Brewday!

[Yooper]

My redneck Brewzilla and MLT set up! Try not to laugh but it works.

 

[jschein]

Nice!

 

[Brew Cat]

this looks similar to what I do
use the AIO as an HLT for mash and sparge water
after the mash back to the AIO to boil or more often into my gas kettle
I rarely brew inside but when I do I have a much larger fan

 

[Brew Cat]

on closer look you have the mash pipe in the kettle

 

[Yooper]

on closer look you have the mash pipe in the kettle

No, I don't even use the malt pipe at all- it's put somewhere like on a shelf. I use a hops spider with a paint straining bag for quite a few of my IPAs. I also have the one that I got with the Brewzilla, but the holes are so tight that it impacts the utilization so much that I only used it one time.
I mash in the cooler, up on the little stand on the left, and then when I'm boiling, I clean the MLT and put it on the floor and point my mini fan at it.

Also, if you notice, the Brewzilla says the temperature is 217. It's not of course, but to get the boil I to set the temperature to 220F. The actually temperature of the wort at boil is 211. The temperature is always wrong, so once I learned that I just use my handy expensive thermometer. Sometimes it's off by 11 degrees when ramping as the heater seems to work ok, but the pump is so anemic that it takes a LONG time to actually ramp the temperature so I don't step mash in this. The RAPT thermometer that I bought also and used it a few times was also not really as accurate as I would like. The temperature between the Brewzilla and the Rapt was about the same difference as my handheld has found though, so at least it was consistently inaccurate.

I don't hate this thing but it's more of an HLT/boil kettle and I found that an AIO is really.....not. At least not at this price point. But it's much lighter to move around and clean and aside from hauling out my very very old MLT (my first one!) and my old old wort chiller (again, first one!), my brew days aren't physically demanding at all now.

 

[Dave Y]

Quoting Hardy: "I'm rednecker than you".

 

[Craigerrr]

I believe that you can calibrate the thermometer. You can on the v3 units, there must be a way to calibrate that on your v4

 

[Brew Cat]

I have an an extra programmable inkbird I was going to use to by pass the stupid thermometer on my digiboil but like you I prefer mashing in a separate tun. It's much more versatile

 

[Yooper]

I believe that you can calibrate the thermometer. You can on the v3 units, there must be a way to calibrate that on your v4

Yes, I imagine so. But I just shrug and don't really care. I mean, boiling is boiling and I really don't get interested in the temperature until chilling, and then it seems like the accuracy is better (within 4 or 5 degrees).

 

[Brew Cat]

Well I actually did notice the 217 but I knew exactly why
Mine is actually the opposite it starts boiling at 208 but when I check with my stem thermometer it's 212
It's weird
If I set it at 214 because of the 2° offset of course it never gets there
If I leave it at 212 the element never shuts off
So I set it at 212 and when it boils I turn off one element
It would be a problem for my mashing style
Of course maybe the more expensive models heat more efficiently

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

it's elevation, at my elevation I boil at 209

 

[Donoroto]

it's elevation, at my elevation I boil at 209

So @Yooper is around 2300 feet below sea level?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

unknown, I'm at 1650m above

 

[Donoroto]

Was a joke. None of MI is below sea level. Maybe deep down in a mine somewhere, but I am convinced she is a surface-dweller.

 

[Brew Cat]

it's elevation, at my elevation I boil at 209

I'm only at 850 above sea level so it's still about 212
I'm at 1800 at my camp but not sure what water boils at there
I'll bring my thermometer next time I go

 

[Yooper]

Was a joke. None of MI is below sea level. Maybe deep down in a mine somewhere, but I am convinced she is a surface-dweller.

Yep, except when Im in Florida. And it seems we are not above sea level at all, except right in the middle of our property, where the GIS models tell me it’s a whopping 2 feet above in that one spot, with the rest of the house and property under 1 according to their map. We don’t always have water in our yard, though! Only high tides, full moons, west winds, south winds, and for other unknown reasons except maybe “Tuesday”.

At my house in Michigan, it’s actually 210.5 or something like that for a rolling boil.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

my ranch in south Texas is below sea level