Stainless Steel Heating Element Upgrade

High Gravity 5500 Watt Stainless Steel Heating Element

After four years of regular use, I starting seeing small black specks of what I thought were burnt wort at the bottom of the kettle. On closer inspection, I saw that the hard insulator around the heating element was deteriorating. The rubber boot covering the 220-volt wire connections to the heating element had become brittle some time ago. And the electrical tape added as a quick fix didn't appear to be waterproof or safe. It was time to replace the heating element. 

I submitted a service request to High Gravity Supplies describing what happened to the original heating element. That day I received an email from owner Dave Knott letting me know what replacement options were available. The first option would be to replace the original water heater type element with a newer BoilCoil element. This option would require more rework of my kettle than I cared to. Having a removable power cord would make cleaning in place a thing of the past. But it would require drilling a new hole to allow clearance for the taller BoilCoil. Then plug the original hole used by the old element. And drilling holes for the bolts that hold the basket above the BoilCoil.

The second option would be a direct replacement of the original heating element. There would be no extra holes to drill or plug. Just remove and replace it. I decided to go with this option. The newer element design addresses issues with insulator cracking and flaking. It also replaces the rubber wire connector cover with a sturdy stainless steel cover. All of which are improvements over the original design.

The third option was to replace only the heating element. It meant rewiring the replacement element and reusing the original power cord. It was the least expensive option but not the best one. Not without having a fix for the element insulator and connector issues.

Unscrewing The Existing Bulkhead Fitting Was A Challenge

With the necessary parts ordered and waiting to be delivered, the next step was to remove the weldless bulkhead fitting. I gave the kettle an overnight soak of Powdered Brewery Wash mixed with few gallons of 170F/68C water. Hoping the combination of cleaner and heat would make unscrewing the fitting easier.  It didn't. I soon learned how difficult a four year build up of burnt wort would make this seemingly simple task.

Using two large channel lock pliers to grip both ends of the fitting and all the strength I had the fitting did spin. But to unscrew it from the kettle one end had to be prevented from turning. I sprayed both fitting ends with vegetable oil spray. I tried it again but still no luck unscrewing the fitting. Although now it was easier to spin in the hole.

Finally, I clamped one channel lock on the heating element itself and jammed the handles against the kettle wall to keep the fitting from spinning. With the kettle on its side, I cranked down on the pliers as hard as possible. After a few sharp taps with a hammer to help loosen the carbon build up on the threads. The element started to turn while the inside nut stayed put. Breaking the heating element in two in the process because of the force applied while holding it.

After A Few Choice Words And Some Sweat The New Heating Element Is Working Great

Aside from a few small dents on the bottom of the kettle from the channel lock pliers, the new heating element looks and works great. The new design has a stainless steel cover plate to protect the insulator from direct contact with the wort. And a waterproof stainless steel connector cover has replaced the rubber one. At 5500 watts it's a small but welcome improvement over the 5000 watt element that shipped with my High Gravity system as well.

Upgrading the heating element was a bit more challenging than expected. Replacing the old element with the newer version was definitely worth the cost and effort to install it. The entire process took a little over four hours to complete. Including setup and cleanup time needed to get the kettle ready for brewing. The food-safe vegetable oil used to lubricate the holes during drilling cleaned up easily. And checking the kettle for leaks after filling it took another hour. In all the upgrade cost about $120.00. And worth it to keep my brewing system well maintained and up to date.

eBIAB - Single Vessel Electric Brewing System

The High Gravity eBIAB Single Vessel Brewing System is a real game changer for the homebrewer who loves to brew indoors. This is one powerful, precision controlled brewing solution in a compact format that is incredibly easy to use. The EBC-SV electric brewery controller delivers unparalleled temperature control throughout the entire brewing process, from dough in to mash out. Keeping up with the demands of a busy brewing schedule was a very positive experience this year, thanks to the High Gravity single vessel brewing system. Brewing on this system will easily turn your most productive brew days into your most enjoyable brew days ever.

Electric Brewery Controller- Single Vessel [EBC-SV]

At the heart of the EBC-SV controller is the ubiquitous Auber PID Temperature Controller. The Auber PID is a high precision controller with features that include 0.02% accuracy, enhanced fuzzy logic stability control and a bright LED display that is easy to see. Programming the temperature could not be any easier to do, just press the up or down arrow buttons to set the target temperature on the lower green LED display. The readout from the temperature probe is then displayed on the upper red LED display. Once setup the PID controller does the rest, it energizes the heating element inside the kettle as needed to accurately maintain the target temperature.

The Auber PID Temperature Controller

The EBC-SV comes in both 110 volt and 220 volt models, making it the perfect brewing solution for every home brewer. Whether you install a new 220 volt 30 amp circuit, or use an existing one, you will have enough power to brew 10 gallon batches with ease. Built from high quality, readily available components, you can expect this eBIAB system to provide you with years of reliable operation. The temperature controller display comes preset to display in degrees Fahrenheit and using the controller to accurately maintain mash temperature is simple. Just press the up and down buttons to set your target temperature, add your mash water to the kettle and then turn on the Chugger pump.

Wort Going To Spray Nozzle And Temperature Probe

The wort is pumped from the bottom of the kettle, where the electric heating element is located, up to the spray nozzle mounted underneath the kettle lid. The threaded end of the spray nozzle screws into a tee fitting where the temperature probe is mounted. As liquid flows around the probe on it's way to the spray nozzle, the temperature data is fed back to and monitored by the controller. The controller then energizes the heating element as needed in order to maintain the mash set point temperature. 

The Round Knob Is Used To Regulate The Power Going To The Heating Element

The round knob on the side of the controller adjusts the power output to the heating element. When turned fully clockwise the heating element receives the most power, this setting is used to quickly raise the temperature of the liquid in the kettle. Once the liquid reaches a boil turning the knob counter clockwise reduces the amount of power sent to the heating element. To prevent boil overs it is a good practice to reduce the power to the heating element, by turning the knob counter-clockwise, until the wort maintains a steady rolling boil.

Gravity Primed Chugger Pump Setup

The Chugger pump is not self-priming, instead the pump uses gravity to prime itself, as long as the inlet to the pump is positioned lower than the kettle valve. The orientation of the pump head can be changed by removing the four screws that mount the front of the pump head to the pump body. With the screws removed, the pump head can then be rotated as needed to position the inlet below the center line of the pump. To use the pump open the kettle valve then turn on the pump switch, the pump will prime and begin pumping almost immediately.  

Disassembling And Cleaning The Pump Impeller Shaft

Chugger pump impellers rotate around a stationary shaft that is mounted to the pump body. The design uses very close tolerances between the shaft and the impeller bushing, for both maximum performance and quiet operation. If too much sticky wort builds up between the shaft and the impeller, the impeller will bind on the shaft stopping the pump. The magnetic drive on the pump motor turns the impeller. The magnetism used is also strong enough to stop the motor from turning when the impeller binds to the shaft. More detailed instructions on how to disassemble and clean a stuck Chugger pump impeller can be found here.

Cleaning The Heating Element Maximizes Efficiency And Life

At the end of the brewday the kettle, tubing, pump, chiller and spray nozzle is easily cleaned by mixing a spoonful of Oxi-Clean Free in 2 gallons of water and heating it to 140F. Add the water to the kettle then mix in the Oxi-Clean Free and run the pump with the controller set point temperature set to 140F. Use a bristle brush and sponge to clean any heavier buildup from the kettle and then empty the kettle and repeat the process using clean water. It is important to remove all debris from the system before it has time to dry and to then flush the system with clean water until it runs clear. Thoroughly clean the system after each use, to prevent the pump impeller from sticking, and to make sure it is always ready to go.   

Clogged Shut Off Type Disconnect (On Right)

The HFC 35 Polysulfide High Flow Quick Disconnects that shipped with the system are easy to use and make connection changes a snap. Unlike metal disconnects that transfer heat quickly after hot wort has been run through them, polysulfide disconnects will not burn your hand when changing connections. The HFC 35s are rated for safe operation with liquid temperatures up to 280F. Their large easy to press thumb latches make them perfect for use in brewing systems, especially when used with high quality 1/2" ID food grade silicone tubing.

Replace Shut Off Connectors With Straight Thru Connectors

The shut off type connectors that came with the system are prone to clogging whenever a large enough piece of grain enters the tubing. With brew in a bag brewing grain can escape through a hole in the grain bag and then get sucked up by the pump. Once enough grain gets lodged inside the shut off valve the tubing will become blocked and wort circulation will stop. Replacing the shut off type connectors with straight thru type connectors will prevent the connectors from becoming blocked. To eliminate any chance of blockage the connectors can be positioned so the interior cross bars are aligned, providing the largest open area inside the connectors.    

ezBIAB Calculator©

Brew In A Bag Brewing   The first time I brewed using my brew in a bag system I wondered how much grain and brewing water would fit inside my kettle without causing it to overflow? Then I wondered how much wort would be left in the kettle after removing the grain bag? Before switching from a traditional three tier system to BIAB these calculations had never been too much of a problem. Having a separate hot liquor tank, mash tun and brew kettle made calculating mash thickness and preboil volumes pretty straightforward.

Soon after I decided to sit down and write a BIAB calculator of my own for a number of reasons. I saw it as a great way to become more familiar with the variables associated with BIAB brewing. I also needed a way to reliably calculate BIAB volumes and gallons, based on the pounds of grain used in my recipes, all at the same time. The very first brewday after using ezBIAB Calculator© I was able to hit all of my BIAB volumes right on target. After calculating how many pounds of grain the recipe would use to reach the gravity I had in mind ezBIAB Calculator© had crunched the numbers for my Hiphopapocalypse IPA® recipe perfectly. 

ezBIAB Calculator©
With BIAB brewing all of the water and grain used in the mash goes into the kettle at the same time. During the mash grain is put inside a fine mesh bag so that sugars can be extracted into the wort without any of the grain getting into the kettle. At the end of the mash the grain and bag are then removed and the wort remaining in the kettle is brought to a boil. The trick in all of this is in not causing the kettle to overflow with too much mash volume during the mash while being able to hit your preboil wort volume after the grain has been removed.

Getting the mash volume to fit inside the kettle without it overflowing and hitting your preboil volume at the same time is like trying to juggle while riding on a see saw. You have to balance the amount of grain and water used in the mash, the mash thickness, the amount of water the grain will absorb and the size of the kettle being used. You also have to make allowances for the wort absorbed by hops, wort left behind in the kettle as cold break and the evaporation of water from the wort during the boil. Those calculations along with wort loss to lines, chillers and tubing are critical in determining your preboil wort volume.  

"In a perfect world the brewer's kettle is always large enough to hold all of the water and grain needed for any recipe. Then after the grain has been removed the wort in the kettle is always perfectly equal to the recipe's pre-boil volume. And at the end of the boil there's always enough cooled wort to fill the fermentor right up to the line. Of course once the fermentation has completed there is enough tasty beer to be packaged into kegs, bottles or cans."

In reality in order to reach your pre-boil volume some make up water has to be added to the kettle once the grain bag has been removed. This happens when the kettle is undersized and unable to hold all of the water and grain required for the mash and boil at the same time. Or if a brewer decides to leave room in the kettle and then reach their pre-boil volume by rinsing the grain with additional hot water. Sparging the grain is useful when brewing high gravity beers requiring a larger percentage of grain. It also results in a thicker mash because there is a lower percentage of water in the kettle during the mash.

Calculating Fermentor Volumes

If the goal is to package 5.00 gallons of beer the fermentor will need to be filled with 5.25 gallons of wort, in order to make up for 0.25 gallons of fermentation trub loss. Fermentor trub loss is made up of yeast, proteins and hop debris that eventually settle out into a compact layer at the bottom of the fermentor. It's the kind of stuff you don't want ending up in your finished beer. The amount of fermentor trub loss will vary with the strain and amount of yeast pitched and the percentage of trub initially transferred to the fermentor from the kettle.

Calculating Kettle Volumes

Kettle trub is made up of break material and proteins formed during the boil that under most conditions will remain in the kettle and not be transferred to the fermentor. In order to have 5.25 gallons of wort to fill the fermentor at the end of the boil the post boil wort volume has to be calculated accurately. If the kettle boils off 1.25 gallons of wort per hour, during a one hour boil, and the kettle trub loss is 0.75 gallons then 2.00 gallons of wort is the total kettle loss. NOTE: Hops will also absorb a small amount of wort during the boil depending on the weight of hops added to the kettle.

By adding the 2.00 gallons of kettle wort loss to the 5.25 gallons of wort needed to go into the fermentor we come up with a pre-boil volume of 7.25 gallons. We prove that by subtracting from the 7.25 gallons of wort pre-boil volume 0.75 gallon for kettle trub loss and 1.25 gallons for boil loss leaving 5.25 gallons of wort left for transferring into the fermentor. After fermentation 0.25 gallon of trub will remain in the fermentor leaving 5.00 gallons of clean beer just waiting to be packaged.

Calculating Mash Volumes

To end up with 7.25 gallons of post boil wort in the kettle, after the grain bag has been removed, several other variables also need to be factored in. With BIAB brewing the entire grain bill is mixed together with brewing water inside the same kettle that will also be used as a mash tun. The ratio of brewing water to grain is used to determine the thickness of the mash which is then used to determine the amount of room the mash will take up in the kettle. Its the sum of the mash volume added to the preboil wort volume that determines what size kettle will be needed to keep the wort from overflowing. When using a kettle that's been right sized for the volume and gravity of the beer your brewing the mash will be thinner than that used in a three tier system.

Figuring out the best kettle size for brewing gravity of beer you brew the most often is very important when brewing BIAB. I always recommend using the largest sized kettle that's practical for your your budget and brewing needs. Getting the wort pre-boil volume correct on brewday is a major milestone in the BIAB brewing process. Using a smaller kettle means you'll be sparging the grain in order to make up for the loss in preboil volume. It also means that your mash will be thicker and depending on how much thicker it will produce a less fermentable mash than a thinner mash would. As you progress in your BIAB brewing you may also want to factor in things like wort loss due to shrinkage as the wort cools down in the kettle or losses in hoses and chillers.  

ezBIAB Calculator©

ezRecipe Design is the easy way to awesome beer!

A Little Mashing Theory Goes A Long Way

As a self proclaimed single infusion mash fly sparger brewing on a traditional three tier brewing system, my goal was to always get my mash thickness as close to 1.25 quarts of water per pound of grain. Mash thickness plays a key role in the brewing process when it comes to getting consistent results in your finished beer. With BIAB brewing all of the water volume is mixed with the grain and added to the kettle for mashing at the same time. This creates a much thinner mash than the 1:25 quarts of water per pound of grain used in a traditional mash.

BIAB Conversion And Efficiency

The mash thickness associated with BIAB brewing is much thinner than that used in a three tier system. Due to the higher ratio of water to grain the concentration of converted sugars will be lower, which in turn produces a more fermentable wort. The same higher ratio of water to grain lowers the concentration of enzymes in the wort slowing the breakdown of proteins.

Extended mash times help compensate for the slower conversion rate of a thinner mash and using a mash efficiency of 70% is a good starting point. As with any new brewing system a couple of brewdays are required in order to get your process and efficiencies dialed in more accurately.


Traditional Conversion And Efficiency

The thicker 1.25 quarts of water per pound of grain mash thickness, used in traditional brewing, produces a wort that has a higher concentration of enzymes. The higher concentration of enzymes breakdown proteins more efficiently converting starch into sugars faster. Since the ratio of water to grain is lower the concentration of converted sugars will be higher producing a less fermentable wort and a maltier sweeter beer.


Maximum Kettle Volume: The maximum amount of grain and water that the kettle can safely hold before a spill over is likely to occur. Sometimes referred to as the actual working volume of the kettle. Depending on the size of the kettle this can be many gallons less than the kettle's actual gallon rating. In the example below the 62 quart kettle used in my BIAB RIMS setup has a lip located one inch down from the top of the kettle. The top of the grain basket rests on that lip to keep the basket from touching the heating element located at the bottom of the kettle.

A 15.5 Gallon Kettle Safely Holds Just 13 Gallons

In addition to that there is also a spray nozzle mounted in the kettle lid that sprays temperature controlled wort evenly over the grain bed. Keeping a two inch distance between the tip of the nozzle and the top of the wort  maximizes the spray coverage over the largest area of the grain bed. When setting up my ezBIAB calculations I enter 13 gallons for the maximum kettle volume instead of the 15.5 gallon kettle size.


Packaged Beer Volume: This is the total volume of beer that you planned to package into cans, bottles or kegs. When your beer comes out of the fermentor for packaging a layer of yeast, or fermentation trub, will be left behind in the fermentor.

Plan Ahead And Have Enough Fermented Beer To Package

If a fermentor was initially filled with 5 gallons of beer at the end of fermentation a little bit of beer may be lost during fermentation through the airlock or blow off tube too. To allow for beer lost during fermentation, and ensure you end up with enough beer to fulfill you packaging needs, enter the volume of beer expected to be lost during fermentation.


Kettle Trub Loss: This value has more importance for brewers who believe that only wort should ever go into their fermentors. If that is the case then a certain amount of wort and kettle trub will always be left behind in the kettle after filling the fermentor. In my kettle that can amount to as much as three quarts for some recipes that include plenty of hop additions.

Kettle Trub Loss Will Vary With Kettle Size And Brewing Process

For some brewers transferring the kettle trub along with the wort into the fermentor isn't a big deal. I can't imagine kettle trub being magically transformed into drinkable beer during fermentation, and that's where fermentor trub loss will come into play. If you plan to add all of the kettle trub into your fermentor then enter zero as the kettle trub loss, but be sure to include that amount and more in your fermentor trub loss calculation.

If you choose to keep the kettle trub out of your fermentor then add that amount of wort lost to your kettle trub loss calculation. Eliminating kettle trub from going into your fermentor will then allow you to enter a smaller amount of trub loss in the fermentor trub loss calculation. As an example the post boil volume will need to be larger to compensate for the wort and trub left behind in the kettle.


Weight of Grains: This is the total amount grain used in the recipe, here you simply enter the weight of the grains in pounds. The grain weight is used in calculations that determine the grist to water ratio when they are mixed together in the mash tun, also referred to as the thickness of the mash, or the mash thickness. When grain is mixed with water a percentage of that water will be absorbed by the grain, the amount of water absorbed by the grain is referred to as grain absorption.

Weight Of Grains Used In A Recipe

An acceptable method of calculating the percentage of recipe water lost to grain absorption can be expressed simply as the weight of grain times 0.125 equals water lost in gallons. There are some variables outside of this formula that can change the actual amount of water loss although not by much. Squeezing the grains, and the method of squeezing the grains, will extract more wort from the grain and lower the amount of water needed to compensate for the amount of water absorbed by the grain.


Weight of Hops: The total weight of hops used in the recipe, here you simply enter the weight of the hops in ounces. The hop weight, is used in calculations that estimate the amount of water needed, to compensate for wort that will be absorbed by the hops as they sit in the kettle. There are other variables that affect the amount of water lost to hop absorption too. The amount of hops used in the recipe and the type of hops whether flower, whole leaf or pellet will all influence the actual amount of extra water that will be needed.

Weight Of Hops Used In A Recipe

An acceptable method of calculating the percentage of recipe water lost to hop absorption can be expressed simply as the weight of hops times .0.0365 equals water lost in gallons. Here again variables in how the brewer chooses to remove the hops from their wort will affect the amount of water absorption. If hops are added directly to the kettle they eventually end up settling on the bottom of the kettle as trub. If hops are bagged before they're added to the kettle some brewers may opt to squeeze the hops and collect the extra wort in the kettle.


Fermentor Trub Loss: At the end of a successful fermentation yeast cells having run out of maltose to eat, eventually fall out of suspension and settle on the bottom of the fermentation vessel. This layer of debris is referred to as fermentor trub and its made up mostly of heavy fats, proteins and inactive yeast.

Trub Loss Produced During Fermentation

As an example, on bottling day you have 0.5 gallon of trub at the bottom of your fermentor and you want to package 5 gallons of beer. Enter 0.5 as the fermentor trub loss, to compensate for the 0.5 gallon of volume the trub will take up. You would then need to transfer 5.5 gallons of wort from the kettle to the fermentor to have enough fermented beer needed to package 5 gallons.


Length Of Boil: This is the length of time the wort will be boiled, here you simply enter the length of the wort boil in minutes. The length of the wort boil will vary between recipes, as a way to adjust bittering, or the isomerization of alpha acids of hop additions. The boil also creates the maillard reaction in the wort that darkens and adds flavors of toast and caramel that couldn't be added in any other way. Brewers may also vary the intensity of the boil, how vigorous the boil is, by controlling the amount of heat applied to the kettle.

The boil also halts enzyme activity in the wort to prevent any further conversion of dextrin into fermentable sugars. The heat and turbulence of the boil sanitizes the wort and promotes the formation of hot break which is made up of proteins and tannins, the foam and brown scum that collects on top of the wort. Many brewers add a fining agent to the boiling wort to help the break material coagulate and fall to the bottom of the kettle, or use whirl pooling as a way to clear their wort of  break material.

Evaporation Rate Of Wort During The Boil Depends On Several Things

Boil Off Rate: This is the volume of the wort that will be lost to evaporation as the wort is boiled. Simply enter the estimated amount of wort boiled off in gallons per hour. The wort volume in the kettle will be reduced at a rate depending on the shape and size of the kettle, the length of the boil and how vigorous the boil is. Referred to as the boil off rate this value may take you a few batches, in order to get the closest average boil off rate for your brewing system.

The Ultimate Electric Brew In A Bag Brewday

As soon as we finished moving into our current home I started to plan the layout of a new brew room in a section of the garage. Before moving from our previous home my brew room was located in the basement and that’s where I spent several years brewing all grain recipes. I've always brewed indoors on an inexpensive kitchen gas stove because it was convenient no matter what the weather was like outside I could always brew beer when time permitted. I never had to worry about rain, snow or wind interfering with my plans, brewing indoors had some real advantages. A fan at one end of the basement pulled fresh makeup air inside while another fan exhausted boil vapors and harmful fumes out a window at other end. This arrangement made for some hot brewing days in summer and for some cold brewing days in the dead of winter, but for the most part it worked and kept me dry. I was limited to brewing five gallons batches on the gas stove even with the kettle straddled across two burners eight gallons of wort was about all the setup could handle. I managed to brew more often but even with a stepped up brewing schedule it was always a challenge to keep up with the demand for beer.

Electric Brewery Controller - Single Vessel

While waiting to get settled into the new place I had plenty of time to research the different types of electric brewing systems that were currently available. I had two main requirements for the new brew room it had to be electric powered and the brewing system had to be big enough to brew ten gallon batches. Before moving I found out that there was no possible way to run a natural gas line to the garage because of the way the house had been designed. I also wanted to increase the amount of beer brewed during each brew day too because it would let me build up and maintain a well stocked pipeline while potentially reducing the number of brew days per year. My favorite craft beers cost about $8.00 to $12.00 a six pack and using a little simple math proved that a 10 gallon batch of beer would easily fill 100 twelve ounce bottles which meant that for less than the cost of a few six packs I could produce sixteen six packs of the freshest high quality home brew available. Naturally I never add in any costs for the time I spend brewing because I love to brew so much even though I may not look forward to packaging that much beer in twelve ounce bottles. 

Dedicated Garage eBIAB Brew Room

The space I had to work with in the brewing area was a good size but it wasn’t going to be big enough for a three tier system like I had been brewing on. Knowing that the brewing area was a bit limited I started looking into the brew in a bag (BIAB) process. Using the BIAB process I could still brew my all grain recipes but without needing the extra room for a separate hot liquor tank, mash tun and boil kettle. I was happy to learn that with BIAB a single kettle takes the place of a hot liquor tank and a mash tun. Ultimately I decided on buying the High Gravity eBIAB Electric Brewing System because the prebuilt system shipped with a 4500 watt 220 volt heating element and a 62 quart kettle which would be perfect for ten gallon batches. It's an experimental brewing system run by a programmable EBC-SV controller that monitors the wort temperature as the wort is sprayed onto the top of the grain bed and can be used with 5500 watt heating elements with much larger kettles.
Two months after starting the brew room layout and placing the equipment orders with vendors everything was delivered, set in place, connected and ready to brew the first batch of beer.
 

High Gravity 15 Gallon eBIAB System

As it turned out making the move from natural gas to all electric brewing was one of the best things that could have happened but it did involve buying new equipment and learning a whole new way to brew beer. To get going I started reading about what other electric BIAB brewers had done to improve their brewing process and about their experiences both good and bad. Some brewers said the wort would be cloudy and others, including the manufacturer of the system I bought, said to only expect to get 60% efficiency rates. While other brewers wrote about getting near 80% efficiency rates when double crushing their grains and doing a 90 minute mash. Cloudy wort and low efficiency aren't things I'd be happy living with especially after investing so much in a eBIAB system. Of course there were a few other questions too like would the system be able to brew ten gallon batches, how to exhaust the boil vapors and what's better to cool the wort a plate chiller or a counter-flow chiller. It seemed like there were pros and cons to just about everything used to brew beer depending on who you asked, finally I just had to make up my own mind and go with what I knew would work best for me.

The First Recipe Used 22 Pounds Of Grains

The brewers over at the Beer Borg were able to provide me with a lot of great information about their own BIAB brewing techniques and experiences, they're a friendly bunch of people with years of brewing experience that they're always willing to share. I knew if I asked five different brewers how to do anything I'd get back at least six different answers but having access to so much solid brewing knowledge makes choosing the best options so much easier. For safety reasons I decided to hire an electrician to install a 4 wire 220 volt 30 amp GFIC breaker and run the line to a receptacle near the location of the EBC-SV brewery controller. The EBC-SV is the heart of the eBIAB system it runs the Chugger pump and regulates the output of the heating element based on feedback from the  temperature probe connected at the kettle lid. The EBC-SV was all setup and ready to go right out of the box all it needed was to be plugged into a 220 volt outlet in order to use it. I have to admit brewing on this system proved to be the most enjoyable brew day I've ever had. The EBC-SV provided automated temperature control and combined with the Chugger pump they eliminated a lot of manual work and the clean in place feature made cleanup a snap. 

Large Basket And Mesh Bag Made The Pound Dough In Easy

Having nothing more than eBIAB theory to go on for my first brew I started out with a recipe based on an estimated 70% efficiency, about halfway between my previous infusion mash efficiency and the manufacturer's suggested efficiency. The California Common (aka: Anchor Steam) style recipe I chose was a favorite of mine that I had brewed before. It's a fairly simple recipe using a mix of 10% Crystal and 90% Pale Ale malt and a few ounces of Northern Brewer hops. I had stopped in The Brewers Apprentice located in Freehold, NJ earlier in the week to introduce myself and to pick up a few vials of White Labs WLP810 - San Francisco Lager Yeast™ for the starters I planed to pitch on brewday. I met Jo-Ellen Ford the co-owner of the LHBS and early adopter of their now booming 'Brew On Premise' concept of brewing. Jo-Ellen and the staff really know homebrewing and do their best to make every brewer's brewday a great experience. I stopped by and picked up 22 pounds of freshly crushed grain early brew day morning and then with all the ingredients on hand I was ready to brew.

Recirculating Mash Spray Nozzle

To get started I processed 15 gallons of reverse osmosis water and stored it in a 64 quart water cooler that I had bought for mixing my brewing water. The RO filter I have produces almost 4 gallons of pure water an hour, there are larger capacity RO filters that can easily double the gallon per hour output, but for my everyday use the filter is sized perfectly. After the water cooler was filled I mixed in the salts and minerals and adjusted the pH to match the brewing water profile for the style of beer I was brewing. If you decide to create your own brewing water it's a good idea to prepare the water and make your adjustments the night before your planned brew day this way you can dedicate enough time to get the water profile just right and not feel rushed while doing it. Once the water adjustments were made and the water had enough time to stabilize I calibrated the pH meter again and took a final reading before adding the brewing water to the kettle. To prepare for the mash I heated 12 gallons of brewing water up to 160F (71C) then switched off the heating element and pump before mixing in the grain. After all the grains were added and stirred in another temperature reading showed the mash temperature had settled in at 150F (65C). I switched the on the Chugger pump and heating element and began  recirculating the mash at my 155F (68C) target temperature for 75 minutes.

The Key Ingredients Needed To Modify Brewing Water Properties

After mashing for 75 minutes it was time to hook the grain hoist to the grain basket handle and lift it out of the kettle high enough for the hot wort to drain out of the grains and back into the kettle. With the grain basket securely suspended above the kettle and the wort drained out of the grains I poured a few gallons of 168F (75.5C) sparge water into the grain basket to rinse as much sugar out of the grains and into the kettle as possible. With the kettle filled to the preboil volume and the grain basket taken away I turned on the heating element to begin the boil only to see that the temperature of the wort was dropping. I made a quick call to Dave Knott the owner of High Gravity in Tulsa OK to find out what the issue could be and hoping it would be easily resolved. Dave answered my call and said that even though it wasn't needed during the boil the temperature probe still had to be connected to the EBC-SV controller. The controller had to be able to sense that the temperature probe reading was lower than the 155F (68C) set point in order to energize the heating element. Earlier as the grains were draining I had disconnected the temperature probe from the controller in order to clean the kettle lid. Without getting an accurate temperature reading the controller never powered up the heating element, a not so obvious but important piece of information to know. Once I reconnected the temperature probe the element started to heat up the wort and in hardly no time had brought the wort to a boil.

Grain Basket Suspended Above Kettle While Wort Drains

With the grain basket removed and emptied and the exhaust hood moved back into position above the kettle the boil vapors were quickly vented outside as they rose from the kettle. The carbon filters in the exhaust hood helped to reduce any brewing aromas from the air before they were vented outside, the filtered exhaust air is more of a courtesy to any neighbors who may not enjoy the smells of brewing like I do, and the brew room was kept well ventilated and free from any buildup of moisture. An interesting thing to point out when brewing with an electric heating element is how the hop additions have to be made. I used nylon mesh bags that were long enough to soak in the boiling wort while being secured to the top rim of the kettle. The idea is to keep the hop sacks from moving around freely in the kettle during the boil, getting snagged in the heating element and causing any damage. The controller's manual adjustment knob allowed the heating element to be finely tuned to provide a nice rolling boil once the wort had reached a boil. When going from mash temperature to a boil cranking the adjustment knob up all the way brought the wort to a hard boil quickly. But to avoid a boil over and prevent too much volume boil off it was easy to dial back some of the heat using the manual adjustment knob. After a sixty minute boil the boil off rate was just about a gallon and a half leaving me with enough wort to fill two Ale Pails to their five gallon marks.

Clear Wort And Tight Compact Cold Break

The sixty two quart kettle easily handled the 22 pounds of grain needed for the ten gallon batch size of this recipe. I used a one and a half quart of brewing water per pound of grain mash thickness, which is inline with most of my previous single infusion mashes when using a mash tun. I calculated the mash thickness by multiplying 1.5 quarts of strike water per pound of grain as (1.5 * 22) = 33 quarts or 8.25 gallons. Then I calculated how much water the grain would absorb by multiplying the grain absorption rate as (0.13 * 22) = 2.86 gallons which gave a total water volume of (8.25 + 2.86) = 11.11 gallons of water. While mixing in the grains I saw there was still some room in the kettle so I added in another gallon of strike water for good measure increasing the mash thickness to just below 1.75 quarts per pound. I made a best 'guestimate' as to what the boil off rate and trub loss would be using the new kettle so to make sure there was enough wort to fill two five gallon fermenters I kept three gallons of sparge water handy for adjusting the preboil wort volume as needed.    

Induction Cook Top Heating Sparge Water

As the countdown timer for the boil ticked by signaling the next hop addition I kept myself busy by getting the wort chiller, lines, yeast flasks and fermentor buckets and hoses sanitized. By the time the boil was done the used grains had been drained of wort, even though they still must have weighed sixty pounds, so I dumped them into a bag and put the bag in the garbage can for disposal later in the week. The 760 cfm exhaust hood did a great job keeping the brew room air quality in good shape and the new brewing system worked out as good or better than I could have imagined it would. In a single day of brewing I became a huge fan of Chugger pumps too, using a pump to transfer wort was so much easier than doing it by hand. The only new process left for me to master at this point was using the convoluted counter-flow wort chiller. Moving up to ten gallon batches meant having to retire my trusted old immersion chiller, it simply didn't have the cooling capacity of the new counter-flow chiller design.    

Chilling The Wort As It Goes Into The Fermenters

Earlier in the week I made up two 2 liter yeast starters using a vial of WLP810 liquid yeast in each one. The recipe called for around five hundred billion cells of yeast for a ten gallon batch and I was going to split the batch up into two separate fermentors. I just happened to have a pair of two liter Erlenmeyer flasks and two stir plates handy so making up the starters was pretty straightforward. If a vial of WLP810 contained 100 billion cells when added to a two liter starter spun on a stirplate the end result cell count is estimated to be around 220 billion cells. So pitching a single starter into each of the two fermenters provides the recommended cell count for a good pitch of yeast. The WLP810 strain is a true Lager yeast although it's fermented at Ale like temperatures to develop the unique flavor profile that's synonymous with a modern day California Common style beer. Using Mr. Malty's yeast calculator and setting the yeast strain type to 'hybrid' calculated a cell count that was in between that of an Ale and a Lager so it seemed like a logical choice to make.

The Rise And Fall Of WLP810 Yeast Starters

To prepare the yeast for brew day I mixed in a cup of extra light dried malt extract for every two liters of filtered water. Using a large pot I poured in four liters of filtered water and two cups of DME and mixed it all together until there were no lumps of DME in the mixture. After boiling the wort for about fifteen minutes I put the pot in the sink filled with ice water and a small fountain pump to keep the cold water circulating around the pot. Once the wort cooled to 75F (21C) I added a vial of yeast to each sanitized Erlenmeyer flask and poured the cooled wort in until the level hit the two liter marks. After spraying tin foil with StarSan and loosely covering the the openings of each flask I set them each on a stirplate and let them spin for three days. At the end of the three days, after the yeast had time to absorb enough nutrients to allow them go dormant, I replaced the tin foil with sanitized plastic wrap and placed the flasks in the refrigerator to cold crash. On brew day morning I took them out of the refrigerator and let them warm up slowly to pitching temperature. Just before pitching each starter I decanted off the starter wort leaving only enough wort behind to swirl the yeast cake into suspension.

Clear Wort Sample Original Gravity On Target

It wasn't until the yeast was pitched and both fermentors were put inside the fermentation chamber that I realized I never added WhirlFloc or other fining agents to the kettle but the wort was still amazingly clear. I remember how clear the wort remaining in the kettle was and how tightly packed the trub pile was too after only a little whirlpooling. I can only think the adjustments I made to the brewing water were largely responsible for the wort's clarity because I'd had the same results when brewing on my gas fired system too. The three very different styles of beer I brewed earlier this year using distilled water and modified water properties all had improved color, clarity and very clean flavors and aroma. 

White Labs WLP810 - San Francisco Lager Yeast™

Both fermentors have been bubbling away at 65F (21C) releasing volumes of sulfur aromas that combine with the smell of wood from inside the fermentation chamber to create a smell that any brewer would find intoxicating. It'll be at least a week until I get to take a few hydrometer samples and taste how the young beer inside is coming along. Last Saturday was almost exactly a year to the day that I was able to brew beer at home in my own brew room and all I can say is it was the most amazing brew day I've ever had. All the time that went into planning the layout of the brew room paid off. Everything I had learned about all grain brewing was easily translated into brewing on an eBIAB system. Mash thickness, grain absorption, trub loss, conversion efficiency, water properties all the same calculations still applied when brewing in a bag as they did when brewing on a three vessel system. Needless to say encouraged by the huge success of my first brew day I can't wait to get in there again and brew up some stouts, wheats and IPAs.

Be As Passionate About Brewing As You Are About Beer

Since building out my garage brew room the folks at GarageCabinets.com have taken an interest in my web site and included me in their list of '24 Great Blogs Homebrewers Should Follow' article. I highly recommend their website as a must read for anyone interested in improving the look and usability of their garage area. The GarageTalk article by Troy Greenberg is specifically targeted to homebrewers and is a great resource to keep handy for future reference. I've also agreed to submit a series of articles covering a wide range of brewing topics to HomeBrewTalk.com thanks to Austin McLendon taking an interest in my brewing experiences. Their new online 'Front Page' section has proven to be very popular with homebrewers and Austin has done a great job in providing content that's both interesting and informative. It's been a crazy busy summer for me with tons of stuff going on but I'm looking forward to kicking back and enjoying the Fall brewing season and brewing plenty of beer in the new brew room.