1st AG with a Brewzilla

[Beer Please]

So, bought a Brewzilla in November and what with xmas/life/ingredients going missing in the post etc, I am planning my 1st brew with it next weekend.

Lots of questions to follow .

Have a Deuchars IPA AG kit, 4.5kg grain bill. Recipe says 23l fermenter, 29.1l boil.

Using BF mash calculator, it says to use 11.25 l of strike water at 78c. (Temp of grain this am was 9c). This sounds (to me) like I am going to have a helluva thick mash! Anything that I’ve read or watched has been mashed in with 18-20l. Should I just start with around 18l and balance it out with my sparge water?

I’m planning putting it into a pressure barrel when done. Haven’t done it this way before.

My thinking is to transfer to barrel and pitch the yeast, leave it to ferment and once fermentation is complete, add sugar to start secondary fermentation and achieve carbonation. Is this right? Or will opening the lid to add sugar cause oxidisation? Or should I add sugar when initially transferring into the barrel?

Apologies for the stupid questions.

Please be gentle!

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Yes, a lot of water is in the dead space below the malt pipe. I’ve not used Brew Father. I use Brewers Friend to create my recipes and there’s an option in that to choose your equipment. When you choose Brewzilla it will know about the dead space and adds (about) 6.5 litres to the mash water and takes it off the sparge.

 

[The Baron]

I mash in with circa 20ltrs of water and then sparge to my pre-boil volume.
It is a thing that has been discussed many times on this forum so if you search for similar threads and give them a good read you can then make up your own mind
I personally would use a FV then barrel but so as to leave the trub behind but it can be done in one vessel and is becoming popular to do it that way with pressure fermenting vessels.
Right the oxidation thing again been discussed many times and there is no one answer again search the threads and you will get enough info to make a decision that suits you
Ps It would not worry me unless I was doing a heavily hopped Neipa

 

[Rodcx500z]

Hi, i use brewfather the dead space is 6.75L in BZ35L kettle i do as above 19-20L strike water

 

[Beer Please]

I mash in with circa 20ltrs of water and then sparge to my pre-boil volume.
It is a thing that has been discussed many times on this forum so if you search for similar threads and give them a good read you can then make up your own mind
I personally would use a FV then barrel but so as to leave the trub behind but it can be done in one vessel and is becoming popular to do it that way with pressure fermenting vessels.
Right the oxidation thing again been discussed many times and there is no one answer again search the threads and you will get enough info to make a decision that suits you
Ps It would not worry me unless I was doing a heavily hopped Neipa

Thanks. With firther investigation I’m leaning towards FV then the barrel.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

I'd go with 3 or 3.5 litres per kg for the mash ( minimum ) as others say around 18 litres is about right for that bill.
Sparge to your desired boil volume.
29.5 litres is quite full in a 35litre brewzilla you'll need to watch that like a hawk when you start.
Have a read of the robobrew/brewzilla thread on homebrewtalk.com.
Start now and you'll be finished by the brewday.

 

[Beer Please]

I'd go with 3 or 3.5 litres per kg for the mash ( minimum ) as others say around 18 litres is about right for that bill.
Sparge to your desired boil volume.
29.5 litres is quite full in a 35litre brewzilla you'll need to watch that like a hawk when you start.
Have a read of the robobrew/brewzilla thread on homebrewtalk.com.
Start now and you'll be finished by the brewday.

Thanks for that man. A lot of good reading there.
Knowledge is power as they say.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

@Beer Please

No worries, let us know how it goes, I follow that other forum thread as well. I used my robobrew 3 the other weekend whilst my Guten 70 was down and enjoyed it. Probably should sell it as it hasn't been used for about 2 years.

Use the lower power elements during the mash although you are probably 110V so it might not be such an issue, but on my robobrew I don't use the big element during the set phase of the mash and only intervals when ramping to avoid a scorched bottom.