BrewZilla 65L

[Cloud Surfer]

I see KL are having a Black Friday sale with $100 off their 65L BrewZilla. I’m slightly tempted given it seems good value at only $550. But is a 65L overkill given I will never brew double batches. Though I will be using it for high OG (1.120) type beer that I guess is going to have a big grain bill. Would the 30L version be big enough to make a 12% RIS for example?

I had no intention of buying into AG just yet and have done zero research on brewing vessels, but I do like a sale. I’ve got today only to decide before the sale ends.

 

[djebel]

A 30L unit would certainly be capable of making a 12% beer. Just not very much of it in a single batch.

 

[ozdevil]

cloud Surfer before you decide on the 65l you need to be aware you need a 15amp gpo to run it with all elements otherwise you need to get a 15amp to 10amp lead and you will only be able to run the 2 small heating elements

i love my 65l i am yet to do a double batch as yet, but i have done single batches ok in it

 

[Cloud Surfer]

A 30L unit would certainly be capable of making a 12% beer. Just not very much of it in a single batch.

Should have mentioned I like to do 21L batches.

 

[Cloud Surfer]

cloud Surfer before you decide on the 65l you need to be aware you need a 15amp gpo to run it with all elements otherwise you need to get a 15amp to 10amp lead and you will only be able to run the 2 small heating elements

i love my 65l i am yet to do a double batch as yet, but i have done single batches ok in it

I did see that 15 amp requirement. Do smaller batches run ok on just the 2 elements?

 

[malt and barley blues]

I see KL are having a Black Friday sale with $100 off their 65L BrewZilla. I’m slightly tempted given it seems good value at only $550. But is a 65L overkill given I will never brew double batches. Though I will be using it for high OG (1.120) type beer that I guess is going to have a big grain bill. Would the 30L version be big enough to make a 12% RIS for example?

I had no intention of buying into AG just yet and have done zero research on brewing vessels, but I do like a sale. I’ve got today only to decide before the sale ends.

Wait until next year there will be a new vessel on the market.

 

[ozdevil]

I did see that 15 amp requirement. Do smaller batches run ok on just the 2 elements?

aplogies for the late reply but yes it will work fine

 

[Cloud Surfer]

aplogies for the late reply but yes it will work fine

That’s good to know.

I decided for the sake of only $100 not to rush into buying the Brewzilla. Mostly because I’m really enjoying where I’m at right now with my brewing and I want to stick with this process for a bit longer.

 

[Grmblz]

Good call, the new design seems to address all the common shortcomings of the cheap single vessels, it will be more expensive I assume but if they have a heap of the old ones in stock they may do a fire sale to get rid of them (or leave it as a cheaper alternative?)
A word of caution though, the new V.1 will probably have teething problems if history repeats itself, KL have a habit of letting the early adopters do their real world testing for them, then bringing out a V.1.1 followed by a V1.2, hopefully they have learnt from past mistakes but I'm not confident, it's a hard argument when they do incremental changes and refer to it as product improvement, that may be the case but why not do some proper testing first to iron out the wrinkles and then release a mature product?

 

[rayhaynes62]

I currently brew in a grainfather and would like to double batch some of my more tried and tested recipes.
Will the unit brew 40L batches at around 8%.

 

[Grmblz]

I currently brew in a grainfather and would like to double batch some of my more tried and tested recipes.
Will the unit brew 40L batches at around 8%.

G30 or G70

 

[WitWonder]

Wait until next year there will be a new vessel on the market.

Not sure where that information comes from, local stockist I spoke with this week who imports them by the container load direct from China has no knowledge of a new version. Also reckons they have about a 10% return rate as opposed to about 25% when they first came out.

Anyways after a couple of years break from homebrewing and previously brewing on a 50L Braumeister I've pulled the pin on one - can't go wrong at that price. Just need the sparky to wire up a 15A plug. First stop ... NEIPA.

 

[malt and barley blues]

Not sure where that information comes from, local stockist I spoke with this week who imports them by the container load direct from China has no knowledge of a new version. Also reckons they have about a 10% return rate as opposed to about 25% when they first came out.

Anyways after a couple of years break from homebrewing and previously brewing on a 50L Braumeister I've pulled the pin on one - can't go wrong at that price. Just need the sparky to wire up a 15A plug. First stop ... NEIPA.

Who is the local stockist and what is he importing from China by the container load?

 

[Cloud Surfer]

The BrewZilla V4.0 was slated for release at the end of last year. But they are having some trouble with developing it, and when I spoke to KegLand they told me it will be mid year at the earliest until it’s released. That’s a pity, because there were a few features in it that I really like. Anyway, I decided not to endlessly wait so I jumped in and bought the 65L V3.1.1.

First brew was a Pliny The Elder IIPA clone. The BrewZilla was so easy to use, it felt like cheating. My immediate impression stepping up to all grain with the BrewZilla is my beer’s taken a big step forward, and the whole process is simpler than messing with extract and steeping grains, then trying to combine them to get the flavours you’re looking for.

 

[WitWonder]

Who is the local stockist and what is he importing from China by the container load?

Brewmart in Bayswater (Perth) - importing the Brewzilla - isn't that what this thread is about??

 

[Malted Mick]

The BrewZilla V4.0 was slated for release at the end of last year. But they are having some trouble with developing it, and when I spoke to KegLand they told me it will be mid year at the earliest until it’s released. That’s a pity, because there were a few features in it that I really like. Anyway, I decided not to endlessly wait so I jumped in and bought the 65L V3.1.1.

First brew was a Pliny The Elder IIPA clone. The BrewZilla was so easy to use, it felt like cheating. My immediate impression stepping up to all grain with the BrewZilla is my beer’s taken a big step forward, and the whole process is simpler than messing with extract and steeping grains, then trying to combine them to get the flavours you’re looking for.

Congrats on your first brew. I have done a PTE myself in my 35L, turned out great. How did you go with the trub, did you transfer the wort straight to a fermenter or hot cube. I struggle with my set up in settling out the hot and cold break to form contained trub at the bottom. I know a little break or trub should not effect the beer, but I have been trying to keep it all out of my fermenter. I use hop bags as well during the boil and whirlpool!

 

[Cloud Surfer]

Congrats on your first brew. I have done a PTE myself in my 35L, turned out great. How did you go with the trub, did you transfer the wort straight to a fermenter or hot cube. I struggle with my set up in settling out the hot and cold break to form contained trub at the bottom. I know a little break or trub should not effect the beer, but I have been trying to keep it all out of my fermenter. I use hop bags as well during the boil and whirlpool!

I'm using almost 300g of different hops for this PTE. If the aroma is anything to go by, it's progressing extremely well so far.

Everything went as I expected on the first brew day, except the whirlpooling didn't work as well as I anticipated. I just couldn't get a good enough whirlpool going with a spoon alone. Even though I used a hop basket, there was still a ton of matter left behind after I transferred into the fermenter, and I lost probably 2 litres in all the hop mess left behind. As for the hot break, it just got transferred into the fermenter. But I have a Grainfather conical so I could dump the trub after a while.

I bought a Grainfather whirlpool paddle to use for whirlpooling next time. I need to be careful about hot side aeration, but I'm hopeful I'll get a better whirlpool outcome with that.

For the hops, I used a hop basket in the boil. Then a hop bag during whirlpool, which was one of the reasons the whirlpool didn't work properly because the bag stopped the spin. Next time I'm throwing them straight in. I threw the hops straight into primary for dry hopping. Then I've got a hop tube that attaches to the keg lid for dry hopping in the conditioning keg.

 

[Malted Mick]

I tried a second whirlpool on my last brew. Normal whirlpool at 90c with the imersion coil chiller/hop bags in and the pump running with the optional whirpool arm. Second at 27c with a paint stirrer and the imersion coil chiller/hop bags removed. The paint stirrer gets a awesome whirlpool, but makes the wort very cloudy as all the trub has been stirred up and back in solution.
Waited a hour for everything to settle out with some gladwrap over the top too keep any nasties out. Had nice clear wort with the egg soup at the bottom. Had to drain off very slowly as the trub is so light and goes with the current to my top offtake point. The bottom offtake has a helix coil which clogs and blocks.
Result was at least a 3 litre loss in trub.
All this adds a considerable amount of time to my brew day. Minimising trub keeps me awake at night!

 

[Cloud Surfer]

So you were using a hop bag during whirlpool. My one and only experience of this tells me you can't get a satisfactory whirlpool with a hop bag in the way. So I won't be using a hop bag again. I'll just throw the hops straight in the wort once I've quickly cooled it to 80C, whirlpool once then leave it and transfer to fermenter when the break has settled.

 

[duncbrewer]

I know your concerns about trub loss. I'm using a Guten 70 litre which is basically the same as Brewzilla 65 I think?
I changed from the immersion chiller to a counterflow chiller running from the recirculation arm then into the bottom tap with an elbow inside the kettle and a stainless tube bent to be parallel to the wall ( seen unbent in this photo ).
Inside the Guten I have a home made trub trapper and then just lay the helix coil around it as a second ' sieve ', and i get less than a litre of loss

and very little break or trub transferred . Though the liquid that the hops soak up is always a definite loss.
Once whirlpooling, cooling and settling has finished I disconnect the recirculation arm and use that to pump across to the fermentation vessel.
Pretty happy with it really and I don't use the hop spider or a hop bag.