Unboxing the Nano from CO Brewing

[prosperbrews]

Here is an update from my previous posts on efficiency issues. It turns out my theory was correct. I just finished brewing a cream ale today with a 12 lb grain bill.

I made all of the adjustments I talked about previously. Ditched the steam condenser and upped the boil off to 1.5gph per hour. Also have grain absorption set in beer smith to .80, which is spot on.

The water to grist ratio for this brew was about 2 quart/ lb of grain. My previous batches were 1.25/lb. I think efficiency takes a hit at 1.25 and slowly rises as the mash thins to about 1.65qt/lb where the efficiency gains begin to diminish with this system. Keep in mind that 3.5 gallons resides below the baskets, so you should always subtract 3.5 gallons from your water estimate before calculating the grist ratio with this system

Anyway, my efficiency jumped from 62% to 74.5%, so really happy with that. The brew day was super smooth. Grain absorption, post mash volumes, and boil off rates were spot on!

Beer demand has been high so I’m going to be jumping up to 12 gallon batches soon and will be employing a sparge step. Going to use a 5 gallon coooler and preheat the sparge water with the rest of the mash water and drop out what I need for sparging before the mash. Of course, I’ll ensure I hit the ideal grist ratio of at least 1.65qt/lb.

If anyone has any tips on how you set up a sparge process, I’d be interested in hearing

 

[andrewmaixner]

If anyone has any tips on how you set up a sparge process, I’d be interested in hearing

Pull the grain basket, let drain as you start to heat to boil. after it's drained some, start pouring water over it, trying to pour everywhere.

I use a 1 gallon polycarbonate measuring cup. 2 gallons to pour for a 10 gallon batch should be fine.

 

[RockyMtnGT]

Just want to say thanks for all the detailed testing guys. I am getting ready to pull the trigger on the 20gal system and this will help me ramp up much quicker.

 

[jabba11]

If anyone has any tips on how you set up a sparge process, I’d be interested in hearing[/QUOTE]

 

[jabba11]

I pull about 1.5 gallons its on its own heat source with a temp controller. I open a valve on it full open as its hanging right after pulling it. Then I let it hang there until the wort just about reaches boil and I Pull it off and set it in a plastic tub.

 

[jabba11]

You cant buy the motor itslef, but you can buy the cheaper plastic models and swap the motor. Occasionally they do come up on ebay as well.

ive never seen a topslfo with the same body style that the head ould properly mate to or flow rate. If you know the model let me know Id be interested in doing it as a back up as I have kinda moved back to using my chugger.

 

[SanPancho]

post a pic of yours. ours were swappable.

 

[jabba11]

post a pic of yours. ours were swappable.

its a TD5

 

[SanPancho]

huh. maybe im confusing it with another part we swapped. ive seen topsflo pumps for solar stuff and could have sworn it was a straight swap.

the motor seems the same, but i think you're right about the body mounting. hole pattern and plastic looks different on the cold water pumps and the "home brew" pump vs the td5.

 

[jabba11]

I sometimes hear talk about how you cant get clear wort with a system like this. Simply not true. getting it out of th ebasket takes a little more patience but the filter is not the problem.

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

By the end of my mash the wort is usually clear similar to Jabba's

 

[jahlinux]

I'm thinking of installing a Unistrut Trolly above my 25 gal Down Under and getting rid of the hoist bar that came with it. My system is setup in the basement so I can attach everything to the basement ceiling. I'm looking to make getting the grain basket out of the kettle an easier task for one person. Has anyone installed something similar? I'd appreciate any pictures.

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

Mine is just attached to the ceiling. I just pull the basket over into a plastic tub. I have the 25 gallon pot/basket but a unistrut would be nice to add.

View media item 69790

 

[Horseflesh]

My wort is crystal clear until I hoist the basket... what I boil doesn’t look at all like the clear wort on top of the grain bed!

 

[Spin711]

First two brews in the books for the 25 gallon nano. The first went great (blonde ale) with a 9.5 gallon batch to test the system. The second one (chocolate porter, 7.5 gallon batch, 11.8 gallons mash water) not so great, specifically the mash.

Doughed in without rice hulls initially, quickly added later as I found I could not recirculate like the blonde ale I brewed initially. Bad temp differential from under the basket to top of basket (180 vs 140) as recirculating was a trickle even with stirring (pump throttled way down to avoid element scorching. I’m guessing it’s a combination of batch size and no ss manifold. I’m using the solid sided 800 micron basket that came with the system, and crushed at about .035. There were no adjunct grains in the recipe.

To drain the basket, I had to continuously stir and uncover the mesh, resulting in the picture below. That was after the whirlpool at flameout. Looks and felt like bits of grain (plus trub) from trying to drain the basket manually, a problem I didn’t have with my blonde ale. Is this beer going to taste poor based on what looks like a lot of grain particles during the boil? Any other recommendations when doing a small test batch sizes before scaling up to 10-15 gallons? Or what to do when the basket won’t drain more than a trickle and avoid disturbing the grain bed. An email to CBS, they said minimum batch size is 7-8 gallons for the 25 gallon nano.

Thanks

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

1) Do you stir the grains other than the initial dough in?
2) Do you use a hop spider or basket?

Also your whirlpool fitting is in the wrong spot. It needs to be to the left of the pickup tube to form a clocckwise whirlpool

 

[Spin711]

1) Yes, I stir usually once or twice throughout the mash and stop when it’s close to drain the basket in order to help filter the wort. I added about a pound of rice hulls to that batch and still had a trickle through the grain bed.

2) Yes, I suspend a stainless mesh hop spider during the boil and whirlpool.

I’m thinking that I could have recirculated in the mesh hop spider prior to boiling. I believe it’s 300 micron and would have caught quite a bit.

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

What is your crush size?

 

[Spin711]

Slightly larger than a credit card, so I’m approximating .035 with a cereal killer, crushed once. No tool to measure exact

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

You may want to open that up to .038 to .042. That may be part of you stuck mash problem. .038 is the smallest I will go. Also how many pounds of rice hulls did you use? A lot of the true in the kettle looks like hops.

 

[Spin711]

I added about .75 lb for the 7.5 gallon batch and it didn’t seem to help. I’m about 100 percent sure the trub was not hops as I have never seen that in the kettle before.

I will look into opening up my crush size for next time. The weird thing is, it did not happen for my first batch with the system, brewing a 9.5 gallon batch with the same crush. That’s why I think it’s a function of mash thickness as well.

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

The amount of debris also varies by the different types of grain. I find the darker the grain the more debris. Also raising the basket slowly while continuing the circulation over the mash (kind of a vorlauf) will keep the debris to a minimum. I have only used the SS manifold and have never had a stuck or slow draining mash. I usually run wide open except when my water volume exceeds 22 gallons then I have to slow it down a bit.

 

[Spin711]

Thanks, good to know. I will try recirculating with the ss manifold once that comes in and opening my crush. Any issues with the ss manifold tipping or clogging or any general tips/tricks with it?

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

The ss manifold is really straight forward, no issues. I usually stir3 times during the mash, initial dough in, 20, and 40 min.

 

[swimIan]

If the mash was thin enough, @Spin711 would the float on a Blichmann autosparge interfere with the SS manifold? Does the manifold sit well below the water line on most of your batches?

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

I

If the mash was thin enough, @Spin711 would the float on a Blichmann autosparge interfere with the SS manifold? Does the manifold sit well below the water line on most of your batches?

It does sit below the water line but not sure why you would need the Blichmann Auto Sparge? You just adjust your flow after you dough in. I set it to maximize the amount of water going over the grain but also keeping the element covered. Usually just two adjustments when mashing.View media item 69402

 

[swimIan]

It is more a curiousity. Even dropping the flow rate (no ss manifold) I had a hard time with even temps, stuck mash, and keeping my element submerged. I now do a k-rims setup and use a autosparge. I was wondering about using the manifold in my MT... I wish I had been able to figure out the trick though.

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

It is more a curiousity. Even dropping the flow rate (no ss manifold) I had a hard time with even temps, stuck mash, and keeping my element submerged. I now do a k-rims setup and use a autosparge. I was wondering about using the manifold in my MT... I wish I had been able to figure out the trick though.

Which system do you have?

 

[swimIan]

Spike kettle, arborfab solid side basket, 5500 watt element, chugger pump

 

[Dockside_Brewing]

Spike kettle, arborfab solid side basket, 5500 watt element, chugger pump

How many gallons do you estimate are under the bottom of your basket? Does your system have a recirc port under the basket?