Brew Boss Systems

[MerlinWerks]

My routine is similar to yours. Once brewing is done I disconnect the kettle and scrub out the heavier gunk and heating element with BKF and rinse. Then I connect it back up add the hot water I saved from my immersion chiller (5 -6 gal), some PBW, heat it to 160F - 170F and recirculate for 20 min or so. Drain that into a bucket to soak the hopsock and anything else that might benefit from a PBW soak e.g. coffee carafe, thermos

Then I'll fill it with about 7 gal. of the remaining reserved immersion water (I usually collect ~15 gal total) heat to 160F - 170F and recirculate again for 20 min or so. Drain everything including the pump. I use a butterfly valve on the output of the kettle and Brewers Hardware quick clean ball valve on the output of my pump, those plus the TC gaskets/clamps get tossed in the hot PBW bucket overnite.

At first it did seem like it was a lot of extra work and time, but I try to get that part going as soon as possible and then clean up all the other stuff, starter vessel, funnels, etc. while the brew system is heating and recirculating. I have my routine pretty streamlined now and it's kind of automatic and with the aid of a couple brews and some music I hardly even notice anymore...

 

[Schumed]

Hey guys I am curious as to how you clean your hoses and system? The cofi, element, and kettle are pretty obvouse but the hoses, chiller and everything else I am not so sure about.

Currently after brewing I break down the entire system and give it a rinse and quick scrub with the sponge. Then I put it all back together and run water throw everything to purge out the lines and chiller. The I heat up about 5 gallons to warm up the water to about 100 degrees and add in some one step and run it through the whole system.

Then I would break down then entire system.

Am I doing to much? I feel like the cleaning is taking to long.

Thanks for your input.

Rex

I collect the first 6 gallons of water from my chiller because its still warm...add pbw..I then fill the kettle with it after transfering the wort...and recirculate with the hot pbw for 10 minutes...drain...then fill with 5 gallons of hot water to rinse the pbw out

 

[Beavdowg]

My routine is similar to yours. Once brewing is done I disconnect the kettle and scrub out the heavier gunk and heating element with BKF and rinse. Then I connect it back up add the hot water I saved from my immersion chiller (5 -6 gal), some PBW, heat it to 160F - 170F and recirculate for 20 min or so. Drain that into a bucket to soak the hopsock and anything else that might benefit from a PBW soak e.g. coffee carafe, thermos

Then I'll fill it with about 7 gal. of the remaining reserved immersion water (I usually collect ~15 gal total) heat to 160F - 170F and recirculate again for 20 min or so. Drain everything including the pump. I use a butterfly valve on the output of the kettle and Brewers Hardware quick clean ball valve on the output of my pump, those plus the TC gaskets/clamps get tossed in the hot PBW bucket overnite.

At first it did seem like it was a lot of extra work and time, but I try to get that part going as soon as possible and then clean up all the other stuff, starter vessel, funnels, etc. while the brew system is heating and recirculating. I have my routine pretty streamlined now and it's kind of automatic and with the aid of a couple brews and some music I hardly even notice anymore...

So how long does your entire brew day take then?

thanks

 

[MerlinWerks]

Usually around 6 hrs, most normal beers are 60 min mash/75 min boil...

 

[Schumed]

6 hours??? Kind of defeating the purpose of BIAB...im done in 3 hous

 

[puremalice]

I collect the first 6 gallons of water from my chiller because its still warm...add pbw..I then fill the kettle with it after transfering the wort...and recirculate with the hot pbw for 10 minutes...drain...then fill with 5 gallons of hot water to rinse the pbw out

Great use of the runoff water. I am going to have to catch mine and do the same.

 

[puremalice]

So how long does your entire brew day take then?

thanks

I get my whole routing right now down to about 4 hours. I think after a few more batches I can shave a bit more time.

 

[mcgimpkins]

Am I doing to much? I feel like the cleaning is taking to long.

I have a smaller stock pot, (you don't need a stock pot you could use a ported bucket,) that has a valve attached to it. I put 2 gallons of water in it and PBW. I use my whirlpool arm to transfer to the fermenter, when full, I disconnect from the BB kettle and connect the hose to the stock pot filled with cleaner (all my lines are Camlock), I then run the pump into the sink until cleaner water stars flowing out of the whirlpool arm.

The whirlpool arm goes back into the stockpot filled with cleaner, and I let the pump run circulating cleaner though the hoses and pump, while I disassemble the pot and clean that.

When done cleaning the pot I turn off the pump disconnect the hose from the stockpot filled with cleaner and connect it to a hose to camlock adapter and connect that to my sink tap to flush the pump and tubing with tap water. Every couple of brews I dissemble the pump to make sure it is staying clean, this method seems to keep it pretty gunk free.

In addition you can also throw smaller things like the hose going into the COFI and the copper centerpiece of the COFI to soak in the stockpot filled with cleaner while it is cycling water.

 

[MerlinWerks]

6 hours??? Kind of defeating the purpose of BIAB...im done in 3 hous

If your priority is to have the shortest brew day possible then I suppose it is defeating the purpose.

Lucky for me that's not why I BIAB

I could certainly get it down to sub four hours if I wanted to, I just don't have the need to...

 

[puremalice]

I have a smaller stock pot, (you don't need a stock pot you could use a ported bucket,) that has a valve attached to it. I put 2 gallons of water in it and PBW. I use my whirlpool arm to transfer to the fermenter, when full, I disconnect from the .....

Mcgimpkins that is a great idea! I can clean everything else while the lines are cleaning. Thanks.

 

[puremalice]

I have a smaller stock pot, (you don't need a stock pot you could use a ported bucket,) that has a valve attached to it. I put 2 gallons of water in it and PBW. I use my whirlpool arm to transfer to the fermenter, when full, I disconnect from the .....

Mcgimpkins that is a great idea! I can clean everything else while the lines are cleaning. Thanks.

 

[puremalice]

I have a smaller stock pot, (you don't need a stock pot you could use a ported bucket,) that has a valve attached to it. I put 2 gallons of water in it and PBW. I use my whirlpool arm to transfer to the fermenter, when full, I disconnect from the BB ke.......

I liked the idea so much I replied twice.

 

[puremalice]

I crushed my grain at .040 this brew cycle with an over all eff. of 74%. I need to send off my water to see if that will help at all but I did notice that I had a great grain bed. I think I will go to .050 on the next brew and up my mash to 90 minutes and see what happens.

 

[Beavdowg]

6 hours??? Kind of defeating the purpose of BIAB...im done in 3 hous

Yes, this is the ENTIRE reason I'm switching to BIAB and have purchased the Brew Boss. I haven't brewed in about a year because I got so tired of 5.5-6 hr brew days. I'm really, really hoping my brew day will get down to 3.5-4 hrs.

Cheers!

 

[richl025]

Yes, this is the ENTIRE reason I'm switching to BIAB and have purchased the Brew Boss. I haven't brewed in about a year because I got so tired of 5.5-6 hr brew days. I'm really, really hoping my brew day will get down to 3.5-4 hrs.

Cheers!

I've been doing BIAB for a little over a year now, with a propane-fired 10 gall kettle. It takes me about 4.5 hours from setup until cleanup is finished - but I'm pretty sure when I switch to eBIAB (with a Brew Boss or other, haven't decided yet) I'll save at least a half-hour heating water - propane is so inefficient!

 

[markgalli]

eBIAB can save you maybe 30 to 60 minutes. Most of your saving is lautering time. It still takes time to drain the bag (10 minutes). It's also a kettle or two less to wash, so add another 10 minutes savings. Then again, you have to clean the bag: add another five minutes back.

I got into eBIAB because I couldn't control my mash temps as tightly as I wanted with propane. And with Brew Boss, it automates much of the brewing process so that I forget less often something I should have done ten minutes ago!

I find when brewing quickly is the goal, I become frustrated and irritated. If my goal to brew great beer, how much time it takes becomes a distant second, and I really enjoy the time. That being said, I try to be efficient as possible, but usually end up with 5-hour brew days.

That's why I sometimes split the brew into two days. Day one is mash and drain. Day two is boil and into the fermenter. eBiab makes heating the kettle efficient. I wake up, set Brew Boss to 205F, then go back in the house and have breakfast or whatever. Whenever I come out, it's holding at 205F, and then I crank it up to boil and that happens in just a couple of minutes as I'm preparing my hop and other additions.

Anyway, this is one brewer's experience and method, for better or worse.

 

[Schumed]

My record is 2 hours in 54 minutes ...setup to clean up

 

[BLuck]

Brewed my first 10-gal batch on 20-gal pot Brew Boss BIAB system. It was a Black Rye PA.

First, assembly was straight forward and easy. Wet test went well with a few drips from the pump connections that I fixed. My only complaint is I tried to use iOS app (ipad mini) but it was far too slow and unresponsive to use so I swapped to Android emulator on the laptop.

Brew day was good, took 5 hours overall from setting up brew steps to final cleaning. It could've been faster but had some frozen hose issues during cooling step (but just means got a longer hopstand/whirlpool). Then had to haul water from inside to clean since didn't want to risk anymore spigot/hose freezes. And couldn't find my hop socks so ended up with lots of pellet hop trub to clean.

During the mash (60 minute), I was only registering mash temp plus or minus a degF on the brew boss sensor. Hand checked with thermapen was a little more variation of plus or minus 2.5 degF.

I had one issue with the application locking up when heating after mash. App wasn't registering temp changes but was firing heater, so I just checked temp by hand and pulled bag since it was at 168deg. By the time I drained bag, app refreshed itself and was back on track.

Boil went well, played a bunch with setting my boil rate since I live at higher altitude and it was cold out. Worked out in the end and ended up with just under 11 gallons into fermenters. I calculated 76% mash efficiency (~.039" crush, recirculated near wide open after 10 min) and 70% brewhouse.

Overall, I'm happy with my first run. It is a bit of a step up from stovetop biab and extract but I expect to get process running smooth and quick after a few batches.

 

[markgalli]

My record is 2 hours in 54 minutes ...setup to clean up

That is awesome. How do you do that?

 

[Schumed]

That is awesome. How do you do that?

First of all I've got everything nice and organized in my basement and when I finish a brew I try to have everything setup back up for the next brew so I can have things setup in a matter of minutes.

This is typically for a regular 5 gallon batch at 1.050 so not huge grain bill. usually about 7.8 gallons of water. For bigger batches it takes longer.

But I strive for an efficient brew session since I'm a busy guy with kids activities, work, and other hobbies.

The key is to multi task...mill grain will water is heating up. Clean/santize fermenter during boil. Clean cofi filter during the boil. collect chiller water to use as cleaning water to recirculate system.

I've been testing out removing the mash out step...so far I'm finding there really isn't much difference. So might save even more time.

10 minutes setup and to get water to strike temps (hot water is at 120)
60 minute mash
15 minute mash out
10 minute drain
60 minute boil
10 minute cool down
10 minute clean up

 

[h22lude]

I don't think you will find a big difference, if any, without a mash out in this type of brewing. Fly sparging is when a mash out is recommended because the grains are sitting in the water longer than the mash time. e-BIAB and batch sparge, the wort is drained from the grains fast enough.

 

[akthor]

I did 3 hour brews on my single tier 10 gallon all grain propane system. I would hope electric BIAB would be quicker.

 

[ingchr1]

I did 3 hour brews on my single tier 10 gallon all grain propane system. I would hope electric BIAB would be quicker.

How are you guys getting your brew days so short? Assuming a 60min boil and 60min mash that leaves 60 minutes to setup, heat to temperatures, sparge, chill and clean up. This also assumes some tasks are being performed in parallel (e.g. milling grain, sanitizing, yeast prep)

 

[Schumed]

How are you guys getting your brew days so short? Assuming a 60min boil and 60min mash that leaves 60 minutes to setup, heat to temperatures, sparge, chill and clean up. This also assumes some tasks are being performed in parallel (e.g. milling grain, sanitizing, yeast prep)

see my post a few up..broke it down....BIAB is no sparge....240v heats up fast....and you are right the key is to multi-task

I don't understand how some of you guys take 6 hours to brew...I've done double decotions brew that didn't take that long.

 

[ingchr1]

see my post a few up..broke it down....BIAB is no sparge....240v heats up fast....and you are right the key is to multi-task

I was referring to the post of the propane single tier all grain brew taking 3 hours, not electric BIAB.

 

[stlblues5010]

Brewed my first 10-gal batch on 20-gal pot Brew Boss BIAB system. It was a Black Rye PA.

First, assembly was straight forward and easy. Wet test went well with a few drips from the pump connections that I fixed. My only complaint is I tried to use iOS app (ipad mini) but it was far too slow and unresponsive to use so I swapped to Android emulator on the laptop.

How does the Android emulator work? I might need to use that for awhile. I already cracked the screen on my tablet.

 

[markgalli]

see my post a few up..broke it down....BIAB is no sparge....240v heats up fast....and you are right the key is to multi-task

I don't understand how some of you guys take 6 hours to brew...I've done double decotions brew that didn't take that long.

How are you guys getting your brew days so short? Assuming a 60min boil and 60min mash that leaves 60 minutes to setup, heat to temperatures, sparge, chill and clean up. This also assumes some tasks are being performed in parallel (e.g. milling grain, sanitizing, yeast prep)

You guys must be good. I find that there is always one thing that goes wrong in which I lose 15 minutes to a half an hour (e.g., last brew, the glass kettle I was using to heat up some water on an electric plate broke, with water of course going everywhere!). The other thing for me is clean up (which includes a process to clean and sanitize hoses and plate chiller). I do some clean up while I'm waiting for other steps, but I invariably have about an hour of clean up at the end. I'll have to take a look at what I can do to lower that time.

The other thing that adds to my brew day is I add minerals to my water, which requires some measuring is all. But it's the small things that kill you. I probably add two, three or four things for various reasons, each one not taking that long, and before you know it 30-45 minutes is added to the brew day.

Fortunately, since kids are grown and my wife is happy for me to be in my brewery (!), time is not a huge factor. But it would be nice to shave 30 minutes to an hour off.

 

[MerlinWerks]

see my post a few up..broke it down....BIAB is no sparge....240v heats up fast....and you are right the key is to multi-task

I don't understand how some of you guys take 6 hours to brew...I've done double decotions brew that didn't take that long.

Easy, some people are simply not in a hurry, like I mentioned before I could do sub four hour brew days with no problem, but I have no need or desire to. I brew almost every Saturday starting in the late afternoon, it's actually relaxation time for me, beers, music, cigars it's an enjoyable evening. I realize everybody has different time constraints with family and other commitments and everybody has different reasons they brew, it's all good...

I lied about the sub four hour day, I didn't get to brew this past weekend so I did last night. Keeping the recent posts in this thread in mind I tried to see how fast I could get it done with my usual 60 min mash/ 75 min boil. This also was a recipe that I typically FWH so there is an additional lag between draining and starting the ramp to boil of 20 min to give the FWH some steeping time. Still took 4.5 hrs.

Your 10 minute cleanup is amazing, how do you do it? I'm not being facetious, I really want to know. I've always cleaned as I go, but still, 10 minutes?
I believe a question about cleaning practices is what started this recent run of posts.

I understand multitasking, I do many of the same things you do, but does it not take time to transfer the wort to the fermenter, aerate, pitch, install airlock/thermocouple?

 

[BLuck]

How does the Android emulator work? I might need to use that for awhile. I already cracked the screen on my tablet.

I use http://www.andyroid.net/, just download and install. Then start it and login to googleplay to download brew-boss app. Once that is up and running, swap your wifi to brew-boss and then just use as you would with tablet, but with mouse clicks and keyboard.

 

[stlblues5010]

Thanks. I'll try it tonight.

 

[itsratso]

what is the parameter that tells the program to pause until you press start to continue, is this the alarm flag?

edit: nm, figured it out. it is which step type you choose that determines this

 

[m00ps]

anyone know what the COFI feet are made of? Silicon or rubber?

Or, does anyone know if you can boil rubber without bad off flavors or ruining the rubber?

 

[Schumed]

anyone know what the COFI feet are made of? Silicon or rubber?

Or, does anyone know if you can boil rubber without bad off flavors or ruining the rubber?

appears to be rubber...I never noticed any off flavors...i did eventually remove them though...they really serve no purpose IMO

 

[m00ps]

appears to be rubber...I never noticed any off flavors...i did eventually remove them though...they really serve no purpose IMO

Hmm i checked the site and the replacement ones are called "Silicon Rubber" wtf?

So youve had the COFI in the kettle during the boil and it was ok? that sounds good enough for me

 

[Schumed]

Hmm i checked the site and the replacement ones are called "Silicon Rubber" wtf?

So youve had the COFI in the kettle during the boil and it was ok? that sounds good enough for me

yeah...like I said I eventually just took them off to not worry about it

 

[MerlinWerks]

Hmm i checked the site and the replacement ones are called "Silicon Rubber" wtf?

So youve had the COFI in the kettle during the boil and it was ok? that sounds good enough for me

They certainly look like they are made from the same hi-temp silicone rubber as the TC gasket Darin supplies for the heating element...

I use an ArborFab basket for mashing, but use the original false bottom with feet to keep my IC off of the heating element. It's in for the entire boil and I've never noticed any rubbery off flavors...

I would agree that the feet are not entirely necessary.

 

[FreddyMar3]

Pretty sure arbor fab makes the cofi. So it's probably the same feet. I have an arbor fab basket and they are silicone feet but I have no plans to boil with the basket in.

 

[Beavdowg]

I recently unboxed my BB system. I noticed the tablet wouldn't power up. Did yours need to be charged or did it come with enough power out of the box to boot up w/out charging?

 

[Schumed]

I recently unboxed my BB system. I noticed the tablet wouldn't power up. Did yours need to be charged or did it come with enough power out of the box to boot up w/out charging?

needs to be charged....its a cheap android tablet...the battery will just barley make it through a full brew session....just plan on it being plugged in at all times or invest in a nicer tablet

 

[Schumed]

Just a reminder ...chugger pumps need some maintenance ..Im finding I need to lube the propeller and oil the motor about every 5-6 brews