Unboxing the Nano from CO Brewing

[02RedWS6TA]

I'm looking for a decent NEIPA recipe. That's a huge amount of hops. I love that the whirlpool gets them together so nicely. Please tell us how it ends up. Cheers

I updated my NE IPA brew video with my full recipe tonight. A tasting video is uploading but on 3mb DSL it'll be a day or so lol. Turned out great. Both my pale ale and IPA turned out fantastic.

 

[jready]

I'm looking for a decent NEIPA recipe. That's a huge amount of hops. I love that the whirlpool gets them together so nicely. Please tell us how it ends up. Cheers

I have made this one many times now and have fiddled with the grist and hop additions to where I feel it is dialed in. My friends and neighbors love it. Tapped 10 gallons 2 weeks ago and I am Dow to two now. I keep it pretty simple.

20 lbs Marris Otter
4 lbs white wheat
3 lbs flaked oats
1 lbs cara foam/pils (either work)

Mash temp at 152 I go 90 min

Hops:

1.5 oz Warrior 60 min
@5 min 6 oz total here you can change things up the batch I did this week was 2 oz each of Mosaic, Citra, Amarillo I have done all Mosaic all Citra all Galaxy (all Mosaic is my favorite)

Same amount of hops whirlpool @ 170 30 min

Dry hop same amount. People are all over the board here but I find my batches usually take 10 days to reach FG. I like to dry hop somewhere around day 5. I cold crash and transfer to my brite tank ASAP after fermentation is done.

 

[LouBrew13]

I have made this one many times now and have fiddled with the grist and hop additions to where I feel it is dialed in. My friends and neighbors love it. Tapped 10 gallons 2 weeks ago and I am Dow to two now. I keep it pretty simple.

20 lbs Marris Otter
4 lbs white wheat
3 lbs flaked oats
1 lbs cara foam/pils (either work)

Mash temp at 152 I go 90 min

Hops:

1.5 oz Warrior 60 min
@5 min 6 oz total here you can change things up the batch I did this week was 2 oz each of Mosaic, Citra, Amarillo I have done all Mosaic all Citra all Galaxy (all Mosaic is my favorite)

Same amount of hops whirlpool @ 170 30 min

Dry hop same amount. People are all over the board here but I find my batches usually take 10 days to reach FG. I like to dry hop somewhere around day 5. I cold crash and transfer to my brite tank ASAP after fermentation is done.

Thank you that is a fairly straightforward recipe and certainly open to tinkering. This is 10 gallons right? Thanks and cheers

 

[jready]

Thank you that is a fairly straightforward recipe and certainly open to tinkering. This is 10 gallons right? Thanks and cheers

Yep and you should tinker!! I think so much is up to interpolation in this style!! Love to hear what whorls for you.

By the way I have gone back and forth on Conan or London Ale III. I find LA3 to be more reliable.

 

[RollE2k]

On my system with 16-gallon kettle (15.5" diameter) and a 14.5" diameter mash basket, made by colorado brewing systems.. with 400micron bottom mesh i did brew a quite strong IPA (not DIPA) two weeks ago... I did wet condition the grains before milling, which gave big nice whole husks from the malts...
Mashed with 29lbs of grain, and approx 10 - 10.5 gallons of water... no wheat or oat. This resulted in working circulation but very very slow, so after the grainbed had sat on the bottom of the basket i opened the pump up almost full, and just let it flow over the top edges of the mash basket...
After mashing i did sparge with a little over 6 gallons of water...
The sparge was insanely slow, and probably took at least 40min totally.. on the good side i got approx 80% brewhouse efficiency, which is great.. and the clearest wort i have ever had into the fermenter... OG 1.072 which was higher than my expected 1.068

So two good things - but since this system seems to have problem with larger grain-bills i'm quite happy that i have ordered a new mesh sided basket, which is on the way to me as we speak right now. Will try this one in a few weeks also, with approx same grain bill, except a bit less caramel malts.
I should add that i'm running "Ultimate sparge arm" for recirculation, rather than the whirlpooling or ssbrewtech manifold. Anybody having luck with high gravity ales and this system, with good efficiency.

 

[Horseflesh]

After my last batch I found a scorch mark on my element. This one little spot has always been hotter than the rest of the element--it collects browned gunk, while the rest of the element stays clean. The browned part is still easy to clean so I haven't worried about it. But the spot seems to be getting even hotter now, since it turned black and crusty!

Are hot spots normal for electric elements? I'll be relieved if someone says yes, but this doesn't look right to me, especially since it's been changing over time.

FYI my boil maintain power is 65% with about 7.5 gal in the kettle. I have the PLC system so the switch from 100% to maintenance power happens automatically when the kettle hits 207.6 F -- thanks to the automation there's no chance I did something differently on this batch to make this happen.

 

[02RedWS6TA]

My standard element did that in the same spot every time.

 

[jabba11]

After my last batch I found a scorch mark on my element. This one little spot has always been hotter than the rest of the element--it collects browned gunk, while the rest of the element stays clean. The browned part is still easy to clean so I haven't worried about it. But the spot seems to be getting even hotter now, since it turned black and crusty!

Are hot spots normal for electric elements? I'll be relieved if someone says yes, but this doesn't look right to me, especially since it's been changing over time.

FYI my boil maintain power is 65% with about 7.5 gal in the kettle. I have the PLC system so the switch from 100% to maintenance power happens automatically when the kettle hits 207.6 F -- thanks to the automation there's no chance I did something differently on this batch to make this happen.

mine does this too almost in the same spot. I clean it about every third batch as it takes that long to get this bad

 

[Horseflesh]

Thanks guys!

I wrote to CBS too, and they are going to replace it. If you have the same spot, keep an eye on it and check with them if you think it is getting worse.

@02RedWS6TA -- I can't remember, did you replace with a ripple element?

 

[cyclonebeer]

After my last batch I found a scorch mark on my element. This one little spot has always been hotter than the rest of the element--it collects browned gunk, while the rest of the element stays clean. The browned part is still easy to clean so I haven't worried about it. But the spot seems to be getting even hotter now, since it turned black and crusty!

Are hot spots normal for electric elements? I'll be relieved if someone says yes, but this doesn't look right to me, especially since it's been changing over time.

FYI my boil maintain power is 65% with about 7.5 gal in the kettle. I have the PLC system so the switch from 100% to maintenance power happens automatically when the kettle hits 207.6 F -- thanks to the automation there's no chance I did something differently on this batch to make this happen.

That is a defective element. I had to replace my original element and bought a ripple integrated element from Brewhardware (nice to be able to disconnect the cable at the kettle). The first time I used it, it had a scorched spot on it just like the picture. I asked Bobby about it and he sent a replacement immediately.

 

[Horseflesh]

The ripple element with TC and disconnect is pretty nice. If I need another replacement I'll do that.

I saw at Brewhardware they recommend 3000 W for boiling 5-7 gallons, which is about 55% power on a 5500 W element. I have been running at 65%, but CBS today also recommended reducing power to 50% or less for 5 gallon batches.

 

[jabba11]

I run my 10 gallon batches (12 gallons total at start) at around 62 but ya 5 gallon batches I think I was running around 55 even though I don't do many

 

[02RedWS6TA]

Thanks guys!

I wrote to CBS too, and they are going to replace it. If you have the same spot, keep an eye on it and check with them if you think it is getting worse.

@02RedWS6TA -- I can't remember, did you replace with a ripple element?

Yes, I got a non shiney version from the electric brewery.

 

[zman_]

So, to jump in on this topic - I have a 20g kettle + whirlpool arm, solid sided basket, etc from CBS. Currently, I am running propane as my heat source as I rent and can't get a 240V circuit. I normally do 10 gallon batches (11g into fermenter).

I just read through all of the posts here and have seen lots of people with similar issues getting an effective mash recirculation going. I have done 3 batches with this setup, the first a max-out full volume mash, I was able to fit 28.5# of grain in the basket (with no room to spare) with enough water for an 11g batch with a massive kettle hop load (so lots of extra for that absorption). I was able to get some kind of recirculation going on this batch, but wasn't super concerned with it. The next batch I did was a ~4.5% session IPA, full volume mash. After letting the grain bed settle for ~10-15min with low flow, I was able to crank up the pump until it was running 100% open.

Recently, I attempted to push the system again: 35# of grain (with 8# of oats) in ~14.5g of water with 2-3g of water held back for a pour-over sparge after lifting the basket. I wasn't able to establish any sort of recirculation and my first runnings and pre-boil gravities were pretty crap as my mash efficiency had taken a big hit. By my calculations, even with the "dead" volume under the kettle, this shouldn't have been too far off the 1.25qt/# mash thickness that most other systems shoot for. This experience led me to search out ways to make sure my mash efficiency stays high when attempting higher gravity beers/etc.

From reading through this topic I have come up with the following tweaks/improvements:

1. Swap the normal whirlpool arm for something that returns to the top of the grain bed. It seems like the SS Brewtech manifold has been popular and worked better than a simple silicone tube. Can anyone comment on this? Are there any alternative products that people have used with success?
2. Rice hulls. I haven't used any previously since I was doing full-volume mashes and never had any issues, but given the dyanmics of the solid sided basket they could help here.
3. Increasing mill gap to ~0.045 or so. I have my mill gap pretty fine right now (leftover from doing "traditional" BIAB) and increasing should help.
4. Beta-glucan rest? I normally brew heavily hopped IPAs with wheat/oats/etc so performing a ~15-20min rest @ ~104-110 (I think) could be helpful. Reading through, I have seen mixed opinions about this, and haven't seen any clear examples of how people actually achieve this. Would people suggest to heat "strike" water sufficiently to hit this temperature, mash in, perform the rest, before heating the entire mash+grains up to desired mash temperature? Or do people generally pull/lift the grain before heating the water up to a new "strike" temperature?
5. Are there any other things that I am missing that could help with my issue(s)?

 

[mcgimpkins]

So, to jump in on this topic - I have a 20g kettle + whirlpool arm, solid sided basket, etc from CBS. Currently, I am running propane as my heat source as I rent and can't get a 240V circuit. I normally do 10 gallon batches (11g into fermenter).

zman, I don't know your rental setup, however just something to think about, if you have an electric stove, or dyer hookup, you could always wire into one of those.

1. Swap the normal whirlpool arm for something that returns to the top of the grain bed. It seems like the SS Brewtech manifold has been popular and worked better than a simple silicone tube. Can anyone comment on this? Are there any alternative products that people have used with success?
   
   I stumbled upon the Brewtech manifold before reading this thread. I find it to work a lot better than the whirlpool arm and if I throttle the pump to about 1/2 and don't have any wheat, barely, oats, or other sticky grains, it seems to keep a pretty consistent mash.
   
   
2. Rice hulls. I haven't used any previously since I was doing full-volume mashes and never had any issues, but given the dyanmics of the solid sided basket they could help here.
   
   Rice Hulls work really well, just put 0.5 lbs for a 5 gallon batch or 1 lbs for a 10 gallon batch. I don't use them with every batch, only when I have any sticky grains (i.e. wheat, barely, oats), and have found that I can run the pump full open and get good recirculation.
   
   
   [*]Increasing mill gap to ~0.045 or so. I have my mill gap pretty fine right now (leftover from doing "traditional" BIAB) and increasing should help
   
   Right now I have mine set at 0.039, that seems to work well. I did have it at 0.045, which in my experience took my efficiency down about 2-3%. I didn't notice a big difference in the recirculation. Try it out at 0.045 and at 0.039 and see which you like better. I would not recommend going finer as your recirculation will probably back up and stick.
   
   [*]Beta-glucan rest? I normally brew heavily hopped IPAs with wheat/oats/etc so performing a ~15-20min rest @ ~104-110 (I think) could be helpful. Reading through, I have seen mixed opinions about this, and haven't seen any clear examples of how people actually achieve this. Would people suggest to heat "strike" water sufficiently to hit this temperature, mash in, perform the rest, before heating the entire mash+grains up to desired mash temperature? Or do people generally pull/lift the grain before heating the water up to a new "strike" temperature?
   
   John Palmer has a write-up on it here: http://howtobrew.com/book/section-3/how-the-mash-works/the-protein-rest-and-modification
   
   I've done a Beta-glucan rest on a couple of beers with less modified malts. It seems to help out with flow issues, however not as much as rice hulls do. I probably wouldn't recommend using it unless your base malts are less modified. Instead your probably better off using rice hulls.
   
   If you are going to do a Beta-glucan rest, it is much easier if you are on electric, heat your water up to the strike temp, probably somewhere around 110F-114F and put your grains in. Hold temp and after 15-20 minutes, turn on your propane and heat up to your mash temp while recirculating. You don't need to pull your grans, since they should be kept off the bottom of your kettle and should not scorch in the basket.

 

[Horseflesh]

The last time I brewed I accidentally used an old Beersmith config, and had some extra water in the mash. It was really loose and turned over really easily with the pump. My efficiency went up from the usual 75-85% to 92%! But keeping the mash that loose means boiling off a lot of extra water, about 0.75 gal for a 5 gal batch.

 

[cyclonebeer]

As a CBS owner, I've been following this thread for a long time. Seems to me that the recurring issues have to do with owners of solid side baskets. I got my rig before they were an option, and I'm glad for it. This weekend I brewed a 10 gallon batch of Braufessors NE IPA. 3 lbs of flaked products. I did not do a beta glucan rest. I did do a 165 deg. mash out and stirred about every 15 min with a 24" French Whip (great tool). Because my re-circulation fitting goes through the wall of the kettle I had to hold back about 3 gallons of water for a sparge. Nothing fancy. Ran the pump wide open without issues and got 90% e "post sparge". My recirc setup is just a length of 1/2" silicone tubing setting on top of the grain bed. Again, nothing fancy. Depending upon how I lay the tubing, I can get a nice whirlpool going. I truly think that the solid side basket was a step backwards and if any of you are having flow issues, you should consider a different basket. Maybe Tim should too. Just my 2 cents.

 

[jabba11]

As a CBS owner, I've been following this thread for a long time. Seems to me that the recurring issues have to do with owners of solid side baskets. I got my rig before they were an option, and I'm glad for it. This weekend I brewed a 10 gallon batch of Braufessors NE IPA. 3 lbs of flaked products. I did not do a beta glucan rest. I did do a 165 deg. mash out and stirred about every 15 min with a 24" French Whip (great tool). Because my re-circulation fitting goes through the wall of the kettle I had to hold back about 3 gallons of water for a sparge. Nothing fancy. Ran the pump wide open without issues and got 90% e "post sparge". My recirc setup is just a length of 1/2" silicone tubing setting on top of the grain bed. Again, nothing fancy. Depending upon how I lay the tubing, I can get a nice whirlpool going. I truly think that the solid side basket was a step backwards and if any of you are having flow issues, you should consider a different basket. Maybe Tim should too. Just my 2 cents.

Im no fluid dynamics expert or anything. I can imagine the reason for the hard sided basket was more to force a flow through the entire grain bed instead of just "wherever it comes out". personally I don't have many issue. The issues I have are minute (some scorching with wheats). All my other beer including those which contain oatmeal, flaked barley etc don't seem to have any issue. Admittedly I wish I could actually try a soft sided basket and see if theres a difference etc. The addition of the ss brewtech manifold definitely helped mine but I still had scorching and so Im working to gently whirlpool underneath the basket to see what that does. Im gonna do that this weekend so it will be interesting to see. PArt of a new system is discovering what works for you. If I keep having issues Ill try the soft sided basket as well eventually. I don't mind fiddling like that. its a hobby. I will say the large systems that CBS is producing now had better work without issue for the brewhouses utilizing and I imagine they do or at least I certainly haven't heard anyone having issue with them. its not like I cant make beer with mine or something, we are mostly just looking for ways to improve. Id bet money that CBS (Tim) is following this thread FWIW.

 

[jabba11]

zman, I don't know your rental setup, however just something to think about, if you have an electric stove, or dyer hookup, you could always wire into one of those.

1. Swap the normal whirlpool arm for something that returns to the top of the grain bed. It seems like the SS Brewtech manifold has been popular and worked better than a simple silicone tube. Can anyone comment on this? Are there any alternative products that people have used with success?
   
   I stumbled upon the Brewtech manifold before reading this thread. I find it to work a lot better than the whirlpool arm and if I throttle the pump to about 1/2 and don't have any wheat, barely, oats, or other sticky grains, it seems to keep a pretty consistent mash.
   
   
2. Rice hulls. I haven't used any previously since I was doing full-volume mashes and never had any issues, but given the dyanmics of the solid sided basket they could help here.
   
   Rice Hulls work really well, just put 0.5 lbs for a 5 gallon batch or 1 lbs for a 10 gallon batch. I don't use them with every batch, only when I have any sticky grains (i.e. wheat, barely, oats), and have found that I can run the pump full open and get good recirculation.
   
   
   [*]Increasing mill gap to ~0.045 or so. I have my mill gap pretty fine right now (leftover from doing "traditional" BIAB) and increasing should help
   
   Right now I have mine set at 0.039, that seems to work well. I did have it at 0.045, which in my experience took my efficiency down about 2-3%. I didn't notice a big difference in the recirculation. Try it out at 0.045 and at 0.039 and see which you like better. I would not recommend going finer as your recirculation will probably back up and stick.
   
   [*]Beta-glucan rest? I normally brew heavily hopped IPAs with wheat/oats/etc so performing a ~15-20min rest @ ~104-110 (I think) could be helpful. Reading through, I have seen mixed opinions about this, and haven't seen any clear examples of how people actually achieve this. Would people suggest to heat "strike" water sufficiently to hit this temperature, mash in, perform the rest, before heating the entire mash+grains up to desired mash temperature? Or do people generally pull/lift the grain before heating the water up to a new "strike" temperature?
   
   John Palmer has a write-up on it here: http://howtobrew.com/book/section-3/how-the-mash-works/the-protein-rest-and-modification
   
   I've done a Beta-glucan rest on a couple of beers with less modified malts. It seems to help out with flow issues, however not as much as rice hulls do. I probably wouldn't recommend using it unless your base malts are less modified. Instead your probably better off using rice hulls.
   
   If you are going to do a Beta-glucan rest, it is much easier if you are on electric, heat your water up to the strike temp, probably somewhere around 110F-114F and put your grains in. Hold temp and after 15-20 minutes, turn on your propane and heat up to your mash temp while recirculating. You don't need to pull your grans, since they should be kept off the bottom of your kettle and should not scorch in the basket.

rice hulls definitely beneficial. I have used them almost since I started brewing even before my CBS system. They cost next to nothing, don't change the flavor at all, improve flow and filtering. its a win win. The beta rest...I have been doing it but honestly haven't seen that this has much effect on sticking UNLESS I stir it often doing the rest. Then the bed seems to "set" better and I can ramp up and have better flow. May be a coincidence maybe not. Im not sold 100% on it yet really

 

[cyclonebeer]

Are there any other things that I am missing that could help with my issue(s)?

Feel free to stir your mash. I've thought a lot about re-circulation and what the benefits are. I think (and feel free to disagree) that one of the primary benefits of re-circulation is keeping a constant mash temp. Consider this. If your grain is at mash temp, and you're surrounding that grain bed with an envelope of constant temp wort, there is no place for heat to escape. Thats a good thing. Any mechanical "sweeping" of sugars from the grains that you get from re-circulation is a bonus - buts lets face it. Re-circulating wort is going to take the path of least resistance, whether its through the side walls of an all mesh basket or through channels in the grain bed itself. If the grain bed were fluidized, re-circulation would work marvelously, but its not. Stick a spoon in your mash and you can feel that it's dense at the bottom. I don't think that any of us should rely solely re-circulation to mechanically liberate sugars from the grain. I really think that regular stirring of the mash does the trick.
For big grain bills, I would absolutely hold back some water for a sparge. Mashing thicker and sparging should help you gain some gravity points.
The SS Brewtech manifold looks like a slick tool. I think its benefit is that it probably creates more channels in the grain bed, and that's not all bad. I'm sure that it helps with the flow through a solid side basket.
Finally, mill gap is going to be directly related to your basket type. I just checked mine with a feeler gauge and I'm set at .025". From what I've been seeing on this thread, I would not recommend that for a solid side basket.
Final shout out to jabba11. My daughter graduated from KSU. What a neat town you live in. Sorry to hear about Grandpa Bill.

 

[jabba11]

Are there any other things that I am missing that could help with my issue(s)?

Feel free to stir your mash. I've thought a lot about re-circulation and what the benefits are. I think (and feel free to disagree) that one of the primary benefits of re-circulation is keeping a constant mash temp. Consider this. If your grain is at mash temp, and you're surrounding that grain bed with an envelope of constant temp wort, there is no place for heat to escape. Thats a good thing. Any mechanical "sweeping" of sugars from the grains that you get from re-circulation is a bonus - buts lets face it. Re-circulating wort is going to take the path of least resistance, whether its through the side walls of an all mesh basket or through channels in the grain bed itself. If the grain bed were fluidized, re-circulation would work marvelously, but its not. Stick a spoon in your mash and you can feel that it's dense at the bottom. I don't think that any of us should rely solely re-circulation to mechanically liberate sugars from the grain. I really think that regular stirring of the mash does the trick.
For big grain bills, I would absolutely hold back some water for a sparge. Mashing thicker and sparging should help you gain some gravity points.
The SS Brewtech manifold looks like a slick tool. I think its benefit is that it probably creates more channels in the grain bed, and that's not all bad. I'm sure that it helps with the flow through a solid side basket.
Finally, mill gap is going to be directly related to your basket type. I just checked mine with a feeler gauge and I'm set at .025". From what I've been seeing on this thread, I would not recommend that for a solid side basket.
Final shout out to jabba11. My daughter graduated from KSU. What a neat town you live in. Sorry to hear about Grandpa Bill.

AWESOME and very EMAW!. Bill Snyder kicks cancers ass then sends it a nice letter. Anyhow I have taken to doing a one gallon rinse at the end of my mash. Seems to help a little bit

 

[jabba11]

heres a couple of pics of my setup for adding recirc to under the basket. The 2x4 I mounted two light mounting brackets on and made them adjustable up and down using the nuts as adjusters. I will do something more "fancy" later if this works for me. I added a valve in between the pump and the kettle as well so if thing go awry I can disconnect it all. I had most of this stuff already and pieced it together. Crazy how stuff piles up. I tested the flow and was ok with it. It gave me the opportunity to "feel" what was coming out where. I'm brewing on Friday so Ill report back with how this went. I'm not brewing a wheat but a helles so it wont be the best test but it should provide me with some feed back

edit: I didn't like the 90 degree bend down and have removed it. I will need to build onto my box stand later to get the height required now. As it is I just stacked some sturdy stuff and used the 2x4/clamps to adjust the height for brew day tommorrow

 

[jabba11]

Heres a pic with the Helles brewing. this is 7 gallon batch FWIW. You can see I took the elbow out. Seems to be working nicely of course wont be able to see whats happening under the basket till later..

 

[zman_]

So what do you think the benefit is recirculating under the basket? Just to keep wort moving over the element so you don't scorch? Or is it something beyond that? Wondering if it would provide any help to my propane system as scorching isn't a worry...but the benefit doesn't immediately jump out at me.

 

[jabba11]

So what do you think the benefit is recirculating under the basket? Just to keep wort moving over the element so you don't scorch? Or is it something beyond that? Wondering if it would provide any help to my propane system as scorching isn't a worry...but the benefit doesn't immediately jump out at me.

yes that was the "attempt". I just finished brewing. id say it didn't have much affect in that regard. Maybe some. My element still had crap all over it but minimal if no scorching. I may try running it wide open all the time next batch. I throttled it a little this time as I wanted to make sure there was good flow through the mash. Here were some benefits. 1. not sure why but my efficiency was much higher today? Coincidence maybe, maybe I got something wrong somewhere. It came out at 84%. Now this was a 7 gallon batch too. Normally I do 10 gallons but this was a one off Helles. The whirlpool did what a whirpool does..Nice pile of junk in the middle when I drained to my fermenter. pumping to the fermenter was a simple flick of a lever instead of a disconnection and reset etc. Even pumped while whirl pooling. I have an IC (hydra). It made the cooling much faster even compared to when I would "whirlpool with the old recirc arm.
Cons: Sticks way out from the kettle and so I have to "work around " it all. Not awful but just something to contend with. Lose your sight glass...the biggest thing I used the sightglasss for was to make sure my levels weren't too low and so seeing into the kettle was kind of a pain.'

overall I don't think I'm gonna give up on this yet. I kind of liked all the control and the whirlpool is also nice. I may see if CBS will add another TC to my kettle if I send it to them etc. That may too expensive to want done and would depend on how long it would take. Honestly.. I gotta keep the beer flowing. Next brew day will probably be a more "standard one" for me and so Ill see how much this helps etc. I will say that flow rate oout of my ss brewtech manifold didn't seem to suffer much at all even with the whirpool going almost full blast

 

[Horseflesh]

I have the sight glass and the whirlpool fitting. Can't imagine life without the whirlpool and I guess I would trade if I had to! I still use the sight glass since I have it, though.

The sight glass has one big problem which is that it reads differently depending on how the unit is leveled. My rig does not stay in one place, I haul it into a corner for storage and then out to the floor for brew day. So, the glass can't be calibrated once and left alone, unless I hit the exact same spot on the floor every time.

I figured out a way to still get some use out of it, though... I use a dry erase marker to put temporary hash marks on the sight glass as I fill the kettle.

For example if my recipe calls for 8.5 gallons total, I add 4 gallons to the kettle and mark that level on the sight glass. (4 gallons is about as low as the glass will read.) Then I add 4.5 more gallons, one gallon at a time, each with a hash mark. Now, after the mash and the boil the sight glass will tell me how much liquid is left, which is all I need to know. It isn't perfectly accurate, but I find that it is good 'nuff.

 

[akthor]

Find a local welder that can do stainless. I needed another fitting on my lid.
I brought the ferrule and the lid to a local welder and I think charged me $40 to do it. A lot cheaper than shipping a kettle back and forth.

yes that was the "attempt". I just finished brewing. id say it didn't have much affect in that regard. Maybe some. My element still had crap all over it but minimal if no scorching. I may try running it wide open all the time next batch. I throttled it a little this time as I wanted to make sure there was good flow through the mash. Here were some benefits. 1. not sure why but my efficiency was much higher today? Coincidence maybe, maybe I got something wrong somewhere. It came out at 84%. Now this was a 7 gallon batch too. Normally I do 10 gallons but this was a one off Helles. The whirlpool did what a whirpool does..Nice pile of junk in the middle when I drained to my fermenter. pumping to the fermenter was a simple flick of a lever instead of a disconnection and reset etc. Even pumped while whirl pooling. I have an IC (hydra). It made the cooling much faster even compared to when I would "whirlpool with the old recirc arm.
Cons: Sticks way out from the kettle and so I have to "work around " it all. Not awful but just something to contend with. Lose your sight glass...the biggest thing I used the sightglasss for was to make sure my levels weren't too low and so seeing into the kettle was kind of a pain.'

overall I don't think I'm gonna give up on this yet. I kind of liked all the control and the whirlpool is also nice. I may see if CBS will add another TC to my kettle if I send it to them etc. That may too expensive to want done and would depend on how long it would take. Honestly.. I gotta keep the beer flowing. Next brew day will probably be a more "standard one" for me and so Ill see how much this helps etc. I will say that flow rate oout of my ss brewtech manifold didn't seem to suffer much at all even with the whirpool going almost full blast

 

[jabba11]

I considered that. Ill ask around. Not to keen on some jimmy joe fiddling with my expensive pot and ruining it or making bad welds. I will do that first though

 

[akthor]

A welding shop typically welds everything even different types of metal to each other. If you aren't out in the boonies you should find someone able to do sanitary welds. They seem to be an honest bunch I had to ask 3 different shops before a welder said yes he does stainless sanitary welds.

 

[jabba11]

sometimes it just depends what part of the country you live in. I mean when I lived in TX in oilfield country...pretty much everyone could weld anything to anything...round here not so much