My Brewzilla arrived today. Got it unboxed. Seems like a nice unit. Going to be great for 5 gallon batches. I really like the idea that it’s only 110v. And for $350, you can’t beat it.
I’m not real crazy about the whole BIAB concept. Nothing against it, it’s just not how I want to brew. Also, if I used it as is, I would be limited to about a 13# gain bill. IIRC a lot of my brews were well north of that. So, my plan is as follows…
The Brewzilla fits great in my kitchen counter which is where I plan to brew for now. I’m going to forget the included mash pipe and false bottom. I’m going to continue to use my Igloo mash tun. (black and red for optimal efficiency) I’ll heat my entire water volume to strike temp, pump it over to my mash tun and doe in as usual. I’ll crank the temp for the remaining volume to 180° for my sparge. Shortly before the boil is up, I’ll run that off to a separate kettle. I’ll then collect my first runnings into Brewzilla and raise to boil temp. Once those are collected, I’ll sparge and collect second runnings and boil.
After the boil, the pump on Brewzilla will give me the ability to whirlpool while I chill with my IC. (I’ll be making my own 50’ copper one and possibly use the included stainless as a prechiller) Once chilled I can place my fermenter on the floor and open the valve to dump.
This really seems like it’s going to be the best set up for my current situation. I plan to replace the valve with a stainless three piece and also make some other minor modifications. Wish me the best. I’ll keep updating as work and being progresses.
For immersion chillers, you might want to check into Jaded and CuSS - both make super efficient chillers that probably were not available back in the day prior to your hiatus. They can chill super fast- nothing wrong with a diy, though.
Thanks. I’ll look into it. I already have the copper. My 9-5 is HVAC, so a pretty easy score for me. I’ll start out DIY, but down the road look into other options. Got to much else to spend $ on right now, getting set up again. At the moment fermentation temp control takes priority. I refuse to brew a batch until I have that set up. No sense wasting ingredients or time when I can’t ferment properly.
The copper is the least part of it. It’s Jaded’s design that makes them incredible. Or just go no chill.
Glad to hear you’re back at it, Barry.
I love my BrewZilla – congrats! I find the chiller that comes with it is more than adequate. Can’t imagine the need to go with anything else unless you live where water is extremely rationed. Even then I get mine down to desired temp (80-90F) pretty quickly then use the FV chamber to bring the temp the rest of the way down.
Got it fired up right now for a test run. Want to see how long it takes to heat, etc… So far I’m very pleased.
I’ll try the chiller that comes with it. I guess for a 5 gallon batch it should be fine. I’m still back in the day of doing 12 gallon batches like I used to.
Muchas gracias por la información, lo pondré en práctica mis mangas termoencogibles y dare visto bueno.