Unboxing the Nano from CO Brewing

[Dockside_Brewing]

Anyone with the Nano 20.........Do you think I could do a 10 gallon batch of stout with a 32 lb grain bill and a 17 gallon water vol? I would hold back 2 gallons for a sparge at the end.

 

[02RedWS6TA]

Mash will probably be sticky but I don't see any issues with it. I ran 32-34# in my 20 all the time. My RIS was close to what you're aiming for. It was a sticky mash but really not bad at all.

 

[02RedWS6TA]

For hop spiders arbor and Duda diesel will both make custom ones. You can just ask them to make one with some feet on it to keep it off the bottom of the kettle. Should work well, pretty cool mod for the steam. I saw the brew boss one a couple weeks ago, great job on the diy.

 

[The_Bishop]

If you're using an element in the kettle, just place the basket on the bottom to the side of the element. No hooks or magnets needed.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I have a hop spider, pellet hops get clogged in it too; they are meant for leaf, Ive also go a stainless hop filter and it clogs with pellet hops big time, I removed mine and don't filter any more, I whirlpool to the center and drain strait into the fermenter and only a small amount of hops enter the fermenter, its fine

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

Here is my hop basket mod. I ordered the 500 micron from Bobby at Brew Hardware. He has 300, 500, and 800 micron.



I attached a 33lb super magnet to the basket with JB Weld.





I then used a Dremel tool to cut off the hangars on the basket.



Here it is installed in the kettle allowing the lid to seal completely. It is rock solid and actually a little difficult to remove. The magnets are incredible. I may add a little felt to the outside magnet to make removing it easier. Infinite height adjustment too!

 

[Horseflesh]

That looks great. I have thought about doing something like that, but always wondered if keeping your hops cooped up in a cage might interfere with extraction. Someone tell me that I am worrying about nothing, because it would sure make cleaning easier if the hop gunk was not in the bottom of the giant kettle...

 

[BudgetBrewer]

I still just use a hop sock... Cloth bag on a pvc pipe hanger. can reuse them several times, cheap and easy to use. I used to use one of those stainless mesh hop filters over the pickup tube.... It would completely clog with minimal hop additions making recirculating and chilling / whirlpooling impossible. That does look slick tho. good job.

 

[jabba11]

Real quick I thought Id post this idea. I am gonna kettle sour a batch this week. I was considering ways to seal the lid as much as possible and came up with this which is just some silicon tubing sliced and cut to length. I plan to drill a hole in my lid for a stopper then feed co2 into the kettle through the valve on the bottom. I think this will work fine. I am gonna place a 5 pound weight on the lid to keep a little pressure on it.

 

[The_Bishop]

You're going to go through a lot of CO2 if you're planning on it being a constant thing.

Why not just float some plastic food wrap on the surface as a barrier?

 

[jabba11]

You're going to go through a lot of CO2 if you're planning on it being a constant thing.

Why not just float some plastic food wrap on the surface as a barrier?

no I'm not planning to pump it in continuous just to build it up to start. I considered saran wrap as a seal, ive read about it, but this should do better than that Id think

 

[The_Bishop]

Just be aware that there's no such thing as a CO2 'blanket'.

 

[TexasWine]

Just be aware that there's no such thing as a CO2 'blanket'.

Yes, heed these words of wisdom.

 

[cbier60]

Just be aware that there's no such thing as a CO2 'blanket'.

In this case, I think jabba11 is achieving his objective. No, he doesn't purge all the O2, but over the 24-48 hours that his kettle sour is "souring", the CO2 and O2 will eventually stratify. It may not form a perfect CO2 blanket, but the exposure to O2 will be minimized.

I've used this procedure for several kettle sours with excellent success, as have many other pro and homebrewers (so they have reported).

 

[TexasWine]

but over the 24-48 hours that his kettle sour is "souring", the CO2 and O2 will eventually stratify.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this is a common misconception. They will not stratify.

 

[cbier60]

This discussion doesn't have anything to do with the subject, so I don't want to prolong it. Perhaps it won't stratify, but the level of O2 will be reduced sufficiently to be effective. We're not talking about purging a keg of oxygen for longer term storage. However, if you have near-perfect way to purge a kettle of O2 for kettle-souring, please share (perhaps in a new thread).

 

[jabba11]

correct, I am fully aware of everything that has been said here but thanks for the discussion anyway. Im not afraid to learn something new .Saran wrap.. NOT oxygen impermeable FYI. No matter how you do it the objective is to lower the O2 level. I pumped about 12 oz of CO2 into the kettle and will pump more periodically to try and help it. I could layer with saran wrap as well but that just seemed like overkill to me. Also since I have to leave the kettle on to keep it at temp I don't want something floating down to the element either. A bigger concern right now is that it doesn't appear my starter kicked off properly but being my first time making a berlinerweiss and since the wort is made I'm just forging ahead.

 

[TexasWine]

This discussion doesn't have anything to do with the subject, so I don't want to prolong it. Perhaps it won't stratify, but the level of O2 will be reduced sufficiently to be effective. We're not talking about purging a keg of oxygen for longer term storage. However, if you have near-perfect way to purge a kettle of O2 for kettle-souring, please share (perhaps in a new thread).

Really not trying to be a jerk here. Sometimes typed words do not come across with the intended meaning. But I would say it has everything to do with the subject at hand because stratification was proposed as an explanation as to why it would work. That is not true.

If it were me, I'd use something like a big honking cake pan, float it on top, drop in a big chunk of dry ice on top of the cake pan, and use the silicon gasket he's fashioned. But, I've never done a kettle sour

 

[staticfritz]

I prefer to sour in a corney keg inside a water bath or kettle, then I can truly keep it under C02, and temp control with the rest of my regular setup

 

[jabba11]

Just an update this idea did not work (silicon tube). I have a feeling the co2 was simply running around the edges etc between the silicon.it might work better with a smaller diameter piece of hose. I had considered kegs (I do ten gallon batches) but would have to have a way to keep it off the bottom of my kettle. I considered other ways as well. But I don't wanna buy extra gear to get this done etc. I am considering maybe trying to find a big round like 1/2 sheet of silicon to simply float on top that I could cut to fit etc. then I would put a hole in the center and suspend it somehow etc but for now I'm gonna simply put the lid on and wrap the edges tight as I can with saran wrap pump in co2 a couple times a day and press on.

 

[jabba11]

Also while not relevant to the CBS except in the instance we are discussing gas stratification is not relevant in our environments.. "stratification is widely believed by many to occur in locations where there is little air movement; however a 2009 paper by Badino, which discusses stratification of air in caves, provides a very good mathematical analysis which goes a long way to answering the stratification question. His analysis shows that stratification does occur, but it requires a column of static air several kilometers high to have a major impact; and so stratification will not be relevant to most occupational safety gas monitoring applications."

 

[jahlinux]

Just completed my first brew day using the BrunDog condenser.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...denser-no-overhead-ventilation-needed.636955/
No steam issues, was able to maintain a rolling boil at 50% power, no element scorching at all. I'm very happy with the results. It's not the best for removing odors. I couldn't open up any of my basement windows because it was about 10F outside. But, there was very little odor upstairs and the basement odor went away quickly after finishing up. During warmer weather I'll just use a window fan to exhaust the odors. So glad I went with this system instead of using an exhaust hood.

 

[jabba11]

Has anyone ever determined if DMS is an issue with this condenser system? I might be interested in doing it but I don't want to if it is undetermined etc. would love to not have to vent out side.

 

[30Bones]

Off topic maybe since this slick condenser setup seems to be all the rage. I have had my setup a couple years maybe and have an exhaust fan and currently just let the 6" vent line sit on top of my CBS frame where the pulley hangs. I now have a small winch to hoist the grain basket. It will be a on a track so I can also lift my 60L speidel out of my ferm chamber (chest freezer). That was my main reason for teh winch purchase. lifting that out of the ferm chamber is not fun.

I tried searching this thread for a solution and didn't see anything. But I need to make up some sort of a vent hood that is not in the way of the winch functioning.

Here is the winch I will be using. https://www.harborfreight.com/440-lb-electric-hoist-with-remote-control-60346.html

 

[swimIan]

Old topic...

How many folks had rapidly fluctuating temperatures while mashing and fixed the issue with either the SS Brewtech Mashing Manifold, adding recirculation under the grain basket, or both?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

if you have your temp probe under the mash you will not get a true reading, the mash basket acts as insulation and everything below it is warmer then the mash, recirculating and putting the probe on a T around the ball valve gives a truer reading

 

[Horseflesh]

I never had big temperature swings before or after getting the Ss manifold.

I would start by checking the PID tuning numbers vs someone else's... Assuming they are visible somewhere. I've never needed to look.

Can't hurt to verify that the RTD is working right, too. Like, if you wiggle the cable, does the displayed temperature change?

(The only times I have had a problem with the temperature is when I have over-pumped the system, lowering the liquid level under the basket. The PID doesn't seem to course-correct immediately so when there is too little liquid down there it is easy to see it reading high. At that point you are getting close to exposing the element and maybe scorching. I made this mistake a couple of times and learned to be very conservative with pump speed.)

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

I have the whirlpool option and the SS manifold. I just brewed 10 gallons yesterday and as usual the temp was rock solid at 152 degrees for the entire 90 minute mash. Normally I have to do small adjustments on the flow with a heavy grain bill but yesterdays was light and ran wide open the entire time.

 

[30Bones]

Old topic...

How many folks had rapidly fluctuating temperatures while mashing and fixed the issue with either the SS Brewtech Mashing Manifold, adding recirculation under the grain basket, or both?

Interesting concept, is this really that much better than the recirc arm?

I have the whirlpool option and the SS manifold. I just brewed 10 gallons yesterday and as usual the temp was rock solid at 152 degrees for the entire 90 minute mash. Normally I have to do small adjustments on the flow with a heavy grain bill but yesterdays was light and ran wide open the entire time.

Do you use both the recirc arm AND the SS manifold while mashing? Not seeing how that would work with 10 gallon batches is all.

if you have your temp probe under the mash you will not get a true reading, the mash basket acts as insulation and everything below it is warmer then the mash, recirculating and putting the probe on a T around the ball valve gives a truer reading

How is having the temp probe on the ball valve much different? Meaning my temp probe is below the basket and my ball valve is just as low. Only difference is the moving wort might be a bit more accurate going through the ball valve. Thinking out loud here. Temp has always been an issue for me and this system. So much so I have been tempted to mash in a cooler again and just use my kettle for an HLT/BK. Between temp fluctuation and stuck mashes (mill is now set at 0.040) burning up now 3 elements, it's frustrating. I don't brew a ton, but would like to get this aspect dialed in.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

the only difference is if you stop the circulation and look at the temp gauge and think its accurate, it wont be, the temp raises as much as 4 degrees under the mash and it can be misleading