KegLand Questions and Answers

[mud13s]

The gap setting can be set similar to a normal mill or slightly more open. A credit card width seems to work well as a gap measure. With that said even with a slightly larger gap setting l works well as the grain is getting sheered open so it's no so dependent on the gap but rather ensuring that the rollers just come in contact with the outside of the grain.

Normally for a traditional mill the rollers rely on squishing the grain through a orifice to get the right grist. With the MaltZilla it "rubs" the side of the grain causing the husk to come off. It's a different action that gives you a better grist with the husks more intact.

Thank you.

 

[robinho3]

Ok so with my experience running two soda water kegs simultaneously for the past 5+ years, one chilling and carbing while the other one drinking, it takes about 48hrs at 30psi to be suitably fizzy. This is heavily dependent on adequate headspace in the keg e.g. 2L or so. The more headspace the quicker it will work. (No carb stone on this setup).

I've installed the carb reactor and been running it for about 5 days.

We normally drink about 10L a day. I've had to increase the pressure to 45psi and turn down the temperature of my kegerator to cope with the addition of ambient water to our drinking keg (28c).

The benefit of this system is that I only have room for 4x kegs in my kegerator and two of these were previously soda water, so I don't have room for a pre-chilling keg, although I thought with one of the PET tee-pieces e.g.
PCO 1881 CARBONATION CAP TEE PIECE https://www.kegland.com.au/pco-1881-carbonation-cap-tee-piece.html
one could use a small vessel with a larger surface area to volume ratio as a daisy-chained pre-chilling vessel prior to the keg. This was my next step if pressure increase to account for less carbonation time didn't work.

Dear @KegLand-com-au Is this product still avaialable? I dont find to buy ..im´m fro Brazil and I buy in the site aliexpress. PCO 1881 CARBONATION CAP TEE PIECE https://www.kegland.com.au/pco-1881-carbonation-cap-tee-piece.html

 

[Fro-Daddy]

Can you post a picture of the superior crush?

 

[Ferg]

hey @KegLand-com-au any thoughts on grain conditioning with your mill? I know you would generally tighten the gap if you condition - is this still the case or something your team have worked on during brew days and have you found any efficiency gains?

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Dear @KegLand-com-au Is this product still avaialable? I dont find to buy ..im´m fro Brazil and I buy in the site aliexpress. PCO 1881 CARBONATION CAP TEE PIECE https://www.kegland.com.au/pco-1881-carbonation-cap-tee-piece.html

Yes absolutely. This is a new popular part so it's definitely available. Rather than order from China you can go to your local distributor in Brazil:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/v...ll=-16.861937061558105,-64.71270352436102&z=4

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Can you post a picture of the superior crush?

No worries. That's a fair point. You can see the testing results below.

We have lots of photos showing various different test results. It's difficult to draw direct comparison between one mill and another as if you set the gap distance on one mill this doesnt necessarily give the best results in another mill. So the optimal gap will vary depending on the mill design and roller surface. With that said these test were done with similar gap setting.

When we varied the gap setting we got similar relative results to each other.

1. If you look at the glass on the left this is clearly not milled grain.
2. The middle glass is grain that has gone through a 3 roller grain mill
3. The glass on the right is the grain that has gone through the MaltZilla mill
This particular test we were measuring the volumetric difference in the grist. So more volume is generally considered to be better and this is probably due to the fact that the husks were more intact.

In terms of the amount of powder that was generated it was maybe slightly less in the MaltZilla but not a very big difference. All grains in both instances were fully cracked open. The 3 Roller Mill had many more of the grains and husk were fully chopped in half whereby the grist from the maltzill had the husk intact but the contents had been ejected from the husk.

If you look at the results below in the bags we did further testing with moisture added. We added 2% moisture (by weight) and in our testing this gave the best results in both instances and I would definitely recommend this practice for anyone milling their own grain. Adding moisture was done with a misting device while stirring the grain. Then we left the grain for about 6 hrs for the moisture to become even throughout the grist.

When wet milling and adding moisture I should say that most mills are also not particularly suited to this as the majority of rollers out there are made from steel and if you regularly add moisture to your grains then it's likely that steel rollers will develop rust on them unless you clean and oil them after each use but this is quite tedious. Both the Standard MaltZilla and Premium MaltZilla made from Diamond coated stainless for this reason.

As you can see from the results below we had the grist on the left with more favourable results whereby the husk was more intact and had not been "chopped" up as much by the knurling.

From out testing surface friction on a roller surface is far more effective at drawing grain and producing a good grist rather than aggressive knurling and also the diamonds have far longer lasting friction than the knurling that goes blunt over time.

Knurling for a long time has been the standard probably because knurling is a less expensive process and is quite easy to do and probably because we didn't know any better. For decades we have just made similar knurled rollers probably just because the first guy did it and nobody has thought to experiment with alternatives. It's definitely been enjoyable working on this project and challenging this long standing tradition of mill manufacture.

The long lasting surface friction developed by diamond coating is sufficient to eliminate the need for 3 roller mills and geared rollers.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

hey @KegLand-com-au any thoughts on grain conditioning with your mill? I know you would generally tighten the gap if you condition - is this still the case or something your team have worked on during brew days and have you found any efficiency gains?

Yes we would 100% recommend conditioning grain. We had excellent results with 2% water. Results can be seen in images above. We did not find the need to tighten gap with conditioned grain but this was not the objective for our experiments. We primarily were looking at comparative results between traditional 3 roller mill and the MaltZilla.

 

[Warwick]

deleted

 

[onemorecell]

Love that info/pics about the malt.

Do you think husks being intact (or the different malt crush in general) makes any difference for BIAB?

 

[Meddo]

@KegLand-com-au

Hey Kee, that mini reg looks pretty neat, do you have an on-sale ETA? Got a camping trip two weeks from today - any chance of grabbing one before then?

Also, was my interpretation of your comment a couple of days ago correct - that you're not currently working on a simple tri-clamp adapter for the Fermzilla cone for use with third-party tri-clamp valves?

Thank you,

 

[BeerBen]

Has anyone used the kegland magnetic drive pumps?

They have two models available:
1. 65W STAINLESS HEAD MAGNETIC DRIVE PUMP - more expensive, high flow, URL indicates high temp
2. 25 WATT MAGNETIC DRIVE PUMP MKII VERSION - cheap, sufficient flow, high temp capable

Can anyone comment on the sound level of these pumps? are either super loud or quiet?

I've read that the Blichmann RipTide Pumps are very quiet and have a built in valve which is nice but quite expensive in comparison.

My initial use will be to recirculate chiller water from ice bath through a coil in prep for pitching and then eventually utilise in a homemade double batch 1V system.

Appreciate your thoughts, thanks

 

[dkril]

Has anyone used the kegland magnetic drive pumps?

They have two models available:
1. 65W STAINLESS HEAD MAGNETIC DRIVE PUMP - more expensive, high flow, URL indicates high temp
2. 25 WATT MAGNETIC DRIVE PUMP MKII VERSION - cheap, sufficient flow, high temp capable

Can anyone comment on the sound level of these pumps? are either super loud or quiet?

I've read that the Blichmann RipTide Pumps are very quiet and have a built in valve which is nice but quite expensive in comparison.

My initial use will be to recirculate chiller water from ice bath through a coil in prep for pitching and then eventually utilise in a homemade double batch 1V system.

Appreciate your thoughts, thanks

I've got the KK 25W, which is the same pump. Works fine for recirculating the mash; I can hear it running, but it's far from the loudest thing in the brewery.

One thing to keep in mind is that these pump heads have parallel threads, not tapered (on the 25W version, at least). So you need to put a seal on the end of the thread, rather than using teflon tape. Took me a while (and a great deal of bad language) to work it out why it kept leaking .

 

[razz]

Has anyone used the kegland magnetic drive pumps?

They have two models available:
1. 65W STAINLESS HEAD MAGNETIC DRIVE PUMP - more expensive, high flow, URL indicates high temp
2. 25 WATT MAGNETIC DRIVE PUMP MKII VERSION - cheap, sufficient flow, high temp capable

Can anyone comment on the sound level of these pumps? are either super loud or quiet?

I've read that the Blichmann RipTide Pumps are very quiet and have a built in valve which is nice but quite expensive in comparison.

My initial use will be to recirculate chiller water from ice bath through a coil in prep for pitching and then eventually utilise in a homemade double batch 1V system.

Appreciate your thoughts, thanks

Hi Ben, I’ve got the 65 watt model. I initially got it for CIP on my brewtech fermenter but I use it pretty much for everything now. I’ve had a March pump for many years but it couldn’t match the flow for the CIP spray ball. The 65 watt model is a quality unit, Im very happy with it.

 

[David]

The main source of noise on the Series 4 is definitely NOT the fan. The evaporator/refrigerant is very noisy. It cannot be put in a living area of the house it is so loud.

I regret buying the Series 4 simply because it is too loud.

Just bought a Series X and unfortunately I've got the same comment. "It cannot be put in a living area of the house it is so loud." I had higher hopes after comments in this thread about it being quiet.

The compressor is really quiet, barely noticable - then after about 30 seconds to 1 minute the refrigerant noise kicks in. Feels about twice as loud as the compressor, I'll try and put a sound meter on it when I get a chance. Is sitting in a tiled bar area and I'm busy doing web searches for noise absorbers/attenuation. Might just put it on a timer so I have cold beer when I get home from work, but turned off for rest of evening.

Compressor noise seems to be harmonics of 50Hz unsurprisingly, 100/150Hz a phone app puts peaks at 50 & 100Hz the refrigerant noise seems to be higher up around 500Hz. But is _very_ annoying. The sound clips on the Kegland website don't do it justice.

The fan isn't exactly quiet either - but that doesn't have to run all the time. Although a simple DC fan should be virtually silent.

Advised on phone that the refrigerant noise should decrease over time - but I'm unsure if that is real or just to let me get accustomed to the noise and hope I go away.

Kegland: Given the fridge has wire guard extending out behind compressor why not run exposed coils behind fridge rather than in side panels? Would have to be more efficient.

Side note: does the manufacturing process for the regulators end with them being cleaned in kerosene? - really strong smell - which I'm hoping isn't permeating the gas lines. I've gone back and cleaned outside of reg with isopropyl with some success.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Love that info/pics about the malt.

Do you think husks being intact (or the different malt crush in general) makes any difference for BIAB?

Probably will not make a lot of difference for BIAB but most of our testing was done in traditional style brewery setup or BrewZilla units.

 

[Mick Chopps]

Apols if this has been asked and answered recently....

@KegLand-com-au what's the ETA on the flow control disconnects coming back in stock?

 

[TheBeerBaron]

Apols if this has been asked and answered recently....

@KegLand-com-au what's the ETA on the flow control disconnects coming back in stock?

Check the site mate.. the new versions are in stock, saw them yesterday

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

Check the site mate.. the new versions are in stock, saw them yesterday

They're not flow control disconnects, just a new KL stainless disconnect.

Hopefully the new fc version is better than the one I have. If I put push on the disconnect sideways it sprays beer out. I don't think I'll drop anymore coin on the new one.

 

[TheBeerBaron]

They're not flow control disconnects, just a new KL stainless disconnect.

Well, shit. Don't mind me! as you were...

 

[theSeekerr]

Well, shit. Don't mind me! as you were...

They do look to be a similar design to the flow control disconnects though, so hopefully their appearance means KL have sorted out the tolerance issues that relegated the previous batch of FCs to seconds...