Brew-Boss® V2.06 Operation Manual
want the user to “Place the cover on the kettle and open the valve”. This forces the user to perform the
steps in the proper sequence. We could have added this prompt to the first step, but opening the valve
before adding the water is a bad idea, as it might start dumping water all over the floor. We want this
step as we plan on recirculating the water with the pump while we heat the kettle to strike temperature.
This is recommended as the recirculation equalizes the temperature in the kettle assuring the
temperature is consistent throughout the kettle and that the controller is getting an accurate
measurement of the temperature. Again, the user must press the start key to advance to the next step if
the controller is in Auto Brew Mode.
Step 3 – Heating water to strike temperature of 154 degrees:
In this step we want to heat the kettle
to strike temperature of 154F while recirculating with the pump. So, we have set the Step Type to Step
Type 3, Heat Kettle to Specified Setpoint. We define the prompt to “Heating Kettle to Strike
Temperature of 154 degrees”. We set the Setpoint to 154. We set the Pump Flag to “1” indicating we
want the pump ON. And we like audible prompts, so we set the Speak flag to “1” as well. This step
definition will turn the heater on and pump on and will terminate when the kettle reaches the strike
temperature of 154 degrees. We set the Alarm Flag to 1, so the controller will sound the alarm to alert
the user that their presence is required! The pump will be turned off at the end of the step but the
heater will continue to hold the 154F setpoint, unless Manual Brew Mode had been selected, in which
case both the pump and heater will be turned off.
Step 4 – Water at strike temperature. Please close valve and add grains:
This step is initiated after
step 3 completes, i.e. the kettle reaches 154F degrees. Since the kettle is at the desired strike
temperature, we now want to add the grains to the kettle. To do this, we need to remove the cover.
Removing the cover requires that we close the valve or else very hot water will flow out through the
pump! For that reason, this step prompts the user, using Step Type 1, to “Close the valve and add
grains”. It also notifies the user what the status is, which is why the “Water at strike temperature” was
included in the prompt. You can make these prompts anything you want, just don't use quotation marks
or commas! After the user completes adding the grains and presses the Start button, the controller
proceeds to step 5 if the controller is in Auto Brew Mode.
Step 5 – Place cover on kettle then open the valve:
This is also defined as a Step Type 1, as we now
want the user to “Place the cover on the kettle and open the valve” again for mashing. We want this
step as we plan on recirculating the water with the pump while we Mash. Again, the user must press
the start key to advance to the next step after he/she places the cover and opens the valve.
Step 6 – Heating to mash temperature of 152 degrees for the first mash step:
This step uses Step
Type 3, heat to a setpoint. It is possible that we calculated our strike temperature wrong or we took a
long time to add the grains and the heater was off because we are in Manual Brew Mode. In these
cases, the temperature of the kettle dropped below the desired mash temperature of 152F. This step is
included to make sure the kettle is returned to the proper mash temperature before the mash timer is
started.
Step 7 – Maintaining Temperature of 152 degrees for the first mash step:
This step uses Step Type
4, which maintains specified temperature for a specified amount of time. In this case, we want to
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