Im all a quiver with excitement - BZ gen 4 delivered

[Frisp]

The nice man from DPD delivered a Bz gen4 complete with all the toys from BKT today.

I had intended to go down the softly softly BIAB and ease myself back into AG brewing nice and slowly ..

However having attended one funeral too many recently , and one pint too many on Thursday evening, I had a Lifes too short moment.. adn pressed the buy button..

 

[Rwilts]

When's the big day?

 

[Frisp]

When's the big day?

to be decided , needs cleaning, familiarisation etc first..
oh and narrowing down which recipe will be first....
The legendary 'Big Kenny" from my past AG exploits
or
my own version of Belhaven Best (ABV 3.2%) which I have affectrionatley called YDB4YD (Y'l drown before yer drunk)

 

[Clint]

The nice man from DPD delivered a Bz gen4 complete with all the toys from BKT today.

I had intended to go down the softly softly BIAB and ease myself back into AG brewing nice and slowly ..

However having attended one funeral too many recently , and one pint too many on Thursday evening, I had a Lifes too short moment.. adn pressed the buy button..

A wise decision.

 

[The Baron]

You will have a few brew issues until you get used to it as it is different from the normal older AIO's.
My advice is do not try to use too much heat as that is what causes overshoots, strange how with older AIO's hardly anybody complained about the overshoots.
It's a great bit of kit especially with the Bluetooth temp thermometer in control mode.
Good Luck

 

[peterpiper]

Second the vote, for using the BT probe thermometer.
It's amazing to see the difference between temperatures reported by the inbuilt base sensor (near the heating elements) and the BT probe (actual grainbed temperature).

Temperatures graphs, shows how big and long, the base overshoots are, and how far behind the grain bed temperature lags changes in the base temperature. Generally, base overshoots are larger at higher power settings, and longer at reduced recirculation flow rates.

Timing my mash, from the 'correct' grain bed temperature, means it typically takes 20-30 minutes longer (per step), than it did previously (but which produced fine brews)!
So I'm guessing that lower target temperatures, or shorter tep times, are needed, when working from the real grainbed temperature. At the moment, I'm going with beginning the step time, from when grainbed temperature reaches 5°C below target.

 

[Twostage]

The nice man from DPD delivered a Bz gen4 complete with all the toys from BKT today.

I had intended to go down the softly softly BIAB and ease myself back into AG brewing nice and slowly ..

However having attended one funeral too many recently , and one pint too many on Thursday evening, I had a Lifes too short moment.. adn pressed the buy button..

I've had a few 'oh, it's too late now' moments.

I have a saying "Its possible that you do actually live twice but you can guarantee that this is round two".

 

[Frisp]

I've had a few 'oh, it's too late now' moments.

I have a saying "Its possible that you do actually live twice but you can guarantee that this is round two".

Taint a dress rehersall or as they say round here ...... Yer a lang time deed.....

 

[jambop]

Taint a dress rehersall or as they say round here ...... Yer a lang time deed.....

Good on you cannot beat home brewed beer. I bought a 35L version before Christmas to try after using my trusty Grainfather S40 for the last few years. I have not been able to use it because of a wrist operation I had back in November but I am feeling a lot less pain so tomorrow will be my first try out. Not using the Bz has given me a lot of time to look at issues some people have been having with the temperature deviations all the AIO kit make. If you have the time watch this video itis simple and quite informative as to how to avoid over and under temperature situations. They guy making the videos is well respected and knows his stuff. The thing about these systems is you have to be patient and learn how to use them to get the best from them. Good luck!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCRxfmZKigk

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Make sure there's some water in it before you turn it on. Just in case it decides to turn the elements on for you.
I'd go with the Belhaven recipe, quick brew, quick turnaround so you can brew it again and learn the kit.

 

[jambop]

Does anybody know how difficult or if it would be possible to wire in a Brewzilla control unit to a Grainfather S40 ? These control units are cheap and would be a great upgrade to the S40 as that is the only thing the S40 needs to make it a great cheap AIO system. I was just looking at the Bz beside my S40 and the Grainfather is just so much better in terms of quality it is just a shame the control unit is not that great.

 

[Rodcx500z]

And thats the reason i won't buy one, at that kind of money it has to be all good

 

[Twostage]

Make sure there's some water in it before you turn it on. Just in case it decides to turn the elements on for you.

Quite.

I nearly got caught out with that one. When you switch it on it remembers what it was doing last and starts doing that. In my case I'd been re-circulating at 60c to clean it.

 

[MashBag]

Does anybody know how difficult or if it would be possible to wire in a Brewzilla control unit to a Grainfather S40 ? These control units are cheap and would be a great upgrade to the S40 as that is the only thing the S40 needs to make it a great cheap AIO system. I was just looking at the Bz beside my S40 and the Grainfather is just so much better in terms of quality it is just a shame the control unit is not that great.

I cannot see why it would be that hard. Its controlling the same stuff. You only need a wiring diagram.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

I've heard of people putting the grain father controller on the old robobrew, brewzilla.
I fitted a SMARTPid controller to my All in one. Integrated with brewfather, can control HLT as well,PID on both channels, WiFi as well and a straightforward transplant.
Worth looking at for your S40, it controls the pump as well, I like the fact you can turn the pump off at intervals and this drains the bed before restarting.

 

[foxy]

Good on you cannot beat home brewed beer. I bought a 35L version before Christmas to try after using my trusty Grainfather S40 for the last few years. I have not been able to use it because of a wrist operation I had back in November but I am feeling a lot less pain so tomorrow will be my first try out. Not using the Bz has given me a lot of time to look at issues some people have been having with the temperature deviations all the AIO kit make. If you have the time watch this video itis simple and quite informative as to how to avoid over and under temperature situations. They guy making the videos is well respected and knows his stuff. The thing about these systems is you have to be patient and learn how to use them to get the best from them. Good luck!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCRxfmZKigk

I think Gash Slug doesn't understand enzymes. In the video, he is trying to preserve the alpha-amylase to preserve the body of the beer, but he is doing so at the expense of beta-amylase by letting the overshoot rise to 71.9C. The enzymes are in the wort which moves through the mash, so at 71.9 the beta amylase is being rapidly denatured as they recirculate over the elements.
Alpha amylase 63-70C beta-amylase 55-65C
The other part of the video shows the end of the mash (75 minutes) the temperature inside the mash with the Bluetooth probe is consistent with the probe in the base of the kettle. After 20 minutes or so the mash settles out as the starch is converted so the temperatures are consistent in almost any mash tun with a recirculating pump.
Still, the return flow valve must be kept fully open for good transfer of hot wort to keep those temperatures even.

 

[The Baron]

I thought the same when I watched it Foxy not caring about it overshooting to 70+ and it would take a while to come back down too so denaturing deffo happening

 

[Rodcx500z]

I don't do much when mashing mainly because i don't understand all the jargon (maybe a good thing), i set my mash temp at 68c mash in leave it 10 minutes give it stir top plate on and pump on about a 1/4 turn. on the 1/2 hour mark i stick a temp probe into the middle of the mash always 65c then i test the pump out flow always 63c, i consistantly hit my volumes and abv. all i can say is i have a very relaxed attitude when brewing and just let it do it's thing, i clean as i go all i have left to clean is the kettle and touch wood the beer is good

 

[Frisp]

I don't do much when mashing mainly because i don't understand all the jargon (maybe a good thing), i set my mash temp at 68c mash in leave it 10 minutes give it stir top plate on and pump on about a 1/4 turn. on the 1/2 hour mark i stick a temp probe into the middle of the mash always 65c then i test the pump out flow always 63c, i consistantly hit my volumes and abv. all i can say is i have a very relaxed attitude when brewing and just let it do it's thing, i clean as i go all i have left to clean is the kettle and touch wood the beer is good

Are you pretty much doing the same/ similar recipes all the time.

I bitterly selling my old CX500C BTW.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Are you pretty much doing the same/ similar recipes all the time.

I bitterly selling my old CX500C BTW.

Yeah mainly bitters, pale ales, ipa's, my old cx is on sorn in Cheshire MCA 968T