Pieced this together over the last 18 months. 3rd baby arrived, little time to brew, but could spare an hour here and there to install a fitting or cut a tube, etc...
I've brewed in various forms for about a decade, usually in a cooler, pot/bucket or other low tech solution. This was my first system with pumps. Trying to get the hang of this system manually, so that moving toward an automated PID for a Honeywell valve and pilot light is maybe next year.
8.5 gallon pots, intending to be very similar to blichman breweasy.
2nd pump is to recirc ice water thru IC from mash tun during last chilling from 130F down to 65F.
Lessons learned during first brew day:
-Need more height for upper pot above burner. The BG10 with NG makes biiiig flames!
-cheap pump cannot easily push water thru IC (may be bad seal at compression fitting)
-taking the diptubes out to clean is a PITA. Need to cut the falsebottom in half or else sub in a silicone flexible segment to be able to bend it.
-i tried to get every last drop so cut the diptubes very close to the bottom. This provided a lot of flow restriction, sometimes choking the pumps or leading to a clog (I forgot I own a hopspider).
-heat capacity of bricks under BK and MT is very high. My strike temp was wayyyy off!
-need a better recirc solution, the heavy QD was channeling the wort and not uniformly heating up the mash...maybe I'll just set my pizza pan I got in there that I was thinking about using to try LODO.
-need to remember that I was planning to do full volume like blichman brew easy....whoops, forgot that...
-Need to validate calibration on dial thermometer on pot....seemed wayyyy off, so opted for my handheld digital that I trust for the rest of the brewday.
-definitely want to get a autosparge...managing the valves was a pain.
-need more buckets for milling and cleaning!
Brew "day" took 6 hours or until 1am. Oof!
Oh well...was happy to be back at it!
View attachment 718594
View attachment 718596
I've brewed in various forms for about a decade, usually in a cooler, pot/bucket or other low tech solution. This was my first system with pumps. Trying to get the hang of this system manually, so that moving toward an automated PID for a Honeywell valve and pilot light is maybe next year.
8.5 gallon pots, intending to be very similar to blichman breweasy.
2nd pump is to recirc ice water thru IC from mash tun during last chilling from 130F down to 65F.
Lessons learned during first brew day:
-Need more height for upper pot above burner. The BG10 with NG makes biiiig flames!
-cheap pump cannot easily push water thru IC (may be bad seal at compression fitting)
-taking the diptubes out to clean is a PITA. Need to cut the falsebottom in half or else sub in a silicone flexible segment to be able to bend it.
-i tried to get every last drop so cut the diptubes very close to the bottom. This provided a lot of flow restriction, sometimes choking the pumps or leading to a clog (I forgot I own a hopspider).
-heat capacity of bricks under BK and MT is very high. My strike temp was wayyyy off!
-need a better recirc solution, the heavy QD was channeling the wort and not uniformly heating up the mash...maybe I'll just set my pizza pan I got in there that I was thinking about using to try LODO.
-need to remember that I was planning to do full volume like blichman brew easy....whoops, forgot that...
-Need to validate calibration on dial thermometer on pot....seemed wayyyy off, so opted for my handheld digital that I trust for the rest of the brewday.
-definitely want to get a autosparge...managing the valves was a pain.
-need more buckets for milling and cleaning!
Brew "day" took 6 hours or until 1am. Oof!
Oh well...was happy to be back at it!
View attachment 718594
View attachment 718596
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