Your grain should look like this:ratio 4:1 grain water...total water...never used rice husk...not even a bag
https://images.fineartamerica.com/i...mlarge/2/crushed-malted-barley-jude-black.jpgSee how the husks almost look like un-crushed grain?
Your grain should look like this:ratio 4:1 grain water...total water...never used rice husk...not even a bag
Wow !!! ...this photo is very good...thank youYour grain should look like this:
https://images.fineartamerica.com/i...mlarge/2/crushed-malted-barley-jude-black.jpgSee how the husks almost look like un-crushed grain?
If you are having someone else crush your grain, or if you are using a flour mill/meat grinder and can't get the crush just right, rice hulls are an inexpensive thing you can add to your grain to help drainage. Add them after crushing and mix in.Wow !!! ...this photo is very good...thank you
I buy it from a brewshop....already ground....I'm going for the rice husk.....thanksIf you are having someone else crush your grain, or if you are using a flour mill/meat grinder and can't get the crush just right, rice hulls are an inexpensive thing you can add to your grain to help drainage. Add them after crushing and mix in.
If you bake with the spent grain, the rice hulls will be unpleasant to eat. Otherwise they work great!
I know we're talking general things here, but I would be more like an 8 o clock position, to slow the flow even more.I recirculate very slowly....lever position 7 o'clock...the level rises...the pump stops...I lift the basket...it takes a LONG time to drain...sticky wort
I haven't opened the pump yet
thanksI know we're talking general things here, but I would be more like an 8 o clock position, to slow the flow even more.
I also concur with the rice hull addition. I use maybe like 8 oz in a 5 gallon batch if I have something that's gonna be sticky.
That picture would make a great puzzle.Your grain should look like this:
https://images.fineartamerica.com/i...mlarge/2/crushed-malted-barley-jude-black.jpgSee how the husks almost look like un-crushed grain?
I have never used a bag...I have never used rice husks...I will study the caseIt sounds like your grain crush is too fine. Did you previously mash in a bag? Non-bag methods need more in-tact barley husks. You could add rice hulls if you can't control crush.
It's for sale on all kinds of stuff, but I don't see a jigsaw puzzle!That picture would make a great puzzle.
I just leave the tubing clamped on recirc arm. No reason to disconnect for me.Has anyone attached camlocks or QD’s to the barb ends of the spigot or recirculation arm? Messing with hose clamps and flat head screwdrivers is . Curious what others are doing.
I have whatever arm morebeer was selling a year ago (likely that one). It works, but since the bottom is curved with the drain at the bottom, it doesn't help with hops. Maybe with the new solid bottom plate?hey @KegLand by any chance are you guys planning to launch a new whirpool arm for gen 4 in the coming months or is the current KL14199 the go to model to use?
This (35L) or the corresponding 65L versionWhich solid bottom plate are you referring to? I picked mine up in June and the bottom is still perforated.
I've only done 2 deep cleans in a year. Before removing the T and spigot, I worried there might be nasties down there, but now I figure everything gets enough boiling hot recirc that it's more a flavor/color issue. I'm lazyHow often does everyone deep clean the Brewzilla? I had neglected to do so in 20+ batches (at least 15 batches with the HED). The HED plate had a good bit of build up on there but I figured what the hey...Boil away. Did a deep clean of 4 gallons water, 2 scoops of Oxiclean at 170F and recirculated for two hours. Recirculated through the top arm and the bottom ball valve. Threw the counterflow chiller into the mix too! Have to say after seeing the crud that came out of there it will be getting deep cleaned way more often! My brews have been picking up a "slickness" here recently regardless of yeast. That's what sent me down the whole deep cleaning the Brewzilla route. Really curious to see the results of brewday this weekend!
I'm getting pretty sick of this issue clog pumped that is. It happens more than not. today I had to pour wort halfway through boil to kettle and propane burner which I'm glad we had. Wish kegland would put a real troubleshooting guide together with some good practices. would like to know optimal grain mill gap for this machine. Must admit would not recommend getting one if asked.pity because i think it is a good machineOops....I found someone else who is having the same problem as me
I brewed yesterday and didn’t clog. I had grains premilled so I can’t speak to gap setting but one thing I noticed was if the malt pipe is too full grain seeps into the main kettle through the holes where the lift handle goes. I had to strain a bunch of grains out of there after removing the malt pipe. I also put hops into a hop sock this time which seemed to help.I'm getting pretty sick of this issue clog pumped that is. It happens more than not. today I had to pour wort halfway through boil to kettle and propane burner which I'm glad we had. Wish kegland would put a real troubleshooting guide together with some good practices. would like to know optimal grain mill gap for this machine. Must admit would not recommend getting one if asked.pity because i think it is a good machine
have a hunch2 things are going on. two fine a crush credit card may be too fine 0.75 mm. european credit cards a la David heath are 0.85 mm. I usually mill at 0.85mm, but I had my local brew store mill for me and the use a credit card. second the false bottom gets really warped as its hard to remove. I had the heat plate attached which seems to distort the false bottom even more. maybe the combination of the two were a perfect storm. It would be interesting to see what mill gap size Gen 4 owners use or have problems with. also any idea how to flatten the false bottom with the heat plate attached would be gratefully receivedI brewed yesterday and didn’t clog. I had grains premilled so I can’t speak to gap setting but one thing I noticed was if the malt pipe is too full grain seeps into the main kettle through the holes where the lift handle goes. I had to strain a bunch of grains out of there after removing the malt pipe. I also put hops into a hop sock this time which seemed to help.
check out home brew network videos on pid hysteresis and temp differenceI did my second brew (Pilsner) on the 65L Gen 4 Brewzilla and had better results than my first one. Please note that I have not calibrated the temperature yet; was planning on doing so once the Blutooth thermometer was available.
Here's a comparison of the two brews (both 5.5 gal batches):
First brew:
More Haze all grain kit from More Beer with 13 lbs 2-row, 1 lb flaked wheat, 1 lb flaked oats, 1 lb white wheat and about two large handfuls of rice hulls in the mash
Mill: ~0.038 in.
Mash was done directly in the basket with 6.1 gal of water (assuming 1.294 qt/lb absorption) @ 153F. Tried to get the PID set up beforehand, but still needed to play around with it. I would see anywhere between 152.8F and 156F.
Sparged with 2.9 gallons of water
Mash efficiency: 64% (added 1 lb of DME to get the ABV closer to the kit)
Mash experience: Didn't have any issues with the mash or the sparge getting stuck. Had the pump on at 100% and the ball valve at about 50%. I need to better figure out how to set the PID to get it more stable.
Hops: Total was 2.75 oz was put directly into the wort.
Yielded 6.1 gal in the fermenter
Taste: Great!
Clean up: A lot of the hops and some finer grains made it through the false bottom and clogged the pump making the transfer to the fermenter a little problematic. Unclogging the pump was lot very difficult, but annoying. The rest of the cleaning went very smoothly
Second brew:
Italian Pilsner with 9.75 lbs of Pilsner malt and 1.5 oz of Caramunich II in the mash
Mill: ~0.025 in.
Mash was done in the MoreBeer bag (BAG29, which is big enough to go outside the basket as well) inside the basket with 8.4 gallons of water (assuming 1.5 qt/lb absorption) @ 149F. Temperatures varied between 148.9F and 152F. Still need more finetuning of the PID.
No sparge was done
Mash efficiency: 85.4%
Mash experience: Everything went very smoothly at 100% pump and 50-60% open ball valve. Only need to improve the PID.
Hops: Total was 1.5 oz put into a mesh bag
Yielded 6.1 gal in the fermenter
Taste: Have not kegged it yet. Probably tomorrow.
Clean up: Very, very little hops and just a little grain made it through the false bottom. No issues with the pump and transfer went well. Clean up was much smoother and the grain bag and the hops bag weren't that much trouble.
During both brews, I would lift the lid and give the grain a good stir after 15 minutes, but only stirred the top portion of the mash every 15 minutes thereafter.
Coming from the Anvil Foundry 10.5 gal, I am used to using bags to get the most out of efficiency and don't mind the extra clean up, so I will likely continue to use grain and hop bags. I will continue to mill to 0.025 in., but I'll likely adjust the grain absorption value in Brewfather until I get 5.5 gal into the fermenter. Next time I will spare in addition to the grain bag (forgot to move the water out of the Brewzilla before adding grain in the second batch, otherwise I would have).
Any suggestions on setting the PID? Are people mashing with the heating elements at 100%? Seemed if I adjusted it to below 80%, it couldn't get the mash temp up to the target. If I put it higher, it would shoot past the target occasionally by up to 3F.
How much of an overshoot are you seeing? What's your hysteresis setting?
Are you throttling your pump and ensuring it's not overflowing? (Overflow is a clog hazard. Full pump flow will almost certainly cause overflow.)have a hunch2 things are going on. two fine a crush credit card may be too fine 0.75 mm. european credit cards a la David heath are 0.85 mm. I usually mill at 0.85mm, but I had my local brew store mill for me and the use a credit card. second the false bottom gets really warped as its hard to remove. I had the heat plate attached which seems to distort the false bottom even more. maybe the combination of the two were a perfect storm. It would be interesting to see what mill gap size Gen 4 owners use or have problems with. also any idea how to flatten the false bottom with the heat plate attached would be gratefully received
Personally I just adjusted until I got pretty much 100% grains cracked, but husks as in tact as possible. Some grains look like they didn't get crushed, but they actually are cracked.Note that gap has to be referenced by the mill as well. I did grain crush comparisons between my 2 roller and this MM-3. At the 0.033" gap on 2 roller I had some uncracked grains. The 3 roller first passes through 0.050" before the 0.033", and that dual pass makes a difference. I typically get 80-82% mash efficiency with this crush on the Brewzilla (doing a sparge).
yes throttling, no overflow, 100% pump, just bought plate for 35 L. Think I might go with BIAB. Question inside or outside of malt pipeAre you throttling your pump and ensuring it's not overflowing? (Overflow is a clog hazard. Full pump flow will almost certainly cause overflow.)
Are you using % pump setting? (This can suck grain backwards into pump.)
Re gapping, I've used ~0.75mm without issues, but I recirc through a hop spider while approaching boil to catch as much grist as I can (more for flavor reasons than pump clogging, though).
Other potential issues are how you're adding the grain, malt pipe bottom floating, etc. Could you be using the wrong plate for the bottom of the malt pipe? Etc
I use a bag and put it inside the pipe. Works greatyes throttling, no overflow, 100% pump, just bought plate for 35 L. Think I might go with BIAB. Question inside or outside of malt pipe
I crush around .040" and it works fine with the Northern Brewer Hullwrecker. I've found anything finer than that is clog city, regardless of rice hulls, with this unit. I get around 70%-75% efficiency now and the brews have come out way better than they did when crushing at .032". I was getting near 90% efficiency at that crush, crazy stuck recirculation, and the brews were darn near rocket fuel lol! Also tried the brew bag method. While it definitely helped with the clogging issues the efficiency was all over the place. Sometimes it was crazy high and others it was crazy low ranging from 50% to 90% efficiency. Going for .040" has kept the brew days much more hassle free and has stabilized efficiency along with fixing the clogged malt pipe during recirculation issues. The other recommendation would be the ditch the top plate on the malt pipe. I've found that tends to compress the grain bed causing stuck recirculation as well.I'm getting pretty sick of this issue clog pumped that is. It happens more than not. today I had to pour wort halfway through boil to kettle and propane burner which I'm glad we had. Wish kegland would put a real troubleshooting guide together with some good practices. would like to know optimal grain mill gap for this machine. Must admit would not recommend getting one if asked.pity because i think it is a good machine
That's a beautiful crush. Better than I can do at home. I doubt that's the issue.Hey all,
I’ve been following this thread and it’s been really informative and helpful so far, but I’m still getting a stuck mash with my Brewzilla Gen 4 (35l).
I’ve tried most of the suggested advice mentioned in this thread including:
1. Once mashed in, allowing the mash to settle for 15 mins before turning on recirc
2. When turning on recirc opening the ball valve in small increments every 10/15mins throughout the mash, avoiding full flow.
3. Stirring the mash every 10/20/30 minutes leaving around 1/3 of grain bed intact.
4. Top plate or no top plate
I’m out of ideas other than my grain crush. I purchased 25kg pre crushed of Maris Otter, I’ve got through the whole bag but each time have experienced a stuck mashed. The malt pipe will continue filling and the false bottom will run dry. Sometimes the pump will block too.
The only thing I haven’t tried is rice hulls.
Stuck sparge seems to be an issue mentioned a lot on the few threads/discussions I can find relating to the Gen 4.
Attached is my crush, hoping to get some thoughts on this.
Appreciate any help, thanks all.
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