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I have been putting together an electric brew system for the last year. I do Brew in a Bag so it is an eBiaB system. I decided I was taking way too long to get this project done and it was time to start moving ahead and get the kinks worked out. So this week I went ahead and did a brew day with the new system. I had done a dry run with water but that is not the same. I thought I would share the experience here since neither my wife nor the cats seemed very interested.
My first challenge is I have a very small space to brew in – and I am figuring out how to best utilize the space.
You can see from some of the pictures that I need to work on things.
Things I have learned –
1. I am presently measuring the temperature in a recirculating line on my pump inlet. It just takes up too much space and has some other issues. I will move the temperature probe to the kettle which means I will need install another fitting in my kettle. Getting rid of the instrument Tee will save space.
2. I made some mistakes in programming my controller – I am using an EZ Boil 320. I did not program the ramp up to boiling correctly – partly due to the boiling point being 201 degrees F at this altitude. Partly due to me misinterpreting the instructions.
3. My counterflow chiller worked really well. I did a single pass and cooled the wort to 82 degrees into the fermenter, probably could of gotten lower with slowing down the wort flow but I did not want to waste too much water. I used my glycol chiller to bring the temp down to 66 degrees to pitch – took about a half hour.
4. My bag hoist is undersized. Will upgrade and probably go to a double pulley system.
4. I just do not have enough room to store brew stuff in the Brew room. So I am creating another area to store stuff.
5. I am using a 4 foot Stainless Steele table to brew on. It is 38 inches tall which is too tall for me (would be fine for Ryan) so I will probably cut the legs about 10 inches to make it work better.
Overall it will certainly work but with some adjustments it will work better.
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That looks great Chuck. Beautiful hardware! It’s a very similar (albeit shinier) design as mine. One thing that I found helpful for streamlining the process was to mount the pump and cfc in place on my table (converted bbq frame). I too have my main temp probe in a tee fitting on my kettle outlet. It reads as long as the pump is on, so I also have a waterproof ds18b20 probe with a high-temp sheath that can go straight into the kettle. I have a third probe in a tee on the outlet of my cfc. Here’s one pro tip: for the cfc water hoses, get color-coded red and blue ones from the laundry section at Home Depot. You’ll never have to think twice about which side is IN and which side is OUT.
Cheers!
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Very nice Chuck….that stainless CF chiller made my mouth water! Obviously I can’t offer any advice on the electric side of things since I’m a direct-fire guy, but plenty of electric brewers in the club.
I will say that I’m a litte surprised that you are trying to stay in your current brew area. It seems you are fast outgrowing that space and it looked to me that you had LOTS of space in your lower level (and did I see an auxiliary kitchen down there as well?). Seems a match made in heaven if you ask me, to just slide everything over there. You could always use the original space as storage for misc brew gear.
Also, I have a stainless hole cutter sized for a standard bulkhead fitting. Not sure if that’s what you need to adappt your kettle for the temp probe (assuming you still go that route), but you can certainly borrow it if you like.
Looking forward to seeing the improvements!I may be able to help you free up some space. What is the volume of the spike kettle on the top shelf? 👀
Aaron: Nice try but I think I will keep it.
Jim: Some of the problem is a mental issue I have called German hard headedness. By Golly, I am going to make it work. The small room has a couple of features that really make it good for brewing – a 240V circuit and a utility Sink. I was actually pleased with how my brew day went so the room will work.
Aaron’s suggestion of mounting the CFC and pump has given me an idea of moving the SS table out and replacing it with a smaller wood structure for a Brew Stand with everything strategically mounted. I would then use the SS table as a brew prep table in the other room.
If you still have the plans for the Bier Barn, I could always up my game and build a brewing structure in the yard…
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