Brew Day What Did You Make - 2024

[NBillett09]

7 hours ago, Aussiekraut said:

only have 7 cubes and 6 are full 

“Only 7 cubes” of beer waiting… call an ambulance, the man’s running dry!

[Shamus O'Sean]

55 minutes ago, NBillett09 said:

“Only 7 cubes” of beer waiting… call an ambulance, the man’s running dry!

Yep.  I am not sure if @Aussiekraut needs more fermenters or more kegs.

[iBooz2]

1 hour ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Yep.  I am not sure if @Aussiekraut needs more fermenters or more kegs.

@Aussiekraut needs to get a 58 L SS Kegmenter or two and then more kegs IMO.  Double batches are they way to go, so hence you need the big fermenters.

[Aussiekraut]

10 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Yep.  I am not sure if @Aussiekraut needs more fermenters or more kegs.

Incidentally, my daughter's partner is moving in and they want to use his fridge, so she'll "dump" hers in my brewery for the time being. So I will have room for another fermenter. If I can't stock up properly then, I never will   More kegs may be on the card as well but for now 10 kegs and 7 cubes should help.

[stquinto]

On 5/20/2024 at 2:22 PM, iBooz2 said:

@Aussiekraut needs to get a 58 L SS Kegmenter or two and then more kegs IMO.  Double batches are they way to go, so hence you need the big fermenters.

I second that. Go for it @Aussiekraut, you know you want to !

This weekend I managed to brew a double batch of Landlord (mentioned earlier) which I put in the 58L SS Kegmenter. I also knocked up a Botanical (mentioned in the Botanical thread), and also a Summer Berry Sour. Not that I want to rub it in, but it's nearly summer here 

I'm well impressed with the Kegmenter, except that I can't fit it in any of my fridges, so no cold crashing. The fridges in Europe aren't that big, unless you go for a special one, which would be a bit over budget. In any case, as the brews from a kegmenter are to be kegged, you can always put finings or poly in. And I agree, for AG, double batches are the way to go if your kit stretches to them.

In the end I had to order a couple more kegs, which will bring me up to 10 cornies, plus some smaller ones.

The Botanical and the Sour will be bottled anyway so I fermented them in normal SS FVs.

I'll have to slow down on the brewing for a while I reckon...

 

[ben 10]

Recipe: Pale 
Style: American Pale Ale


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------

Batch Size (fermenter): 20.00 L   
Estimated OG: 1.055 SG
Estimated Color: 9.6 EBC
Estimated IBU: 47.7 IBUs


Ingredients:
------------
Amt              Name                                             Type          #          %/IBU         Volume        
4.00 kg          Pale Malt, Ale (Barrett Burston) (5.9 EBC)       Grain         1          80.0 %        2.61 L        
1.00 kg          Wheat Malt (Barrett Burston) (3.0 EBC)           Grain         2          20.0 %        0.65 L        
20.00 g          Cluster [7.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min                 Hop           3          18.6 IBUs     -             
20.00 g          Azacca [12.20 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  20.0 min, 90 Hop           4          9.8 IBUs      -             
20.00 g          Citra LupuLN2 [24.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  20.0  Hop           5          19.3 IBUs     -             

M54 repitch, maybe or Kveik????

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ben 10]

19 hours ago, stquinto said:

Not that I want to rub it in, but it's nearly summer here 

After warming up in October it's only just cooling down now so, umm, whatever...

[Aussiekraut]

12 hours ago, ben 10 said:

Recipe: Pale 
Style: American Pale Ale


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------

Batch Size (fermenter): 20.00 L   
Estimated OG: 1.055 SG
Estimated Color: 9.6 EBC
Estimated IBU: 47.7 IBUs


Ingredients:
------------
Amt              Name                                             Type          #          %/IBU         Volume        
4.00 kg          Pale Malt, Ale (Barrett Burston) (5.9 EBC)       Grain         1          80.0 %        2.61 L        
1.00 kg          Wheat Malt (Barrett Burston) (3.0 EBC)           Grain         2          20.0 %        0.65 L        
20.00 g          Cluster [7.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min                 Hop           3          18.6 IBUs     -             
20.00 g          Azacca [12.20 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  20.0 min, 90 Hop           4          9.8 IBUs      -             
20.00 g          Citra LupuLN2 [24.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool  20.0  Hop           5          19.3 IBUs     -             

M54 repitch, maybe or Kveik????

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kveik is faster but I'd still take M54. I'll use it in the Vienna Lager I'll put into the FV today. 

[ben 10]

3 hours ago, Aussiekraut said:

Kveik is faster but I'd still take M54.

I went with the Kveik....

I have 2 serves of M54 slurry for later.

 

Stout today

 

Recipe: STOUT

--------------------------

Estimated OG: 1.061 SG
Estimated Color: 107.9 EBC
Estimated IBU: 50.9 IBUs


Ingredients:
------------
Amt              Name                                             Type          #          %/IBU         Volume        
2.00 kg          Munich I (Weyermann) (14.0 EBC)                  Grain         1          34.2 %        1.30 L        
2.00 kg          Pale Malt, Ale (Barrett Burston) (5.9 EBC)       Grain         2          34.2 %        1.30 L        
1.00 kg          Rye Malt (Weyermann) (5.9 EBC)                   Grain         3          17.1 %        0.65 L        
0.25 kg          Crystal, Medium (Simpsons) (108.3 EBC)           Grain         4          4.3 %         0.16 L        
0.20 kg          Gladfield Dark Chocolate Malt (1300.0 EBC)       Grain         5          3.4 %         0.13 L        
0.20 kg          Gladfield Eclipse Wheat (1400.0 EBC)             Grain         6          3.4 %         0.13 L        
0.20 kg          Gladfield Roast Barley (1450.0 EBC)              Grain         7          3.4 %         0.13 L        
40.00 g          Pride of Ringwood [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min      Hop           8          50.9 IBUs     -             



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[John304]

First brew with the Brewzilla, I stuffed up with the sparge water, used 4ltrs too much also during the mash the temp kept running over and under , have to read up a bit more, I’m sure there is an adjustment to compensate, otherwise it went well, you certainly have to get those brew steps right in the rapt portal

[John304]

Just now, John304 said:

First brew with the Brewzilla, I stuffed up with the sparge water, used 4ltrs too much also during the mash the temp kept running over and under , have to read up a bit more, I’m sure there is an adjustment to compensate, otherwise it went well, you certainly have to get those brew steps right in the rapt portal portal

Asahi rice larger

[ben 10]

11 minutes ago, John304 said:

I’m sure there is an adjustment to compensate

Don't watch

[Aussiekraut]

17 hours ago, John304 said:

First brew with the Brewzilla, I stuffed up with the sparge water, used 4ltrs too much also during the mash the temp kept running over and under , have to read up a bit more, I’m sure there is an adjustment to compensate, otherwise it went well, you certainly have to get those brew steps right in the rapt portal

The problem is that the elements are below the bottom screen. So it heats the liquid below the screen up first, and it gets to superheated temperatures, while not much heat exchange happens. I had this constant 99.7, 99.8, 99.9, 100 game over and over, without a single sign of a boil. I experienced temperature over and undershoots, etc. There is a heat deflector plate you can mount to the bottom plate, which is supposed to help with heat distribution. The jury is still out on that one but it is said to be beneficial. I also use a RAPT Bluetooth external thermometer, which gives more accurate readings and since I get better boils going. However, I still see huge over and undershoots with a variation between internal and external of sometimes 10C. It takes some more playing around with things. It may also help to use a slightly coarser crush. I used to mill with a 1.35mm setting as it is often recommended but found 1.5mm is more suitable as the BZ is also prone to clog up the pump. It is infuriating when you whirlpool, let it all sit for 20 minutes to settle nicely and then the pump doesn't work to get the wort into the cube. So one has to open the valve and blow hard into the pipe, which then pushes the debris out but also ruins the effect of the whirlpool. 

[John304]

5 hours ago, Aussiekraut said:

The problem is that the elements are below the bottom screen. So it heats the liquid below the screen up first, and it gets to superheated temperatures, while not much heat exchange happens. I had this constant 99.7, 99.8, 99.9, 100 game over and over, without a single sign of a boil. I experienced temperature over and undershoots, etc. There is a heat deflector plate you can mount to the bottom plate, which is supposed to help with heat distribution. The jury is still out on that one but it is said to be beneficial. I also use a RAPT Bluetooth external thermometer, which gives more accurate readings and since I get better boils going. However, I still see huge over and undershoots with a variation between internal and external of sometimes 10C. It takes some more playing around with things. It may also help to use a slightly coarser crush. I used to mill with a 1.35mm setting as it is often recommended but found 1.5mm is more suitable as the BZ is also prone to clog up the pump. It is infuriating when you whirlpool, let it all sit for 20 minutes to settle nicely and then the pump doesn't work to get the wort into the cube. So one has to open the valve and blow hard into the pipe, which then pushes the debris out but also ruins the effect of the whirlpool. 

Thanks @Aussiekraut, I read also to reduce the heat to 40- 50 percent should help with the over and under shoot, 

[Shamus O'Sean]

14 hours ago, Aussiekraut said:

The problem is that the elements are below the bottom screen. So it heats the liquid below the screen up first, and it gets to superheated temperatures, while not much heat exchange happens. I had this constant 99.7, 99.8, 99.9, 100 game over and over, without a single sign of a boil. I experienced temperature over and undershoots, etc. There is a heat deflector plate you can mount to the bottom plate, which is supposed to help with heat distribution. The jury is still out on that one but it is said to be beneficial. I also use a RAPT Bluetooth external thermometer, which gives more accurate readings and since I get better boils going. However, I still see huge over and undershoots with a variation between internal and external of sometimes 10C. It takes some more playing around with things. It may also help to use a slightly coarser crush. I used to mill with a 1.35mm setting as it is often recommended but found 1.5mm is more suitable as the BZ is also prone to clog up the pump. It is infuriating when you whirlpool, let it all sit for 20 minutes to settle nicely and then the pump doesn't work to get the wort into the cube. So one has to open the valve and blow hard into the pipe, which then pushes the debris out but also ruins the effect of the whirlpool. 

That swinging temperature is concerning.  The BZ seems like the ideal system.  However, that varying temperature is an issue.

One thing to say about the BZ, I have heard you do not need to do a whirlpool because the bottom plate is supposed to filter out most of the hops.  I am not sure if dropping the whirlpool will help you at all, but maybe give it a try.

[Aussiekraut]

13 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

That swinging temperature is concerning.  The BZ seems like the ideal system.  However, that varying temperature is an issue.

One thing to say about the BZ, I have heard you do not need to do a whirlpool because the bottom plate is supposed to filter out most of the hops.  I am not sure if dropping the whirlpool will help you at all, but maybe give it a try.

I was considering not whirlpooling but I somehow always do. It's kinda signalling the end of the brew  

Temperature is a big issue. During mash, it is important to get steady and reliable heat distribution but that isn't the case, not even with the external thermometer. You move the thermometer a little over and it drops 4 or 5 degrees at times or it gets way higher than it should be. Getting a steady mash temp really seems to be challenging. It's not just me though. Gash has a video up on the homebrew network about better temperature in the BZ4 and he also uses the deflector plate and the external thermometer but still fiddles with settings during boil, setting the max difference between internal and external to 3C and then to 6C, depending on the stage of the brew. I'm sorry but if I buy a fully automated system, I expect it to work without messing about with the software. To be honest, this whole thing to me is a major design fault. The idea of being able to completely drain the kettle through the tap or pump is all good but I really don't think it works fine. If I already have to spend extra $$ to get the heat distributor and an external thermometer to get rolling boils and half stable temperatures, then something is already amiss. At times I regret not having gone for the $200 cheaper 70l Guten. It isn't as fandangled and fancy but my experience with the 40l system was so much better and so much less frustrating. In order to get semi-steady mash temps, I stir the mash every few minutes and even during boil I stir a lot because you drop the temperature probe in one spot and it heats up to 100C, stays there for 5 minutes and when you move the probe just 5cm further over, the temp instantly drops down to 98. Heat distribution is a real issue. It really drives me mad at times. I am at a point where I cannot recommend the system and as soon as economically feasible, I will offload it to somebody else who wants to get the s%$ts. 

[John304]

1 hour ago, Aussiekraut said:

I was considering not whirlpooling but I somehow always do. It's kinda signalling the end of the brew  

Temperature is a big issue. During mash, it is important to get steady and reliable heat distribution but that isn't the case, not even with the external thermometer. You move the thermometer a little over and it drops 4 or 5 degrees at times or it gets way higher than it should be. Getting a steady mash temp really seems to be challenging. It's not just me though. Gash has a video up on the homebrew network about better temperature in the BZ4 and he also uses the deflector plate and the external thermometer but still fiddles with settings during boil, setting the max difference between internal and external to 3C and then to 6C, depending on the stage of the brew. I'm sorry but if I buy a fully automated system, I expect it to work without messing about with the software. To be honest, this whole thing to me is a major design fault. The idea of being able to completely drain the kettle through the tap or pump is all good but I really don't think it works fine. If I already have to spend extra $$ to get the heat distributor and an external thermometer to get rolling boils and half stable temperatures, then something is already amiss. At times I regret not having gone for the $200 cheaper 70l Guten. It isn't as fandangled and fancy but my experience with the 40l system was so much better and so much less frustrating. In order to get semi-steady mash temps, I stir the mash every few minutes and even during boil I stir a lot because you drop the temperature probe in one spot and it heats up to 100C, stays there for 5 minutes and when you move the probe just 5cm further over, the temp instantly drops down to 98. Heat distribution is a real issue. It really drives me mad at times. I am at a point where I cannot recommend the system and as soon as economically feasible, I will offload it to somebody else who wants to get the s%$ts. 

It is frustrating although it was only my first brew, I’ll keep adjusting the pid settings ect as the kegland video suggests and see if I can get somewhere near a stable mash and boil 

[kmar92]

@Aussiekraut @John304 I use a 70l Nano vessel and use a Rapt temperature controller to control the electric element in a thermowell (my Nano system has both a gas heating ring and an electric element and I use the electric element for mashing and the gas heating for the boil.)  I know that it is difficult to compare my system to the Brewzillas that you guys are using but I thought that I would offer my experience as a comparison.

I have set the Rapt temperature controller with PID enabled, I started with the PID settings suggested in the KL video and then over time I have tweaked them a little to get better results. I am able to have a fairly high rate of recirculation during my mash. I have found that the system works very well, after some PID tuning, and I am able to attain fairly consistent mash temperatures throughout the mash and have little overshoot/undershoot problems with my setup. As mentioned, there was some trial and error tuning required with the initial PID settings to achieve a good result.

As I said it is difficult to compare different systems, but with mine the PID tuning has worked to elimnate (or at least smooth and lessen) temperature over/undershooting and a fairly high rate of circulation helps greatly with having consistent temperatures within the mash.

[Brauhaus Fritz II]

16 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

That swinging temperature is concerning.  The BZ seems like the ideal system.  However, that varying temperature is an issue.

One thing to say about the BZ, I have heard you do not need to do a whirlpool because the bottom plate is supposed to filter out most of the hops.  I am not sure if dropping the whirlpool will help you at all, but maybe give it a try.

I only used my BZ four times and never worried about this problem. I use the pump to recirculate the water during mashing and during the boil run it through a hop spider to filter the wort. Did it affect my outcome? No idea. But that’s how I cooked and baked commercially all my live. Being too scientific and worrying all the time takes away the fun of it all. Am I happy with my results so far? Absolutely. 

[Aussiekraut]

49 minutes ago, Brauhaus Fritz II said:

I only used my BZ four times and never worried about this problem. I use the pump to recirculate the water during mashing and during the boil run it through a hop spider to filter the wort. Did it affect my outcome? No idea. But that’s how I cooked and baked commercially all my live. Being too scientific and worrying all the time takes away the fun of it all. Am I happy with my results so far? Absolutely. 

I used the pump a couple of times during the boil for two reasons: to prevent clogging up the pump and to ease fix the super heating. If the mega hot wort is pumped away, cooler has to flow down. I was told not to run the pump during the boil by Gash but he didn't elaborate why. 

I'll mess with the PID settings again, although I was told I shouldn't have to. I guess the RAPT Bluetooth thermometer doesn't support PID?

[kmar92]

1 hour ago, Aussiekraut said:

I'll mess with the PID settings again, although I was told I shouldn't have to. I guess the RAPT Bluetooth thermometer doesn't support PID?

I guess if you have the bluetooth thermometer paired with the BZ4 it just acts like a temp probe and the BZ controller does the PID functions? Not sure.

[Shamus O'Sean]

4 hours ago, Aussiekraut said:

I was told not to run the pump during the boil by Gash but he didn't elaborate why.

Supposedly cavitation can happen when pumping boiling liquid.  I think this is partly due to the "bubbles" in the boil.  There is a risk the pump will stop pumping.  Cavitation can also damage the pump fins.

However, I run the pump in my Grainfather G30 to push boiling wort through the counter-flow chiller to sterilise it.  I have never had an issue.

By the way, during the mash and the boil, the temperature of my G30 does not vary by more than +/- 1°C.  This is only measuring at the temp well.  No doubt the temperature varies elsewhere through the mash.  

[Shamus O'Sean]

I made a bit if a Frankenstein Czech Pilsner today.  Needed to use up some spare grains and hops.  So not exactly a traditional recipe.  My recipe also had an over-inflated Brewhouse Efficiency.  The OG was heading toward 1.040 instead of 1.049.  Therefore, I only added 5 litres, instead of my usual 8 litres, to the 22 litres of concentrated wort.  OG was 1.045.  So maybe a 4.5% beer.  I did that because this recipe has 37 IBU, quite high for a Pilsner.  Diluting to 1.040 might have pushed the brew out of balance.

• 3.6kg Gladfield Pilsner Malt
• 800g Munich Malt
• 610g Weyermann Floor-Malted Bohemian Pilsner Malt
• 350g Carapils
• 260g Acidulated Malt*
• 260g Melanoidin Malt
• 36g Saaz 60 minute boil (7 IBU)
• 28g Fuggle 60 minute boil (11 IBU)
• 27g Styrian Golding 60 minute boil (7 IBU)
• 14g Mount Hood 60 minute boil (5 IBU)
• 25g Saaz 30 minute boil (4 IBU)
• 25g Saaz 20 minute boil (3 IBU)
• Harvested White Labs WLP802 Czech Budejovice Lager yeast

* I actually added this by accident.  It was meant to be the Melanoidin Malt.  Luckily it was about the right amount to get the mash pH in the right range.  I had planned to add Lactic Acid to the mash to get the pH in the right range.  With the Acidulated Malt in the recipe instead, I just omitted the Lactic Acid.

Ferment under pressure at 20°C and 15psi.

[John304]

22 hours ago, kmar92 said:

@Aussiekraut @John304 I use a 70l Nano vessel and use a Rapt temperature controller to control the electric element in a thermowell (my Nano system has both a gas heating ring and an electric element and I use the electric element for mashing and the gas heating for the boil.)  I know that it is difficult to compare my system to the Brewzillas that you guys are using but I thought that I would offer my experience as a comparison.

I have set the Rapt temperature controller with PID enabled, I started with the PID settings suggested in the KL video and then over time I have tweaked them a little to get better results. I am able to have a fairly high rate of recirculation during my mash. I have found that the system works very well, after some PID tuning, and I am able to attain fairly consistent mash temperatures throughout the mash and have little overshoot/undershoot problems with my setup. As mentioned, there was some trial and error tuning required with the initial PID settings to achieve a good result.

As I said it is difficult to compare different systems, but with mine the PID tuning has worked to elimnate (or at least smooth and lessen) temperature over/undershooting and a fairly high rate of circulation helps greatly with having consistent temperatures within the mash.

I have just adjusted the pid settings according to the kegland video, will now go out in the garage and test it with some water, as you said each location is different, might have to keep adjusting till I get a satisfactory result 

[John304]

1 hour ago, John304 said:

I have just adjusted the pid settings according to the kegland video, will now go out in the garage and test it with some water, as you said each location is different, might have to keep adjusting till I get a satisfactory result 

Ok, after altering the pid settings, at 66deg the overshooting is .5 and the undershoot is 1.5, don’t think I can get much better than that, now to try the boil