Single Vessel Electric Brew Rig Build

[Danwood]

Cant speak for the others that have built rigs in a similar style to mine, but for me i'm not trying to get a grain bed. Quite the opposite actually.

I remember reading about some (not all) biab'ers experiencing loss of efficiency. I thought, well i need to keep the temp of the mash relatively stable, and if i stir it regularly i should be able to increase efficiency too. So if i put a return tube for the wort that releases it down into the grain, the temp should eventually remain stable (once the rig equalises) and this action should also resemble some kind of stirring benefit too.

I am coming from a 3v brewery, so i'm familiar with grain beds for clarity and lautering etc...I am more than happy to lose some clarity, to gain simplicity on my brewday provided my efficiency is not too different.

Typical efficiency for me into the fermenter on my 3V is 83%. Used the single vessel last brewday for the first time (without the aluminium basket though) and landed on 82%. Drained and squeezed the bag, and poured maybe 4-6litres over the top of the bag hoping to extract some trapped sugars. This time though using the basket, i'll be able to open the bag with the basket hanging off my pulley, and pour the sparge water straight through the grain. I'm expecting a higher efficiency next brewday (this weekend). Not necessarily a big increase, but i'm sure i'll hit 85%, in which case i'll be stoked.

Based on a wet run using just water, i'll be able to knock out two cubes in 3.5hrs or less, and bugger all to clean up and pack away.

That basket is exactly what I've been looking for, but couldn't find, for my 40l Birko BIAB set-up.

My efficiency at the moment is crap, 55%ish, and easily sparging into the bag-in-the-basket would help. Plus no un-even draining from the bag down the outside of the kettle once its hoisted, I'm guessing?

Do you remember how much you paid ? I'd be looking for something 360mm H by 320mm W.

Great setup btw

 

[bignath]

That basket is exactly what I've been looking for, but couldn't find, for my 40l Birko BIAB set-up.

My efficiency at the moment is crap, 55%ish, and easily sparging into the bag-in-the-basket would help. Plus no un-even draining from the bag down the outside of the kettle once its hoisted, I'm guessing?

Do you remember how much you paid ? I'd be looking for something 360mm H by 320mm W.

Great setup btw

Thanks mate, glad you enjoyed this thread.

That basket cost me $50. I got it from a fishing store in my town, and the owner was happy to sell it to me for half the price of the complete crab cooker setup, as i wasn't interested in the pot it was with.

Not all stores will do this though. Try your luck, see how you go.

Diameter of the basket is 350mm, Depth is 280mm.

I've put 4 SS bolts in the bottom of it to support it just above the elements so i don't need to use a colander, and it should also allow better heat distribution through the vessel.

Cheers,

Nath

 

[seamad]

Danwood, if you are only getting 55% eff with biab in an urn then something in your procedure or ingredients has to be wrong .

How fresh is your grain? What is your mill setting? Is your thermometer calibrated? What mash schedule are you using?

If you can post some figures from your brewday and what you do myself and others may be able to improve those figures for you.

Not sure of the dimensions of the birko but i have converted my crown urn into a braumeister copy ( blackdog brewmaster thread if you are interested) and use a bigw 19 l stockpot ($20) as the malt pipe, you could easily driil this pot as its thin, or cut some slots in it, cheaper alternative than most.

Cheers
sean

 

[Danwood]

Ok, thanks for the offer, Sean. And thanks in advance to others for advice offered.

I'll refer to the last recipe I did, which had a typical efficiency problem.

Weizenbock recipe from Jan-Feb BYO Mag, slightly adapted to the stock I had.

Birko 40l Urn BIAB, single step infusion, no mash out (should I ??), no sparge.

4kg- JW Wheat
2kg- Pilsener
1kg- Munich
0.7- Crystal Wheat
40g Hallertau 6.5% AA @ 60mins

90min boil
60min mash @ 67 C (although it was more like 90mins due to an errand)

During gravity testing towards the end of the boil, I only had 1.056, so added 0.4kg brown sugar (I have dextrose and large supply of honey, but thought the brown sugar might leave some complimentary flavours/colour).

OG - 1.066 Recipe OG - 1.082
FG - 1.008 Recipe FG - 1.021

Mine fermented to 1.008, a big difference considering I'm sure it held 67C, at least for the 1st hour and no additional heat was applied.

As for the grain, most was purchased 2months ago. The Munich and Pilsener are around 12months old. All are stored in air tight, food-grade, plastic drums in the garage.
The milling is probably on the fine side. I don't sparge at the moment so am not too concerned with it getting stuck. The milling is always per batch and the day before brewing.

So my questions / thoughts are-

Grain too old ? Looking back through brew day notes shows I'm usually low on gravities, even when the grain was new, so maybe not?
Should I add rice hulls with so much wheat involved, regardless of not sparging ? (Although the efficiency problem still occurs when no wheat is used)
Why did it ferment out further ?

Cheers,

Dan

Oh... and you mentioned a calibrated thermometer, Sean. I assume you meant hydrometer? If so, it's rated at 20C and I test at that.

 

[seamad]

Thats a big beer. Are all your beers this high?
One of the limitations of biab is that effeciency goes down as og goes up. Ive never tried a beer that big but i would think a sparge is going to be essential to improve effeciency. You cant get a stuck sparge with biab so no need to worry about rice hulls. Have a look at nickjd stovetop biwb, he makes a smaller batch with high og then dilutes it down to get a full volume, you may need to adjust his method to your system for high gravity brews. Id be sparging that brew with 78 C water, possibly up to ten litres,doing say 2-3L at a time and checking gravity.

I did mean thermometr, if its out 2-3 C then your fg will be affected. Also adding that sugar is going to lower the fg as well.

Is your urn insulated? Sounds like it probably is if temp was ok after 90 min,which is probably a suitable time for that beer anyway.

Sure some more experienced brewers will chime in with some better advice on high gravity biab
cheers
sean

 

[Danwood]

I've never thought to check the thermometer. I just assumed it's correct. It was brand new when I got it and it agrees with the stick-on fermenter thermometer.
Even it was a couple of degrees out, that wouldn't account for a gravity mis-reading of such high margin...surely?

This was the biggest beer I've attempted, and yes, the margin by which I missed the OG was a lot more than with, say, an ESB I did a few weeks ago. Beersmith - 1.054 Me - 1.046

Yes, the urn is insulated. I had real problems before, not getting a good boil with the lid completely off to allow the steam to escape and not just condense and fall back in!

And in other news.... I've just finished attacking a 19l SS stockpot with a drill, and I'm also watching GryphonBrewing's site for one his little pumps to start re-circulating the mash. I think these two additions should solve some problems.

The pot will be raised up off the element on 3 SS bolt 'legs'. Thanks for that piece of advice Nath, and you too Sean,

I'll raise my first Weizenbock next week in your honour...it reached 7.6%ABV despite the problems....''mmm, malty and bananary''.... then..... ''why am I on the floor ?!!''..... and finally.... "yes, officer, I realise this is no laughing matter".

 

[bignath]

OK.

updates....

Brewed on this rig again yesterday doing a Citra Pale Ale. I have also made two improvements to the rig.

i have installed two of these, one at each end of the wort return hose. This way i can shutoff the flow of the wort or water from both ends when i disconnect it at the end of the mash to clean it without dumping a hose worth of fluid out from underneath. At the top end (wort return) having one of these also, lets me control the speed of the wort return.

http://www.gardena.com/au/water-management...trol-valve-1-2/

Had a problem with aprevious brew where i made an element go bang. I suspect it was due to the mash sucking dry faster than it could return back through the mash. No problems this time. Hit every one of my targets, and brew day was soooo easy.

Also, the other improvement is i have finally got round ro replacing the nasty water pressure hose from bunnies, to silicone hose. CHEERS NEV. Very fast service, and cheap too. Arrived today, installed on the rig shortly after. Bought two metres of it. Less than one metre for the rig, and the leftovers will be keg transfer hose.

I love making beer on this rig!

 

[breakbeer]

awesome Big Nath, good to hear ya sorted out the issues

did you have to play around with the flow rate on the return pipe much?

my weldless ball valves arrive tomorrow then I'm just waiting for more of those pumps to arrive & I'm sorted!

 

[bignath]

awesome Big Nath, good to hear ya sorted out the issues

did you have to play around with the flow rate on the return pipe much?

my weldless ball valves arrive tomorrow then I'm just waiting for more of those pumps to arrive & I'm sorted!

Hey man, was good to put the rig through its paces without worrying about filming it, timing it, collecti g data etc... I just made beer. Was really enjoyable.

Had the top tap open halfway, maybe a little less. No hint of any problems. Bottom tap was completely open.

Cheers,
Nath

 

[Yob]

Though my choice is for many more vessels its a bloody good feeling to dial in on your chosen system.. Especially hitting the right numbers as you go, well done BN.

I love these threads, amd the fact we build our own systems to get the sweet sweet nectar..

My own is going to go though its paces on the weekend,planning a heather ale and then an AIPA back to back

Love this game

:lol:

 

[black_labb]

who needs a 3v setup when you can have 3 1v setups!!!

 

[bignath]

who needs a 3v setup when you can have 3 1v setups!!!

:lol: :lol:

Very funny labb...

I still have my 3v rig which can be used at the drop of a hat too if need be. I've got way to much crap i think....

This single vessel build is really only a glorified HLT with some way of mashing in it, so this can replace my HLT in the 3v and offers me flexibility to brew 1v or 3v.

I probably need to downsize and just settle on one rig, clear out the shed, offload gear etc...









Nah, **** that. :lol:

 

[lukasfab]

Hey bignath what kettle was it from big w?
Was it a adobe or whatever they are, the one I saw was 7 but had no cord/base

 

[Wolfy]

Hey bignath what kettle was it from big w?
Was it a adobe or whatever they are, the one I saw was 7 but had no cord/base

Over here on the East, BigW, Kmart, and Coles (if they have that kind of stuff at the shop) all sell the kettles for $7-8.
Interestingly -with the BigW Abode kettle- you can plug a computer-type cable directly into the plugs on the kettle-part if you don't want to use the base.

 

[lukasfab]

What sort of computer plug mate?

 

[lukasfab]

What sort of computer plug mate?

 

[Wolfy]

What sort of computer plug mate?

I presume the plug has a technical name, but this is what I mean:

This is the fitting pulled from the back of a BigW 'Abode' cordless kettle, as you can see the 'computer type' plug is a perfect fit.
You don't need to pull the kettle apart to do this, but I have because it's likely I'll be using the element in another container.

 

[bignath]

Yep thats them wolfy...

I got mine from kmart, and it has exactly the same system in it. Not sure about the base on yours, but my kettles drop down onto the base and the three pins make a connection with the ase. Take it apart and just replace with the cable. Too easy!

Technical name for the cable is an IEC cable.

 

[lukasfab]

cheers boys

 

[breakbeer]

Hi Big Nath,

I'm after some advice from The Master, if that's o.k?

At the stage of deciding what Thermometer I should go with. Can't decide between a weldless one like this:

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=4326

or an inline one between the outlet of the recirc pump & the wort return pipe, like this one:

http://www.ibrew.com.au/collections/thermo...ial-thermometer


what are your thoughts?