Ace electric boilers?

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nigelnorris said:
Advance warning, the amount of hops used will for sure clag up the filter. Unless you bag them up or modify the boiler before you start you' ll end up hand baling most of the wort into your mash tun. Read through this thread and you'll find two or three systems for getting round the problem. Me I've abandoned the bazooka altogether and run the wort through a muslin bag at the end of the hose into the mash tun. Even with no filter though I've ended up poking about to get really hop heavy worts through.
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Hi Nigel

Do you find this happens when you use the FB, and bazooka, and use some leaf hops in the boil?

I find that as long as I use some leaf it drops onto the FB and acts as a natural filter for any pellet hops. This then leaves the bazooka free to deal with much less.

Having said that, I think you could probably just get away with the FB as Brulosophy found no difference in the beer when loads of trub gets into the FV.

Edit - Agree that Punk is a fun place to start, especially if you've not tried hoppier US beers. I did the Brulosophy MACC IPA in mine recently - bonkers hoppy 7% - and I'm forever carrying guests out after a few glasses!!!
 
donchiquon said:
Hi Nigel

Do you find this happens when you use the FB, and bazooka, and use some leaf hops in the boil?

I find that as long as I use some leaf it drops onto the FB and acts as a natural filter for any pellet hops. This then leaves the bazooka free to deal with much less.

Having said that, I think you could probably just get away with the FB as Brulosophy found no difference in the beer when loads of trub gets into the FV.

Edit - Agree that Punk is a fun place to start, especially if you've not tried hoppier US beers. I did the Brulosophy MACC IPA in mine recently - bonkers hoppy 7% - and I'm forever carrying guests out after a few glasses!!!
Click to expand...
Silly me, I forget about leaf hops, I've only used pellets. But I agree with your point that trub into the FV doesn't seem to do any harm, my first two brews I couldn't unblock it so literally just upended the boiler and poured the whole lot into the FV, still finished great.

Went fishing the other day on the Severn, to get to the stretch I had to walk through a hop farm. Row after row of huge plants, tempting to stick a bunch into my pockets along the way and give leaf a go.
 
Thanks for your comments, the main problem I've had with my brewdays till now was the transfer between kettle to fermenter and the heating time. So more powerful one is ideal for me.

I have emailed the ebay seller regarding the false bottom and bag if they would sell separate to the boiler unfortunately they don't. I'll wait just encase they arrive with the boiler I ordered, before I order any additional items. I can live with what I have already got otherwise. Removing the hop filter might be a idea as I've got a mesh strainer that clips over the top of the fermenter so I'm use to using that and its really good, thinking might be worth just to use that until I get use to the boiler then I can add the hop filter back into the boiler after a few brews.

I've already saved a false bottom on ebay that you can attach an adapter to the inside of the tap, to pickup from under the FB. The best thing about the boiler in my minds that I can gradually buy things for it so I can make it into a Grainfather like system. I already have a wort chiller so my next item would be (apart from a false bottom) a pump + fittings, but I'll get use to using the boiler first.

Doing a Punk IPA clone has been on my to do list for awhile, I think the latest version is a bit too bitter (in a hoppy way) for me. The last time I drank it I had 2 660ml bottles and by the end of the 2nd bottle I didn't want any more.

It still is one of my favourite beers and I in remembrance I did prefer the older version before they changed the recipe, which I didn't know until about a year or so ago.
 
BeerCat said:
I suffered from a few blockages until i stopped using pellets. The false bottom really helps.
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I've been thinking about this on the drive home today whats been said, I'm sure Mrs brannbrew won't mind the few extra nectar points! She won't even know as it'll neatly fit in the boiler that's coming
 
I had a look at the same item but there is little information or feedback anywhere on this it does look like a good investment please let me know if you find someone who has used one
 
Paulza said:
I had a look at the same item but there is little information or feedback anywhere on this it does look like a good investment please let me know if you find someone who has used one
Click to expand...

There is alot of comments about the use of the ace boiler in this thread. Hell before I made my mind up I printed the whole thread off and it was in the region of 32 double sided printed pages. Work now has a few more trees to burn
 
Hi,

I have had an ACE for about 6 months and am very happy with it following a few modifications. Firstly I gave up with the nylon bag and now only use the perforated false bottom - much better extraction efficiency and easier to work with. Secondly because I brew outside I found that the heat loss during mashing was too great, so have had to address the ACE insulation by adding:

1. Insulated Sleeping Mat layer from Wilko to reduce side heat loss - Held on by Tough Tape.

2. Secondary lid from a silver cake base - Covered in Silver foil and placed loosely on top of the grains to reduce top heat loss.

3. Child's sleeping bag cover - To insulate the whole boiler during mashing.

I have a "Thermopen" digital thermometer (which I highly recommend - http://thermapen.co.uk ) which showed -1C heat loss over 1 Hr mash period for my last IPA Brew, so no need to re-heat or think about recirculating the wort during mashing. Photos of all 3 attached. Ian

P1030065.jpg


P1030066.jpg


P1030067.jpg
 
So my boiler arrived today, looks good, although the lid was super hard to twist off first time. Even after a few goes it's quite hard.

Realised either or it came with a few scratches on the underside of the lid, which isn't too much of a issue as it won't come into contact with anything.

My false bottom will come tomorrow or Thursday hopefully then I can clean it all up and give it a dry run prior to brewday next week.
 
Ive been through about 15 brews on this ACE boiler now and it's a fantastic bit of kit that's produced some quality beers.

The only issue I've had is blockages when transferring to the fermenting vessel, however I've not had any problems since I've been doing as follows:

Primarily use leaf hops, I still do use pellets but try to make sure I've got at least 60% leaf hops.

When chilling the wort I let it get to about 30 degrees then pop the lid on and leave it for an hour or two. This does two things, gets it down to room temperature (last 10 degrees always seem to take a long time) and puts all the hop debris and other material compacted down onto the false bottom.

I then open the tap very slowly adjusting the flow to half its full rate.

You should then get this on the FB:
acb292da082a8c03f5bd944aa83afc0f.jpg


I'm getting very little debris in the fermenter and beers are clearing quickly.

Oh and I like to run it to the max!
d570cd5ff7a2220674706e56a243c519.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
Sorry for double post.

donchiquon said:
The mash works well, although it is useful to use a couple of eBay purchases to dial down the power I have found a simple dimmer/speed controller and an Inkbird 308 work pretty well - see the earlier pages of this thread.
Click to expand...

Could you link me up with where you got your dimmer switch? I have the 2500w model and with the max output of the Inkbird being 2200w I'm abit skeptical about getting an Inkbird without something to dial the power down abit. I've found it quite tough this afternoon to find something.

I've contacted Inkbird and they advise not to use either the 308s or 310t directly with the 2500w boiler but suggested the ITC-100VH+25DA SSR
 
BrannBrew said:
Sorry for double post.



Could you link me up with where you got your dimmer switch? I have the 2500w model and with the max output of the Inkbird being 2200w I'm abit skeptical about getting an Inkbird without something to dial the power down abit. I've found it quite tough this afternoon to find something.

I've contacted Inkbird and they advise not to use either the 308s or 310t directly with the 2500w boiler but suggested the ITC-100VH+25DA SSR
Click to expand...
Doesn't a dimmer just draw the same power but divert some of it away to a heatsink or something like that? So no help for your Inkbird...
 

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