Brewzilla thread to share knowledge, experiences and good practice

[Falco]

Today was my first brew

How did it go Gerry?

 

[Gerryjo]

How did the rest of it go?

Ended up with a blocked pump when trying to recirculate after chilling to 80° but a good blow down the tube with the pump turned off sorted it out.
Great having the ability to keep a hopstand at 80° with just the low wattage heater and chilling was no issue.
There is a few adjustments I'll have to adapt to from my other system but we'll impressed.

 

[Gerryjo]

How did it go Gerry?

Certainly enjoyed it as the built in pump, temp control and clean up time all add to an extremely versatile system.

 

[Falco]

Certainly enjoyed it as the built in pump, temp control and clean up time all add to an extremely versatile system.

Good to hear, how were you brewing before the Brewzilla?

Hope to do my first brew towards the end of next week, planning Greg Hughes Christmas Ale but halving the recipe to around 12 litres.

 

[Gerryjo]

Good to hear, how were you brewing before the Brewzilla?

Have brewed in various methods from stovetop, BIAB, kits, infusion to RIMS which I still have consisting of a 3 vessel system which are Burco cygnet 30l boiler, a Swan 20l boiler with a 10 meter copper coil insert fitted and a 52l coolbox which I had made a new copper manifold for and it works fantastic except it has a larger footprint and takes a bit more time to clean up but is great for big grain bills and double brewdays.
The 20l boiler I also fitted a voltage regulator so as to maintain temp with more accuracy.
Whilst brewing last night I mentioned to the missus that I was thinking about selling it to make more room but was a bit hesitant and her reply was don't as you will always have it if you need it... So that answered my question.

 

[Falco]

3 vessel system

That was my intention when I recommenced brewing with all extract this year, bought a 50 litre stockpot to make the wort with the intention of buying the picnic cooler etc to make it a 3 vessel system as I progressed. Anyway a change of heart and decided an all in one was less hassle after using this forum and loads of internet searches. We’ll see how it goes

 

[Gerryjo]

That was my intention when I recommenced brewing with all extract this year, bought a 50 litre stockpot to make the wort with the intention of buying the picnic cooler etc to make it a 3 vessel system as I progressed. Anyway a change of heart and decided an all in one was less hassle after using this forum and loads of internet searches. We’ll see how it goes

All in one are great but I really enjoyed putting my other system together and getting great results and yes over time it has cost more to put together but the satisfaction you get you can't just buy.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

I made some notes during my first ever Brewzilla brew day at the weekend and thought I might share them here in case anyone was interested.

The method below worked well for me using around 5kg grain making a 23 litre batch with a 60 minute boil. I may be brave enough to split the water amounts differently next time to give less mash and more sparge water, and become more in line with the recommended mash water to grist ratios.

1. Fill the Brewzilla to the brim with mains hot water from the combi boiler. This gives 35l of water at about 55 degrees
2. Add all calculated water additions for brew except for lactic acid. Turn on the pump and stir to dissolve and blend everything in
3. Draw off 10 litres into a Tea Urn. This will be my treated Sparge Water. The remaining 25 litres is my treated Mash Water.
4. Add calculated amount of Lactic acid to the Mash water in the Brewzilla and heat to mash temperature.
5. Add the malt pipe and grist and mash in.
6. Whilst this is mashing, heat the sparge water to 75 degrees
7. Mash out and sparge with enough water to make up to 28 litres (I used almost the whole 10 litres)
8. Bring to Boil and boil for 60 minutes with hop additions along the way.
9. Insert chiller and add half protofloc tablet with 10 minutes to go.
10. Chill.
11. Transfer to FV using the pump

This gave me exactly 23 litres wort in the FV

 

[Gerryjo]

I forgot to mention that on my second brew I didn't add the fine mesh screen at the bottom of the malt pipe and the amount of grain that I removed using the pump and vigorous stirring was unreal.
I did however use pre-crushed grains which may have been too finely crushed but never had a problem before but could not get the wort to clear so decided I'm going to pull out my old set up next time and brew then use the same ingredients and do a side by side comparison.
I'm thinking of ditching the overflow pipe as it is a hindrance and lock the fine mesh in with a nut to secure it though shall be a few weeks yet as I have load of beer needing kegged and bottled. Shall keep the thread updated.

 

[Gingerbrews]

never had a problem before but could not get the wort to clear

Funny that, I too have been experiencing problems with clearing and had been blaming the malt.

 

[Gerryjo]

Funny that, I too have been experiencing problems with clearing and had been blaming the malt.

The same malt I've used before on my own system but have no issue getting the grain bed set and clearing. With the BrewZilla the malt is too fine and filtering through but shall work it out.

 

[Falco]

didn't add the fine mesh screen at the bottom of the malt pipe

Think I'm going to use both screens in the bottom of the malt pipe for the first brew.

Did you make use of the top screen in the malt pipe during the mash?

 

[Gerryjo]

Think I'm going to use both screens in the bottom of the malt pipe for the first brew.

Did you make use of the top screen in the malt pipe during the mash?

I did the first time but no call for it as long as keep your flow steady and an inch above the grain unless your intent on having a large grain bill is the only need I would find for its use.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Hi, new to the forum here. Posted this question separately before seeing this thread so though I'd post it again on here. After a few stove top kits with a couple of mates we've all chipped in and got a Brewzilla and did our first brew on it yesterday and all seemed to go well.

The only question I have is around transferring of the cooled wort to the fermentor via the pump. We wanted to do this via the pump but it struck me that the internal pipework might not be sufficiently sanitised so we used the tap instead. For those who use the pump for transfer do you run boiling wort through at the end of the boil to sanitize the pump and pipework? I've seen this on grandfather YouTube video's in relation to the counterflow chiller - run the boiling wort through the counterflow chiller for 5 mins or so to sanitize everything. But not sure if the pump is rated for pumping boiling liquor. Thanks.

 

[Gerryjo]

I run the wort through at 80° whilst doing a hopstand so as to recirculate but there is no difference to using the tap or pump if your wort is chilled as they are both attached to the machine.
The pump is open and the impellor activates when powered up but the tap remains closed though will transfer heat during the boil so just be sure to keep it sanitised prior to use.

 

[buddsy]

Don't let efficiency get in the way of how you want to brew

Could you expand or point me in a direction to learn about Mash volume & efficiency and what it means?

Ive seen on the "cellar dwellers" youtube he seems reluctant to add enough water.

Ive wondered why you dont just add more water to make it a much more loose consistency rather than the porridge which looks like a lot of hard work.

Ive done 2 brews on mine. First grain bill of 6.4Kg second 5.2Kg. I used approx 20litres of water both. Felt what I would say is a nice consistency but without really knowing what Im doing!

Im guessing you get less output from your grain if you have too much water in your mash? I dont really see why that would be though?

Thanks in advance for any light shed on this subject.

buddsy

 

[foxy]

Could you expand or point me in a direction to learn about Mash volume & efficiency and what it means?

Ive seen on the "cellar dwellers" youtube he seems reluctant to add enough water.

Ive wondered why you dont just add more water to make it a much more loose consistency rather than the porridge which looks like a lot of hard work.

Ive done 2 brews on mine. First grain bill of 6.4Kg second 5.2Kg. I used approx 20litres of water both. Felt what I would say is a nice consistency but without really knowing what Im doing!

Im guessing you get less output from your grain if you have too much water in your mash? I dont really see why that would be though?

Thanks in advance for any light shed on this subject.

buddsy

Using a regular grain to liquor ratio as opposed to full volume mash, both produce the same starch conversion. What makes the efficiency difference is the sparge, the least sparge water used the lower the efficiency. To sparge correctly would take a minimum of 1 hour, over sparging or sparging too quickly the more polyphenols ending up in the wort.
I prefer to drop the efficiency in return for a cleaner tasting beer, the cost to me a couple of dollars in extra grain, and a reduction in brew day time wise. For me it's a no brainer, others like to take up bragging rights on the efficiency they can get.
https://www.morebeer.com/articles/No_Sparge_Brewing

 

[Falco]

Did my first ever AG brew the other day and having watched a few YouTube videos beforehand, used the new 35 litre Brewzilla. I won’t go into intricate details as most of you are all familiar with those.

Anyway, I decided to do Greg Hughes Christmas Ale 6.6% ABV hopefully in time for the event. I used Brewfather set to the Brewzilla profile to scale the original volume and fermentables of 23 litres down to 13 for what I thought would be a more manageable grain bill and volume for the first attempt.

Brewfather was spot on with all the relevant volumes of liquor for the brew and ended up with 13 litres in the FV with the target of 1.063 OG bang on. As the sparge volume was only 4 litres I decided to use the kitchen electric kettle to provide this. I used the bottom tap to drain the wort into the FV to give it some aeration prior to pitching.

All in all, it was an extremely easy process using the Brewzilla and Brewfather and hopefully all set now to attempt a version of Proper Job.

 

[buddsy]

Ive found brewfather to be really accurate with OG with my Brewzilla...well for both brews Ive made so far!


buddsy

 

[chillipickle]

Does any one use any thing to stop "boil overs" when starting at 30 ltrs?

I have watched a few you tube videos where gash (home brew network) uses some thing called ferm cap to stop the wort boiling over.Do we have any thing like that in the uk.

Can you prevent it boiling over by stiring the wort as it approches the boil?