Maintaining Temperature of 1 BBL System

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gbrewer
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Maintaining Temperature of 1 BBL System

Post by gbrewer »

This question is for folks who have experience brewing on a 1 bbl system or larger.

How are you maintaining your mash temperature? If you ramp up your temperature, what process are you using? Are you able to accomplish ramping using RIMS or Herms?

Are you finding your mash temperature is more stable due to the thermal mass of grain in the tun? What other tips could you offer while using a 1 bbl system?
BrianC
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Re: Maintaining Temperature of 1 BBL System

Post by BrianC »

On my 1.5 BBL system, I direct fire the mash tun as needed and recirculate the entire time. There are some slight spikes as the temp tends to still rise a bit after the burner shuts off, but it is a small volume of liquid compared to the rest of the mash volume and it settles back down very fast. The dial thermometer installed in the mash tun is always spot on throughout the mash. For the controller, I am monitoring the temp at the wort return going into the mash tun.

As far as temp stability, in my system I thought the added mass of the grain was going to add to the stability, but it did not seem to. I have a 55 gallon Blichmann Boilermaker, and though I don't have it insulated, the temps drop fast.

I haven't had much luck with ramping and have gone back to just single infusions. I don't even try to mash out anymore. That was one thing that didn't seem to scale well for me when I went from 10 gallon batches to 50 gallon batches. I attribute it to the larger volume of liquid and not turning it over / pumping it through fast enough.
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Re: Maintaining Temperature of 1 BBL System

Post by gbrewer »

Do you boil with the 55 gallon blichmann? If so, how long does it take you to reach a boil?
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Re: Maintaining Temperature of 1 BBL System

Post by BrianC »

gbrewer wrote:Do you boil with the 55 gallon blichmann? If so, how long does it take you to reach a boil?
No, my boil kettle is a 62 gallon stainless tank I converted. The boil kettle burner kicks on 20 minutes into the sparge (which typically runs around 1:15). I may have to wait another 10 minutes or so to bring the full volume up to boiling. I've tried hard to get that part dialed in. The first few batches I ended up waiting 30-45 mins, and sometimes even longer, to get to boiling and it was making for a very long brewday. For reference, I have a 23-tip natural gas burner (http://www.cpapc.com/23-Tip-Round-Nozzl ... 469C0.aspx) under the BK and MLT, and the 32-tip version under the HLT.
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Re: Maintaining Temperature of 1 BBL System

Post by gbrewer »

On the other side of this, how long does it take you to cool the boil for pitching?
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Re: Maintaining Temperature of 1 BBL System

Post by BrianC »

gbrewer wrote:On the other side of this, how long does it take you to cool the boil for pitching?
I run straight from the BK through the Therminator into the fermenter. This usually takes about 20-25 mins.

From there, it depends on the time of year. Our groundwater is pretty warm during the summer, so it usually ends up in the fermenter in the upper-70's, sometimes low 80's. I have a glycol solution I pump through a coil in the fermenter. During the summer, I would say it usually takes 3 - 4 hours to bring it down to pitching temps (low 60's). During the winter it is usually pretty close to pitching temps. It may take an hour or two to drop it the few degrees it may need.
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