r/Homebrewing • u/SpiritualGrab107 • 4d ago
holding mash temp on Blichmann 1 BBL system
I'm using a Blichmann 1 BBL gas system to brew beer for a nano-brewery very much in start up phase and just getting familiar with the equipment myself. Other than setting my strike water much higher next time, does anyone have helpful tips on keeping the mash temp sustained? I'm scared to use the burner during mash for fear of scorching and the MT is only single walled/ not insulated. Any tips appreciated.
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u/holddodoor 4d ago
Why not go electric and eliminate this issue?
Only way I’ve done it on a small system is low flame and stirring so grains don’t sit on the bottom.
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u/warboy Pro 4d ago
Unless you're using something with an external element you're still going to have scorching with electric.
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u/holddodoor 4d ago
Does that mean the element is on the outside of the kettle?
But with recirculation, doesn’t that eliminate that issue for electric setups?
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u/warboy Pro 4d ago
Yes it means the element is outside the kettle like Blichmann's new pro electric brewhouse.
But with recirculation, doesn’t that eliminate that issue for electric setups?
No. To be frank, I have never seen an electric mash tun with elements inside the kettle. Even electric boil kettles will still have potential scorching problems during the boil let alone the mash.
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u/Original_Hopster 4d ago
Insulate your mash tun as best you can, I'm guessing using a HERMs would be out of the question?
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u/warboy Pro 4d ago
Preheat the kettle. Wrap it in reflectix.
Usually at this size you need some sort of active temp input to maintain mash temps over an hour. Usually this is done with a rims/herms system so you aren't scorching the mash. Saying that, with modern well modified malt you are most likely going to pass iodine testing after 20 minutes.
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u/ChillinDylan901 4d ago
HERMS or RIMS are your only options, unless you decoct.
Are you not using a brewing software to calculate strike water temperature?!?
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u/spoonman59 4d ago
How much heat are you losing over an hour? It’s a whole barrel!
With that much thermal mass, it shocked if you have to heat it at all. I’d measure loss before going nuts to control it.
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u/eoworm 4d ago
used that system myself. well, it evolved over time- kept the 45g (rated, can actually fill to 51g) strike water kettle and the matching mash tun. that would sparge into a 75g (filled to 56g boiled off to 52g over an hour) stout kettle. so front end was the 1bbl system but we'd yield 1.5bbl at the end using a bigger kettle.
the thermal mass of the filled mash tun itself should hold its temp for the 1hr you need. put the lid on after you take your temp reading, that's about it. don't refire your burner unless you're way off and absolutely have to, and mix the whole time. i practically never used it, like twice in 5 years and it was on a double decoction mash. when mashing in fill strike water from the bottom up and do like 20# grain at a time. mix like you're paddling a canoe, you'll see an "upwelling" of the grain circulating from the bottom when you're doing it right. if your brew is a lot of wheat try to "layer" the mash with the wheat ending up on top. we punched out a triclamp fitting at the top of the mash tun to vorlauf and set the grain bed, GO SLOW- just over a dribble is sufficient for about 15 min, and keep that same flow as you're filling the kettle fly sparging. i found a strike temp about 9 degrees over your target gets it to where you want to be, depending on how much grain you're using and ambient temp of the grain/brewhouse. max i'd be able to fit in there is about 110#.
one of the cool things you can do with a gas system is kettle caramelization. pull like 2-4g of first runnings and cook that down for 15-20 min. yum. have fun with an accurate scotch ale :)