QldKev's New Biab With Internal Rims

[Matplat]

I gained 5% efficiency on my last brew just by getting my ph down..... hydrochloric is cheap and easily available.

 

[Meddo]

G'day all,

I've built myself a 1V recirc system similar to many in this thread as my first step into AG - I don't know anyone who does AG home brew so I figured the best way to learn was to read as much as I could then jump in and have a crack. I've done one brew on it a week or so ago to get a feel of how things fit together and now have a few questions please, now that I know how things are working. The brew mostly seemed to go pretty well although my brewhouse efficiency was only around 62-65% according to BeerSmith. Thanks in advance for any help and info.

Basic specs on my system:

• 71 litre Cheeky Peak SS kettle
• 50 litre ebay SS malt pipe
• KK magnetic pump
• KK 2200W SS element
• KK temp controller in SS thermowell on the down-whirlpool side of the element
• Batch target 21 litres (until I get a second element)
• No-sparge at this stage
• The brew was a straight Dr Smurto's Golden Ale taken from the BeerSmith2 database

A few pics of the overall system for context:








1) When recirculating during the mash do we want to be disturbing the grain at all? My initial assumption was no, however I've been reading that BIABers stir their grain so I was wondering if the same needs to happen with the 1V? The video below shows the minimal disturbance I was getting at the top of the bed (by design at the time).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8IAjqXS5Ks

2) The photo below shows the slits I've cut in the malt pipe (rough, I know...), flow seems fine through them with the KK/MP15 pump almost wide open at the top return (as per vid above) but I'm wondering if not having them more evenly distributed would be affecting my efficiency?



3) Is the boil below vigorous enough? Given it's only a single batch volume in a double-batch sized vessel I wasn't sure if the entire brew was staying hot enough, particularly around the edges:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_Nt8uKzPEw

4) Probably hard to tell without a better scale indication but does the grain grind below look fine enough? It went through my fluted MashMaster mill, I don't have a gauge to work out what it was set at but from memory it wasn't far off it's narrowest setting.




Thanks again :beer:

 

[sp0rk]

I gained 5% efficiency on my last brew just by getting my ph down..... hydrochloric is cheap and easily available.

Where do you source yours?
I can't find any food grade locally, and this is really the only other one I could find
https://www.bunnings.com.au/bondall-1l-hydrochloric-acid_p0960232

 

[Matplat]

Yeah I use a similar product that I got from mitre 10.... don't think there is such a thing as 'food grade' HCl, it's potent stuff so there sure aint gonna be any bugs in it.... my chemistry teacher in high school diluted hydrochloric a few hundred times and gave it to us to taste.... tasted like lemon juice.

 

[Maheel]

all those barbells are making me nervous

i hope your using them to counterbalance your BIAB bag

cannot quite tell your "location" by the number plate could be QLD based on WBin colors ..... :\
looks like you have got your brewing pretty sorted !!

 

[marksy]

G'day all,

I've built myself a 1V recirc system similar to many in this thread as my first step into AG - I don't know anyone who does AG home brew so I figured the best way to learn was to read as much as I could then jump in and have a crack. I've done one brew on it a week or so ago to get a feel of how things fit together and now have a few questions please, now that I know how things are working. The brew mostly seemed to go pretty well although my brewhouse efficiency was only around 62-65% according to BeerSmith. Thanks in advance for any help and info.

Basic specs on my system:

• 71 litre Cheeky Peak SS kettle
• 50 litre ebay SS malt pipe
• KK magnetic pump
• KK 2200W SS element
• KK temp controller in SS thermowell on the down-whirlpool side of the element
• Batch target 21 litres (until I get a second element)
• No-sparge at this stage
• The brew was a straight Dr Smurto's Golden Ale taken from the BeerSmith2 database

A few pics of the overall system for context:

IMG_20160605_142717_1.jpg

IMG_20160605_125245_1.jpg

IMG_20160605_112306_1.jpg


1) When recirculating during the mash do we want to be disturbing the grain at all? My initial assumption was no, however I've been reading that BIABers stir their grain so I was wondering if the same needs to happen with the 1V? The video below shows the minimal disturbance I was getting at the top of the bed (by design at the time).



2) The photo below shows the slits I've cut in the malt pipe (rough, I know...), flow seems fine through them with the KK/MP15 pump almost wide open at the top return (as per vid above) but I'm wondering if not having them more evenly distributed would be affecting my efficiency?

IMG_20160522_174736_1.jpg

3) Is the boil below vigorous enough? Given it's only a single batch volume in a double-batch sized vessel I wasn't sure if the entire brew was staying hot enough, particularly around the edges:



4) Probably hard to tell without a better scale indication but does the grain grind below look fine enough? It went through my fluted MashMaster mill, I don't have a gauge to work out what it was set at but from memory it wasn't far off it's narrowest setting.

IMG_20160604_170844_1.jpg

IMG_20160604_170808_1.jpg
Thanks again :beer:

Like to eBay special pot?

 

[buckerooni]

Very nice work Meddo! I like the 3 piece valves with the silicone tubing.

What I like about this is less thread tape and hopefully less opportunities to leak. Also means you can just unclip those and soak 'em in perc and let the valves dry. Seems like a practical approach.

I might adopt this idea for my build, thanks for sharing (might go some elbows off the ball valves though).

Amazed the 56L fits into the 71L! I got the cheeky peak 100L with this 56L pot: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-LARGE-56L-STAINLESS-STEEL-STOCK-POT-SAUCE-SET/182064174219 and there wasn't alot of room.

 

[Meddo]

Like to eBay special pot?

Huh. Made a liar of me - it was only a 38L pot I wound up getting in the end, not the 50L. This is the link, anyway:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/182056075912

The 56L from the same seller is here:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/182064174219

Very nice work Meddo! I like the 3 piece valves with the silicone tubing.

What I like about this is less thread tape and hopefully less opportunities to leak. Also means you can just unclip those and soak 'em in perc and let the valves dry. Seems like a practical approach.

I might adopt this idea for my build, thanks for sharing (might go some elbows off the ball valves though).

Amazed the 56L fits into the 71L! I got the cheeky peak 100L with this 56L pot: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-LARGE-56L-STAINLESS-STEEL-STOCK-POT-SAUCE-SET/182064174219 and there wasn't alot of room.

Yeah as above, recall fail :huh:

Re the valves and camlocks, yeah that was the intention with them being easy to remove. I was a little bit surprised how much tubing I needed to avoid kinks though so I may end up doing as you say and putting elbows off the valves and move the male camlocks to those elbows to cut out some of the curvature and hose length.

The benefit at the moment is I can close the top return and then use the pump (throttled right back) and the hose normally going to the low return to fill the fermenter. If I crack open the top return I even get it sucking a bit of air in to aerate the wort on the way Hopefully soon I'll have a better stand arrangement though with the kettle a bit higher so I can just gravity feed from a separate hose - again just camlock it on though for quick changeover.

Answering some of my own questions if anyone's interested since I ran brewday #2 on Sunday and got 70% brewhouse efficiency this time around. Unfortunately I changed quite a few things from brewday #1 so I can't isolate which had the most / any effect on that efficiency.

1) I used a silicon hose to recirculate from the top return near wide-open to a point about halfway down the grain bed with the intent that this would keep things stirred up for the first 45 minutes of the mash - little bit hard to tell how much effect it was having below the foam though. I moved the hose outlet above the grain bed and throttled back for the last fifteen minutes to clarify the wort a bit.
2) 7.1 kg grain bill this time around, couldn't quite open the top return fully as the wort level in the malt pipe started rising a bit. Wasn't far off fully open though so seem to be getting plenty of flow through not a lot of slittage.
3) Boil-off seemed to be only about 3-4 litres / hour (haven't etched my kettle yet so hard to tell for sure). So I'm guessing a bit more heating power wouldn't go astray.
4) Ground on the narrowest setting with the fluted Millmaster, didn't look a hell of a lot different (was previously the second narrowest mark). This may have had some effect though on the recirculation rate slowing up a bit from brewday #1 (was only a ~5kg grain bill that time though).

 

[checkers]

Ss

 

[tumi2]

Hi all,

I have read all this thread and found some great information. I am hoping for some guidance as im thinking of moving from gas to electricity so I can auto control my process using www.craftbeerpi.com. There are other reasons for the switch also like safety, automation and controlling temp with a flickering gas flame is a PITA.

My situation is as follows:

- I have been BIAB brewing for 10 years using a very ghetto gas driven mashed up system but it actually works well

- I use an expensive chef grade stainless steel 50 liter pot that I have been reluctant to drill holes in and I use a BIAB bag. I am finding gas heating is a real PITA particularly maintain mash temps, the bag can scorch and I have little kids running around, hence a move to electricity is in my planning.

I have started to think that I should just drill some holes in my quality 50l pot and create a recirc system similar to the ones described in this thread. The caveat here is that I also use the said 50l pot for my yearly batch of Italian Pasata sauce and a few other large scale cooking endeavours. For these projects I still need gas heating so if I convert my pot it must be able to go on the gas burner.

Is it feasible that I convert my pot and use entirely connections that can be removed and replaced with capped plugs that I can put on for my other gas based cooking projects. I obviously don’t want leaks or burnt seals etc. removing and adding the connections would not bother me provided it was simple as I would only do it a couple of times per year.

I welcome any thoughts, thanks

 

[Matplat]

Couldn't you boil your passata using the electric element also?

Silicone seals are good for 250degC, so if you use weldless fittings to mount the element and taps, and need to fry on the base you don't need to worry about the seals.

 

[tumi2]

Couldn't you boil your passata using the electric element also?

Silicone seals are good for 250degC, so if you use weldless fittings to mount the element and taps, and need to fry on the base you don't need to worry about the seals.

I think the tomato sauce would burn directly touching an element. Weldless seems the go using the silicone seals. I didnt realise they are fine to such high temps.

 

[Matplat]

Yeah think of those silicone pie molds that can be oven baked... people often worry about wort scorching on exposed elements, but I haven't seen it happen to date. When you apply a gas flame to a pot, the inside surface of the pot base gets hot, just like an element, provided you use a sufficiently low watt density element you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[tumi2]

Is there a reason most use stainless steel plumbing connections. I checked prices and it is way more expensive than brass. Is their a practical reason to use SS over brass or is it appearance only.

 

[Matplat]

Brass is fine, except you can't clean brass with caustic as it exposes the lead in the brass. Or if you do you need to soak brass components in a mix of peroxide and vinegar after to dissolve the lead

 

[tumi2]

How is everyone connecting the silicone host to the camlock, its difficult to see from the pictures in this thread? Is it using these nipple attachments

I have read that it is better just to force the hose over a male thread camlock to increase the flow capacity due to the larger diameter.

Interested to hear the thoughts from those who use camlocks?

 

[Moad]

Still not getting any better than 65% regardless of the crush. Might be time to start looking at pH

If I could simply throw more grain in I wouldn't worry too much but the small pot restricts me to 6KG

silly me... 65% brewhouse and closer to 75% mash

 

[ScottyDoesntKnow]

Reading through this thread, pretty keen to build one of these myself out of a keg and big w 19l pot. The people that were having issues with wort flow through the malt pipe, have you sorted this/tried anything new since? Is pump size possibly another reason why this might be occurring? Cheers.

 

[QldKev]

I think the major issue is trying to recirc too fast too early. You really need to set the grain bed slowly and increase the flow as the bed stabilises. Most brewers are running the Kaixin mp-15, I'm running the mp-20 (biggger pump) and can flow very fast once the bed is stabilised correctly.

 

[ScottyDoesntKnow]

Sounds good Kev, I've also read some people who BIAB do a slow lift of the bag at mash in and then lower it back down to help set the grain bed. Maybe this could help set the grain bed within the malt pipe too?