Brewzilla thread to share knowledge, experiences and good practice

[Matt_W]

That’s me told

Anyway, I’d be interested to learn how people are getting the boiled/cooled wort out of their unit. Seen videos showing via the bottom tap and others using the pump/recirc arm.

Would have thought it’s personal preference but maybe there are advantages of one over the other?

I use the pump into a cube. Mainly so I don’t have to have the unit up high to get a cube under the tap.

 

[Gerryjo]

That’s me told

Anyway, I’d be interested to learn how people are getting the boiled/cooled wort out of their unit. Seen videos showing via the bottom tap and others using the pump/recirc arm.

Would have thought it’s personal preference but maybe there are advantages of one over the other?

Here's an Interesting piece of trivia for those of you who are interested.
I work on a specific machine toolset that pumps a chemical through a 0.2 micron filter at 1000/2500 psi depending on recipe selection, it then is heated from 25° to 80° after which it is dispensed through a fan spray nozzle to the product then is free flowed to a collection tank where it ends up back at 25°.all this takes place in seconds due to high delivery pressure of the pump but overall there would only be 3.5 metres of various pipe work from 1/4" SS flexi, solid down to 1/8 dispense then 1 1/4" drain.
It would be interesting to find out at how achievable temperatures could be reduced by reducing the output line from the camlock to step down and dispense through a fan spray nozzle into a fermenter.

 

[Falco]

It would be interesting to find out at how achievable temperatures could be reduced by reducing the output line from the camlock to step down and dispense through a fan spray nozzle into a fermenter.

Interesting but sounds like a job for someone who’ll know what they’re doing Gerry which rules me out

 

[Gerryjo]

Interesting but sounds like a job for someone who’ll know what they’re doing Gerry which rules me out

You would nearly think I knew what I was doing hahaha...

 

[dv12]

Brewfather always calculates my mash water at 22.2 which I discovered is too much. My efficiency was terrible. David heath video suggests 3x grain weight. So 5kg grain eq 15ltr of water. That seems low to me.
I'm doing brew #3 tomorrow so I'm gonna try 19ltr.
Anyone else have a magic mash calculation?

 

[WonkyDonkey]

Brewfather always calculates my mash water at 22.2 which I discovered is too much. My efficiency was terrible. David heath video suggests 3x grain weight. So 5kg grain eq 15ltr of water. That seems low to me.
I'm doing brew #3 tomorrow so I'm gonna try 19ltr.
Anyone else have a magic mash calculation?

Don't forget the 'void' below the false bottom and the malt pipe. I'm on my 12th brew (over 10 months) and still tinkering. I use brewfather and can't recommend it highly enough; great software and very user friendly
I'm getting close to what I'd consider my optimal setup and it works out as 8ltr + 2.5*grain weight to a maximum of 25ltrs for the mash. The 2.5ltr per kg was a tip from a pro brewer so take it as you will enzymic reactions and stuff
I don't use the fine, bottom screen either as I found grain got between that and the coarser and it got gummed up.
Any other questions ask, happy to share my experience as this is what we're here for

 

[cheeseyfeet]

I always use 3l per kg of grain +5l This takes me to 20l for a standard grain bill of 5kg.

 

[foxy]

Brewfather always calculates my mash water at 22.2 which I discovered is too much. My efficiency was terrible. David heath video suggests 3x grain weight. So 5kg grain eq 15ltr of water. That seems low to me.
I'm doing brew #3 tomorrow so I'm gonna try 19ltr.
Anyone else have a magic mash calculation?

Don't let efficiency get in the way of how you want to brew, too many brewers treat it like its a pissing contest. Adjust your grain bill to match the water volume, I do full volume mash eliminating the time it takes to sparge plus the heating and salt adjustments to the sparge water, saves an hour plus on brew day. And makes for a better beer.

Personally, I use the pump.
My reasons are: 1. Ease.
2. The pump outlet is lower than the tap, and
3. it helps to aereate the wort.

How do you keep the trub out of the fermenter ? The whole idea of the whirpool is to mound the trub into the centre of the kettle. Clear wort into the fermenter leads to a clear, and better tasting beer out.
https://www.themodernbrewhouse.com/trub-seperation-why-and-how/

There will be some cold break in the fermenter, sometimes doesn't materialise until around 4 C.
As I say a clear wort in, a crisp clear possible award winning beer out, no fining's necessary.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Don't let efficiency get in the way of how you want to brew, too many brewers treat it like its a pissing contest. Adjust your grain bill to match the water volume, I do full volume mash eliminating the time it takes to sparge plus the heating and salt adjustments to the sparge water, saves an hour plus on brew day. And makes for a better beer.

My post below has been copied from one I put in another thread re Mash Water volumes but seems appropriate here too:


Until now I have been using a Peco boiler for BIAB doing 23 litre batches. I never paid much attention to what the grain to water ratio was but followed the same process every time of filling the Peco right to the brim (about 35 litres) then treating this water as required. I’d then draw off 5-6 litres of this into bottles and put aside. This was my sparge water. There was now enough space in the Peco/bag to stir in 4-5 kg grains and create a thin mash. At the end of the mash I’d use a pulley to left the bag out and drain slowly pouring the heated sparge water over and through the bag to rinse the grains until I was about half a litre short of my Pre boil volume then squeeze the hell out of it which usually gave me the last half litre I needed. This gave me a constant BHE of about 70%

I say until now. I’ve just bought a Brewzilla but haven’t used it yet. To be honest, I’m a bit scared of all the posts I’ve seen about stuck mashes and stuck sparges. I’ve never had any of these issues and sort of wonder if I should have just stuck with the old kit!

I think I might just use similar mash water volume with my Brewzilla as I have been with the BIAB in the hope the efficiency will be as good, if not better, if only due to the mash being recirculated constantly as opposed to the 2-3 stirs it used to get.

 

[Asherweef]

Hi all, just checking that on your first use the bottom of the vessel marked where the elements are? I just have an outline on the metal of the shape of the heating elements. Completely no problem for me, as long as it's meant to happen (also known as - did I do anything wrong).

 

[cheeseyfeet]

Yes - you do get some protein/break/trub matter stuck to the bottom after a full boil. Its never caused me a problem and it wipes off easily, certainly it isn't scorched or imparting any unwanted flavours.

 

[Falco]

An issue every Brewzilla user will encounter on their first brew (and every one thereafter) is water volumes for the mash. If you're using a recipe with a suggested mash water volume (e.g. Greg Hughes' recipes in Home Brew Beer) it is likely that the suggested mash water volume will be too low and will produce an overly thick mash in the Brewzilla. This is due to the void underneath the Brewzilla's false bottom. If you use Brewfather with the Brewzilla profile set up you should be OK as this accounts for the volume lost under the false bottom. A free online resource to calculate water volumes is the Grainfather water calculator, as the dimensions of the GF are roughly similar to the Brewzilla. However, even then I have found that I need to add another litre or so to the GF estimated mash water volume to get a mash consistency I am happy with. Remember that any water added to the mash will need to come off the sparge water volume to keep the overall batch size consistent. Therefore, you may also need to make alterations to your salt additions when treating the water before brewing.

I might be a bit thick but I can't get my head around the "void" under the false bottom casuing problems when calculating mash water volume . My understanding is that the Brewzilla is a RIMS (Recirculating Infusion Mash System) unit and as such the water/wort is recirculated constantly during the mash by the pump. So if a recipe says 14 litres for the mash with a grain bill of 5kg then all the grains are constantly being rinsed by all of the 14 litres of liquid which obviously includes that volume of liquid under the false bottom.

I've yet to do my first brew but am I missing something here in my understanding? Can someone enlighten me please?

Cheers!

 

[BlackRegent]

I've yet to do my first brew but am I missing something here in my understanding? Can someone enlighten me please?

My understanding (which I accept is limited!) is this.

In a traditional mash tun the mash water is evenly distributed through the grain. In the Brewzilla (and other similar single vessel breweries) there is part of the vessel under the false bottom which will always contain liquid that is not in contact with the grain. True enough that the recirculation will mean that the full volume of water is passed through the grain bed over time, but at any given time the space beneath the false bottom is full of water/wort that is not in contact with the grain, which will reduce the distribution of water in the grain bed. As I understand it, this uneven distribution of water in the vessel means that you cannot get the full grain bed wet when you mash in unless you increase the mash water volume from the start. In fact, I have had this myself where the grain is still dry and dusty when I've mashed in using a mash water volume from the original recipe without adjustment. You can address this slightly by running the recirculation a little during mash in to wet the top of the grain bed, but even this isn't enough in my experience - you have to add extra water. There is an amusing video on Youtube of a Northern Irish brewer cursing when his mash is like concrete when he mashes in on a Brewzilla (I forget his name - Banana Brewing or something?) and the root cause I think was not adding extra water for the mash.

 

[Gerryjo]

I might be a bit thick but I can't get my head around the "void" under the false bottom casuing problems when calculating mash water volume . My understanding is that the Brewzilla is a RIMS (Recirculating Infusion Mash System) unit and as such the water/wort is recirculated constantly during the mash by the pump. So if a recipe says 14 litres for the mash with a grain bill of 5kg then all the grains are constantly being rinsed by all of the 14 litres of liquid which obviously includes that volume of liquid under the false bottom.

I've yet to do my first brew but am I missing something here in my understanding? Can someone enlighten me please?

Cheers!

You should use 19l for strike and 14l for your sparge.
The dead space in the bottom is 1.2 litres, allowing 5 litres of water loss to wet grain thus aiming for around 28 to 29l pre boil.

 

[Gerryjo]

My understanding (which I accept is limited!) is this.

In a traditional mash tun the mash water is evenly distributed through the grain. In the Brewzilla (and other similar single vessel breweries) there is part of the vessel under the false bottom which will always contain liquid that is not in contact with the grain. True enough that the recirculation will mean that the full volume of water is passed through the grain bed over time, but at any given time the space beneath the false bottom is full of water/wort that is not in contact with the grain, which will reduce the distribution of water in the grain bed. As I understand it, this uneven distribution of water in the vessel means that you cannot get the full grain bed wet when you mash in unless you increase the mash water volume from the start. In fact, I have had this myself where the grain is still dry and dusty when I've mashed in using a mash water volume from the original recipe without adjustment. You can address this slightly by running the recirculation a little during mash in to wet the top of the grain bed, but even this isn't enough in my experience - you have to add extra water. There is an amusing video on Youtube of a Northern Irish brewer cursing when his mash is like concrete when he mashes in on a Brewzilla (I forget his name - Banana Brewing or something?) and the root cause I think was not adding extra water for the mash.

Big banana and his vlogs are good crack...

 

[Falco]

Thanks for your comments @BlackRegent & @Gerryjo I think more research is required from me, I'll search out the Big Banana for a start

 

[Gerryjo]

Check out this video front Gavin/Gash Slugg. There is a part 2 as well.

 

[Gerryjo]

What has been the temperature stability experience for these units?

Today was my first brew and set temp to 72 to mash but check it on my thermometer and it 68.Ramped to 75 to get in spec then lowered to 68 which came in at 66.
Preboil was to be 1.042 and was 1.044 so 2 points up so far.

 

[RGeats]

Today was my first brew and set temp to 72 to mash but check it on my thermometer and it 68.Ramped to 75 to get in spec then lowered to 68 which came in at 66.
Preboil was to be 1.042 and was 1.044 so 2 points up so far.

How did the rest of it go?

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

I did my first Brewzilla brew yesterday. A sort of Broadside ish style beer. I’ve been using a Peco boiler until now doing BIAB for just over a year so I had to keep on my toes with a totally new process whereas I usually brew on auto pilot!
I mashed very thin, 25 litres of water with a 4.8kg grist as I was fearful of a stuck mash or sparge since they seem to be the most common topics in forum threads about these type of systems. I suppose that could be why I missed my OG by a few points. It was 1.044 instead of the 1.047 I got the last time I made this beer in the Peco. That and the fact I used to be able to squeeze the hell out of the bag!
I used the bundled hop spider even though all the hops I used were leaf hops so I was also a bit surprised when it took a few on and off clicks of the pump switch before whatever was blocking it cleared itself at the end of the boil. On the plus side, clean up was a lot easier. The element in the Peco is a nightmare to clean properly as are the grain and hop bags.

I’m not too fussed about missing my OG. All in all I was really pleased with how the day went. I suppose if I end up with a decent beer at 4.5% abv instead of 5% that’s probably closer to what I should be drinking anyway.