First brewday, with an Electric Brewery

[bigvalen]

So...jaysus, this is a learning experience. Probably as mad as the first time I tried to do an all-grain brew from a book. It's a three-65l pot job, with a control panel, 2 pumps, and five hoses, one coming from the mains water supply.

Loads of things leak. The beefy 1/2" quick-disconnect hoses seem to piss liquid out of them, if they are at the wrong angle. It took ages to be 100% sure that the lumps wouldn't leak from the threads - I think it's NPT thread, and BSP sockets, which .. almost fit. Lots of PTFE seemed to sort it.

The bottom connector for the herms is *still* leaking. Don't understand that. And it's a hoor to take of & re-tighten, but I suppose it has to be done.

I got really confused initially, when I realised that the HLT's only thermostat was on it's bottom valve, which means that while I care about the temperature of the HLT, I need to keep that water pump running. After I'd taking the water into the mash tun, you'd swear the simple job of piping up the herms & pump to the mash tun was wiring a battleship. It took me bleedin' ages, and then "Oh. That. Yeah, that works" finally happened.

I've only got 4500W elements, so the heat-up takes a while. With 45l in the HLT, it seems 1C per minute or so. I also had a nasty lesson on the initial mash flood, vs. the recirculation - I took the water up to 54C, then put it into the mash tun for a protein rest at 50C. Which was fine. Then started recirculating, and completely forgot that the HLT was still at 54C, so kinda overheated for a wee while. And of course, while recirculating the HLT water, I have the output disconnected from the mains, so it's not easy to quickly drop the temperature. D'oh.

Anyway. The mash is coming up to heat now...

John

[molc]

Bar the leaks, it does get easier as you learn your system. Def the first few brews involve a lot of staring at connections and going wtf!

A grainfather doesn't seem like a terrible idea after all...

[bigvalen]

Heh. Win of the night was the upgrade from a chilling coil to a plate chiller and a thrumometer. Ah here...five minutes, and 45l was chilled and in pots. So fast I forgot to properly aerate. Doh.

Anyway ... need to do a lot of thinking on how pumps are laid out, how hoses are laid, and orders of what buttons get pressed. But..yeah. that was a lot less hassle than the previous systems I've used. Looking forward to trying a huge imperial stout or something, next time.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[molc]

Personal experience suggests you do a few normal strength similar beers first to dial everything in and then go big. Big beers are a while world of extra pain...

[bigvalen]

Oh, does anyone use quick-disconnect hoses ? For some reason, mine seem to leak occasionally. I'll hook it up to the pump, start the pump, notice that the tap was closed, the QD leaks a bit..but stops when I pull it back a little and push it back in.

John

[molc]

Depends on the quick release. I have Camlocks and they never leak. I got some from AliExpress first and they were a disaster.

[Leann ull]

Ali express disconnects aren't great tbh. Like Molc I use camlocks no problems, it's a marmite discussion tbh

[nigel_c]

I use Ali quick disconnects for my setup and never have any problem with leaks.
All depends of the supplier I suppose.

[darren996]

Fengci-eng shop on Ali does quality cams and disconnects, also registered postage.

[johnrm]

Did you not do trial runs?
Cold water, without malt to start?

[bigvalen]

Yeah, did a few cold runs, the last one was fine after a few hours. Some leaks take a while to come out. Most are a drip every ten minutes, so I don't mind terribly.

Quick-disconnect is odd though. Might be the silicone rings need to be worked-in, or something. After a few plug/unplugs, they don't seem to leak anymore.

[molc]

Is that after they have heated up I wonder? Could be they've expanded.

[Leann ull]

Heating will improve them