Brewzilla Gen 4 advice and experiences

[jambop]

I had it 100%, and I tried playing around with the ball lock at different levels to see if it had any impact (it didn't). It kept making a weird sounding noise, which makes me think that was it trying to pump wort when there was no wort to pump. But also, it might have just been getting blocked because after blowing into it, I'd get a rush of wort through. It sounds likely to have been due to the grind of the grain, which is annoying because I've never had these issues before with grain from GEB. The pump is definitely working fine as well, because I was able to use it perfectly okay with whirlpooling.

As with the temp control, I used this brew to test out some advice I saw from The Home Brew Network on Youtube. Basically keep the element at 40-55%, not using the PID, and stir regularly. I've seen this same advice from multiple others as well, so it was very frustrating to see it not working. Although then like I said, the actual temperature in the middle of the mash seemed to stay pretty consistent. I think I'll get myself one of the RAPT thermometers as there is such a difference between the one at the bottom and the middle of the grain bed.


Any change you'd be able to share how you made this? I've been looking around for something to use to distribute reciculated wort better.

I bought one from Kegland they do work I have similar on my S40 for mashing and sparging.

 

[dcbrookes]

Not a brewzilla user but on my all in one I've started using this and it's great.
View attachment 94921View attachment 94922

The mash manifold in the pictures when flowing causes no splashing and its basically submerged in a few cm of wort.

This SS Brewtech manifold is too big for the BZ4. I made a smaller version out of some copper tube and I find it works very well.

 

[MashBag]

I just had a bit of a weird brew day with my BZ4, and I'm not even sure if this was a problem of the BZ4.

The pump kept blocking, a lot, and the temperature was crazy all over the place. When I finally finished the mash, I pulled the grain basket up and found the wort to be running incredibly slowly through the grain, if at all. Usually gravity does it's job, and it instantly starts falling through, but I had to stir the grain to get it to fall. This was my third brew, and this is the first time it happened. I now realise the pump blocking wasn't blocking at all, but actually due to a lack of wort to pump falling below the grain bed. The temperature variation was probably due to the lack of wort down by the temp sensor as well. I still managed to keep a constant temperature within the grain bed however, based on my external thermometer, and achieved 78% BH efficiency.

Has this happened to anybody else before? I used rice hulls within the mash and so expected more flow within it, and there was nothing particularly different about the grind. Very strange.

Crush size? Was this a fine milled? Different grain? Supplier? Hand milled?

 

[Leard]

Crush size? Was this a fine milled? Different grain? Supplier? Hand milled?

Pre-crushed from GEB. So I'm unsure. It didn't seem to be particularly different than the many other grains I've ordered from them however.

 

[jambop]

Pre-crushed from GEB. So I'm unsure. It didn't seem to be particularly different than the many other grains I've ordered from them however.

I would not worriy about it you got your wort and a good eff. The sugars may be slightly less fermentable though. The grains may have been crushed a bit more it is difficult to tell visually you need to sift them to find out the proportion of fine material. If you have your own mill you can be certain though. I choose a course crush to favour wort recirculation but you still get a good eff. I usually have around 80% mashing eff but I mash for 90 mins and sparge the grains after using my GF S40. It will be interesting to see how I get on with the Bz.
For your next brew you could stir the mash every so often to keep it loose?

 

[Leard]

I would not worriy about it you got your wort and a good eff. The sugars may be slightly less fermentable though. The grains may have been crushed a bit more it is difficult to tell visually you need to sift them to find out the proportion of fine material. If you have your own mill you can be certain though. I choose a course crush to favour wort recirculation but you still get a good eff. I usually have around 80% mashing eff but I mash for 90 mins and sparge the grains after using my GF S40. It will be interesting to see how I get on with the Bz.
For your next brew you could stir the mash every so often to keep it loose?

Yeah it's a session pale I've brewed so the ABV doesn't matter much, and I achieved a higher than expected OG so I don't mind a slightly higher FG and a bit more body. It ended up being a 68-69C mash rather than target 66-67C. I do have my own mill, but it's one of those hand ones that I picked up cheap, and I can just never be arsed to grind my own. One day I'll get a proper mill. I did stir this mash quite a bit as well, which is what I'm crediting the higher efficiency to compared to my previous BZ4 brews.

I think going forward I need to get a bluetooth thermometer for actual centre of the grain bed, and I need to calibrate the PID properly. I should find a solution to the pump blocking as well, it seems quite a common issue on the BZ4, but there seems to be plenty of solutions around.

 

[jambop]

Yeah it's a session pale I've brewed so the ABV doesn't matter much, and I achieved a higher than expected OG so I don't mind a slightly higher FG and a bit more body. It ended up being a 68-69C mash rather than target 66-67C. I do have my own mill, but it's one of those hand ones that I picked up cheap, and I can just never be arsed to grind my own. One day I'll get a proper mill. I did stir this mash quite a bit as well, which is what I'm crediting the higher efficiency to compared to my previous BZ4 brews.

I think going forward I need to get a bluetooth thermometer for actual centre of the grain bed, and I need to calibrate the PID properly. I should find a solution to the pump blocking as well, it seems quite a common issue on the BZ4, but there seems to be plenty of solutions around.

Sounds like you are talking about a corona mill? I used one for a wee while and they are fine but it is difficult to control the crush size. I would say they are more suited to BIAB where finer is best.

Thats good no harm done! If you look on youtube for this guy he has done good videos for Bz users talks sense no droning on. He has good videos of best use of the system and the RAPT Bt thermo.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=miIk-WH9zzA

 

[MashBag]

I have a two roller for sale, £40 Inc, if anyone is interested pm me.

 

[Twostage]

I think going forward I need to get a bluetooth thermometer for actual centre of the grain bed, and I need to calibrate the PID properly. I should find a solution to the pump blocking as well, it seems quite a common issue on the BZ4, but there seems to be plenty of solutions around.

I'm going to calibrate the internal probe next brew - it reads 102 during the boil.

Did you re-plumb the pump ? I did that, fairly straight forward using the instructions in the manual. Everything slots back together with no issue.

 

[jambop]

I'm going to calibrate the internal probe next brew - it reads 102 during the boil.

Did you re-plumb the pump ? I did that, fairly straight forward using the instructions in the manual. Everything slots back together with no issue.

I have heard that trying to calibrate the internal sensor is futile as it is a none linear device. I have noticed that when I tried my Bz with just a bit of water in to get an idea of heating time to a 70C strike temp the sensor read 1.5C lower than a calibrated mercury thermo... not awe inspiring straight from the manufacturer. I don't know if there is any mileage in just acepting that the boil temp is high but using the RAPT BT thermo to control the heating which many are doing. It is a shame but as far as I have seen so far the Bz does not do anything any better than any other system despite the claims of Kegland. It really is all about the user learning how to best control the heating to avoid temperature over shoots it certainly has a lot of possibilities for temperature control and if you are a brewer who make the same volume of beer each time then setting a set of parameters to control the mash should be possible.

 

[Twostage]

I have heard that trying to calibrate the internal sensor is futile as it is a none linear device. I have noticed that when I tried my Bz with just a bit of water in to get an idea of heating time to a 70C strike temp the sensor read 1.5C lower than a calibrated mercury thermo... not awe inspiring straight from the manufacturer. I don't know if there is any mileage in just acepting that the boil temp is high but using the RAPT BT thermo to control the heating which many are doing. It is a shame but as far as I have seen so far the Bz does not do anything any better than any other system despite the claims of Kegland. It really is all about the user learning how to best control the heating to avoid temperature over shoots it certainly has a lot of possibilities for temperature control and if you are a brewer who make the same volume of beer each time then setting a set of parameters to control the mash should be possible.

My thinking was just to calibrate point 2 which I assume is the 'high' temperature. Get it to boil and tell it that it is 100. Then it would be more useful.

My boil profile starts the boil timer when the wort reaches 100c (as measured by the BT Rapt). I then take the probe out but left switched on so it keeps boiling. It would be good to be able to control the boil using the internal probe. Just a nicety I suppose. BTW it kept a nice rolling boil at 35% heater.

 

[The Baron]

Hi Stage2 are you saying that the internal temp is not reading 100c when it is boiling as mine is more or less reading the same temp as the rapt (you can calibrate it and it will work at the correct temp as you have suggested) .
I can not see why you can not use the internal temp probe when you turn off the rapt but you may have to manually time the boil.
I would think somebody will probably have some better ways of doing it though

 

[jambop]

To be honest I am not interested in pushing buttons when a machine tells me to I am hands on so when it come to the boil I just set the temp to say 105C full power and start the timer when it reaches the boil. Many have said that it is best to do the calibration between 60C for T1 and 100 for T1 since most people do not use the machine below 60C I sort of see that to be honest. I never had the possibility of controling the heating with a top thermometer but I will be using my RAPT BT thermo on my first outing as it is the way I manually checked over shoots with my S40.

 

[foxy]

In the BZ 35 lt gen4...make full volume...without washing the grains...you must consider the dead space in the pan ?

It isn't dead space as you are recirculating, so you include that in with your full volume. If for instance, you were going to use 34 litres of liquor then that is the amount you put in. No more and no less.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

But I would factor in that the dead space between malt pipe and kettle wall isn't involved so think of it as a volume that dilutes your first wort gravity value.

 

[Barone]

I bought a grain bag for BZ gen 4...question: put it outside the grain basket or inside the grain basket....thanks

 

[MashBag]

Inside

 

[foxy]

I'm going to calibrate the internal probe next brew - it reads 102 during the boil.

Did you re-plumb the pump ? I did that, fairly straight forward using the instructions in the manual. Everything slots back together with no issue.

Did you recalibrate the probe? My Hop Cat went to boil at 90C trying to recalibrate it threw the mash temperature calibration out. I keep the calibration at 67C and live with the error of the 90C as it comes up to boil withing 10 minutes so add the 10 minutes on to the boil time. My Braumeister was always 102 for boil.

 

[MashBag]

My Braumeister was always 102 for boil.

Do you miss it?

 

[Twostage]

Did you recalibrate the probe? My Hop Cat went to boil at 90C trying to recalibrate it threw the mash temperature calibration out. I keep the calibration at 67C and live with the error of the 90C as it comes up to boil withing 10 minutes so add the 10 minutes on to the boil time. My Braumeister was always 102 for boil.

Yes and no. I decided to just set the boil point, got it boiling and updated calibration point 2 to 100c. I think, though, I should have done a lower temp too (as point 1) because when it cooled the reported temp was different to the BT probe so I'm going to do a proper calibration setting.