98 replies to this topic

[porter]

The immersion chiller that comes with the 10 gallon system is apparently bigger than the one that comes with the 6.5 gallon system that I have:

10 Gallon:


6.5 Gallon:


This thing's only half-way into the wort when you hang it over the edge of the kettle.

The one I bought from NY Brew Supply (pictured in my post above) goes all the way to the bottom.

I guess I'm not so concerned about it hanging over the side. It sits inside the kettle just fine without submerging the fittings. The top loop is right at the 5 gallon mark. Plus, I actually noticed my old immersion chiller nests inside the one that came with the Foundry. I've looked and you can buy a Y connection for garden hoses to run them both off of one hose. I bet with our 58 degree water that will cool 5 gallons of wort FAST.

I've got everything set up for a first brew tomorrow morning. Doing a scotch ale that should be resilient if my efficiency is not as good as hoped (will do no sparge my first few batches, hopefully indefinitely if efficiency is acceptable). Have some DME on hand if needed.

Edited by porter, 11 September 2020 - 06:55 AM.

[positiveContact]

Your efficiency will get worse the more your og goes up. So if you aren't happy with this efficiency you may be fine with what you get from no sparge when you make something with a lower og.

Edited by Mando, 11 September 2020 - 07:41 AM.

[porter]

Yeah, I'm hoping I can at least no sparge the <6% beers. I wouldn't mind using a little DME if needed or I might add an induction hotplate to my brew kitchen for sparge water if needed. More likely I would just do smaller batches for big beers.

[positiveContact]

Yeah, I'm hoping I can at least no sparge the <6% beers. I wouldn't mind using a little DME if needed or I might add an induction hotplate to my brew kitchen for sparge water if needed. More likely I would just do smaller batches for big beers.

 

are you doing BIAB with this or is it a giant SS basket full of grains or what?

Edited by Mando, 11 September 2020 - 09:56 AM.

[porter]

You can see it in the picture that jimdkc posted. It is a metal tube that nests in the kettle with small perforations on the bottom and lower sides. When the mash is done, you lift the basket out and rotate slightly and it drains while perched atop the kettle portion.

 

We'll see how this works. I'm a little antsy about my crush. I forget what I'm at for the roller gap, but it's always worked well with my cooler/hose braid tun. I did buy some rice hulls just in case.

 

I also stopped being lazy and unpacked my pH meter (Christmas gift from the wife in 2018, lol) and plan to use to monitor mash pH. A lot of new things for me. I'm excited about brewing more often and year-round and making even better beer.

[positiveContact]

You can see it in the picture that jimdkc posted. It is a metal tube that nests in the kettle with small perforations on the bottom and lower sides. When the mash is done, you lift the basket out and rotate slightly and it drains while perched atop the kettle portion.

 

We'll see how this works. I'm a little antsy about my crush. I forget what I'm at for the roller gap, but it's always worked well with my cooler/hose braid tun. I did buy some rice hulls just in case.

 

I also stopped being lazy and unpacked my pH meter (Christmas gift from the wife in 2018, lol) and plan to use to monitor mash pH. A lot of new things for me. I'm excited about brewing more often and year-round and making even better beer.

 

if you had a kettle that was big enough you could just put some warm/hot (or even not warm) water in it and stick that basket in there for a few minutes and then lift it up, let it drain, and dump back into your system.  I'd only do this on really big beers though.

 

actually since the water doesn't really need to be hot you could probably just use a big plastic bucket if you had one.  I've done cold water sparges before.

Edited by Mando, 11 September 2020 - 10:13 AM.

[porter]

If I needed to sparge I would likely start with the method recommended by the manufacturer, which is to just gently pour a gallon of 175 degree water over the grain bed while the grain pipe is draining. I got the kit with the circulation pump, and it has a metal diffuser plate (a thin metal plate with sparsely spaced small holes in it) to help prevent channeling from the recirculating wort, so that should work well in theory.

Edited by porter, 11 September 2020 - 10:34 AM.

[positiveContact]

That sounds pretty reasonable. Can you stop the draining entirely? Then you could batch sparge if you felt what sounds like a fly sparge wasn't working for you.

Edited by Mando, 11 September 2020 - 11:39 AM.

[porter]

No way to stop it entirely. The basket is basically a big colander. From what I read online, people tend to just get maybe a 5-7% improvement in efficiency with the sparge. I think I'd rather just use more grain, do a smaller batch or use some DME as the situation dictated. A 3.5 gallon batch of RIS would be more than enough for me.

Edited by porter, 11 September 2020 - 11:45 AM.

[porter]

Brew day went well. As expected, with the 120 volt, it was pretty slow. I maxed out the grain capacity with 16 lbs of grain. Took about 90 minutes to heat the strike water and an hour to achieve a boil. The overnight timer can make it so heating the strike water isn't really a factor. The electronics were easy to use.

 

I got about 65% efficiency, which is what I was hoping for and not bad for a 7% beer, no sparge, though I ended up with about 6 gallons of wort because I covered partially with the lid and didn't get as much evaporation. I've read that may not be necessary, dunno. I did spike it with a pound of DME to get to the OG I wanted. 

 

The rubber gasket on the pump got trapped and sliced when I was putting the pump back together after cleaning it. So, it leaked and I can't really comment on the pump from this session. I suspect it would only serve to improve efficiency.

 

The nested chiller thing worked great. Less than 20 minutes to cool the wort. I won't be worrying about buying a faster chiller.

 

Clean up was slightly awkward because you have to take care not to get the electronics wet, but really not a big deal. 

 

Out of instinct I guess, I set it up on a table outside to brew (had a couple of friends over to check it out). This makes the overall structure quite tall and I had to use a ladder to pull the grain basket out. Obviously not practical in a basement laundry room which will be the ultimate destination. I think I will buy or build some type of low platform(less than 6") to place it on.

 

Next time I will get the pump working and hopefully be brewing with 240 volts so that should be an improvement in terms of getting to a boil and getting a good evaporation rate. The strike water heating will be a moot point because I'll use the overnight timer from now on. 

 

Overall, I quite like it. Kinda strange just having one fermenter at the end of the brew day, but I don't really need to be brewing 10 gallon batches anymore.

Edited by porter, 12 September 2020 - 03:29 PM.

[porter]

Other thoughts on this a day out: 

 

I forgot to use my pH meter until the mash was basically over, so I didn't do any adjustment. pH was 5.65, this with a fairly dark grain bill. I'm guessing my pH with lighter beers would be considerably higher. I think I will likely have some efficiency and quality improvements from getting my mash pH down a bit, especially with pale beers.

 

My plastic brewing spoon I've had for 18 years (maybe 16"?) is not long enough for the malt pipe. I couldn't stir at the bottom at all. This may have lowered my efficiency. I ordered the Anvil mash paddle. It has a hook to hang from the side of the kettle. That is pretty smart - I will use this to give the wort a few stirs during cooling.

 

I wanted to get the small batch adapter ring eventually anyway, but from reading several threads online, many people get a 5-10% efficiency improvement by using this on all batches. I can't really think of a good reason for wanting drain holes on the side of the malt pipe. Speed, perhaps, but if this is a problem probably better addressed by changing your crush or adding some rice hulls. I found that draining took about the same amount of time it took to completely drain the mash tun on my cooler setup (30 minutes or so). With this system, you can start heating for the boil once you have a gallon or two drained.

Edited by porter, 13 September 2020 - 12:46 PM.

[Genesee Ted]

The side drain is so that you draw from the side of your break after whirlpooling, keeping it in the kettle. I think anyway

[porter]

I was talking about the perforations in the side of the malt pipe/basket, if I wasn't clear.

[Genesee Ted]

Ah I gotcha

[HarvInSTL]

Out of instinct I guess, I set it up on a table outside to brew (had a couple of friends over to check it out). This makes the overall structure quite tall and I had to use a ladder to pull the grain basket out. Obviously not practical in a basement laundry room which will be the ultimate destination. I think I will buy or build some type of low platform(less than 6") to place it on.

This is what I built for mine. Cart runs $80 on Amazon.

Edited by HarvInSTL, 21 September 2020 - 06:58 AM.

[HVB]

This is what I built for mine. Cart runs $80 on Amazon.

WOW .. a blast from the past.  What do you have going on with the tri-clmap on the top?

[positiveContact]

Love the cart.  Mobile brew unit!

 

Do you have to remove the Anvil system from the cart to clean it or is this CIP?

 

What is the induction burner for?

[porter]

I like the cart idea, though I probably won't do it myself as I will end up leaving the unit in the same place. The main reason I had the instinct to put the unit on a stand is gravity transfer into the fermenter. But even full of wort, the unit doesn't weigh much and would be easy to lift. Better, I have the pump and could just use that to transfer into the fermenter. Cool!

[HarvInSTL]

WOW .. a blast from the past. What do you have going on with the tri-clmap on the top?

DIY Steam condenser

Edited by HarvInSTL, 22 September 2020 - 11:46 AM.

[HVB]

DIY Steam condenser
 

Agh, nice add on