Issues with Unibrau v3 - Need Help

[Ylbc]

Hey guys,

Hoping maybe someone can help me here. Bought the Unibrau v3 about 4 months ago. Did 4 batches on it and everything was going well. The last time I brewed, about 6 minutes into the mash, i smelled a harsh burning smell and my smoke detector went off, as well as the circuit breaker tripped in my house. Long story short, the element was fried, turned black. I contacted Steve at Unibrau (who has been great helping out) and he sent a replacement heating element. Hooked it up an hour ago, set 5 gallons of water to heat at 149, kept it there for 2 hours. Came back, added about 7 lb of grain, and within five minutes smelled the same burning smell and the breaker tripped. Another element fried.

So I am def a little frustrated, the second batch of grain I've had to dump, and def a little disappointed. I originally went with the Unibrau because it was more BIAB than a grain father. I would have preferred to not need a second way of heating water and do it all in the same unit. I usually do 2.5 Gal batches. Did I make a mistake? Should I have just gotten a grain father? I def didnt want to spend the 1k i spent on the Unibrau and have the issues I'm having.

Anyone have any idea whats going on? Better expereiences on the Grainfather? In fairness to Unibrau i've reached out again to them asking them for help (it just happened about an hour ago so they haven't responded yet but that is completely expected as its the weekend)

 

[mwayne112]

What is the water level above the mash? With 2.5 gal batch I’m guessing your running the pump too fast and dry firing the element as all the wort is on top of the bed.

 

[Ylbc]

What is the water level above the mash? With 2.5 gal batch I’m guessing your running the pump too fast and dry firing the element as all the wort is on top of the bed.

I only had the pump on slightly, so that the grain bed only grew by an inch or two. There was 4.5 gallons of water in it. But this is a good idea. The first time it happened though was on a 5 gallon batch that had 8 gallons of water in it.

 

[cwhyzee]

I only had the pump on slightly, so that the grain bed only grew by an inch or two. There was 4.5 gallons of water in it. But this is a good idea. The first time it happened though was on a 5 gallon batch that had 8 gallons of water in it.

Did you ever get this issue resolved?
Was the grain bucket in the raised or lowered position when the element burned out?
What did the element look like when it burned out?

Do you use a fine grind on your grain? Do you end up with a lot of solids in the boil tank?

I have brewed a couple batches on min UniBrau v3 so far and I cant imagine the element burning out unless it was dry or covered in grain.

 

[Ylbc]

Did you ever get this issue resolved?
Was the grain bucket in the raised or lowered position when the element burned out?
What did the element look like when it burned out?

Do you use a fine grind on your grain? Do you end up with a lot of solids in the boil tank?

I have brewed a couple batches on min UniBrau v3 so far and I cant imagine the element burning out unless it was dry or covered in grain.

So it ended up being I had added a DIPTUBE to the pump. And what would happen is it would eventually pull enough wort to make the element dry fire. Without it, the pump can't pick up enough liquid to get the element completely dry.

 

[cwhyzee]

So it ended up being I had added a DIPTUBE to the pump. And what would happen is it would eventually pull enough wort to make the element dry fire. Without it, the pump can't pick up enough liquid to get the element completely dry.

I'm glad you figured out the cause of the problem. How did you add the diptube? I have been toying with the idea of adding a filter screen at the pump inlet port to prevent hop and grain matter from entering the wort chiller. But so far I cant figure out how to make this work.

 

[matt_m]

I'm also curious about this. I'm considering buying their kettle but this seems like a major issue. Without the diptube, isn't the kettle loss pretty big?

 

[Ylbc]

I'm also curious about this. I'm considering buying their kettle but this seems like a major issue. Without the diptube, isn't the kettle loss pretty big?

Yea the losses are I think are 6 quarts if I remember right. I did by a rolling oil stand that I put the kettle on. This allows me to lean the kettle towards the pump and get everything except about 2 cups of wort.

The thing is in hindsight you can add the DIPTUBE, you just need to make sure the flow of thr pump is extremely slight, less than a trickle. Especially if you crush fine and have a slow moving grain bed.