Welcome to the borg. You’ve done some really great mods to the M and B.Entropy_Brewing wrote:Hello everyone! I've been involved in the conversations going on over on the FB page for the Mash and Boil, and Berryman invited me over here to check things out. I've had my M&B for about a year now and have done about 18 batches on it. I bought the unit originally to do small BIAB batch as test batches for my big 15gallon system, but found it was so easy to use I just kept going with 5 gallon batches. I have 3 young ones running around the house, so the ability to set up in the kitchen or back patio to brew has been a huge plus for me. I started off doing a standard mash with the "pour over" sparge during the mash, then installed a 12v brown pump and made an attempt at recirculation with limited success. I then stole the chugger pump off my big system hoping I could regulate things better in terms of flow rate. Having the larger pump and valve did seem to help some, but I still felt like I was constantly screwing with the flow. I was either flowing too much and risking overflowing the basket, or not enough and the grain bed would start to go dry. I brewed with a friend that had the robobrew rig, and it hit me exactly what was the purpose of the center drain pipe and was impressed as to how much easier it made the brew day. I decided to take matters into my own hands and build my own drain pipe set up. I used mostly off the shelf parts with a little machining required. With 2-3 handfuls of rice hulls and the drain pipe mod, I feel like I've greatly simplified my brew day, and picked up efficiency in the process. I can now set me pump at about 50-60% flow, and just let it run the entire mash without messing with it. I notice mash temps are also more stable now (fluctuate 2 to maybe 3 degrees) and I'm getting about 83% mash efficiency. Here are a couple vids of the set up, one showing the parts and other of a brew day with the drain pipe mod installed.
I’ve done three brews. All were 3 gallon biab. That’s all I plan on doing because I like the simplicity of it.
Watching your videos makes want to follow your approach but I think I’ll keep it simple. I only need 2.5 gallon batches most of the time.
I will say that I have been able to brew WAY more with this system. Like I mentioned I can plug it in on the patio in the summer, or kitchen in the winter and still hang out with the kids while I get a batch of beer in. The result has been an improvement in my beer and brew day not being a chore any longer. 
