-way valve?

I'm still an Igloo cooler brewer, so even remedial pump and valve information is new to me!

$60 is what I paid from brewers hardware. Haven't been able to use it yet or completely set my system up to get any pics. Should happen early August.

 

[wildseedgrrrl]

My next big purchase! How does that effect the overall weight on your kettle or pump. Where do you have it mounted? Do you then not have to switch any hoses at any point?

 

[Horseflesh]

Thanks for the valve porn! I like the idea of not switching hoses during brew day.

Is anyone using the new-style solid side basket, making 5 gal brews in the 20 gal kettle? Elsewhere I've read concerns about getting the grain underwater in that scenario but I don't know if it's really meaningful. Tim certainly didn't indicate a problem.

 

[jabba11]

Thanks for the valve porn! I like the idea of not switching hoses during brew day.

Is anyone using the new-style solid side basket, making 5 gal brews in the 20 gal kettle? Elsewhere I've read concerns about getting the grain underwater in that scenario but I don't know if it's really meaningful. Tim certainly didn't indicate a problem.

I'm doing this Saturday and Ill let ya know. I will say that I am making 6 gallons for 5 gallons in the fermenter though as I always lose some somewhere.

 

[30Bones]

I'm doing this Saturday and Ill let ya know. I will say that I am making 6 gallons for 5 gallons in the fermenter though as I always lose some somewhere.

I have been doing 6-6.5 gallon batches for a couple year. Nets me a full 5 gallon keg and sometimes a few 22oz bottles if I feel like messing with it. Plan to keep this volume with the 20 gallon system.

10 gallon batches will likely be ~11 into the fermentor I assume due to preboil volume needed and possible "living on the edge" for boilovers.

 

[Howhownow]

Thanks for the valve porn! I like the idea of not switching hoses during brew day.

Is anyone using the new-style solid side basket, making 5 gal brews in the 20 gal kettle? Elsewhere I've read concerns about getting the grain underwater in that scenario but I don't know if it's really meaningful. Tim certainly didn't indicate a problem.

I have that setup and run 5 gal batches no problem. I even hold back ~ 1 gal to do a quick pourover sparge. You are good to go for 5 or 10 gallon batches with the 20 gal kettle and solid side basket.

 

[Horseflesh]

Thanks for the reassurances! Looks like a good system for my needs.

 

[jready]

Thanks for the valve porn! I like the idea of not switching hoses during brew day.

Is anyone using the new-style solid side basket, making 5 gal brews in the 20 gal kettle? Elsewhere I've read concerns about getting the grain underwater in that scenario but I don't know if it's really meaningful. Tim certainly didn't indicate a problem.

I have with no issues. It was a fairly big grain bill but not crazy finished beer was 6% ABV

 

[02RedWS6TA]

Was told mine would ship today. Fingers crossed. Jealous of all the pics.

 

[jready]

Was told mine would ship today. Fingers crossed. Jealous of all the pics.

Congrats!

 

[Siberian]

2) It didn't dawn on me until the mash was over to check the temp of the actual mash bed. I wanted a temp of 153, and that's what I set on the PID. Unfortunately, the mash bed in the basket was only 149 at the end of my 60 minutes. Sounds like I'm going to have a drier beer than intended. That aside, it makes sense now that I think about it. The element is on the bottom, as is the temp probe. I've got 153 degree water on the bottom, which I suck out via the pump, where it loses a few degrees moving through the hoses/pump, and likely returned to the top well below my intended mash temp. :-( Doh!! Something I'm going to spend a bit more time evaluating and experimenting during my next batch to make sure the mash is at the right temp and not rely on the PID temp.

What I've done for this on my similar system is to measure the difference between the kettle temp and the PID temp in a few batches, then adjust the PIDs temperature like I was calibrating it (it's deep in the settings in mine) to the average gap, in my case that was -3 degrees.

This way it's always pushing a bit hotter water than needed back into the kettle and after this I find the grain bed dials in within a degree of what I wanted it to be, with me just being able to tell the PID to hold it at what I want.

 

[02RedWS6TA]

I got a tracking number. Better late than never, hopefully get delivered early next week.

 

[jabba11]

Mashed in a Marzen this morning. New pump working fine. 11 pounds of grain 10.8 gallons of water for a 6 gallon batch. pump on full.

 

[jready]

Mashed in a Marzen this morning. New pump working fine. 11 pounds of grain 10.8 gallons of water for a 6 gallon batch. pump on full.

Looking good man! I have 11 gallons of grapefruit sculpin clone ready to keg that plays 5 of a blackberry sour and 5 of a breakfast stout I'm set for awhile

 

[jabba11]

A couple of notes about yesterdays brew session. Its been discussed here about placement of the temps sensor and a difference in the grain bed temp. Yesterday I watched this pretty close. What I found was when the temp reached its desired temp the water in the bed was not at that temp BUT did eventually reach that temp. I stirred it up a couple of times and this helped speed that process. I think no matter what theres gonna be some "lag" . I had my pump on full and it was circulating like crazy but that grain is heavy and locked together to shwile the recirc helps for sure a good stiir or two once you reach desired temp is definitely in order. I was doing some step mashing so it was more prevalent. I tihkn in future if I have one mash temp I will set the temp. Wait for it to get to it then give the bed a good stir or two check temp and maybe do another stir in a minute or two. then you should be good I would think. Yesterday I did a 6 gallon batch for 5 gallons and this was my first time doing that. Everyting worked great BUT my boil off was definitely "off" as I had over 7 gallons when the boil was done. When I did my ten gallon batch it was accurate. I usually don't mind it being off a bit but a gallon and an half had a big effect on my OG. I could have continued to boil off but didn't have time. I also noticed ALOT more grain in my boil pot than last time. Ill put that off to the stirring I did but I may adjust my crush at .047 or something to see of that helps. Efficiency wise the .045 crush I'm using now is plenty high so maybe ill fiddle and try and find a good mix for that. CLEANING...I HAVE to find a method. Terribly laborious right now but I think I'm dialing that in as well. Theres just a lot more "parts" with this thing and I am someone who isn't gonna just run some PBW through it and call it a day. One final note when it was time for cooldown my hydra IC was about 1/2 in the wort BUT it still cooled it down rapidly.

 

[jabba11]

I thought id share this photo of how I am running my recirc during cooldown. I haven't had much luck trying to attach the recirc arm to the sid eof the tun so I attach it here on my hop sider during cooldown. Boil to 72 in about 10 minutes today with water temp at 72.

 

[DarkStormBrewing]

I bought this system to save time on cleaning...coming from a Kal clone Herms with threaded everything 2 pumps and a CFC. Now with 1 vessel 1 basket and immersion chiller vs 3 vessels 1 false bottom and tons of threaded parts that get broken down I'm estimating saving an hour+on cleanup. I guess if you came from propane biab the cleanup is greater with this system but I'm pumped about half of the equipment to clean them my old setup.

 

[jabba11]

I bought this system to save time on cleaning...coming from a Kal clone Herms with threaded everything 2 pumps and a CFC. Now with 1 vessel 1 basket and immersion chiller vs 3 vessels 1 false bottom and tons of threaded parts that get broken down I'm estimating saving an hour+on cleanup. I guess if you came from propane biab the cleanup is greater with this system but I'm pumped about half of the equipment to clean them my old setup.

I'm coming out of traditional sparge and ya I had that cleaning process down to the second. The thing about trad sparge is you can clean things during the boil etc so when its done you just have the pot and pump and hop spider and spoon to clean. That takes like 10 minutes. Like I said I just have to develop the method and I think it will be fine. Its just driving me nuts so far. I mean I can brew a lot faster then eat that time up cleaning stuff. it doesn't hep that I spilled 2 gallons of PBW water all over the floor last time..LOL

 

[Horseflesh]

Hey, how much hose do you need to get this running? And what kind, 1/2" ID?