Unboxing the Nano from CO Brewing

[hibbleton]

Last night was another successful brew with the recirculation manifold. I barely stirred the mash at all, and running the pump as slow as it could go I had no issues with the mash (though I was short on gravity; might've had some doughballs I should have stirred more). I also upgraded to a whirlpool arm in place of the sight glass which definitely gets a better spin going than the standard arm. In the end I had 5 gallons of Helles wort in the fermentor after a 3 hour brew session which is fantastic!

I also just invested in a small shop vac which really helped cleaning up completely indoors. I need to start tracking all the additional pieces of equipment this system has caused me to buy...

 

[jready]

Last night was another successful brew with the recirculation manifold. I barely stirred the mash at all, and running the pump as slow as it could go I had no issues with the mash (though I was short on gravity; might've had some doughballs I should have stirred more). I also upgraded to a whirlpool arm in place of the sight glass which definitely gets a better spin going than the standard arm. In the end I had 5 gallons of Helles wort in the fermentor after a 3 hour brew session which is fantastic!

I also just invested in a small shop vac which really helped cleaning up completely indoors. I need to start tracking all the additional pieces of equipment this system has caused me to buy...

I would highly advise against that. Sometimes ignorance is bliss!🤓

 

[jabba11]

Mashed in on a 5 gallon batch of Oktoberfest Marzen this morning. Been awhile since I made a 5 gallon batch. it seemed like so little water. Everything went smooth as glass though. Been really cool here for Aug in KS. Got me in a brewin and football mood.

 

[Horseflesh]

Has anyone cracked open the valves for cleaning? I just realized they probably need it eventually...

I saw this cool valve which is made with a TC for easy disassembly:

https://www.brewershardware.com/1_5-Tri-Clover-Tri-Clamp-Ball-Valve-Quick-Clean-TC15VBALLTAP.html

Neat idea.

 

[jready]

Mashed in on a 5 gallon batch of Oktoberfest Marzen this morning. Been awhile since I made a 5 gallon batch. it seemed like so little water. Everything went smooth as glass though. Been really cool here for Aug in KS. Got me in a brewin and football mood.

Good on ya! Taking a day off tomorrow to do a couple of batches. Another juicy IPA and my big Russian imperial stout. 30 pounds of grain for a 6 gallon batch!

 

[jready]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1503686957.112032.jpg

New chiller worked well with a huge amount of hops.

 

[jready]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1503762806.165570.jpg

Brewing a Russian Imperial Stout today.

 

[02RedWS6TA]

Sold my current system (well took payment for it) and ordered a dual brewer 50 to replace it. Can't wait to get it up and running.

 

[sgraham602]

Attention! This thread has been incredibly valuable for me for the time that I have had my CO system. Unfortunately my life has gone in a different direction and I am no longer going to be brewing. I have listed my system for sale in the "For Sale" section. For anyone following this thread that is contemplating purchasing a CO, I totally recommend it...they are awesome.

 

[LouBrew13]

That's sad to hear... this is hands down the best hobby ever and I truly feel like this system has lived up to every one of my expectations. If I had a drawback it would be the cleaning but I only brew by myself. But that being said, I love this system.

 

[Horseflesh]

Have any of you guys done a high-quality brew yet? I'm always doing stuff around 1.050, and I get 70-72% brew house efficiency and 75-78% mash efficiency. I know that efficiency drops as OG increases but I'm not sure about the details of planning a high gravity brew day. Any tips? All I know is that in general you reduce your estimated efficiency, use more water, and use a longer boil to concemtrate the sugars.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Have any of you guys done a high-quality brew yet? I'm always doing stuff around 1.050, and I get 70-72% brew house efficiency and 75-78% mash efficiency. I know that efficiency drops as OG increases but I'm not sure about the details of planning a high gravity brew day. Any tips? All I know is that in general you reduce your estimated efficiency, use more water, and use a longer boil to concemtrate the sugars.

reserving a couple gallons to pour over the grain basket while you ramp up to boil will help rinse in some more of the high-gravity liquid that would otherwise stay in the grains.

 

[jabba11]

Have any of you guys done a high-quality brew yet? I'm always doing stuff around 1.050, and I get 70-72% brew house efficiency and 75-78% mash efficiency. I know that efficiency drops as OG increases but I'm not sure about the details of planning a high gravity brew day. Any tips? All I know is that in general you reduce your estimated efficiency, use more water, and use a longer boil to concemtrate the sugars.

My efficiency is pretty steady at about 81% (80-82 really). I recirc below the basket using a whirlpool and pump through the bed with SS manifold. At mash out I also run about 1 and half to two gallons I have held back and preheated to mash out temps and sparge it with my sparge arm as fast as it will go. I do this while the basket is hanging and draining. I have done enough brews this way to be completely confident in saying I get those efficiencies I mentioned every single time

 

[BrokenDog]

Ive had a 20g CBS pot for a few years and just sent them an email to piece together a nano system.

 

[02RedWS6TA]

Thought some of you guys might appreciate these

 

[swimIan]

Pic 2? Brew in a Conical

 

[02RedWS6TA]

Jacketed conical without the outside on yet. They were pressure testing in that pic.

 

[Nmnbrewer]

My efficiency is pretty steady at about 81% (80-82 really). I recirc below the basket using a whirlpool and pump through the bed with SS manifold. At mash out I also run about 1 and half to two gallons I have held back and preheated to mash out temps and sparge it with my sparge arm as fast as it will go. I do this while the basket is hanging and draining. I have done enough brews this way to be completely confident in saying I get those efficiencies I mentioned every single time

So you split your re circulation above and below the basket 50/50?

 

[jabba11]

So you split your re circulation above and below the basket 50/50?

yes I do. I cant confirm that it has any affect on the effientcy I did it originally to help prevent scorching which I do think it helps some. its probably affected most by a thicker mash. the sparge, and my crush size

 

[jready]

So, those pics made my week just a little bit better! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[Velinos]

So I finally got CBS to ship me the missing TC clamps and was able to do a test run of the system. After doing leak test and fixing all the leaks, I fired up the element to do a test brew with just water. The element heated up to mash temp, but didn't heat up to boil when I switched over to manual mode. After a few minutes of playing around with the box and checking to ensure that there were no leaks around the element, I noticed that the 240V GFCI breaker was tripped. I reset it and tried again and it tripped when I turned on the element. My guess is that the seal inside the element housing failed when it heated up and shorted out. I contacted Tim and he quickly sent out a new element. The new one worked just fine. After having the system for seven months, I finally get to do my first brew on it this weekend.

 

[hibbleton]

What is everyone using to chill their 20 gallon Nano Home? I have a Jaded Wasp immersion chiller that worked well in a smaller kettle but it's taking forever to get 6ish gallons to a reasonable temperature using ground water (I usually give up around 80F and let the ferm chamber finish it off). In a 5 gallon batch only 3/4 of the chiller is submerged and the element gets in the way. I tried using a counterflow chiller on one batch but didn't like it due to cleaning/sanitation concerns and added complexity. I'm curious how everyone else is getting their wort to pitching temp.

 

[Horseflesh]

I am using a cheap IC from the LHBS. It is mostly submerged in ~6 gal but still can take 30 minutes to cool a batch. This summer when my ground water was 75F, I gave up around 80-85F and finished chilling in the fridge, too.

I would love to find a better immersion chiller solution. Part of that might be a new element that curves out of the way too.

 

[pretzelb]

What is everyone using to chill their 20 gallon Nano Home?

I'm using the Jaded King Cobra. I got the KC so it would be covered even with a 5g high gravity brew. It works well except when summer heat screws the ground water temps. The Hydra might be better but I'm not sure. I am experimenting with using a pump and some ice in a cooler to make a closed loop in the summer. It should help and reduce the amount of water used but I only tried it twice.

 

[30Bones]

Large Zchiller, works wonderfully. https://www.zchillers.com/product/large-zchiller/

 

[jabba11]

I use a jaded hydra

 

[hibbleton]

Large Zchiller, works wonderfully. https://www.zchillers.com/product/large-zchiller/

That's the one I used one time but wasn't really a fan of. Maybe I need to use it a few times to get comfortable with it but I don't trust that the inside is sanitary.

 

[Horseflesh]

I have drawn the line at no more cleaning, so for me, a counterflow or plate chiller is a no-go. Looks like the King Cobra is what I need, the chilling coils are 4" tall. I'll have to double check but I think all of that would be submerged in my typical 5.75 - 6 gal post-boil volume.

 

[02RedWS6TA]

New system set to show up Saturday. Will hopefully have everything together and my stand built so I can do a brew early November. Pretty excited to get everything together.

 

[hibbleton]

I have drawn the line at no more cleaning, so for me, a counterflow or plate chiller is a no-go. Looks like the King Cobra is what I need, the chilling coils are 4" tall. I'll have to double check but I think all of that would be submerged in my typical 5.75 - 6 gal post-boil volume.

Please let us know if you go with this one; I would definitely sell my counterflow and buy the King Cobra if the whole thing fits under the element.