1BBL Nano Brewhouse FAQ

What is the maximum amount of malt we can realistically fit in the mash tun and still sparge?

90lbs (or roughly 40kg) gets you around the top of the mash tun to max it out. Use the included S-shaped extension retro kit to move the sparge up further up to allow for these larger grain bills. 

How do we brew high ABV beers in mash tun?

There are lots of options for higher ABV brews. Adding dextrose or candi sugar/syrup is common for just bumping ABV (especially on IPA and Belgian beers), but you could also double mash (this is sometimes called reiterated mash, also common for stout, quads, and barleywines), or you could even just mash your base malts in the mash tun and steep your specialty malts with bags in the HLT or boil kettle. Since most of the ABV will come from the base malts, you are mostly augmenting color and flavor with the specialty grains.

How do you prevent trub from blocking the plate heat exchanger?

Whirlpooling and the racking arm will be the most helpful things here. The whirlpool process helps to separate trub before knocking out through the heat exchanger. This aids in wort clarification and helps prevent the clogging of your heat exchanger. The rotatable racking arm can be manipulated in order to collect as much wort as possible without disrupting the trub/hop cone formed during the whirlpool. If you are using larger amounts of hops and/or whole cone/leaf hops, you may want to take additional steps such as using a hop spider/ hop basket or by bagging some of your hop additions to prevent blockage.

Can we run more than one element on at a time? Can we double batch?

We designed our US model 1BBL nano brewhouse to use a dedicated 60amp circuit to make it a great fit for residential and light commercial buildings. Due to this, it is limited to only running either the boil OR combo of Mash Tun RIMS + HLT elements at a single time. Running the boil kettle with both pumps on 60amp service already maxes out that circuit. 

In the US, this would require at least a 100amp circuit (like our 3.5BBL nano brewhouse) to power all three elements. This isn't available in a lot of light commercial properties as that is a LOT of power to pull (for comparison, this is larger than many homes in the US access in total.)

However, some customers who want to run multiple batches back-to-back have success while the first mash is sparging, then heating up their next batch's water in the HLT while removing the first batch's grains and then beginning their second mash as a non-heated infusion mash while the boil starts.

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Our EU/UK model is outfitted with different electrical components than our US model to accommodate the more generous electrical offerings in these regions. This model is not available in the US and is only available through local Ss Brewtech distributors in those regions. Please check out our international distributors on our Store Locator.

On the EU/UK model, in order to run other elements in addition to the boil element, you will need to be on a 32amp circuit. 

Power Analysis:

HLT = 7.5Kw @ 400VAC 
Kettle = 10.5Kw @ 400VAC 
RIM = 3.0Kw @ 400VAC 

 

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