Keg King ROBOBREW 35L SINGLE VESSEL BREWERY

[evoo4u]

I don't have an RB, but something like this:

 

[Siborg]

Ahhhh.... I see now!

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

I don't have an RB, but something like this:

I couldn't have done a better job of illustrating. It's almost like you've been snooping over my back fence watching me do it...

 

[Feldon]

I don't have an RB, but something like this:

And so begins your career as AHB's cartoonist-in-residence.

Encore!

 

[evoo4u]

The OHWS police would be proud of my Mr Stick keeping a straight back!

 

[Alex.Tas]

Anyone used the included chiller? What have you used to attach a hose to it? I had some spare hose clamps, but they didn't do a great job and it was spewing out a little water. I ordered some of the compression fittings from keg king, but I think they are too big and are meant for their separate immersion chiller.

I did the same thing for a completely separate chiller i bought from Ebay. the outer tube diameter was 12mm. The description on the KK website stated the compression fittings were suitable for their 12mm immersion chiller.
I suppose its slightly my fault for not double checking, but their chillers may not be exactly 12mm. Presumably they would be 12.7mm because the compression fittings they sent me are for 1/2 inch tube (12.7mm), not 12mm.
After much travel around Hobart on a saturday trying to find somewhere that sold 12mm stainless compression fittings, i was told by a few people to goto a fabrication shop and get them to weld on a thread the size I need. Its damn thin tube so i was pretty skeptical Anyway the fabricator told me about Prochem. these guys got me a pair of fitting the next day. Around $20 each, so while not as cheap as the KK ones, they were the right size and i would suspect somewhat better quality. The sulphuric acid plant I once worked at got their stainless fittings from here so i'm pretty confident they can handle hot-ish water.

I had a box of ALDI hose clamps lying around and luckily found two that were the perfect size for the chiller. Obviously you want to get them as tight as possible and on the right spot of the hose and chiller pipe end.

Before i got the compression fittings mentioned above, i used a couple of hose clamps, then had a rubber band wrapped around the tube (not over the hose), so that if any smal drips came out of the hose, it would collect on the rubber band and drip onto the floor, rather than dribbling along the tubing and into the cooling wort. It worked okay, but the compression fittings work much better. I got some hose fittings that have rotating adjustable elbows to make it easier too.

 

[cliffo]

Another two brews on the RoboBrew today.

This time I dug out my little brown pump that I hadn't used in about 4 years.

The main points to come out of today's brews:

• A more even mash temp throughout the malt pipe (the pump should make for a set and forget mash if only having the one mash step). Varying mash temps had been my main issue with the system.
• Efficiency increased slightly (still varying how I have the brew shop crack my grain to see what works best)
• The wort was much clearer
• The pump seems to reduce with wort cooling times when run whilst using the immersion chiller

All in all, I'd suggest anyone with a RoboBrew would definitely benefit from running a pump on this system.

A good brew day! :beerbang:

 

[Siborg]

Second brew down. Some improvements and some ideas for further improvements:

• Firstly, I used some smaller hose clamps and used two on the inlet and the outlet. No leaks. No fuss. Got down to 50 degrees pretty quickly. Took ages to get below 30 degrees, so I drained into the fermenter then chilled to 20-22 before pitching. Next time, I will get more of the hose into the laundry sink and maybe grab a bag of ice from the servo to "pre-chill" the water going into the immersion chiller. I also think it chilled quicker while the finished wort was still spinning from my whirlpool (from stirring). Colder water while the wort is still spinning may help get it down even quicker.
• I used a pump and a primitive wort return (an m&m's lid wrapped in foil). The wort was HEAPS clearer and I actually overshot my target OG by 2 points. Going to be doing this every brew from now on.
• I need (Yes: NEED) a HLT. My current sparging process is heat 3 3-4L pots on the stove, climb my step ladder and pour into the malt pipe through a sieve to avoid disturbing the grain bed.
• On sparging. GodDAMN it was slow! I milled the grains using my crankandstein mill which mills quite coursely, but it was still a snails pace sparge. Rice hulls next time for sure. I was patient though. It worked. Just s..l...o...w...l...y.
• I noticed a whole lot of grain material escaped the main basket. I think a fine mesh screen similar to what the Braumesiter uses on top of the screen on the bottom may help with this. I might see if I can cut a piece of SS flywire to size to suit this purpose.
• The wort was MUCH darker than I expected. Last time I brewed this recipe, it was yellow-gold. This is almost copper. Unless the Munich I used last time was a light(er) munich and the same with the Victory, OR I really stuffed up my quantities somewhere, maybe some caramelisation is happening, which is hard to imagine how, seeing as the wort never comes into contact with the element. There was some evidence of scorching on the bottom of the pot during clean up, but that could have easily been from the boil.

I wanna brew a big beer in this thing just to push it to it's limits. It says 8Kg comfortably and Max 9Kg of grains. I'm gonna try 9Kgs, but it's gonna be tough. What's the most anyone's brewed in the robobrew?

 

[cliffo]

I had been using an old 12v brown pump for recirculating my mash but it died on me during the last brew so I bought a Keg King magnetic drive pump.

I've mounted the pump to my brew stand and just did a quick connect of the hoses and fittings to the pump to test it out (still need to add teflon tape to the fittings, hence the slight leak).

Quite an improvement on the brown pump and looks like this may work well both for recirculating the mash and creating a whirpool post boil.

Looking forward to my next brew with the new pump in action.



I've thrown up a video of the whirlpool HERE

cheers,
cliffo

 

[MastersBrewery]

The ss head for that pump is well worth the $40.

 

[cliffo]

The ss head for that pump is well worth the $40.

I'd say I'll get it at some point but for now will run in stock form.

 

[GashRash]

I haven't read every post, but got sent here for my opinion. 8 brews in it so far. Pump isnt needed at all, insulate, mash in right temp, use small element for keeping temp is plenty, don't get scared about the read out temp varying by a few degrees, the delay/pause set in the electronics deals with the small space under the pipe seemingly giving over and under temps. I've digitally monitored the temp in the mash and its very stable. Use a pump by all means, but I've found it really isn't needed unless you want to play with trying to step mash etc. All in all for price I think its hard to beat if you don't want to mess around building your own stuff which is what I usually do, which usually always costs more than expected and in a build like this I reckon it'd be hard to do for the same cost. I don't think the Grainfather has any significant advantages, I think the grainfather pipe recirc setup is fiddly and a pain in the arse, I also don't like pumps and things all built into one unit, but that's my preference. The fact I haven't gone back to my 3V system in 8 brews says a lot, yeah the volume is kinda limited but that's the same with GF and the 20L BM. I like the simplicity, I like the easy clean up, I like the small footprint, I like the sped up brew day, will it last forever, probably not. I think for a beginner or old head like me with 28 years brewing under my belt its a fun little system to have a play with, made me me rethink my processes again which is great. The chiller isn't the best, but works, I usually still use my plate chiller which also means I use grain bags and/or my hop basket for the hops, when I use the IC I don't bother the 3.5L dead space is plenty for trub/hop matter. I think it's a fun little machine and for the price not a bad buy. If you can't brew beer in this an expensive system isn't going to help you. I followed the instructions once, I found the mash in recommended way too small, I've gone to 20L for all my brews since the first one using any where from 4kg to 6kg of grain, efficiency has been fine and funnily enough just about exactly the same efficiency I was getting on my 3V. 80%-85% Mash eff. All up low 70s as usual. Cheers!

 

[dropbear85]

used the robobrew to cook some ribs sous vide style today before smoking them in the Weber. turned out wonderful!
This baby just doubled in value!

 

[pist]

Checked one of these out at countrybrewer at east Maitland the other day. Was quite impressed for the money the robobrew looks like great value. If i was starting out again i would of bypassed getting a single vessel biab rig and got one of these, in fact i have been thinking about going electric on my single vessel system so may just sell the gas fired rig and upgrade to one of these

 

[livebynight]

Hi guys, after reading the feedback from users on here i decided to go ahead and get a Robobrew. Picked one up today from the LHBS and was surprised to find that it seems they have updated the robobrew!

Mine has litre/gallon markings imprinted to the body of the vessel, which is completely essential and should have been a feature from the first model i think. It also has 4 clamps near the top of the vessel to clamp the lid on what i assume is to be air tight. And the lid itself has a hole in it which looks like it is for an airlock. I am guessing it has been turned into an 'all-in-one' unit now? Although i haven't seen any information online about a revised edition or seen photos of a system with the litre markings or clamps.

Thought i'd give the heads up if anyone else is looking to buy and wants to try purchase a newer model over the old.

 

[Benn]

U sure they didn't cock up and give you a Brau? :lol:

 

[livebynight]

Nope it is a Robo. The fermenter idea might be a bit ambitious. Upon a closer look seems like there is that much space for a yeast cake compared to were the tap outlet is. Perhaps it is just to clamp the lid down and help keep the heat in while mashing.

 

[bouncingcastle]

I have the same version - the only issue with the markings is they are stamped into the front side of the vessel. Not very comfortable to get readings whilst up on a bench

 

[cliffo]

One of the joins on one handle detached from the body of the unit on mine after the last brew.

Awaiting advice from place of purchase where I stand with warranty here.

Unit itself works fine but an unusable handle is a bit of a pain.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Has anyone tried a small batch on the Robo? I'm thinking of doing a 10L batch. The only thing I can think that would hold me back if the immersion chiller might not be submerged in only 10-12L of wort.