Brewed today- BIAB in a cooler, with a Brewzilla for HLT/Boil kettle.

[Yooper]

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1568770/furiously-hoppy-ipa

This was a request from Bob- a strong malt backbone, copper colored, with a boatload of hops and firm bitterness and old school hops. The man knows what he likes, and we love having two IPAs on tap. Right now we have a pilsner on tap with an IPA, and that's nice.

I'm still not thrilled with the Brewzilla, but now I decided to have a two vessel system, and BIAB in my old 10 gallon cooler. I use the Brewzilla for an HLT, pump to the MLT, and do a full volume BIAB mash in the cooler, and just gravity drain into the Brewzilla for boiling and chilling. It went pretty well. I HATE that malt pipe since I have to lift it above my neck and it's so heavy and messy. (I still brew indoors). This worked pretty well, with minimal mess and clean up.

 

[Dave Y]

This is one reason why I stick to 5-6 gallon batches, lifting all that grain when wet. I go to the gym regularly but holy cr@p those DIPAs.... Or worse ... a wee heavy. I very much can do it, but, it’s an awkward lift and I just have visions of slipping on wet concrete while doing it. I should just install a hoist.

 

[Yooper]

This is one reason why I stick to 5-6 gallon batches, lifting all that grain when wet. I go to the gym regularly but holy cr@p those DIPAs.... Or worse ... a wee heavy. I very much can do it, but, it’s an awkward lift and I just have visions of slipping on wet concrete while doing it. I should just install a hoist.

I'm doing 5 gallon batches now- and I cannot have a hoist in my laundry room. I thought I could lift the grain bag- but in the Brewzilla on the casters I added, my 5'5" body has to lift it up past my shoulders. I know the older version had a second set of 'feet' midway- and I might have been able to manage that, and I really thought that since I lift the grainbag out of the cooler MLT all the time that it would be doable- but it's impossible for me.

If I had it to do over, I wouldn't have bought a Brewzilla. I would have kept my old electric BK I think (although it was very very heavy). The pump in the Brewzilla is anemic, and the chiller it came with doesn't even reach the bottom of it so I pulled out my ancient immersion chiller. I was thinking about bringing out my old CFC and one of my March pumps, but then the whole 'small footprint' would be lost. Today's brewday as the best yet with the Brewzilla, after making some more changes today, like using the whirlpool arm externally, and adding some tubing to pump the mash liquid up to my MLT so I could gravity feed back to the Brewzilla after the mash. It was not a heavy tough day at all. I weigh 125 pounds now, and I am not happy lifting more than half my weight!

 

[Dave Y]

I hear you. After 2x shoulder repairs already and still have some damage on both sides, my Ortho wants me to stay away from overhead lifts. Once in a while is ok, regular lifts overhead are going to speed my transition from operating to operating table ;-)

I moved my brewery operations from my back porch to my garage/dance hall a couple years back. Now I have more room but with more room I can now have more STUFF. SO I get more STUFF and need more ROOM. My latest purchase was a Blichmann riptide pump. It’s 3x the size of the Anvil pump, and is what 4x more powerful? But, it’s huge. But man, it does move some fluid.

Plus now I have my process under control, but when I do Hefeweizen, or high rye beer, I could really use a 3rd vessel. It defeats the purpose of all in one but who cares? I enjoy it when it goes right and I can make good beer.