GUTEN

[nosco]

Ive only ever BIABed before so its all new to me. I manged to install it ok it but it wasnt as well explained as i thought it would be. The Youtube vid in Italian is the only resource out there although he did put out a wiring diagram last week. The interface doesnt bother me so far but the phone app seems a bit clunky.

 

[nosco]

I just finished putting on a sight glass. I havnt tested it yet. It was a bit of mucking around so i hope its ok. The only problem that i can see is that the thread diameter at the bottom of the

sight glass housing is only about 1/4" which is going to restrict tje flow a bit.

 

[nosco]

Oops. More pics

 

[Magicalpancake]

Oops. More picsView attachment 110117View attachment 110118

That is an awesome sightglass!

 

[Black Devil Dog]

The only problem I can see is that you're brewing with your pants on.

I hope Cocko doesn't see that.

 

[nosco]

Its an aluminium housing sight glass. Stupid me had an all stainless one that i sold on here a few years ago because i was only doing biab.

Edit: i think you van get these on Alixpress?

 

[nosco]

I had a bit of trouble getting the sight glass to seal at the bottom of the glass. A few hours and a heap of plumbers tape later it was all sealed and working well except for a small leak through thermeometer outlet. No probs I taped up the nut but when I put it back in I twisted and cracked open the aliuminuim thread at the bottom of the sight glass and made a big unfixable leak. Not happy. Ive ordered a chrome plated one from iBrew. I think thats what I must have had before, not stainless.

 

[Gout]

Oh right. I find mash temp being overshot often times for me was caused by the element kicking on and off. Insulating the mash tun, running lower wattage (less duty), and recirculating fairly- not too quick- keeps it steady. If you've gotten over the shiny stainless, wrap it in cardboard and/or insulating material. I can keep a steady temp for 20-25 minutes with heat off!

This brew I reduced the wattage on the heating element during mash to 600w and there was far less overshoot ~0.4deg so rather happy with that. Might lower it further next time.

 

[nosco]

I had a bit of trouble getting the sight glass to seal at the bottom of the glass. A few hours and a heap of plumbers tape later it was all sealed and working well except for a small leak through thermeometer outlet. No probs I taped up the nut but when I put it back in I twisted and cracked open the aliuminuim thread at the bottom of the sight glass and made a big unfixable leak. Not happy. Ive ordered a chrome plated one from iBrew. I think thats what I must have had before, not stainless.

I took out the sight glass and re taped it and screwed it back in. Its working perfectly now but still put in the chrome one. At least I can test and learn the Smartpid now.

 

[terragady]

did you guys updated the beersmith profile or the one from few pages back works fine?

 

[goatchop41]

did you guys updated the beersmith profile or the one from few pages back works fine?

I'd like to know if anyone has found any tweaks yet either.
I set it to MagicalPancake's profile, but have come out 1.5-2 litres above volume pre-boil both times. Not sure what part of the profile that I need to modify to account for that (maybe grain absorption?).

 

[Gout]

What size brewery? 30 or 50? Mine is hitting volume ok but strike temp is a few degrees high. (Only on my 3rd brew on it)

 

[nosco]

I'd like to know if anyone has found any tweaks yet either.
I set it to MagicalPancake's profile, but have come out 1.5-2 litres above volume pre-boil both times. Not sure what part of the profile that I need to modify to account for that (maybe grain absorption?).

Yeah ive had the same trouble on my 30lt for the last 3 or 4 brews. I has to do a very extended boil to get it down to volume. At first it was perfect though. I didnt know if i changed something to cause it. I have since changed the grain absorbtion to the same as the GF (.9?) But i havnt had a chance to test it with my upgrades.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I'd like to know if anyone has found any tweaks yet either.
I set it to MagicalPancake's profile, but have come out 1.5-2 litres above volume pre-boil both times. Not sure what part of the profile that I need to modify to account for that (maybe grain absorption?).

Make a measuring stick and play around, the intensity of the boil may make a difference to the boil off rate, grain absorption should be around the 1 litre / kilo of grain, about 3 litres per hour boil off I have my wattage on 1500 to get a good boil going.

 

[nosco]

For anyone installing a Smartpid in their Guten follow the wiring diagram in the Klarstein retro fit PDF and not the wiring in the Youtube vid. Had me stumped

 

[terragady]

I think the grainfather absorption is around 0.6-0.7 and the beersmith default is 0.96. this will change your sparge volume which will result in less volume after all.
The boil off from different profiles is from 1.6 to 2.9 I can see, which is a big difference

 

[Leyther]

I tend to boil around 2000W in the 30L and I find I get a high boil off rate, a lot of my brews are coming in with high abv because of the high boil off rate, I think I have BS set to about 4L now but my last brew was the first one that came in under so maybe I need to drop the rate and boil power back. Still playing around with it at the moment although I'm probably not as scientific or organized as some on here, I did measure the dead space a while back which I think was about 2.5L based on my experiment.

 

[terragady]

4L seems to be quite much.

How do you measure the dead space? Everything together with the pump and pipe what is under the lower mesh cover (bottom mesh cover?). Basically I do not think that it matters that much? Only for calculation of the mash in volume and grain ratio calculation - but there you will need to calculate also the empty space on the sides from malt pipe.

 

[Magicalpancake]

4L seems to be quite much.

How do you measure the dead space? Everything together with the pump and pipe what is under the lower mesh cover (bottom mesh cover?). Basically I do not think that it matters that much? Only for calculation of the mash in volume and grain ratio calculation - but there you will need to calculate also the empty space on the sides from malt pipe.

I always thought dead space was what was left over after being completely drained from the valve. I filled the kettle a little over the valve and drained it until it stopped. I poured the rest into a measuring cup. I have a diptube pick up now that leaves little behind. I will make a video later on this.

I installed a 12v fan for the relay/hint sink combo and mounted it awkwardly to the side (I'm sure there is a much better way to do this ) I wired it into the heater element switch (off an LED inverter of course)

 

[wide eyed and legless]

That is my interpretation of 'Dead Space', below the outlet, but it is a divided issue as some say it is what is under the grain basket.