Robobrew V3 vs Guten

[Grok]

Just wondering if anyone has checked their heating elements terminals and found any issues?

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

When l fitted my smart pid to my guten l redid some of the connections that looked a bit dodgy. I got mine before KK started selling them so can't comment on the current model.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Just wondering if anyone has checked their heating elements terminals and found any issues?

I did see one where one of the wires had been neglected to be connected, it was the pump wiring, a forgivable mistake. Another was sent back to KK as the pump was working but nothing coming through the return. The tap on the return was in the off position.
I checked mine when I first received it direct from China, all was good, the switches were not up to scratch as a few of us found out later, not from the wiring but from the spring inside the switch.
For the amount of brews I have done I am more than happy.
I also believe that those of us who bought the Guten direct from China, forced the RoboBrew's game changer, looks like they switched manufacturers for the 3.1.

 

[Ballaratguy]

I mis timed my brew yesterday and had to leave the wort in the Guten until this morning. I normally hot cube but time wasn’t on my side
I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get the wort out as someone said that cool wort won’t feed through the helix coil.
This morning my wort was at 30 deg so I thought what the hell I’ll give it a go.
Hey presto it worked beautifully nice and clear and ran out just like it does when it’s 60+deg

 

[Grok]

Update! I have rewired a few things and bypassed what used to be the AC Live in tab for the pcb and installed a new fuse (which is only for the transformer used to get 12v DC for circuitry), boofed up some of the power feeds to the relays with more solder (a cheap-arse way of doing it BTW, still, it works!). Also reorganised the Neutral wiring off the elements with a copper buss bar, rather than all the wires looping around, and created a common Neutral wire stack(blue wires), less cluttered now and moves unnecessary wiring away from the hot elements, should of been designed better IMO. I might look at a small extraction fan in there as well, old CPU or graphics card fans are good for that sort of thing.
But the best part is IT WORKS!!!!!!
View attachment 117672 View attachment 117673 View attachment 117674 View attachment 117675 View attachment 117676
Also, added a good mod pic for the pump, just a brass Y piece with right angle swivel outlets, just garden stuff, and silicon hose, very useful to have a switchable manifold and flexi-hose there.
View attachment 117677
Summary: I would suggest that everyone should check to see if the wires to the elements are intact and terminals are clean and free of resistance crud, especially if you've had it for a while. It looked like to me that because there were 2 wires jammed into what should only be 1 wire terminal crimp body, that half the wires were not properly attached and therefor not quite enough current capacity, hence the high resistance heat at that spot and ultimate failure. That is why I put in the copper bridge and got rid of the double looped wires everywhere.

Weal, I found a link for the older PCB if your interested, presume its still current.
https://www.angelhomebrew.co.uk/en/59-spares

Just an update, I had tested my repairs with water, but I hadn't done a full brew day until now, and I am happy to report it works great!
The temp read out used to oscillate sometimes by 2 degrees, sorta bouncing up and down and cutting the relays in and out for a bit, and then it would settle to on until it got hot enough, well now that behaviour has completely gone and is rock solid. It seemed to come up to boil quicker as well so I figure the elements are getting more than enough electric juice now....happy brew days again.....TROLALOLAOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

 

[Grok]

For those who don't know the Trololo guy........ a Russian classic from 1976, powered to fame by the internet, enjoy!
the clip.

the man!

R.I.P. Eduard Khil

 

[camNZ]

For me, it saves a ton of time and effort. I can set my Guten to heat the water (all of it, including my sparge water) to mash temp for when I get up in the morning (multiple steps at the minimum temperature to get through the night, then the heating step timed for when I get up), I then drain the sparge water off in to a bucket and mash in quickly without any doughballs by slowly lowering the malt pipe that is already filled with grain in to the unit, give it a stir then walk off. Come back 15 mins later and turn on the pump for recirculating. Leave again for another 60ish minutes - when I come back the mash has finished and it has heated the wort to about 75oC. Lift out the malt pipe, pour over half of the sparge water and walk off. Come back 5-10 mins later to do the other half of the sparge and throw in any bittering hops (I just do FWH for these). As it comes to a boil, I'm cleaning out the malt pipe, then I'm free to leave for another 45 mins. Come back at 15 mins left in the boil to throw in whirlfloc and nutrient, then prepare my no chill cube and any cube hops. Give it a quick whirlpool after the boil finishes, wait 20 mins to settle then drain in to cube and clean the unit (which takes about 10 mins most times).

Brew day is done and dusted in about 4ish hours (even less if you shorten the mash or boil, or do no sparge), and even during that time I spend very little actual time at the unit. I usually go to the gym during the mash or boil, and do heaps of other stuff around the house too. For me, brewing has become like baking sourdough bread - overall it takes a long time, but there is very little actual active time spent on it.

Thanks for asking this question CyriusBrew and @goatchop41 for the reply, I'm also trying to see if it's worth modifying my current 3v or putting the money towards a single-vessel. A couple of things i see:

• @goatchop41 what size batches are you making typically?
• Mash water and Sparge heating delay - easy to setup, currently just using timer switch. If I move to high kW elements slightly harder, but part of control board
• Walking away from mash - not an issue currently with HERMS
• Walking away from sparge - sparge does require an eagle eye currently, Blichmann sparge arm would solve this.
• How long does it typically take to get to boil and how do you control boil overs? Do you set heating output to 100% then manually reduce it as you see boil starting?
• Cleaning malt pipe while boiling - currently clean MLT during boil. While it is a pain to clean because it is a 50L keg, I think a 70L Guten malt pipe would be the same story?
• 10 min clean - what does your 10min clean involve? I certainly spend more than 10mins cleaning 3v but I'm pretty thorough
• Cooling - can take up to 2 hours, but was never going to cube 50L batches

50-70L batches where always going to take longer/more effort than 20L batches, will a single vessel system save me a lot of more time and effort? Probably yes over current setup and will be cheaper than the mods required to make it similar(automated control board and blichmann sparge arm) if I was to get a Guten or Brewzilla. However they're not in the same league in terms of build quality as my current 3v(actually 4v) system.

 

[CyriusBrew]

Thanks for asking this question CyriusBrew and @goatchop41 for the reply, I'm also trying to see if it's worth modifying my current 3v or putting the money towards a single-vessel. A couple of things i see:

• Mash water and Sparge heating delay - easy to setup, currently just using timer switch. If I move to high kW elements slightly harder, but part of control board.....
• ...
• 10 min clean - what does your 10min clean involve? I certainly spend more than 10mins cleaning 3v but I'm pretty thorough
• Cooling - can take up to 2 hours, but was never going to cube 50L batches

Interesting thoughts. Although my boil kettle is Gas, I also have a 70L kettle with two electric elements that feed to two separate power leads. (So I can use two circuits in my house.) I also have a grainfather sparge water heater. My MLT which is a Home Depot cylindrical cooler with a dome false botton. (I also put a bag in it...I know..overkill)

Perhaps if I could get someone skilled to make a mesh plate to go into my electric kettle I can make something? I use an immersion chiller and never did the cubes, as I think it would be hard for me to adjust my hop schedules to my current recipes.

I reckon by time I do that and work on a controller, I would have paid more than a robobrew or guten. It could be fun though.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Stripped down the ball valve on the Guten, been neglected thinking the after brew and pre brew wash with perborate/ percarbonate and hot water was enough. It was putrid ended up soaking the parts in neat Deck Clean, the only source of oxalic acid I had on hand. Bit of a scub with a stiff nylon bristle brush and its as good as new.
Just in case someone is looking for something to do.

 

[goatchop41]

Stripped down the ball valve on the Guten, been neglected thinking the after brew and pre brew wash with perborate/ percarbonate and hot water was enough. It was putrid ended up soaking the parts in neat Deck Clean, the only source of oxalic acid I had on hand. Bit of a scub with a stiff nylon bristle brush and its as good as new.
Just in case someone is looking for something to do.

I've been actually thinking about swapping the included ball valve out for a 3 piece one for this exact reason...I've been dreading taking the original one off, cleaning it and then trying to get it back on and having it stay watertight too

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I've been actually thinking about swapping the included ball valve out for a 3 piece one for this exact reason...I've been dreading taking the original one off, cleaning it and then trying to get it back on and having it stay watertight too

My intention was just swap the ball valve out for a new one, I thought well if they can be put together they should be able to come apart, a good long soak in the deck clean was able to loosen everything up an old tooth brush and a line brush did the rest, finished with a soak in sodium perborate/percarbonate.

 

[CyriusBrew]

I am about to make the plunge and do the purchase... Can anyone tell me if any hoses come with the guten 50 for the immersion chiller?
If not, what things do you reckon I need to purchase, so that I can connect the chiller to my kitchen sink?

It will be nice to get out of the Wellington wind and rain when brewing.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I am about to make the plunge and do the purchase... Can anyone tell me if any hoses come with the guten 50 for the immersion chiller?
If not, what things do you reckon I need to purchase, so that I can connect the chiller to my kitchen sink?

It will be nice to get out of the Wellington wind and rain when brewing.

No hoses, but bog standard garden hose fits over the immersion chiller just need a couple of hose clamps. I would imagine you would get some fittings from a hardware shop in Wellington.

 

[CyriusBrew]

TY for answering Weal. I will have to order those then since the stores only sell online right now...but good to know, so that I can place the order tonight!

 

[Grmblz]

TY for answering Weal. I will have to order those then since the stores only sell online right now...but good to know, so that I can place the order tonight!

If your chiller is 12.5mm then 12.7mm Compression Fitting to 1/2inch BSP if not then whoever makes it should offer something similar, you then screw on garden hose fittings, think garden tap and hose. WEAL! hose clamps fer fk's sake, I bet you don't have any.

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

I used compression fittings. I couldn't get the hose clamps to seal properly. It was a while ago but I think the IC that came with my guten was 10mm pipe, which had something to do with the bit sealing properly.

If the new ones come with a 12.5mm pipe hose clamps should work ok.

 

[Grmblz]

Ahaaa, Guten or Robo, over to you weal, I'm currently conflicted and unable to comment, I believe it's called a Leopold, ask Will

 

[wide eyed and legless]

If your chiller is 12.5mm then 12.7mm Compression Fitting to 1/2inch BSP if not then whoever makes it should offer something similar, you then screw on garden hose fittings, think garden tap and hose. WEAL! hose clamps fer fk's sake, I bet you don't have any.

I do so Graham, two clamps on inlet and outlet, never taken off, the hoses remain connected when stored.

 

[Grmblz]

I had you pegged as a clip on clip off sort of guy, mind you hose clamps fit with the tight arse part of your nature.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I had you pegged as a clip on clip off sort of guy, mind you hose clamps fit with the tight arse part of your nature.

Best thing my Yorkshire mother taught me was to be frugal, and frugal I am.