3-in-1 "Boil Kettle, Jacketed Chiller, Conical Fermenter" by Brewha

[cuda6pak]

I, too, have the original style colander with just the perforated holes. I had been debating between adding a second false bottom as you have or going with the bag+false bottom, but the "dead water" thing won me over.

I'm actually brewing right now so I'll snap a few pics.

 

[limulus]

Hey Guys, it is really interesting to see the commercial variants that Nathan has introduced. I visited a brewery in GA last month that had his largest version. If my memory is correct, they had 4 units.

Now that I've built a brewery with a traditional 3-pc brewhouse, unitanks and BBTs. But, I am using my BIAC for such things as a pilot system. I bought a small 60L jacketed fermenter that can hold pressure to use with my BIAC. The BIAC is also a nice little hot water heater for cleaning misc valves, tees, elbows, etc. Just drop the parts into the mash basket. It is also useful for keeping water at about 80F which can be recirculated through FV jackets to keep temps at 68F in winter. With no heat turned on in the brewhouse and cellar area, the brewhouse temps last week were 54F (NC mountains), so I need a little help keeping tanks in the 60s.​

 

[K_tile]

Do you remember the name of the brewery in GA?

 

[jcarraher]

I have the Brau Supply 5 gallon BIAC system. It works great and is similar in most ways to the Brewha. The colander just has regular holes in the bottom and will hold a stated 20 lb. of grain but it seems maxed at about 18 lb. I would love it if it had a wire wedge colander. I used to brew with the multiple kettles and transfers, but this has really simplified brewing and cleanup. I have a 1650w element and a 600w element hooked to 2 different circuits 120v. I use an internal coil to keep fermentation temps where I want them connected to a glycol chiller. The system came with a solenoid valve to hook the the sink to recirculate through the coil, but, in summer my water temps are about 77 degrees and just didn't work for me. I think the BIAC type system is definitely the smallest footprint with the least cleanup.

 

[cuda6pak]

Hey Guys, it is really interesting to see the commercial variants that Nathan has introduced. I visited a brewery in GA last month that had his largest version. If my memory is correct, they had 4 units.

Now that I've built a brewery with a traditional 3-pc brewhouse, unitanks and BBTs. But, I am using my BIAC for such things as a pilot system. I bought a small 60L jacketed fermenter that can hold pressure to use with my BIAC. The BIAC is also a nice little hot water heater for cleaning misc valves, tees, elbows, etc. Just drop the parts into the mash basket. It is also useful for keeping water at about 80F which can be recirculated through FV jackets to keep temps at 68F in winter. With no heat turned on in the brewhouse and cellar area, the brewhouse temps last week were 54F (NC mountains), so I need a little help keeping tanks in the 60s.​

We initially planned to to the commercial 5bbl BIAC system but it just wouldn't fit right with our business plan and some of the downsides outweighed the upsides. Going to try and do it a 2-vessel brewhouse (in-line water heater) with just unitank FV's and no BBT so we'll see how well that works. We'll be 95%+ all on-premise. Great ideas with the BIAC - I've been thinking about it's use as a CIP tank but hadn't thought about using it as a mini-HLT to increase temps for fermentation if needed. Do you just recover the glycol/water mix that's in the jacket to another holding tank until you're done using the BIAC as the recirc tank?

 

[rowesron8]

I would recommend the one from Nathan at Brewha. I'm currently fermenting at 60 degrees Fahrenheit with his chiller and it's about 90 in my garage. It's been over 100 here for more than a week and I could easily lager even with the high ambient temp. I only have the chiller temp at setting 2 (50F) and it goes to 7 (32F)

Hi, I am thinking of purchasing the chiller from Brewha. Could I ask what size BIAC you have, and what size chiller you purchased? And, how much of the post-boil cooling do you do with the chiller. Meaning, at what temp in the post-boil cool down do you switch from municipal water to the chiller. I have the 10 gallon capacity BIAC. Looking at Nathan's site, the smaller chiller is a 3/8 ton capacity, and the larger is 1 ton. The 1 ton seems like it would be nice to have, but it's pretty big, and pricey.

Thanks for your comments.

 

[rowesron8]

I currently use the system that Nathan sells, which is the 10G BIAC and the Lindr chiller. Got to say that the setup is pretty awesome except that mash temperature control is somewhat inconsistent in that actual mash temperatures varies significantly throughout the mash even though the temperature controller says it is at a specific temperature, ie. 152F. I have a 2 foot long temperature probe sold by Thermoworks where I can measure the temperature at all depths in the mash. The temperature can be 154F at the surface, 147F at the base of the mash-tun, and all temps in between. With 18 gallons of water, 32 pounds of grain, and 2 pounds of rice hulls, getting a consistent 152F throughout the mash-tun is difficult. Just because the temperature controller says 152F and the recirculation looks good, doesn’t mean that the entire mash is at 152F. The variation in the mash temps have not effected the amazing quality of beer I can make with this system.

What I have been doing is mashing in with 168F water with the 34 pounds of grain and hulls, and keeping the temperature controller at about 157F to get a grain temperature near 152 (BTW, 18 gallons of water and 34 pounds of grain maxes out the 10G BIAC). I stir the mash about 4 times during the hour. After an hour, I start raising the temperature by a few degrees every 5 minutes or so until I get to 174F on the controller. The grain temperature never gets past about 167F all the while I am raising the controller temperature. I have done thirteen 10 gallon batches now in my BIAC and the results are consistent.

Temperature control with the chiller and during fermentation is excellent, within 1 degree. I normally chill the wort with Chicago city water to near fermentation temps, then hook it up to the chiller. Precise fermentation control is achieved by using the chiller, and using the heating probe set to 3% power setting. I only use one or the other, but because my basement is near 66F, I have to switch to the heating element near the end of fermentation to raise the temps to 67F and above to finish off.

When fermentation is done (I usually wait for 2 weeks), I set the temperature controller to chill the wort to 37F. After a day or two, I generally fine with gelatin and leave it for 2 more days at 37F (this is the lowest setting I can achieve with the water chiller). Then rack the clear beer to 2 corny kegs.

I recently had a problem with the chiller that confused me. My chiller sat on the floor and for the first 11 batches the system worked as advertised. Then I started getting back-flow from the jacket into the chiller through the input hose when the temperature controller shut off the chiller. The result was 2 gallons of water into the overflow bucket, then icing of the coils in the chiller the next time the chiller was turned on. The fix (Nathan’s advice) was to elevate the chiller to be at or slightly above the jacket so the back-flow does not happen. That fixed the problem.

Have any of you experienced the same things I have???

Hi, May I ask what size BIAC you have, and what size chiller you bought? I have the 10-12 gallon (was "medium" BIAC when purchased in 2014). Do you use the chiller for post-boil cooling? At what temp do you switch from municipal water to chiller for cooling? Thanks!

 

[hgearle]

Hi, May I ask what size BIAC you have, and what size chiller you bought? I have the 10-12 gallon (was "medium" BIAC when purchased in 2014). Do you use the chiller for post-boil cooling? At what temp do you switch from municipal water to chiller for cooling? Thanks!

See previous page 30 post #1175 for a picture, and further down the page #1193 shows it hooked up to the sink. I have the large 90L system (which was the old medium) with the Lindr AS-110 chiller. I connect the jacket to the municipal supply until the water gets to about 80F (in the winter I can go to 65F) then switch to the chiller.

 

[jcarraher]

I have had the same experience as far as when to convert to the chiller. They are not designed for the massive initial cooling. I like to try and get it to 75F if possible before switching, and even lower in winter.

 

[limulus]

Do you remember the name of the brewery in GA?

Yep, it was Indio Brewing Co in Sugar Hill.

 

[limulus]

We initially planned to to the commercial 5bbl BIAC system but it just wouldn't fit right with our business plan and some of the downsides outweighed the upsides. Going to try and do it a 2-vessel brewhouse (in-line water heater) with just unitank FV's and no BBT so we'll see how well that works. We'll be 95%+ all on-premise. Great ideas with the BIAC - I've been thinking about it's use as a CIP tank but hadn't thought about using it as a mini-HLT to increase temps for fermentation if needed. Do you just recover the glycol/water mix that's in the jacket to another holding tank until you're done using the BIAC as the recirc tank?

Yeah, I have drains on both zones of each tank so I can capture glycol solution.

 

[jcarraher]

Hi, I am thinking of purchasing the chiller from Brewha. Could I ask what size BIAC you have, and what size chiller you purchased? And, how much of the post-boil cooling do you do with the chiller. Meaning, at what temp in the post-boil cool down do you switch from municipal water to the chiller. I have the 10 gallon capacity BIAC. Looking at Nathan's site, the smaller chiller is a 3/8 ton capacity, and the larger is 1 ton. The 1 ton seems like it would be nice to have, but it's pretty big, and pricey.

Thanks for your comments.

The 3/8 hp will do fine for 10 gallons since it really shouldn't be used for the initial cooling. You could actually run multiple fermenters off of the 3/8 hp just for temperature control. The larger is really complete overkill.

 

[jcarraher]

I have an SS Brewtech glycol chiller, but I've seen a new one from Blichmann. I like mine but I'm sure others are great too.

 

[jcarraher]

I get it. I'm an outsider in this forum. I will try to stay in my domain.

 

[rowesron8]

See previous page 30 post #1175 for a picture, and further down the page #1193 shows it hooked up to the sink. I have the large 90L system (which was the old medium) with the Lindr AS-110 chiller. I connect the jacket to the municipal supply until the water gets to about 80F (in the winter I can go to 65F) then switch to the chiller.

Thanks, that helps a lot. My experience is same as to how low I can get post boil before cooling slows to a crawl. I was hoping to be able to use a chiller for a lot more of the cooling. Guess that isn't practical. I had an email chat with Nathan concerning the fellow in Honduras who says he uses the chiller to cool post boil from 170 to 60 something. Nathan said that fellow bought the small BIAC, so he's only cooling 5 gallons at a time.

 

[rowesron8]

The 3/8 hp will do fine for 10 gallons since it really shouldn't be used for the initial cooling. You could actually run multiple fermenters off of the 3/8 hp just for temperature control. The larger is really complete overkill.

Thanks very much. It helps to know the experience of others before making a significant, special purpose investment like this chiller.

 

[cuda6pak]

I run aquarium chillers on my BIAC (old medium 90L) and Brewer's Hardware 15gal conical that are both 1/3hp (Teco Tank). I switch over from municipal to the chiller around 100*F. Gives me time to do any leftover cleanup and prep by the time it takes it down the rest of the way to pitching temp.

Also check the actual wort temp prior to pitching to verify it matches the temp sensor prob on the BIAC. Due to the large volume of liquid and no recirculation, I often see 10-15deg difference between the wort and what the temp probe reads (when chilling the wort via the jacket and no WP or wort recirculation is going on).

FWIW when I WP the wort during chilling the actual wort temp will match the temp probe exactly, same as mashing, it's when there is no movement and the wort becomes stagnant with the rapid temperature drop that you will see a difference.

 

[Dan Wendling]

Looking for guidance on the best way to clean and disinfect the cooling jacket of a medium BAIC 4-in1? I plan to use a Brewtech .5HP chiller with water to cool but would like to use heated water from the jacket to sparge. I am concerned that the welds internal to the jacket are not polished as the internal ones are so getting the jacketed area clean and keeping it clean might be an issue.

 

[K_tile]

Hop utilization in the BIAC. When following standard IPA or NEIPA recipes has anyone found that the hop amounts need adjusted due to the conical shape? I have been making amazing lagers in the BIAC but my hoppy beers need more work?

 

[jcarraher]

I have used hop bags and a 400 micron stainless canister. I did find that the 400 micron is too fine to get all of the hop flavor and IBU's that you planned to get. The hop bags worked great, and my other recipes were pretty much on target with a less fine filter. I'm not sure that te conical shape comes into play, but the circulation does matter. I used the finer filter to leave less residual material behind, but it was a mistake.

 

[mkilday]

Hello All. Thanks for the good info. Does anyone know how to resolve the differences between the temp probe reading and the actual mash temp? I have a medium BIAC. I followed my beersmith numbers (with Medium BIAC profile) and hit my strike temp once I mashed in....or at least I thought so. Thr stock temp probe is reading 156 but my measured mash temp is 142! I've made multiple 10G batches of poor beer and now I know why. My mash was extremely low and leaving no residual sugar in the fermented beer. I pushed my controller to 168 on the temp probe which delivered 155 deg wort out the hose in the return....and my wort is still mid 140s. I'm not sure what to make of this. I know I made better beer when I was doing a simple biab method. Is this a unique case or have you all adjusted to this same problem with the temp readings?

 

[mkilday]

Posting a reply to my question above for anyone that might have the same question. Nathan at Brewha is great about getting back to his customers. He suggested that my strike temp needs to be closer to 15 deg higher than my mash temp (instead of the 8 deg higher that Beersmith suggested). He also pointed out that my wort is cooling some during the slow recirculation. All that said, I'll be trying a strike temp 15-18 deg higher than desired mash temp and then program my PID controller at a target temp about 8 deg higher than mash temp so that returning wort is at mash temp. I dont think my wort is cooling that much during recirc so my temp probe may be slightly high. I'm going to calibrate it before my next batch when I have the strike water in the vessel.

Hope this feedback I received from Nathan helps.

 

[K_tile]

Anyone interested in selling their Brewha setup? I'm looking for large (90L) up to 5bbl systems. Thank you!

 

[K_tile]

Still building my Brewha family! Everyone still making good beer?