Just bought the gen4 after years of all grain biab, and your video is the perfect tutorial. Not done a brew yet but the video has given me the confidence to stop scratching my head and staring at the kit and actually get to work. My first obstacle was how to clean it before first use and your clean up at the end of the video answered all my questions. Thank you so much.
awesome unit,i have a five year old brewers edge mash and boil,want to upgrade to this but cannot afford it,been ordering online from you for five plus years now ..good video
Oh hey! Look at that! I just commented on the first video in this playlist about me going to get a Brewzilla Gen4, and this is the following video! 😆👍🏻👍🏻
@Grain to Glass Inc - Beer and Wine Making Homebrew Supplies one note on future videos, the "opening the can" sound effect is actually quite loud and jarring. Consider turning it down a bit 😀 , great videos otherwise! I'm following along with you setting up a trial run on my new Brewzilla gen4
great video! thanks for an in depth look at the whole brew day. my biggest disappointment with these 'single vessel' systems is that they still require an additional vessel for sparge water instead of being big enough to do a full volume mash.
You can manage full volume mash on certain recipes. I also know a fair amount of people who do not heat their sparge water at all. Some will also heat up their sparge water with their mash water and then transfer it into a cooler to keep it warm until they need to sparge. Cheers
I use the Klarstein Mundschenk (aka Brewdevil/Beacon/Brewmonk/Guten) that has its bottom drain off to the side so with the whirlpool arm it makes a hop/trub cone in the center so I can transfer clear wort without using a hop spider or a false bottom it's pretty amazing!
I have had second thoughts about the center drain since whirlpooling would collect all the trub in the center right over the center drain. I guess as long as there is a full bottom grid over the bottom I could use hop bags to keep most of the hops out of the drain, but then there is the hot-break. Some brewers laddle off the hot-break.
@@InvisibleCitizen but if you use bags you don't get full hop utilisation. And if you have any kind of false bottom filter or grid then hop matter won't fully recirculate also affecting utilisation.
I’ve had the gen4 for about 18months, love the system and even more love your channel vids. Q. I’ve had problems with the plug and socket melting, replaced twice, my remedy was to boil on a lower wattage, I’m in thailand using 230v system any comments from yourselves on the matter?
Hi, I have heard of this happening but have never experienced it including the ones we have sold to our customers. I wonder if the Brewzillas we sell in Canada that need to be CSA approved are built differently than other units manufactured for other countries. Cheers
I am close to buying an all-in-one electric brew system like this. I have a friend who has a Grain Father G4 and keeps saying it works great but I remember all the issues he had with his first Grain Father a few years ago. His heating elements burnt out a few times and his control panel died. I am still leaning toward the BrewZilla Gen 4 35 but also maybe the 65 since I have been brewing with keggles for over 20 years. I just need a nug to commit! Thanks!
Did you post a video about using the RAPT app, as referenced in this video? I couldn’t find it in your video playlist. I’m trying to decide between the Brewzilla Gen 4 and the Grainfather with connect. Thanks in advance.
howdy Paul...is this good for a beginner ? never brewed in my life and I love a beer....buying store (beer) getting pretty expensive and I am keen on a challenge....do i need to buy anything else in addition to this? apart from brew itself....is this really a all in one system...cheers and thanks in advance
Hello, the Brewzilla definitely makes getting into all grain brewing a lot easier than other methods. If you've never brewed before you may want to try a partial grain kit first to get the hang of things. Those types of kits can be done on your stove in a 5 gallon pot. Either way you will also need a fermenter, a siphon and tubing, a bottling bucket with a bottle filler, cleaner and sanitizer and some empty bottles and caps. If you'd like more information about the partial grain kits I have a video showing the process from start to finish. ruclips.net/video/NEZ0Ykfrs5s/видео.html
Great I've been debating on getting a all in one or starting BIAB. Can you do a video on to remove and clean the pump ? That one is pretty bad ass. I would love to get away from a raking care
BIAB is great but I love the simplicity of all in one units like the Brewzilla. To remove the pump you just flip the unit upside down and there are 2 screws that hold the pump in place. There are 2 clips that you can remove by hand without tools to remove the tubing. It's that easy.
I have regular 1/2' vinyl tubing for the cold water going in and high temperature silicone tubing for the hot water coming out. Regular hose clamps to attach the tubing to the chiller and a garden hose fitting on the cold side to attach to a hose. Cheers
Plate chillers cool much faster but IMO they are a pain to keep clean. Immersion chillers don't chill as quickly but they are very easy to keep clean. After trying many chillers I now use a 50ft 1/2" immersion chiller for my 5-6 gallon batches and it can chill down to pitching temps in about 10min. If I was doing larger batches I would probably go with a counterflow chiller. Cheers
When using the brewzilla to pump into your fermenter, did you do anything to make sure it was oxygenated enough for your yeast? Looks pretty simple to use pump to move wort into fermenter.
I didn't do much to oxygenate other than letting it splash into the fermenter. I used to use an oxygen tank and although my beer would start fermenting faster I found it to much of a hassle especially when using dry yeast. Cheers
@@graintoglass regardless, having to clean it and around the brew setup. A pour type lid for buckets then. I just see the extra clean up when brew days are already long enough!
Great instructional video. I'm having an issue with my burner turning off during the boil. I set it all they way up to 225F and yet it stilll shut off. Any ideas?
Excellent video. I have one question. How can you see what volume of wort is in the boiler as you sparge? Is there a sight glass or some other way of seeing how full the boiler is with the mash pipe raised?
You can buy a sightglass for the Brewzilla but I've heard that they are not made of quality material and break easily. I just use the Brewfather app to calculate my mash and sparge water volumes, that way I don't need to see the volume as I'm sparging. Cheers
Hi, can you let me know around what time in the video I didn't mention what I added? I tried to cover everything but may have forgotten to mention something.
Thanks for sharing the video. Question: did you get the pump blocked with all the gunk? Because you left the pump on (post hop addition) while cooling the wort and also used the pump to transfer to fermenter.
Is there something like this with either jacketed cooling or at least a coil attached to the outside? I feel like you could use it to both heat the sparge water in another vessel during mashing and chilling after boil with less cleaning.
What’s your thoughts on the mash tun dead space? I use Brewfather and the .66gal seems irrelevant for this unit. Setting to 0 doesn’t change the volumes so IMO it’s not necessary for the gen4
Any issue with the sparge water exiting the holes on the outside bottom of the grain basket and getting on the outside of the unit or hitting the floor? Couldn’t see those holes in the video while you were sparging.
How long did it take to heat up to mash temperature? And how long to get to a boil? I'm debating between the 110v and 220v for faster heating. Great video, thanks.
Hello, the 220v system will save you around 12min getting to mash temp and 16min getting to a boil compared to the 110v. I find that if you add your mash water the day before you brew and set the brewzilla to start heating up your strike water for you, a brew day on either system should be 4 hours tops including clean up.
I've just ordered by Brezilla gen 4 and had a couple of questions: 1. I've read that when putting the pump off, the tubing should not be in the mash / wort since there is some suction that might lead to the pump clogging. Have you experienced that at all? 2. In your further reviews, could you pl. also demonstrate the programmable mash modes? Also, if one is doing a step - say at 165 and then 175, does the timer for the 175 start only after the temp is reached? Thank you.
Hi, I've only used the Gen 4 twice and have not had grains come into the tubing when turning off the pump. That being said it could happen so it's something to keep in mind when turning the pump off. I haven't messed around to much with the programmable steps but I believe it starts the timer as it starts to heat up to the next step, not once it reaches the desired temperature but I will need more time with the unit to confirm. Cheers!
@@graintoglass Thank you for your response! Appreciate it. I also wanted to ask if you have seen any differences in the temperature maintenance during mashing given that this gen 4 has the PID algorithm. Thank you!
@@amrith10 Mash temps were great. I even used an instant read thermometer to check the top of the mash an it was within 1F of the displayed temperature.
@@graintoglass Amazing! I see that kegland is also selling those secondary RAPT connected bluetooth LE thermometers. I intend to mostly only brew 2.5gallon batches. So, with the recirc arm on, I am assuming that things like that are superfluous. Thank you so much and look forward to the deep dive videos!
Conversion happens pretty quickly and having the grains mash in water below 140f / 60c could result in a watery beer with little body. That being said I think this is a great idea for a future video. Have 2 Brewzillas side by side, to one add the grain in immediately and the other add the grain once mash temp is reached. Now I need to know the outcome so stay tuned!
Hi, I will usually only boil for 30min if that's the first hop addition. Some people will still do a 60min boil so that there is is less chance of DMS in the finished beer.
I used an immersion chiller which is what the Brewzilla comes with. I probably used my 50' instead of the 25' that is included to save time. Nothing in the process would change by doing so.
During the mash, it looks like you weren't dipping the recirculation hose all the way in the malt pipe. Was it in the mash at all? Is this to prevent grains from getting in the pump? Thanks!
The whirpool arm is curved like an L so that it moves your wort in a circular motion creating a whirpool. The hose just circulates the wort from top to bottom. Perhaps you could figure out a way to curve the hose to make it act like a whirlpool arm. It's not long enough to reach the bottom of the Brewzilla but it's just high temp food grade silicon tubing so you could buy a longer piece if you wanted to. Hope this helps. Cheers
Hi, you can manually adjust the mash steps using the control panel or if you can get the brewzilla connected to wifi you can download profiles that you can then use when you don't have wifi. Hope that helps!
@@graintoglass Thank you. I just trial ran mine today for the first time. I had to hold down the return button to put the display in the old fashion temp display mode and that gave me the option to adjust the heating element and pump speed. It worked great today.
Not throughout the boil. It is not recommended to run it while boiling. I turn it on for 30 seconds or so every now and then during the boil to sanitize the pump and tubing. Cheers
These do not come with the middle feet anymore. I am very upset about that. lifting it all the way up and the liquid comes out the side holes and onto the side and ground all around the unit.
Hello, I did heat the sparge water separately however lots of brewers don't bother heating their sparge water if it's a hassle. It will just take you longer to reach a boil. Cheers
I have been having the hardest time with stuck recirculation during the mash. I use 5% rice hulls and set the sparge arm ball valve in the 20%-30% range when recirculating. My crush has been crazy fine at .025 and I've brought it up to .032 with nothing but issues. What crush size do you recommend for these units?
You basically want the grains crushed so that they're all cracked open but the husks are still mostly intact. On most 2 roller mills you could try a credit card size mill gap where you should have a bit of resistance from the rollers but you should be easily able to put your credit card in and out. Try that and crush a bit of grain to see what it looks like. Some people also claim that letting the grain rest for 10min after adding them before starting the pump helped with their stuck mashes. Do you by chance brew with a lot of wheat or rye malt or oat/wheat/barley flakes? Those tend to gum up the mash a lot more than other grain. Cheers
Great video. What is the smallest batch size? 10L? Very interested in doing small batches. I absolutely love brewing but I can't drink 23L of beer anymore (too fat and too old). When I first started brewing my own beer and had an unlimited supply of beer, I really piled on the weight. About two years after I started brewing I saw someone I hadn't seen in a long time and they tried to diplomatically asked me what happened (re: my weight) so I said I killed a few beers and they replied: "it looks like mass murder!" lol
You can make 10L batches in the Brewzilla but you will probably need a different chiller than the one it comes with since it doesn't go in in deep enough.
How are you guys maximizing the false bottom? My gen 4 is having issues filtering out hop debris and when transferring to the fermenter with the pump as there is a lot of hop matter making it through.
I've heard other people with this issue but personally have not run into it. I don't do anything special and just installed a false bottom normally. It filters out most of the hop particulates.
Would the new malt basket/pipe fit into a Gen 3 brewzilla? I have a gen 3 but I find I am getting a lot of grains going through the the malt basket and clogging my pump during the mash. I took a look and see that the basket is a bit warped on the bottom and suspect that is the issue, so wondering if I can get the improved gen 4 malt pipe and fit it into the gen 3 system?
We have a commercial mill at the shop. For homebrewers with a 2 or 3 roller mill I would recommend starting with a credit card sized gap. Adjust the rollers so that when you put in a credit card through it will move the rollers but not be so tight that it gets stuck.
@@graintoglass no not during the mash also not during the boil. But after I do a whirlpool (manually (don't have a whirlpool arm) I let it all rest for about an hour. And then when I want to pump it over to my vessel its clogged.
Did you try using the pump 'duty cycle' to control flow? It's unclear in the system documentation if this is a PWM control or really a duty cycle that turns the pump on/off.
So I tested it out yesterday and all that happens when you lower the pump power is that it will turn the pump on and off. It does not lower the flow rate.
@@graintoglass thanks for testing this. On/off isn't a very useful feature, unfortunately. The pumps they use on these systems can be controlled by PWM, even though they're AC. With a simple bit of extra hardware, KegLand could really take this up a notch and make it something special.
Hey Paul I'm wondering what you are getting for boil off rate on your 120V gen 4? Trying to dial in my numbers in Brewfather. The default is 4.5 liters per hour. Thanks!
Hey, it's somewhere around 3.5L depending on your batch size. My rule of thumb is if you're using around 10 lb of grain and making a 19-21l batch you should be using around 29L of water total.
@@graintoglass ok perfect thanks! I use Brewfather and the default for that system is 4.5l. I believe the profile is built off the 220V though. My batches are 23L. I'll try 3.5 and see how it goes. Thanks again!
The reason I like the pump better is because it transfers faster, it's easier to keep sanitized, and you also don't need to have the Brewzilla higher than your fermenter to transfer into it. Cheers
Question when you transfer from The boiler to the fermentation bucket should that be closed so o2 won’t get in or is that just after yeast is used? I’m a novice wanting to start brewing
As said above, you want to introduce some oxygen at this point. What I do is hold the tube a bit above the wort in the bucket so the stream drags some air down with it into the wort.
Does anyone use this system for distilling? I'm going to get a 4 inch 4-plate still column and still don't know what boiler system I want. A lot of conflicting opinions saying I need voltage control for distilling. This system looks stable enough to maintain temps tho??? Anyone able to help.
I haven't used it for distilling but some of our customers have. Just like a lot of people who have the Grainfather buy the T500 condenser for distilling.
Just bought the gen4 after years of all grain biab, and your video is the perfect tutorial. Not done a brew yet but the video has given me the confidence to stop scratching my head and staring at the kit and actually get to work. My first obstacle was how to clean it before first use and your clean up at the end of the video answered all my questions. Thank you so much.
So happy to hear that this video helped you. Feel free to ask any questions. Cheers
Does the brewzilla look a little beat up to you in the vid or do they all ship like that?
@@lazyplumber1616 Hi, what looks "beat up"?
Great video - nice to see some brew vidz from start to finish.
Thank you!
Great instructional video. I bought a BruewZilla Gen 4 yesterday.
Good luck on your first brew!
awesome unit,i have a five year old brewers edge mash and boil,want to upgrade to this but cannot afford it,been ordering online from you for five plus years now ..good video
Cheers!
My friend and I are looking very seriously at the BrewZilla.. this was a fabulous instructional piece.. thank you
Thanks!!!
Fantastic video. Thank you. Looking forward to the videos on using the controller and also the app!
Great video mate!
Appreciate the comment. Thanks!
Oh hey! Look at that! I just commented on the first video in this playlist about me going to get a Brewzilla Gen4, and this is the following video! 😆👍🏻👍🏻
🤣😂
@Grain to Glass Inc - Beer and Wine Making Homebrew Supplies one note on future videos, the "opening the can" sound effect is actually quite loud and jarring. Consider turning it down a bit 😀 , great videos otherwise! I'm following along with you setting up a trial run on my new Brewzilla gen4
Outstanding video. Thanks for making it
Cheers!
great video! thanks for an in depth look at the whole brew day. my biggest disappointment with these 'single vessel' systems is that they still require an additional vessel for sparge water instead of being big enough to do a full volume mash.
You can manage full volume mash on certain recipes. I also know a fair amount of people who do not heat their sparge water at all. Some will also heat up their sparge water with their mash water and then transfer it into a cooler to keep it warm until they need to sparge. Cheers
I use the Klarstein Mundschenk (aka Brewdevil/Beacon/Brewmonk/Guten) that has its bottom drain off to the side so with the whirlpool arm it makes a hop/trub cone in the center so I can transfer clear wort without using a hop spider or a false bottom it's pretty amazing!
I have had second thoughts about the center drain since whirlpooling would collect all the trub in the center right over the center drain. I guess as long as there is a full bottom grid over the bottom I could use hop bags to keep most of the hops out of the drain, but then there is the hot-break. Some brewers laddle off the hot-break.
@@InvisibleCitizen but if you use bags you don't get full hop utilisation. And if you have any kind of false bottom filter or grid then hop matter won't fully recirculate also affecting utilisation.
Great, just when I thought I had decided on an Anvil, this Gen 4 seems to slightly edge it out. Thanks for the informative video.
Haven't had a chance to try the anvil but have been happy with the gen 4 thus far. Cheers
I had an anvil. They're cheaper for a reason and you'll find out soon when you use it. I would spend the extra dollar on the brewzilla
Thx for making - love your content
Cheers!
I’ve had the gen4 for about 18months, love the system and even more love your channel vids. Q. I’ve had problems with the plug and socket melting, replaced twice, my remedy was to boil on a lower wattage, I’m in thailand using 230v system any comments from yourselves on the matter?
Hi, I have heard of this happening but have never experienced it including the ones we have sold to our customers. I wonder if the Brewzillas we sell in Canada that need to be CSA approved are built differently than other units manufactured for other countries. Cheers
I am close to buying an all-in-one electric brew system like this. I have a friend who has a Grain Father G4 and keeps saying it works great but I remember all the issues he had with his first Grain Father a few years ago. His heating elements burnt out a few times and his control panel died. I am still leaning toward the BrewZilla Gen 4 35 but also maybe the 65 since I have been brewing with keggles for over 20 years. I just need a nug to commit! Thanks!
We've had pretty good luck with Grainfather units but it's hard to justify the extra cost when compared to a Brewzilla these days. Cheers!
Me too. *nudge, nudge*
Good information video
Thanks!
Great video ! It's always the cleaning that sucks hahaha
Thanks!
Did you note how long the heater had to work to reach your temperatures?
I didn't in this video but I'm pretty sure I did in this one where I compared the 110v to the 220v: ruclips.net/video/3gZeAH712Ls/видео.html
Did you post a video about using the RAPT app, as referenced in this video? I couldn’t find it in your video playlist. I’m trying to decide between the Brewzilla Gen 4 and the Grainfather with connect. Thanks in advance.
Fellow canadian here. Im between this and the anvil 10.5. Have you tried that system? Do you sell it?
Unfortunately we don't have an Anvil foundry to test. I'd like to get my hands on one someday though!
Can I pump the hot wort into my x2 jacketed fermenter then chill it? Thanks for the great video.
howdy Paul...is this good for a beginner ? never brewed in my life and I love a beer....buying store (beer) getting pretty expensive and I am keen on a challenge....do i need to buy anything else in addition to this? apart from brew itself....is this really a all in one system...cheers and thanks in advance
Hello, the Brewzilla definitely makes getting into all grain brewing a lot easier than other methods. If you've never brewed before you may want to try a partial grain kit first to get the hang of things. Those types of kits can be done on your stove in a 5 gallon pot. Either way you will also need a fermenter, a siphon and tubing, a bottling bucket with a bottle filler, cleaner and sanitizer and some empty bottles and caps. If you'd like more information about the partial grain kits I have a video showing the process from start to finish. ruclips.net/video/NEZ0Ykfrs5s/видео.html
Great video, but the background music becomes very annoying. Thanks for all the info!
Cheers!
Great I've been debating on getting a all in one or starting BIAB. Can you do a video on to remove and clean the pump ? That one is pretty bad ass. I would love to get away from a raking care
BIAB is great but I love the simplicity of all in one units like the Brewzilla. To remove the pump you just flip the unit upside down and there are 2 screws that hold the pump in place. There are 2 clips that you can remove by hand without tools to remove the tubing. It's that easy.
How do you set up the chiller on the gen 4?
I have regular 1/2' vinyl tubing for the cold water going in and high temperature silicone tubing for the hot water coming out. Regular hose clamps to attach the tubing to the chiller and a garden hose fitting on the cold side to attach to a hose. Cheers
Which is better, an immersion, chiller, or a plate chiller? Could you discuss the benefits and disadvantages of each?
Plate chillers cool much faster but IMO they are a pain to keep clean. Immersion chillers don't chill as quickly but they are very easy to keep clean. After trying many chillers I now use a 50ft 1/2" immersion chiller for my 5-6 gallon batches and it can chill down to pitching temps in about 10min. If I was doing larger batches I would probably go with a counterflow chiller. Cheers
Ela consegue fazer 30 litros finais.
When using the brewzilla to pump into your fermenter, did you do anything to make sure it was oxygenated enough for your yeast? Looks pretty simple to use pump to move wort into fermenter.
I didn't do much to oxygenate other than letting it splash into the fermenter. I used to use an oxygen tank and although my beer would start fermenting faster I found it to much of a hassle especially when using dry yeast. Cheers
A pour collar on the top would be handy to keep you Grain dust from spilling all over the control unit.
Control panel is enclosed and water proof. Shouldn't be an issue. Cheers!
@@graintoglass regardless, having to clean it and around the brew setup. A pour type lid for buckets then. I just see the extra clean up when brew days are already long enough!
Did I miss the yeast being put into the fermenting container?😊
Hi, yes it looks like we forgot to shoot that part. It should have been added once the wort was transferred into the fermenter. Cheers
Great instructional video. I'm having an issue with my burner turning off during the boil. I set it all they way up to 225F and yet it stilll shut off. Any ideas?
I haven't run into that issue as of yet. Maybe try calibrating the thermometer or do a factory reset. Cheers
Excellent video. I have one question. How can you see what volume of wort is in the boiler as you sparge? Is there a sight glass or some other way of seeing how full the boiler is with the mash pipe raised?
You can buy a sightglass for the Brewzilla but I've heard that they are not made of quality material and break easily. I just use the Brewfather app to calculate my mash and sparge water volumes, that way I don't need to see the volume as I'm sparging. Cheers
@@graintoglass Thanks very much. The sightglass add on does look a bit delicate.
Do you have any videos on filtering your beer from the fermenter to a keg? If not, is at a video, you are planning to do in the future?
Hi, we don't personally filter our beer but it is something we may cover in the future. Cheers
Would be nice to know what you are adding at the end, I have no idea what it is and what's it used for
Hi, can you let me know around what time in the video I didn't mention what I added? I tried to cover everything but may have forgotten to mention something.
Thanks for sharing the video. Question: did you get the pump blocked with all the gunk? Because you left the pump on (post hop addition) while cooling the wort and also used the pump to transfer to fermenter.
Hi, the pump did not get blocked at all during this brew day. The false bottom blocked most of the hops and trub from reaching the pump.
@@graintoglass thank you for a prompt response
Do you have any videos on who to Temperature Probe Calibration?
Someone else asked about it and I will hopefully have time to check it out this week.
@@graintoglass thank you definitely will be looking for it
Is there something like this with either jacketed cooling or at least a coil attached to the outside? I feel like you could use it to both heat the sparge water in another vessel during mashing and chilling after boil with less cleaning.
Not that I'm aware of. Cheers
What is the purpose of the pump during the mash?
The 2 main reasons are you will get better mash efficiency and also maintain a more consistent mash temperature. Cheers
What’s your thoughts on the mash tun dead space? I use Brewfather and the .66gal seems irrelevant for this unit. Setting to 0 doesn’t change the volumes so IMO it’s not necessary for the gen4
I found the same to be true. Cheers
How fine do you need to crush the grains in the brewzilla?
We just use a normal crush, give or take a credit card sized gap in a 2 roller mill. Grains are all cracked but not as fine as biab. Cheers
Any issue with the sparge water exiting the holes on the outside bottom of the grain basket and getting on the outside of the unit or hitting the floor? Couldn’t see those holes in the video while you were sparging.
I have not run into any issues during sparge. Perhaps if you had a stuck mash and added your sparge water to quickly it could be an issue.
How long did it take to heat up to mash temperature? And how long to get to a boil? I'm debating between the 110v and 220v for faster heating. Great video, thanks.
Hello, the 220v system will save you around 12min getting to mash temp and 16min getting to a boil compared to the 110v. I find that if you add your mash water the day before you brew and set the brewzilla to start heating up your strike water for you, a brew day on either system should be 4 hours tops including clean up.
Do you have recipe's for brewing grains for distilling
It's not something I'm very familiar with. I would recommend checking out the homedistiller forum. Cheers
I've just ordered by Brezilla gen 4 and had a couple of questions:
1. I've read that when putting the pump off, the tubing should not be in the mash / wort since there is some suction that might lead to the pump clogging. Have you experienced that at all?
2. In your further reviews, could you pl. also demonstrate the programmable mash modes? Also, if one is doing a step - say at 165 and then 175, does the timer for the 175 start only after the temp is reached?
Thank you.
Hi, I've only used the Gen 4 twice and have not had grains come into the tubing when turning off the pump. That being said it could happen so it's something to keep in mind when turning the pump off.
I haven't messed around to much with the programmable steps but I believe it starts the timer as it starts to heat up to the next step, not once it reaches the desired temperature but I will need more time with the unit to confirm.
Cheers!
@@graintoglass Thank you for your response! Appreciate it. I also wanted to ask if you have seen any differences in the temperature maintenance during mashing given that this gen 4 has the PID algorithm. Thank you!
@@amrith10 Mash temps were great. I even used an instant read thermometer to check the top of the mash an it was within 1F of the displayed temperature.
@@graintoglass Amazing! I see that kegland is also selling those secondary RAPT connected bluetooth LE thermometers. I intend to mostly only brew 2.5gallon batches. So, with the recirc arm on, I am assuming that things like that are superfluous. Thank you so much and look forward to the deep dive videos!
Can you not mash in whenever and let it steep up to temp for your set time?
Conversion happens pretty quickly and having the grains mash in water below 140f / 60c could result in a watery beer with little body. That being said I think this is a great idea for a future video. Have 2 Brewzillas side by side, to one add the grain in immediately and the other add the grain once mash temp is reached. Now I need to know the outcome so stay tuned!
If recipe only call for a 30 min hops addition and no 60 min hops addition, do you still boil for 60 min?
Hi, I will usually only boil for 30min if that's the first hop addition. Some people will still do a 60min boil so that there is is less chance of DMS in the finished beer.
Did you really use the original cooler coming with the product this time..? (How else can you do a full product tutorial?)
I used an immersion chiller which is what the Brewzilla comes with. I probably used my 50' instead of the 25' that is included to save time. Nothing in the process would change by doing so.
During the mash, it looks like you weren't dipping the recirculation hose all the way in the malt pipe. Was it in the mash at all? Is this to prevent grains from getting in the pump? Thanks!
Hello, the recirculation hose was in the mash but not buried in the grain. This way I can monitor recirculation flow. Cheers
I was wandering if extra whirlpool arm is needed or the hose on main arm is long enough to do whirlpool?
The whirpool arm is curved like an L so that it moves your wort in a circular motion creating a whirpool. The hose just circulates the wort from top to bottom. Perhaps you could figure out a way to curve the hose to make it act like a whirlpool arm. It's not long enough to reach the bottom of the Brewzilla but it's just high temp food grade silicon tubing so you could buy a longer piece if you wanted to. Hope this helps. Cheers
@@graintoglass Thanks for reply.
Did you heat the sparge water before sparge. ?
Hi, I usually heat my sparge water to 168f. That being said you don't have to, it'll just take longer to reach a boil.
@@graintoglass thank you for reply. I didn't see it in video so was wondering. Love all your content it's very informative. Cheers to 🍻 beers
@@brandonswart1025 Thanks!
What if I’m brewing where there is no internet? Can I brew by loading a mash step profile?
Hi, you can manually adjust the mash steps using the control panel or if you can get the brewzilla connected to wifi you can download profiles that you can then use when you don't have wifi. Hope that helps!
If I understand you correctly I can load my own from the units keypad without internet and Wi-Fi?
@@InvisibleCitizen Yup
When you want to raise the temp to boil do you not have to turn up the wattage on the heater element or was that for the older Brewzillas ?
The old Brewzillas used to have a 500watt switch and a 1000watt switch. You'd have to switch both on to get to a boil. Cheers
@@graintoglass Thank you. I just trial ran mine today for the first time. I had to hold down the return button to put the display in the old fashion temp display mode and that gave me the option to adjust the heating element and pump speed. It worked great today.
@@donaldclemmons5980 Good to hear, cheers!
Do you keep the pump going throughout the hops boil and if so why? Thank you
Not throughout the boil. It is not recommended to run it while boiling. I turn it on for 30 seconds or so every now and then during the boil to sanitize the pump and tubing. Cheers
Since your able to sell the 35 litre 220 volt, will you be carrying the 65 litre brewzilla 220?
Unfortunately Kegland doesn't seem to be getting the 65L CSA approved for sale in Canada.
These do not come with the middle feet anymore. I am very upset about that. lifting it all the way up and the liquid comes out the side holes and onto the side and ground all around the unit.
That's odd, the Gen 4's we have in stock still have the middle feet afaik.
@@graintoglass maybe I was just unlucky...
I think I know the answer, but to clarify, did you heat sparge water separately?
Hello, I did heat the sparge water separately however lots of brewers don't bother heating their sparge water if it's a hassle. It will just take you longer to reach a boil. Cheers
I have been having the hardest time with stuck recirculation during the mash. I use 5% rice hulls and set the sparge arm ball valve in the 20%-30% range when recirculating. My crush has been crazy fine at .025 and I've brought it up to .032 with nothing but issues. What crush size do you recommend for these units?
You basically want the grains crushed so that they're all cracked open but the husks are still mostly intact. On most 2 roller mills you could try a credit card size mill gap where you should have a bit of resistance from the rollers but you should be easily able to put your credit card in and out. Try that and crush a bit of grain to see what it looks like.
Some people also claim that letting the grain rest for 10min after adding them before starting the pump helped with their stuck mashes.
Do you by chance brew with a lot of wheat or rye malt or oat/wheat/barley flakes? Those tend to gum up the mash a lot more than other grain.
Cheers
@@graintoglass I don't brew with wheat or rye normally. What gap do you use for crushing? Is 0.54" too large of a gap?
Great video. What is the smallest batch size? 10L? Very interested in doing small batches. I absolutely love brewing but I can't drink 23L of beer anymore (too fat and too old). When I first started brewing my own beer and had an unlimited supply of beer, I really piled on the weight. About two years after I started brewing I saw someone I hadn't seen in a long time and they tried to diplomatically asked me what happened (re: my weight) so I said I killed a few beers and they replied: "it looks like mass murder!" lol
You can make 10L batches in the Brewzilla but you will probably need a different chiller than the one it comes with since it doesn't go in in deep enough.
How are you guys maximizing the false bottom? My gen 4 is having issues filtering out hop debris and when transferring to the fermenter with the pump as there is a lot of hop matter making it through.
I've heard other people with this issue but personally have not run into it. I don't do anything special and just installed a false bottom normally. It filters out most of the hop particulates.
Would the new malt basket/pipe fit into a Gen 3 brewzilla? I have a gen 3 but I find I am getting a lot of grains going through the the malt basket and clogging my pump during the mash. I took a look and see that the basket is a bit warped on the bottom and suspect that is the issue, so wondering if I can get the improved gen 4 malt pipe and fit it into the gen 3 system?
I tried and it does work but it sits about 1/2" higher than the gen 3 malt basket.
Which settings do you use for your malt mill? Or how fine do you mill it?
We have a commercial mill at the shop. For homebrewers with a 2 or 3 roller mill I would recommend starting with a credit card sized gap. Adjust the rollers so that when you put in a credit card through it will move the rollers but not be so tight that it gets stuck.
@@graintoglass I already tried this method but unfortunately my gen 4 still got clogged.
@@tommeke19 that's odd. Maybe try a bit coarser grind next time. Does the pump get stuck during the mash?
@@graintoglass no not during the mash also not during the boil. But after I do a whirlpool (manually (don't have a whirlpool arm) I let it all rest for about an hour. And then when I want to pump it over to my vessel its clogged.
Did you try using the pump 'duty cycle' to control flow? It's unclear in the system documentation if this is a PWM control or really a duty cycle that turns the pump on/off.
Haven't tried yet. When I do I'll reply to you.
So I tested it out yesterday and all that happens when you lower the pump power is that it will turn the pump on and off. It does not lower the flow rate.
@@graintoglass thanks for testing this. On/off isn't a very useful feature, unfortunately. The pumps they use on these systems can be controlled by PWM, even though they're AC. With a simple bit of extra hardware, KegLand could really take this up a notch and make it something special.
@@BensonLedbetter Agreed, maybe on the Gen 5 :P
What fermenter is that?
It's an SsBrewtech 7 gallon brew bucket.
Hey Paul I'm wondering what you are getting for boil off rate on your 120V gen 4? Trying to dial in my numbers in Brewfather. The default is 4.5 liters per hour. Thanks!
Hey, it's somewhere around 3.5L depending on your batch size. My rule of thumb is if you're using around 10 lb of grain and making a 19-21l batch you should be using around 29L of water total.
@@graintoglass ok perfect thanks! I use Brewfather and the default for that system is 4.5l. I believe the profile is built off the 220V though. My batches are 23L. I'll try 3.5 and see how it goes. Thanks again!
Hi there, what’s the reason for using the pump rather than the spigot for transfer?
The reason I like the pump better is because it transfers faster, it's easier to keep sanitized, and you also don't need to have the Brewzilla higher than your fermenter to transfer into it. Cheers
Question when you transfer from
The boiler to the fermentation bucket should that be closed so o2 won’t get in or is that just after yeast is used? I’m a novice wanting to start brewing
Before adding yeast you want O2 in the wort. Once fermentation is done you want to avoid O2 as much as possible.
As said above, you want to introduce some oxygen at this point. What I do is hold the tube a bit above the wort in the bucket so the stream drags some air down with it into the wort.
@@graintoglass thanks!!! Love your videos! Very informative
@@jayalexander1079 Thanks!
Does anyone use this system for distilling? I'm going to get a 4 inch 4-plate still column and still don't know what boiler system I want. A lot of conflicting opinions saying I need voltage control for distilling. This system looks stable enough to maintain temps tho??? Anyone able to help.
I haven't used it for distilling but some of our customers have. Just like a lot of people who have the Grainfather buy the T500 condenser for distilling.
3:57 instant regret
Good catch, I accidentally threw it directly at one of our cameraman's lights lol.
@3:58 lol
stop the music please
is this a rock concert or a review of the brewzilla? hard to tell.
Bullshit ... I have a BZ Gen 4. It does not achieve 80% efficiency .... it is around 66%.
Hi, you should be getting %75. Maybe try crushing your grain a bit finer. Cheers
This session was an example of not to do when you brew.
Too many mistakes and not recommended practices.
Care to elaborate?