Originally I was going to build a 3V system, as lots of beginners I did not want to spend too much, and at the time I could not get the gear together at the correct price; so I started using BIAB. Nothing wrong with BIAB and over the years I've made a few (hundreds), but I've always wanted to go 3V. Since BIAB was working so well I decided there was no reason to go 3V without recirc and a heat exchanger.
Well it's been in the planning and making for several years, it finally has happened. My first 3V run.
I've still got tweaking to do, and a proper brew stand to make one day. Eventually when I pull my finger out (another year or so) I will be using an Arduino interface to control step mashes etc.
First pic, is just setting it all up,
82L HLT, with digiflow meter (and a sight glass but I need to mark it out)
100L Mash Tun with false bottom covering a concealed element to act as an internal RIMS. The wort pickup in from directly above the element and the temp probe is located in the centre too.
140L kettle
Trusty old mill crushing away at the 13kg of grain for the 69L batch.
Not a bad crush, set to .889mm, as I don't have any rice hulls.
Underletting the grain for the mash in.
Recirculating the wort. It's running a lot faster than what it looks like in the pic. It had a nice mixing effect for the entire layer.
At this stage I had issues trying to raise the temp to mash out. The mash tun was uninsulated, and after about 2mins the power board tripped. By the time I had reset the power board (by the time it let me) I had lost 5 degrees. Made note here to close a couple of door as the sea breeze was blowing through pretty hard, and to get some insulation for next time. Once I got it all fired up again, it was taking a long time to raise to mashout, and I could hear the concealed element constantly cutting in and out (not from the external controller, from it's own boil dry protection). As expected I had crap backed onto the element. At least I could not taste any burnt flavours in the beer, and it cleaned off the element easily.
The Beersmith brew sheet said add water to 81.551, I had 90L from the mash tun, so I needed to run the NASA a bit harder than normal to get the final volume down. At the end of the day I ended up with 3 cubes of sweet wort.
Overall a good brewday. I've made my standard house beer MIDAPA, so I look forward to comparing it to my BIAB version. When I punched the numbers back into Beersmith I got 76.2% pre boil efficiency
Two questions:
Is any one else still using the concealed elements in the mashtun, if so, are you having issues with the crap build up insulating it? I ensured I had a good clean recirc before hitting the heating element.
Can someone check their brewsheet water additions against mine.
69L batch, 5L deadspace, 13.27kg grain
It gave me initial 55.44L water and single batch sparge of 44.41L
Which looks about right for the loss to the grain absorption, so maybe my digiflow read wrong.
QldKev
Well it's been in the planning and making for several years, it finally has happened. My first 3V run.
I've still got tweaking to do, and a proper brew stand to make one day. Eventually when I pull my finger out (another year or so) I will be using an Arduino interface to control step mashes etc.
First pic, is just setting it all up,
82L HLT, with digiflow meter (and a sight glass but I need to mark it out)
100L Mash Tun with false bottom covering a concealed element to act as an internal RIMS. The wort pickup in from directly above the element and the temp probe is located in the centre too.
140L kettle
Trusty old mill crushing away at the 13kg of grain for the 69L batch.
Not a bad crush, set to .889mm, as I don't have any rice hulls.
Underletting the grain for the mash in.
Recirculating the wort. It's running a lot faster than what it looks like in the pic. It had a nice mixing effect for the entire layer.
At this stage I had issues trying to raise the temp to mash out. The mash tun was uninsulated, and after about 2mins the power board tripped. By the time I had reset the power board (by the time it let me) I had lost 5 degrees. Made note here to close a couple of door as the sea breeze was blowing through pretty hard, and to get some insulation for next time. Once I got it all fired up again, it was taking a long time to raise to mashout, and I could hear the concealed element constantly cutting in and out (not from the external controller, from it's own boil dry protection). As expected I had crap backed onto the element. At least I could not taste any burnt flavours in the beer, and it cleaned off the element easily.
The Beersmith brew sheet said add water to 81.551, I had 90L from the mash tun, so I needed to run the NASA a bit harder than normal to get the final volume down. At the end of the day I ended up with 3 cubes of sweet wort.
Overall a good brewday. I've made my standard house beer MIDAPA, so I look forward to comparing it to my BIAB version. When I punched the numbers back into Beersmith I got 76.2% pre boil efficiency
Two questions:
Is any one else still using the concealed elements in the mashtun, if so, are you having issues with the crap build up insulating it? I ensured I had a good clean recirc before hitting the heating element.
Can someone check their brewsheet water additions against mine.
69L batch, 5L deadspace, 13.27kg grain
It gave me initial 55.44L water and single batch sparge of 44.41L
Which looks about right for the loss to the grain absorption, so maybe my digiflow read wrong.
QldKev
