KegLand Questions and Answers

[IR44]

Hey Kegland.

Whats the latest ETA on the maltzilla?

 

[Snake Eyed]

G40 takes 4 days to go from 28⁰ to -10 , then can't keep fermenter at 18⁰.

Not good enough for a warranty claim!

 

[KegLand-com-au]

@KegLand-com-au for some reason i can't log into my account on your website, tried resetting my password but i haven't received the reset email. Tried multiple times, even creating a new account but it won't let me because i already have one. Any ideas?

We did up grade security recently so longer passwords are required. If you are in this category then we need to manually reset this on the back end. Any chance you can give us a call to sort this out out for you. It will only take a couple moments once we have the related email address.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Not sure if it's AVG overreacting or if your site really is trying to inject a browser script but I got this message when trying to load the bucket blaster link earlier

View attachment 117261

This has also been changed yesterday at about 5pm. So if you have a look now this has also been fixed. Please let us know if you have the same issue but to my understanding this has been resolved already.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

G40 takes 4 days to go from 28⁰ to -10 , then can't keep fermenter at 18⁰.

Not good enough for a warranty claim!

Can you please send a photo of your setup so we can see how much heat ingress you have. The G40 have approximately 1kw of cooling capacity.

What is the size of your fermenter, what is the type of insulation? Can you please give us a bit more information so we can better understand the conditions and make some estimations of the heat load.

 

[sbowler]

Yes we have made this very slight adjustment and technically these new versions with the new firmware are called a 3.1.1 model. The change in the firmware is only very minor and for many home brewers you may not even require this feature. Customers have already been making consistent prize winning home brew on the BrewZilla without this feature. With that said we will sell the upgrade boards separately if you really feel this upgrade is something you want to do. Flashing the firmware is really very complicated so would recommend just replacing the board if you think it's necessary.

I am out of the office at the moment but on Monday I will check with the dates and let you know the switch from 3.1 to 3.1.1 has been done and let you know.

Hi KL, just wondering if you've been able to find out from which date the version changed to 3.1.1 and is this the same date for both the 35 and 65l units?

To clarify/confirm, the change is to make sure the step timer doesn't start until the BZ has reached the step temp?

 

[Snake Eyed]

Can you please send a photo of your setup so we can see how much heat ingress you have. The G40 have approximately 1kw of cooling capacity.

What is the size of your fermenter, what is the type of insulation? Can you please give us a bit more information so we can better understand the conditions and make some estimations of the heat load.

1bbl unitank with neoprene jacket. When I last used it in October it had ice over chiller lines and was able to drop it to 0⁰c , now it doesn't even move the temp.
I have turned the recirc to chiller lines off and it hasn't even dropped 1⁰ in 2 hours.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

We made the change in the manufacturing process several months ago however the changes take quite a few months to trickle through to all the various distributors internationally and it's hard to pinpoint exactly when every distributor had the new stock. Definitely all the stock at KegLand in Melbourne has been the new 3.1.1 stock for more than 4 weeks.

You can see some information on how to do the upgrade if you really want to and also the difference in the upgrade in this PDF here:
https://www.kegland.com.au/media/pdf/Brewzilla-Gen-3.1.1-circuit-board-instruction-manual.pdf

You can purchase the upgrade kit here:
https://www.kegland.com.au/brewzilla-generation-3-1-upgrade-kit.html

With that said it's really not a necessary upgrade in my opinion and the difference is really quite minor.

Hi KL, just wondering if you've been able to find out from which date the version changed to 3.1.1 and is this the same date for both the 35 and 65l units?

To clarify/confirm, the change is to make sure the step timer doesn't start until the BZ has reached the step temp?

 

[KegLand-com-au]

1bbl unitank with neoprene jacket. When I last used it in October it had ice over chiller lines and was able to drop it to 0⁰c , now it doesn't even move the temp.
I have turned the recirc to chiller lines off and it hasn't even dropped 1⁰ in 2 hours.

The neoprene jackets are really not great method of insulation for something that ideally you want to crash chill for up to a couple weeks. The energy lost in this fairly basic insulation might warrant you upgrading to more substantial insulation.

With that said if you see a degradation in cooling performance can you please look at the vents and see if your condenser is blocked up with dust. This is the most common cause of performance degradation. You should air blow these fins out once every 12 months or so (depending on how much dust you have around).

Also when you put your hand in front of the condenser is the fan blowing the air out this vent at a reasonable velocity?

 

[Snake Eyed]

This is how it went in October in QLD. It's not even 4 months old.

 

[Snake Eyed]

No dust, I only crash chill so I can trub dump and biofine for a couple of days then transfer to kegs.
As by the pics from when it was working the lines Iced up and I was able to keep the unitank at 0.4⁰ when the G40 was at -7

 

[Snake Eyed]

After 14 hours of the recirc being off, it has dropped from 22⁰ down to 2⁰.

When I put a sandwich clippy bag at the front of the unit, the suction holds it on the grill. When I hold the same bag at the back of the unit grill it will blow the bag at an angle of 45-60⁰.

 

[Snake Eyed]

1 hour later and the G40 is back at 22⁰ and it has brought the unitank back down to 22.8⁰ after raising 4⁰ overnight (peak yeast activity)
Luckily it's fermenting under pressure so I should prevent the horrible esters from fermenting too high.

 

[Engibeer]

Hey Kegland, what's the dry weight of the G40?

Cheers

 

[Warwick]

Can the DUOTIGHT - BLOWTIE 2 SPUNDING VALVE /PRESSURE RELIEF WITH INTEGRATED GAUGE 0-23PSI be connected with clamps instead of duo-tight fittings?

 

[theSeekerr]

Can the DUOTIGHT - BLOWTIE 2 SPUNDING VALVE /PRESSURE RELIEF WITH INTEGRATED GAUGE 0-23PSI be connected with clamps instead of duo-tight fittings?

Not really, the push fittings are integrated into the body of the spunding valve. You could work around it with a short length of 8mm OD hose and a barb-to-barb fitting, I suppose?

 

[Meddo]

The high temp body is still being developed but we have been quite busy on the production line trying to fulfil orders for the FermZilla units so we have not had the available machine time to finish R&D on the high temperature body. We still plan to do this but do not have a date for this product yet. It will be at least 6 months.

We have been considering making a tri-clamp adaptor and hose adapter for the Fermzilla and it's likely that this will exist eventually but we have a few other items that are higher priority at the moment.

The CIP solution will be finished in not too long and this is closer to being finished. The CIP solution will work for the FermZilla and several other fermenter designs and kegs. Probably finished some time next year.

It's quite unusual fitting that you need with regarsd to the K-lok fitting. We do not have the check valves with female thread at this stage. If you can explain what you are making here we might be able to suggest an alternative solution.

Hi @KegLand-com-au, can you please give an update on progress for the tri-clamp adapter, CIP lid, and high temp body for the Fermzillas?

Thanks,

 

[Engibeer]

Hi @KegLand-com-au, can you please give an update on progress for the tri-clamp adapter, CIP lid, and high temp body for the Fermzillas?

Thanks,

I think this might be the CIP solution Meddo, but not sure.

https://www.kegland.com.au/bucket-blaster-keg-and-fermenter-washer-kit.html

 

[Engibeer]

https://www.kegland.com.au/bucket-blaster-keg-and-fermenter-washer-kit.html

You can use with the CIP ball but it simply doesn't work as well. I would not recommend the ball and you really would be wasting your money. The jet that comes out of this moves much more liquid than the ball and definitely will remove the krausen ring. Just use about 1 spoon of this powdered brewing wash and let it run for 5min.

Ok, what about a jet with the nozzles directed sideways?

Also interested in using this to clean the braumeister after dumping the trub and hop matter.

Thought I could sit it inside the brow and use the brau to heat the liquid first, submersible pump in, lid on, spray ball to clean all around vessel.

What temperature is the pump suitable for use up to?

Currently I just blast the brau with my pressure washer.

 

[Snake Eyed]

Going into the 3rd day of waiting, when is that "engineer" calling me back?

 

[carbonbandit]

No dust, I only crash chill so I can trub dump and biofine for a couple of days then transfer to kegs.
As by the pics from when it was working the lines Iced up and I was able to keep the unitank at 0.4⁰ when the G40 was at -7View attachment 117275View attachment 117276View attachment 117277

How are you connecting the G40 to the fermenter? Are you running glycol from the glycol inlet/outlet on the G40 or are you running it from the dump valve at the bottom of the G40 into an external pump plugged into a temperature controller?
The pump in the glycol chiller is not powerful enough to cool a 1/2 BBL fermenter. It really needs to be run through an external pump which can turn on and off based on the temperature of the fermenter.

Also what temperature are you setting the glycol chiller at? what is the temperature differential between the glycol chiller and the fermenter?

The G40 will not work for cooling a fermenter if you are setting the glycol chiller at the fermentation temperature. It should really be set atleast 10-15 degrees lower than the fermenter set temperature.

The fact that you could drop the G40 to 2C in 14 hours indicates the G40 is cooling correctly however there is something wrong either with your setup or your process.

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

How are you connecting the G40 to the fermenter? Are you running glycol from the glycol inlet/outlet on the G40 or are you running it from the dump valve at the bottom of the G40 into an external pump plugged into a temperature controller?
The pump in the glycol chiller is not powerful enough to cool a 1/2 BBL fermenter. It really needs to be run through an external pump which can turn on and off based on the temperature of the fermenter.

Also what temperature are you setting the glycol chiller at? what is the temperature differential between the glycol chiller and the fermenter?

The G40 will not work for cooling a fermenter if you are setting the glycol chiller at the fermentation temperature. It should really be set atleast 10-15 degrees lower than the fermenter set temperature.

The fact that you could drop the G40 to 2C in 14 hours indicates the G40 is cooling correctly however there is something wrong either with your setup or your process.

Could be something in the setup, but he did mention in his OP that it worked perfectly the first time he used it.

 

[carbonbandit]

Could be something in the setup, but he did mention in his OP that it worked perfectly the first time he used it.

I remember seeing a picture of him having it plumbed directly from the glycol chiller to the fermenter. Not sure where that image went or if I am imagining things.

It may be that when he first used it that the ambient temp was close to his fermentation temperature. Not sure if this is the case.

 

[Snake Eyed]

Kegland website you can chill a fermenter up to 400L without a jacket?
It worked perfectly fine, even iced up lines and under the neoprene jacket.
The thing has been set to minus 25⁰ the whole time.
When I ran it through a coil instead of the fermenter, unit was set to minus 25, tank was at 23.5, glycol through coil was 24.7. It is not cooling.
It should only take 16 hours to get to minus 10.

 

[carbonbandit]

Kegland website you can chill a fermenter up to 400L without a jacket?
It worked perfectly fine, even iced up lines and under the neoprene jacket.
The thing has been set to minus 25⁰ the whole time.
When I ran it through a coil instead of the fermenter, unit was set to minus 25, tank was at 23.5, glycol through coil was 24.7. It is not cooling.
It should only take 16 hours to get to minus 10.

Their website says it can cool that capacity if the fermenter is jacketed.

Are you running it through your fermenter directly from the G40 or are you using an external pump connected to a temperature controller? This still hasn't been addressed.

The time taken to get to minus 10 is dependent on the starting temperature of the glycol and also the heat flux into the G40. 16 hours to minus 10 may be while the unit is kept in a room temperature environment.

When you say you ran it through a coil instead of the fermenter do you mean you completely disconnected the G40 from the fermenter and then measured what temperature the glycol was? If this is true then it isn't cooling as you suggest. Maybe shoot KegLand an email if this is the case and see if they can get the G40 back and get them to test the unit to see if it is cooling correctly. I am sure they can do this as this will be covered by warranty if that is the case.

 

[Snake Eyed]

I am running it straight from the inlet and outlet, the hoses are insulated and run under the neoprene jacket. Last time I used it my lines to the fermenter Iced up like a flooded font. Now there isn't even condensation. I only got it in October, which was probably hotter than current temps.
Yes, I disconnected the lines from the fermenter and ran them through a spare hermit coil, wad higher than the tank temp, done this whilst on the phone to kegland, was told they would call me back, that was Wednesday.

 

[carbonbandit]

I am running it straight from the inlet and outlet, the hoses are insulated and run under the neoprene jacket. Last time I used it my lines to the fermenter Iced up like a flooded font. Now there isn't even condensation. I only got it in October, which was probably hotter than current temps.
Yes, I disconnected the lines from the fermenter and ran them through a spare hermit coil, wad higher than the tank temp, done this whilst on the phone to kegland, was told they would call me back, that was Wednesday.

The pump in the G40 is not powerful enough to be running through the cooling coils of a 1/2 bbl fermenter.
This sounds like to me that you are setting the temperature on the display of the G40 at your fermentation temperature (probably 18C). This is not what should be done.

If you run it like this then the temperature of the glycol will be at whatever you have set the G40 to (likely 18C). This is not cold enough to cool wort at 25ish degrees.

You should be running from the dump valve (towards the bottom) of the G40 to an external pump which is plugged into a temperature controller. You set the temp controller at the fermentation temperature which will turn the external pump on an off. You set the G40 at about 10C.

They may not have got back to you yet as they may be very busy. Be patient.

 

[carbonbandit]

Hey Kegland, what's the dry weight of the G40?

Cheers

I believe it is around 30kg from memory. But someone from KegLand should know the exact weight.

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

@carbonbandit snake eyed mentions that the g40 has been set to minus 25. I know you're trying to help but make sure you read the post fully to understand what is going on.

 

[carbonbandit]

@carbonbandit snake eyed mentions that the g40 has been set to minus 25. I know you're trying to help but make sure you read the post fully to understand what is going on.

Oh yeah, sorry. Thanks for reminding me of that. Appears that the G40 isn't cooling properly then.

Sounds like a valid warranty claim if that's the case. The engineer which was going to call Snake Eyed probably got buried in a heap of other work. I'm sure they'll get back to them as soon as they possibly can.