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Post by zymot on Jul 23, 2020 13:02:14 GMT -6
I get my order from Brewhardware.com. The Blichmann Brewcommander is not in the box. Packing list says Blichmann products dropped shipped. No biggie, I expected this.
Start fitting the rest of the stuff together. The 5,500 watt element fits into the kettle, with about an 0.125" to spare. I try to clamp it down with the tri-clamp. The handcuff part closes to about 45° - 30° short of closing. I can still get he element into place, though, so I move on. I try to fit a L6-30R twistlock connector on the element, it is a struggle. I can get the connector on, but t absolutely will not twist in either direction. Upon closer examination, one of the power blades is not in the correct radial position. No way is it going to work.
Call up brewhardware, talk to Bobby. Blichmann is drop shipped and on track to arrive tomorrow. Yipeee. Explain the heater plug situation. We determine the cause of the TC problem. The element has a blob of clear silicone in the grove. Bobby will send out a replacement heater element. I also had a brain fart in with L6-30P, ordered L5 instead. Bobby will swap them out 1 for 1 and wave the restocking charge.
So shout out to brewhardware. Taking care of a customer.
Maybe Sunday, I will get a chance to fir up and leak testy my new brewing rig.
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Post by Seven on Jul 27, 2020 7:31:51 GMT -6
Zymot, did you do your leak test?
I did my 1st electric/Anvil Foundry brew on Saturday. The biggest annoyance was getting the thing cleaned since I read a lot online about machining oil on the stainless...can't say that I saw any but I did a white vinegar wipe down plus a warm PBW cycle, rinse then Star San. Only leaks I had were with the included SS chiller...needed to torque down the screw clamps a lot more than I was expecting. My old chiller used compression fittings and quick connects so this was a bit new to me.
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Post by Ken on Jul 27, 2020 7:34:06 GMT -6
Zymot, did you do your leak test? I did my 1st electric/Anvil Foundry brew on Saturday. The biggest annoyance was getting the thing cleaned since I read a lot online about machining oil on the stainless...can't say that I saw any but I did a white vinegar wipe down plus a warm PBW cycle, rinse then Star San. Only leaks I had were with the included SS chiller...needed to torque down the screw clamps a lot more than I was expecting. My old chiller used compression fittings and quick connects so this was a bit new to me. Good call on the cleaning. I once used a brand new immersion chiller (cleaned and sanitized in the normal way) and the beer I used it in tasted like machining oil. New equipment needs a good scrubbing before it's used, for sure.
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Post by Seven on Jul 27, 2020 7:49:16 GMT -6
LOL, you just made me realize that I never cleaned the immersion chiller! Oh boy...it didn't feel unclean/oily to me so let's hope I didn't just waste time and ingredients on an oily beer!
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Post by Ken on Jul 27, 2020 8:16:45 GMT -6
LOL, you just made me realize that I never cleaned the immersion chiller! Oh boy...it didn't feel unclean/oily to me so let's hope I didn't just waste time and ingredients on an oily beer! It was clearly my bad but I agree... the chiller did not seem oily and I did not see, feel or smell anything off before I used it. Once I realized what happened I think I got a pot of water boiling on the stove and dropped the chiller in there for 5-10 minutes and it's been good ever since. I hope your beer is okay but on this beer of mine... it was undrinkable. The taste was awful and assertive and the standard cleaning and sanitizing process was not enough. I think I ranted about this on the blueboard saying "there should be some documentation with the chiller explaining this!!" but others mentioned they had been through the same thing.
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Post by zymot on Jul 27, 2020 8:56:21 GMT -6
Zymot, did you do your leak test? I did my 1st electric/Anvil Foundry brew on Saturday. The biggest annoyance was getting the thing cleaned since I read a lot online about machining oil on the stainless...can't say that I saw any but I did a white vinegar wipe down plus a warm PBW cycle, rinse then Star San. Only leaks I had were with the included SS chiller...needed to torque down the screw clamps a lot more than I was expecting. My old chiller used compression fittings and quick connects so this was a bit new to me.
No, I did not get to any kind of testing this weekend. I will get my replacement 1.5" TC element today - I hope.
It looks like I am going to put the Brewcommander's temperature probe fitting on the side of my kettle between the 1/2" NPT port (6 o'clock) and the TC port (9 o'clock).
Maybe someday I will include the option to put the probe in line with output valve. To start, on the side of the kettle itself seems to be the best place.
I will have to drill for the temp probe and do a second leak test.
I also need to give the kettle a good alkaline soak to clean up anything from the weld job.
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Post by zymot on Jul 29, 2020 18:33:37 GMT -6
Finally. Finally. Finally got all my bits and pieces together. The USPS took 6 days to deliver a 2 day delivery package. I got my replacement 5,500 watt ripple heating element. Made up an L6 twistlock 30 amp extension cord. Clamped the heating element into the TC fitting. Plugged in the new Brewcommander.
Then I let 'er rip,
Man-O-Man that is a nice bit of kit. I was going for a leak test and confirming basic functionality. I did not formally take notes but IIRC, it took 3.5 gallons from 129° to 200° in about 10 minutes. (what ever it was, it was fast) When I compared the brewcommander temp to my thermapen, they seem to track pretty well. The thermapen is obviously faster. Maybe I had setting that skewed the results? I will look into it.
This is goign to make brewing fun. I have to play with my wort pump and figure out how far below the valve it has to be for EZ priming.
Next week, I can see an Alt Beer getting brewed at Case zymot.
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Post by Seven on Jul 30, 2020 6:06:49 GMT -6
Nice! That is some serious power and can really trim the brew day down! As I noted in my Anvil Foundry thread, I'm seeing about 1F increase per minute so you are well, well beyond that. Congrats on the build!
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Post by zymot on Sept 8, 2020 2:58:34 GMT -6
I have one batch under my belt with the Brewcommander. I went with BC over the Anvil 10.5 gallon because I liked the slick mash timer feature.
The short review is the mash timer, Blichmann really missed on that. The time between mash steps is determined by a ramp rate (in deg per minute) variable you as the user enters.
If step #1 is 140 deg and step #2 is 150 deg, what happens during the time when the BC is going from 140 to 150? If you enter 2.5 deg /min, It calculates 10 deg / 2.5 = 4 minutes. It will count down 4 minutes then start the timer for the step.
If you set the ramp variable at 5 deg / min it will calculate 2 min ramp, reach the end of the ramp and then start the timer on the next mash step.
Keep in mind all of this counting down and starting mash steps is independent of the actual measured temp. Any error you make in setting the the ramp rate will manifest in errors in mash step time @ the assigned temperature.
Granted the errors is not a big deal. You are better off using a ramp rate lower than the optimum setting. When you do this, your mash will sit at the correct temp a little longer than programmed.
If you use a ramp rate higher, your mash step will start off at a temp lower than programmed.
The good news, you never overshoot a mash temp.
The bad news, it is difficult to measure the temp delta and time delta to calculate optimum ramp rate. Also the BC uses whole minutes for ramp interval. (well, never saw it calculate something like 3 min 45 sec) Even if you enter the optimum ramp rate, you will get rounding errors.
You can manually enter step temps and use the timing device of your choice to get a perfectly timed mash.
So it is not a big deal. It is annoying. All the hooks are inside the device so it could operate in an intuitive manner. For some reason, Blichmann made it difficult.
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