High Gravity BIAB Electric Brewing System

[RickBeer]

Louie, we should have a thread for brewers we hate, you know the ones that have such vastly superior brewing rigs that we're so jealous of them that we hate them. I can start the list.

I hate Vince.

I hate Gymrat.

I think I hate Inkleg but that may be for many reasons...

There are others, you know who you are.

I hate this guy too... Mostly because he brews in flip-flops, that's really worth hating.

Nice rig Vince. I'm jealous.

[Kealia]

Haha - not it!

The pulley system is nice. When I do 5G BIAB batches I end up with a ladder and a dowel across two rungs to hold my basket. Yeah, the ladder has to be clean as does everything else to avoid any issues but it works for me.
Not nearly as shiny as your set up for sure. One day I'll have a garage to brew in and I'll upgrade, but until then I "do it with a stick"!

[ScrewyBrewer]

Yesterday was the second time I brewed on the system and it was a lot less stressful than the first time. I knew going in how much strike water to have in the kettle before adding in all the grains and I'd already used the counter flow chiller and grain hoist before. I continue to learn new things about using the system too while stirring the mash I stopped the Chugger pump but it wouldn't start again once I was done. It eventually started pumping after about five minutes, I think it has an internal temperature shutoff that prevents it from running if it gets too hot.

Another thing I noticed is the exhaust hood started to build up condensation during the boil about ten minutes in drops of water dripped into the kettle. I removed the carbon filter screens but had to swing the hood over so that the fan housing wasn't directly over the kettle. Good thing the hood is wide enough so that even with it off center the hood was still able to exhaust the boil vapors outside. Yesterday was the first time I brewed inside while it was cold and rainy all day so the condensation problem may not be as bad on a drier day but I do have a work around.

I'm getting better at using the rheostat properly, it's used to control how quickly the electric heating element heats up, and keeping it too high tends to let the wort overshoot the digital set point temperature by a few degrees. I keep it cranked up initially to heat the wort faster but have to remember to dial it back once it get close to the mash temperature I want.

hzydyz-1sml.jpg (92.85 KiB) Viewed 3882 times

I also recirculated the boiling wort through the counter flow chiller to sanitize it while whirlpooling the wort back into the kettle for ten minutes , that's something I've never done before either. As for cleaning in place its becoming more familiar with me now its pretty cool being able to clean out the kettle, pump, counter flow chiller and all of the lines at the same time. Two brew days and twenty gallons of beer still in the fermentors it's time to do an inventory of how many bottles I have on hand.

[gwcr]

That looks great Screwy! Sweet setup, and good to hear that you are getting a new routine down. Well Done!

[DaYooper]

Boy, just looking at how everything is mounted makes it look like a much easier brew day rather than having to lug eveyrthing out of the closet at the beginning of the day and then cleaning everything onesie-twosie at the end. Where is the "I am jealous" emoticon....

[ScrewyBrewer]

I came across this thread and realized I haven't posted an update in a long time so here's the most recent picture I have of my brew room build. I took it this morning over coffee. Yesterday I had an early start at 7:00AM and had finished brewing a batch of IPA, did a little maintenance on my Chugger pump and had everything cleaned up by 3:00PM.

brew-room-sml.jpg (134.27 KiB) Viewed 3599 times

I've added a wall mount for a small TV and connected it using Google Chromecast so I have some distractions while mashing in. I've also added a small chest freezer that I really like using for maintaining fermentation temperatures. Other improvements I've made include expanding my refrigerator's Co2 lines so I can now carbonate 3 kegs at the same time and easily connect a Blichmann BeerGun™ when needed. The garage is insulated and last fall I installed a 220 volt electric heater that generates plenty of heat for comfortable brewing during the Northeast winters.

It's been a little over a year since I began converting one side of our garage into a dedicated brewing area and the conversion is finally done, for now. I couldn't be more pleased with the brewing efficiencies and consistency I've been getting from the High Gravity brewing system now that I've gotten everything dialed in.

[Inkleg]

Love it Vince, LOVE IT!

[Beer-lord]

Sweetness personified! I'll never have a set up like that unless I make it to heaven.

[BigPapaG]

Wow Vince, just WOW!

[Wilson]

Nice system Screwy,!
Since I moved last October I haven't been able to brew. The electrical system at the new house doesn't aford me the ability to use my electric brew house.
I've been kicking around the idea of going BIAB with a gas burner since I have a smaller brewing foot print now.

[JohnSant]

Been on Home Brew Talk the last 2-3 days checking out sources for High Gravity 120V BIAB system. It seems that there is one guy there that is really down on High Gravity. He claims that the EBC is a hunk of junk and that the whole system is way over priced. I know that I haven't checked all the systems out their but I feel for what I want High Gravity fits the bill. Yes some could say its is pricey but its close by and I won't pay shipping. Now for the EBC he states he has no first hand knowledge of it only what he's read and showed one source. He did make the statement that he builds his own and I'm wondering if he's trying to drum up business for himself. He tried to get Screwy into a debate but Screwy just flat out told its what he wanted and it worked for him well.
All I'm saying is if you have no personal knowledge of what your talking about get it first then go from there.