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Rob, 20 g at a time...nice amount! When ya goin big? BTW get out on the FXR much this past? Farthest I got was to Eastern Passage and Unfiltered and Sea Level...

elreplica wrote:Rob, 20 g at a time...nice amount! When ya goin big? BTW get out on the FXR much this past? Farthest I got was to Eastern Passage and Unfiltered and Sea Level...

Yeah, 15 and 20 gallon batches. Mostly 15 to start.

I didn't ride a whole lot this year, just too much other stuff to get done. Still got out a bit though!

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The middle stand of my false bottom was covering the bottom drain which is in the centre of my mash tun. I cut it off and soldered a couple of stainless bolts as legs so it won't collapse. Now I'm woozy from solder fumes... whoops.



This and having to replace my dead cell phone kept me from brewing today. I'm heating up some water for a PBW / cleaning cycle now. All I need to do before brewing is get my grain bill together then clean and sanitize fermented. I don't think that'll be today. I need food too.

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I'm planning a brew but I haven't brewed in so long I'm reading my build thread to refresh my memory! I had to look up my PID user manual!

Ha, your rig seems like you would need a refresher to figure out. Glad you’re getting back in!


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Thanks. I spent time today cleaning the rig, checking for leaks, etc. I fixed a couple cracked hoses and made some improvements.

First, I hooked up my 12v pump to recirculate the BK to keep an even temperature for the HERMS during the mash.




I also rigged up a hose to attach via camlock to my HERMS output in my MT. This is also the output of my CFC during chilling and the hose leads to the washing mashing or laundry sink.



Lastly, I have a sight glass, and eventually a pressure sensor, to add to the BK. I basically want to automate filling the BK and bringing it up to temperature.

Cheers!

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I decided to add a temp probe to the HERMS output. Monitoring my mash temp was a pain last brew since the MT bulk temperature changes very slowly. I figured monitoring the HERMS output is more useful. Eventually I'll have all temps on display.
I also made a sparge ring from 3/8" silicone tubing and a 3/8" stainless tee. I drilled holes in the top with my drill press. I'm really looking forward to trying this out and I'll record some video of my next brew.

I'm sure I'm not the first one to ever do something like this but with my brew last weekend I did a kind of hybrid batch / fly sparge that worked out really well.

A bit of background first. My rig is 2 vessels, my boil kettle doubles at the HLT. With a 3 vessel system you'd run the MT off into the BK as you sparge with the water in the HLT. With a pot/burner and cooler setup you might lauter the mash into a bucket first then batch sparge with the water from the BK.

My rig is 2 x 30 gallon (113.3 litres) kettles. I can brew 10/15/20 (25?) gallon batches and can adjust my process a bit depending on the volume.

I used to do full volume BIAB mashes, and could still do that if I wanted. I'd just sacrifice my ability to use the HERMS.

A week and a half ago I brewed a 10 gallon batch of brown ale. For the water I used my recipe volume plus 46 litres (enough to submerge my HREMS coil in the BK. The mash used my full water volume and was very thin. That's normal for me and I'm used to getting high efficiency (was 80-90% with BIAB).

When my mash was finished I dumped the extra 46 litres down the drain before I transferred the wort to the BK.

Last weekend I tried something different for the ordinary bitter. I only used the recipe volume of water, 78 litres for a 15 gallon batch. I mashed with 32 litres and kept 46 back in the BK (to submerge the HERMS coil). The mash thickness was about 1.5 qt/lb (3.16 l/kg) which is on the thick side. However it was even thicker because about 10 litres of that water is below my false bottom! So my mash was about 1/3 thicker than that. 1 qt/lb?!.

I made a sparge ring and also have a perforated sandwich tray (yay Dollarama) that I place on top of my mash. When my mash was done I transferred my remaining 46 litres into the MT on top of the mash / perforated tray. Once that was done I lautered the wort back into the BK. The sweet wort came first then the grain was rinsed with the clear water.

I got 81% efficiency into the fermenters and didn't waste an extra 46 litres of water. I'm not sure I could use this method with a 10 gallon batch but it might be even better with 20 gallons.

Pics incoming from my phone.

Near the beginning of the transfer of the sparge water to the MT. Sparge water transferred. Lautered through to the BK.

Well, I picked up the Brewzilla today. Brewing large batches is a lot of work so I thought it would be nice to brew some 5 gallon batches.

Just detached 2 temp probes and a camlock from my mash tun to move it out of the way. Not sure if I'll use the Brewzilla immersion chiller, my cfc, or both.

What a neat little rig!

Good one Rob. I've been doing more 5g batches lately as well with a GF. I'm surprised how much I like it. My 10g EHERMS is collecting a lot of dust...

The way to go, I think.

Does it have a start timer? So it can be mash ready in the morning or after work.

I burnt out the controller (literally burnt) and used my 50l this fall for the first time in a long while.

S

I think it does. If your controller is fixable with a new board, I'd give that a shot.

I have a GF, It was replaced under warinty.

But I do plan on fixing it.

S

It fits right in. Recirculating pbw through the cfc.

My first brewzilla mod. I had a piece of stainless steel racking cane I cut off from a previous project so I cut it further and attached it to my recirculation tube. The idea is to use it for a bit of whirlpool action so it doesn't just shoot straight down. It'll probably be good for the mash recirculation as well.