At the bottom, you will see a 2.5 gallon batch they made.
You will see they used 1.8 gallons of strike water with a 5.5# grain bill.
To do that same batch full volume BIAB NOSPARGE you would use something like 3.5 to 4 gallons of water up front in the mash for that same grain bill depending on the boil off rate.
Yeah, I did free shipping too.
The $50 savings will let me buy a little stand to put it on and maybe some other goodies. I need it to be about 2' off the floor, that will work perfect.
And if you really want to break the law, there is this...
At the bottom, you will see a 2.5 gallon batch they made.
You will see they used 1.8 gallons of strike water with a 5.5# grain bill.
To do that same batch full volume BIAB NOSPARGE you would use something like 3.5 to 4 gallons of water up front in the mash for that same grain bill depending on the boil off rate.
Yeah, I did free shipping too.
The $50 savings will let me buy a little stand to put it on and maybe some other goodies. I need it to be about 2' off the floor, that will work perfect.
And if you really want to break the law, there is this...
It will be a good height for me to be able to pull the basket out and sparge if I want without killing me (counter top that thing would be freaking high up in the air), and it's also the perfect height that if I decide to do the no-chill thing myself, I can just put one of my little "mini-cooper" fermenters right under the spigot and turn it on to fill my fermenter without any hoses. I don't care if it splashes around, I want aeration anyways.
EDIT: also they say you shouldn't pick it up by the handles while full of 5 gallons of wort. (somewhere on the Williams Q/A page).
So you probably want it somewhere that you can do whatever it is you want to do with it when full. Unless you are good a bear hugs. But bear hugging a boiling hot pot sounds no fun to me LOL.
It will great to learn how to use this together. I did the free shipping and it shipped within hours. It’s probably being shipped by pony express!
I also plan using this for no sparge 3 gallon batches. I’ve read that there is a fairly large kettle lose so final volume will probably end up at 2.5-2.75 gallons.
I’ve gotten used to overnight chilling with the Zymatic. It works really well but the hops have to adjusted as Mashani mentioned
The only thing that bothers me is that it seems hard to precisely hit specific mash temps. It’s a double wall design with the center mash bin surrounded by water that is heated within a 6 degree F range. It seems like you need to stir the grain frequently to equalize the temperature of the mash. The heater is at the bottom and the grain will naturally be hotter near the element. The actual mash temperature doesn’t swing as radically as the outer water’s 6 degree range would suggest. The mash is being heated by the outer water. The heat shuts off within a 6 degree range. I assume that means +/- 3 degrees. From what I’ve read you have to input a lower mash temperature than you want because it will overshoot by as much as 3 degrees. There is a brewer in Colorado who has a youtube video where he takes the temperature of the mash every 10 minutes. The mash temperature stayed close to what wanted. Maybe the mash temperature is not an issue particularly if we use a pump. He didn’t use a pump but stirred the mash every 10 minutes. I’ll try to find that video and post it.
I’d love to hear what Berryman has experienced with mash temperatures.
I’m thinking that If I need to nail a specific mash temperature I might treat the mash as biab and insulate the pot with a sleeping bag and shut off the heat for 60 minutes. This has been a pretty good way to hold a specific temperature on my stove. The worst that would happen is the mash would drop in temperature which wouldn’t bother me as much as the temperature rising 3 degrees.
bpgreen wrote:Now that I'm stepping up my game, so to speak, I've got a couple of questions.
What was the pump @berryman added?
I have 2 of these pumps but need only one and the other will be for a back-up. https://www.williamsbrewing.com/MARK-II ... P4028.aspx
You don't need a pump to use this unit, but in my opinion it makes for a better system. Otherwise as Mash said you would have to have it high enough up to gravity into a fermenter. The spigot is 7" from the base. I have mine on a 12" high roll-a-round cart, making total height with basket up in the sparge mode 52"
Happy Hound Brewery
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
― Thomas A. Edison
bpgreen wrote:
Note that this requires a GFI outlet. You've probably got at least one in your kitchen (and probably one in each bathroom). But the outlet I was originally planning to use is not GFI, so I either need to use a different outlet, or upgrade that one.
FYI:You can also buy a plug in portable GFI and be protected at any power source, I have a couple of them for using power tools outside.
bpgreen wrote:
But some of your comments confuse me. You seem to be saying this is just enough for 2.5-3 gallons, but my main reason for getting it is that I thought it would let me do 5 gallons all grain without going outside.
Are you saying it's too small for 5 gallon batches, or are you saying that it can ALSO be used for small batches?
I think Mash explained it and I haven't tried the full volume mash so I can't help there. But you can easy do 5 gal batches, that's all I do with it so far. The 7 gal. mark is 3" from the top and that might be pushing for a boil over, but I start the boil at 6.5 mark 4" from top and can end up with a little over 5.5 after a 60 min boil. The only limit I can see on a 5 gal. batch would be on a real high gravity beer as the grain basket holds up to 16 lbs and if needed more would have to use extract or cut back on the volume. 13 lbs is the most I have used so far.
Last edited by berryman on Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Happy Hound Brewery
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
― Thomas A. Edison
Banjo-guy wrote:
I’d love to hear what Berryman has experienced with mash temperatures.
I’m thinking that If I need to nail a specific mash temperature I might treat the mash as biab and insulate the pot with a sleeping bag and shut off the heat for 60 minutes. This has been a pretty good way to hold a specific temperature on my stove. The worst that would happen is the mash would drop in temperature which wouldn’t bother me as much as the temperature rising 3 degrees.
I was concerned at first with temp drop of 6 deg also, but if you put a long stem thermometer in the middle of the mash it stays very close, but the top and bottom temp will very, that's why I recirculate every 10-15 during the mash. I've only done the thick mash and sparge. Doing a full volume mash might be different will have to experiment on it.
Happy Hound Brewery
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
― Thomas A. Edison
LouieMacGoo wrote:I love how everyone here helps each other spend money!
Yes and I was the guinea pig and they got theirs $50.00 cheaper. And BTW you started this with the original post soon after they came out..
I know and I still haven't bit the bullet and bought one! I wish I had an extra $250 right now but with daughters in college and one about to go to college I can't justify to SWMBO that I need this!
Worrying can spoil the taste of beer more then anything else! ~ Charles Papazian
@Banjo-Guy, one of the reasons I want to try the full volume BIAB for 2.5/3 gallon batches is that that extra water / thermal mass should help keep mash temps more stable then if I had done it as a thick mash/sparge. That and it's just less of a PITA for me to mess with heating and hauling sparge water around.
I read on the mash and boil reviews that the grain basket stays more stable temperature wise then the water near the heating element as well.
I think the reality of it is that as long as you hit your strike temperature properly your probably good, since most of the conversion is done in the first 15 to 20 minutes anyways, so any temperature fluctuation after that is probably not as big of a deal as some folks think.
mashani wrote:
EDIT: also they say you shouldn't pick it up by the handles while full of 5 gallons of wort. (somewhere on the Williams Q/A page).
The handles seem to be secure enough to pick it up full and I think they say not to for liability reasons. I don't want to and another reason I use a pump. I just think this unit would be unhandy if was too high up to start with. 41" in the sparge position and put that on a standard height counter top and would be getting close to the ceiling.
Happy Hound Brewery
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
― Thomas A. Edison
That's why I've been "on the fence" about this thing for a while, the basket would be only a couple of feet from my ceiling in extended position if I was using it on my kitchen countertop. But I decided that I could deal with it 2 feet up to gravity feed my fermenter(s). I would really rather have a "short and fat" version of something like this, but nobody seems to make one like that besides speidel and 250 vs 2500 is a no brainer, built in pump or not.
This will be interesting when you all get it and try it out. I don't have a dollar invested in this company except for the purchase price and bought one and not trying to promote it, but works good for me after some trial and error. Will be interesting on seeing your views... As you guys go along, I CAN tell you what not to do.
Happy Hound Brewery
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
― Thomas A. Edison
