Speidel Braumeister (brewmaster)

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dinnerstick said:
i agree, from my experience you can get 7kg in the 20L and get into the 1.070's pretty easily, even with a 60 minute boil, if you are a bit careful with the mash. that said, i am not at all against using a bit of DME to boost gravity a bit or fine tune a batch, it's a useful tool in the toolbox, i get upset when people berate its use! but i wouldn't be afraid to go higher on the base malt and cut down the dme if i were you; 6kg is easy to mash (your 11 lbs grain bill = 5 kg). i have had a couple batches with >7kg grain bills get a bit stuck so i am a little cautious now when i load it up, but i have been having great results lately, with efficiency around 73-75%. i now always open the machine and stir the mash a few times at pump breaks, and sometimes can see that it's getting a bit glumpy or starting to channel, especially when i use a lot of wheat or oats. don't be afraid of a longer mash, i sometimes do a 90 minute rest at sacc temp, and i generally don't add specialty grains until the end of the mash (15-20 minutes left at sacc temp), save the space at the beginning for stuff that needs to be mashed. check the temp at the top of the malt tube often, especially just after temp changes, to make sure there is good flow through the grain; if the wort isn't circulating well you will have warmer wort outside the tube and cooler wort inside, of course a few degrees difference is expected, but if this happens it's time to give it a good stir.
Click to expand...

Is my technique of adding the DME and substituting it for the base malt at the 20-30 min boil mark correct then? Just for future reference if I need to reduce the grain amount?

Thanks for the info on the weight amounts for the 20L, trying to avoid any issues.
 
I agree with the DME comment dinnerstick, I see no reason not use it if needed, I´m a cheap bastard and DME is expensive so I try not to use it but I see no problems doing it to get to your target OG. Saving your specialty malts for later in the mash is a great idea too. The unit keeps temps pretty steady with the insulating jacket and lid on during mashing. I too stir my mash during pump breaks and IMHO it does boost your gravity a few points.
 
brewbush said:
Is my technique of adding the DME and substituting it for the base malt at the 20-30 min boil mark correct then?
Click to expand...

yes, i give it even less time in the boil; i throw in irish moss, yeast nutrients, and put in my immersion chiller all around the 15-10 minute mark, so i also add any sugars and dme then
 
bcryan said:
Anyone have any experience with the 200 or 500 liter braumeister??
Click to expand...

Hi, I am an experienced BM 200 l brewer. By using 48 kg of malt and 4 kg of sugar I get more than 320 l of beer wort around 11 °P. So, the BM 200 can easily be driven as a 300 l device. I can recommend it.

Check out my page if interested:

http://de-de.facebook.com/pages/danidrinks-Mikrobrauerei-Daniel-Michel/176739955731354

www.danibier.ch

on this German forum you will find a lot of information regarding the BM 200 l - use google translate.

http://hobbybrauer.de/modules.php?name=eBoard&file=viewthread&fid=12&tid=13205&page=1&orderdate=ASC


There is yet no official 500 l BM as far as I know. But, I saw the link. It seems to me they want to show the BM 500 to the world on the BrauBeviale in Nürnberg that starts tomorrow. The price seems quite high for the 500 l version. Production will start soon, I assume.

Best regards from Switzerland, Daniel
 
psehorne said:
My 29L has made it as far as Memphis!
Click to expand...

My 20L is here in the metroplex. Should be delivered to me tomorrow. I'll post pics of the unpacking. I'm going to run a simulated brew with water only and short rests of about 5 minutes(probably on Wednesday) just to test everything out. I'll post pics of that also. Hopefully I will be brewing my first batch on Thursday (simple American Blonde Ale first up). I'll post pics of brew day also.

I've invited my Son-in-law over on Saturday to brew his LME extract Northern England stye Brown Ale as all-grain. Then on Sunday I plan on brewing an American Brown Ale. These will get the pipeline started.

In the meantime, here are some pics of my 20L's new home:

The first pic is my brew house (actually our pool-side kitchen). When weather permits I will place the 20L on a table just under the chalkboard on the right. The 240 volt electrical outlet is out of sight on the side of the building within easy reach just over the fence.

The second pic is of the 240 volt breaker box with a GFCI circuit breaker.

Then a close up of the GFCI breaker and the L6-20R receptacle, which as I already mentioned is just over the fence on the right side of the building.

BrewingStation.jpg


BreakerBoxOpen.jpg


240V-GFCI.jpg


ElectricalOutlet2.jpg
 
digitaldeluge said:
Nice, are you going to do a water test tonight?
Click to expand...

I'm sure I won't be able to wait until tomorrow. Depends on how late it arrives today. Also, the temps this week are highs in the 60's, lows in the 30's with daylight temps ranging from about 45 (9AM) to mid 60's. So I will probably have to brew indoors. In which case, I will brew inside of the Blue Flamingo brew house and route the power cord out the window.


digitaldeluge said:
That outlet looks really dangerous, you knocked out too many of the rings, you really should get another one.
Click to expand...

I will be replacing the housing withing the next day or so (as soon as I make a trip to the hardware store). I originally had a larger, 4 conductor, 240 receptacle in there. That's why the opening has been knocked out too large for the L6-20R.
 
psehorne said:
Water test Tuesday.... Assistant Brewer is charging his video camera battery tonight....I've never put anything on YouTube before, but if the video is worthwhile I'll see what I can do....standby...
Click to expand...

Water test went very well today. Lot's of video recorded. Will take some time to review and edit.

Some highlights:
We were using only 15 liters of water.
Each mash rest was set at 5 minutes.
Ambient Temperature: 15C
Barometric pressure: 30.52
Ground Elevation: 600 ft
Beginning Water Temperature: 15C
Average water temperature increase: ~1.5C/minute
Time to go from mash-out at 76C to 100C boil (without insulating jacket): 17 min
Time from 76C to 100C with insulating jacket: 15 min

I was concerned that the Braumeister would have a hard time reaching/maintaining a boil with the cool outdoor temp. It did very well. After proving it would get a vigorous boil going without the blanket, we cooled the water to 76C again, installed the blanket, and recorded time to climb from 76C to 100C with the jacket - time 15 minutes, two minutes less than without the jacket.

The first cooling from 100C to 76C was done in two minutes. The second cooling from 100C to 25C took only 9 minutes. I was pumping 12.8C water out of our our swimming pool through a 50' stainless steel immersion wort chiller.

Later...
 
psehorne said:
It's here! The box is in really good shape (minor scar). So hopefully no damage. Now on to the un-boxing.
Click to expand...

The machine was shipped via FedEx. Un-boxing went well. No damage to anything. I took a lot of pics but pruned down to only the few below.

As you can see the Braumeister is packed with multi-layer, heavy-duty corrugated cardboard. There is no 'conventional' packing material; instead, there are sturdy and strategically placed cardboard dividers/spacers.

In the last pic you can see all that was included in my shipment. My unit was provided with the stainless steel fine mesh sieves (vs the cloth version). The optional insulating jacket and two extra sets of fine mesh stainless still sieves are near the right side of the pic.

My pump is the black one.

The only 'installation' that was required was:
1) attach the knob to the lid - no tools required; it threaded on the the provided bolt by hand and tightened against a soft washer. Compressing the washer a little with just hand pressure provided a secure fixture.
2) screw four pegs onto the four bolts that protrude from the mash pipe. Covered the pegs with a napkin to protect the finish and tightened slightly with a pair of pliers.
3) screw the spigot into the female port on the kettle and tighten slightly (only enough to slightly compress the rubber o-ring) with a wrench.

Box1.jpg


DSCN0347.jpg


DSCN0352.jpg


DSCN0361.jpg
 
Today we will be brewing our first batch on the 20L - not only our first batch on the 20L, but our first batch ever. I hope to capture much of today's activities on video. Hopefully Assistant Brewer Larry remembered to charge the battery of his video recorder last night.

For this first brew we have chosen a simple recipe. Almost a SMASH (single malt and single hops), but not quite. We will be using two malts.

  • 4kg 2-row pale American malt
  • .300 10 degree crystal malt
  • One package of Willamette hops (1 oz/28.35mg)
  • One package of Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast

Our mash schedule is probably more extensive that it needs to be. Everything I've read indicates that with today's highly-modified malts our extensive mash schedule is not necessary, but it shouldn't hurt, and I want to give this first brew every opportunity to succeed. The system is automated; so the complex mash schedule does not complicate our brew day. With today's highly-modified malts some of the comments I have in parenthesis after each mash step may not be pertinent, but they explain my reasoning.

Mash-in: 38C
1) Protein Rest 1: 30 min @ 50C (to develop yeast nutrients)
2) Protein Rest 2: 15 min @ 60C (Improve clarity and foam potential)
3) Beta rest. Saccharification: 20 min @ 66C (for light-bodied beer)
4) Alpha rest. Dextrinization: 0 min at 76 (for heavy-bodied beer)
5) Mash out: 10 min at 76C
Boil: 75 min at 100C
Willamette hops added at 60 min
Irish moss (1 oz/ 28.35mg) and additional 4mg gypsum (see below) added at 15 min

We're using our tap water, which is very, very soft and with very high mineral content (Texas version of Burton:)) and high pH. Out of the tap the pH was off the scale of my litmus paper on the high side - digital pH meter read 8.4. Yesterday we prepared the water with an initial addition of 4mg of gypsum. This brought the hardness up to between 50 and 100 ppm (litmus paper is not too precise) and the pH down somewhat. We then added 7ml of 85% phosphoric acid (food grade) and the pH dropped to just above our target of 5.8. It was at 6.1. This morning before the brew I will check the pH and hardness again and touch up, with a goal of beginning the mash with 5.8 pH and hardness >50 and <100 (don't want the water too hard during the mash). Near the end of the mash additional gypsum will be added to get the hardness up to ~150 ppm.

I have not made a starter. My plan is make a starter from the wort brewed today. This will mean that pitching yeast will be delayed a bit.

Wish us luck.
 
psehorne said:
Today we will be brewing our first batch on the 20L - not only our first batch on the 20L, but our first batch ever. I hope to capture much of today's activities on video. Hopefully Assistant Brewer Larry remembered to charge the battery of his video recorder last night.

For this first brew we have chosen a simple recipe. Almost a SMASH (single malt and single hops), but not quite. We will be using two malts.

  • 4kg 2-row pale American malt
  • .300 10 degree crystal malt
  • One package of Willamette hops (1 oz/28.35mg)
  • One package of Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast

Our mash schedule is probably more extensive that it needs to be. Everything I've read indicates that with today's highly-modified malts our extensive mash schedule is not necessary, but it shouldn't hurt, and I want to give this first brew every opportunity to succeed. The system is automated; so the complex mash schedule does not complicate our brew day. With today's highly-modified malts some of the comments I have in parenthesis after each mash step may not be pertinent, but they explain my reasoning.

Mash-in: 38C
1) Protein Rest 1: 30 min @ 50C (to develop yeast nutrients)
2) Protein Rest 2: 15 min @ 60C (Improve clarity and foam potential)
3) Beta rest. Saccharification: 20 min @ 66C (for light-bodied beer)
4) Alpha rest. Dextrinization: 0 min at 76 (for heavy-bodied beer)
5) Mash out: 10 min at 76C
Boil: 75 min at 100C
Willamette hops added at 60 min
Irish moss (1 oz/ 28.35mg) and additional 4mg gypsum (see below) added at 15 min

We're using our tap water, which is very, very soft and with very high mineral content (Texas version of Burton:)) and high pH. Out of the tap the pH was off the scale of my litmus paper on the high side - digital pH meter read 8.4. Yesterday we prepared the water with an initial addition of 4mg of gypsum. This brought the hardness up to between 50 and 100 ppm (litmus paper is not too precise) and the pH down somewhat. We then added 7ml of 85% phosphoric acid (food grade) and the pH dropped to just above our target of 5.8. It was at 6.1. This morning before the brew I will check the pH and hardness again and touch up, with a goal of beginning the mash with 5.8 pH and hardness >50 and <100 (don't want the water too hard during the mash). Near the end of the mash additional gypsum will be added to get the hardness up to ~150 ppm.

I have not made a starter. My plan is make a starter from the wort brewed today. This will mean that pitching yeast will be delayed a bit.

Wish us luck.
Click to expand...

change the boil to 102
 
We had a near catastrophe yesterday

When it came time to lift the malt pipe, I removed the wing nut and the top sieves and the grain under them suddenly rose, and before I could react, were 1/8" above the top of the malt pipe and grain was overflowing into the outer compartment. It took quite a bit of effort for the Assistant Brewer and I to hold the sieves down, to stop the overflow of grain. And because of the downward pressure we were holding on the sieves, even more effort to lift the malt pipe up. A lot of grain ended up in the wort.

We strained all we could out and proceeded. Although there was a lot of grain in the wort, the pump had no problem.

I've read this thread in its entirely and do not remember anyone reporting this occurrence; so I wasn't prepared for it and it took me completely by surprise.
 
psehorne said:
We had a near catastrophe yesterday

... and the top sieves and the grain under them suddenly rose, and before I could react, were 1/8" above the top of the malt pipe and grain was overflowing into the outer compartment...
Click to expand...


Because of the aforementioned problem and other happenings (we spend too much time talking with a neighbor who stopped by during the brew), we got behind the curve and let the system get ahead of us.

I screwed up and added the Irish moss during the last few minutes of the mash instead of during the boil. Did not realize this until the system beeped during the last few minutes of the boil to remind me to add the Irish moss; so we added another 1g of Irish moss at that time.

We prepped the water and got it to around 100ppm hardness before brewing and expected to add more gypsum near the end of the mash, but when we measured the hardness near the end of the mash prior to adding more gypsum, the hardness was already above 250 ppm; so we did not add any more gypsum.

I started out will 15 liters of water, which covered the heater coils, but once the pumps started the water level on the coils dropped below the lever of the highest coil; the part of the vessel where the heating coil was closest to the vessel wall got very hot, and the insulating jacked melted somewhat and stuck to the vessel wall. We added another 4l of water and proceeded. The heating coil was not damaged and the brew moved on. After the brew we pealed the insulating jacket off the vessel, and the vessel cleaned up just fine; although the heating jacket has an area that is charred black on the inside. The outside is not blackened but does show some distortion in the area that got too hot.

Pics attached.

DSCN0380.jpg


DSCN0381.jpg


DSCN0382.jpg


DSCN0383.jpg


DSCN0384.jpg
 
psehorne said:
I screwed up and added the Irish moss during the last few minutes of the mash instead of during the boil. Did not realize this until the system beeped during the last few minutes of the boil to remind me to add the Irish moss; so we added another 1g of Irish moss at that time.
Click to expand...

Pic of wort attached. You can see some of the Irish moss sitting on the sieve near the bottom right of the pic. Wort is very clear at this point. Pic must have been taken before the grain overflow.

Because of the events of the day we did not get any other pics taken and only a minute or two of video.

DSCN0379.jpg
 
Did you add the water to the correct marking on the center rod and then add the malt pipe? I don't see how the coils didn't stay covered?

Also, were the pumps still running when you started removing the sieve?
 
Yambor44 said:
Did you add the water to the correct marking on the center rod and then add the malt pipe? I don't see how the coils didn't stay covered?

Also, were the pumps still running when you started removing the sieve?
Click to expand...

I added water to the 15l mark before inserting the malt pipe, then added 4.3 kg of grains. I thought that 15l would be enough. It was not.

I believe the pump was not running when we started removing the malt pipe. If I remember correctly the system prompted us to remove the malt pipe and paused awaiting a response. Things got pretty hectic all of a sudden. Maybe the pump started up and pushed the grain and sieves up, but I don't think so. I don't remember rushing to stop the pump.
 
psehorne said:
Today we will be brewing our first batch on the 20L - not only our first batch on the 20L, but our first batch ever. ..

For this first brew we have chosen a simple recipe. Almost a SMASH (single malt and single hops), but not quite. We will be using two malts.

  • 4kg 2-row pale American malt
  • .300 10 degree crystal malt
  • One package of Willamette hops (1 oz/28.35mg)
  • One package of Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast
Click to expand...

An American Blonde Ale (the camera makes it look a little darker)
SG: 1.051
Yeast has now been pitched. Let the fermenting begin!

DSCN0389.jpg


DSCN0390.jpg
 
digitaldeluge said:
Crazy! Any damage to the machine? If you were boiling over those jackets must really work. I never hit above 99 un-jacketed with my temp set at 102
Click to expand...

No damage to the machine. Just had to scrape off the sticky from where the jacket stuck to the vessel. Yay! for stainless.

I may not have needed the jacket. The water test with 15l and no jacket provided vigorous boil, but that was with no grain and less water than used during the actual brew. I figured that since I have the jack I may as well use it. Got to store it somewhere, what better place than on the vessel. So I will probably always use it. Just one less item to keep up with.
 
You're not supposed to touch the metal grill and sieve, just open the nut and get rid of the bar, then lift the pipe to rest on the kettle. When you lift the malt pipe, the sieve and grill will move up too along the centre metal rod. When you then lift the malt pipe away say onto a big bucket to drain, no need to touch the sieve either.
 
DeGarre said:
You're not supposed to touch the metal grill and sieve, just open the nut and get rid of the bar, then lift the pipe to rest on the kettle. When you lift the malt pipe, the sieve and grill will move up too along the centre metal rod. When you then lift the malt pipe away say onto a big bucket to drain, no need to touch the sieve either.
Click to expand...

I had no choice. The two top sieves and the grain below moved up above the malt pipe and grain began flowing out all around the malt pipe.
 
psehorne said:
An American Blonde Ale (the camera makes it look a little darker)
SG: 1.051
Yeast has now been pitched. Let the fermenting begin!
Click to expand...

Here is a pic of the wort (near beer?) Friday morning (yeast was pitched Thursday evening). Notice how much the beer line has dropped. I started out with 19.5 liter (5 gal 17 oz). It is now at about the 4.8 gal level.

Note, I did not create a starter in advance. We brewed on Wednesday. I used 2+ liters of the wort to create a starter - then pitched the starter Thursday evening.

DSCN0397.jpg
 
I just finished my 14th batch on the 20 litre system. I've had a problem on the last 6 batches or so and I can't seem to pin it down.

My pre-boil gravity and volume are right on the money. I do a 90 minute boil and my post boil volume is right on but my OG is about 10 -15 points low, in fact today it was exactly the same gravity as the pre-boil gravity! How is this possible? When I first noticed this many batches ago I just assumed I had made a measurement error. So the last 5 batches I was very careful and precise in my measurements, in fact doing them with two different samples. I correct for temperature and have also checked my hydrometer in distilled water at 59*F. I've also noticed my FG coming out about 6 points lower than expected. Anyone else have this problem?
 
brian320fo said:
I do a 90 minute boil and my post boil volume is right on but my OG is about 10 -15 points low, in fact today it was exactly the same gravity as the pre-boil gravity!
Click to expand...

That seems impossible. The only thing I can come up with is if you were to boil with the lid on, and not get any evaporation. But you wouldn't do that, would you?
 
If your pre-boil volume and gravity are spot on, and your final volume is spot on there is no way you can miss your final gravity, there has to be some miscalculation in your recipe or if you are using some beer software it´s probably not well adjusted.
Boiling the wort will anly reduce your volume and therefore increase the gravity of your wort it´s impossible to loose sugar during the boil,
 
Obliviousbrew said:
If your pre-boil volume and gravity are spot on, and your final volume is spot on there is no way you can miss your final gravity, there has to be some miscalculation in your recipe or if you are using some beer software it´s probably not well adjusted.
Boiling the wort will anly reduce your volume and therefore increase the gravity of your wort it´s impossible to loose sugar during the boil,
Click to expand...

I know. This is what has me so baffled. I'm very meticulous about my measurements. I'm beginning to think my therminator has a leak in it, thinning out my wort as I chill it. Next time I'll take a sample before chilling and one after and compare the results.

As far as software goes I use BeerSmith and got my numbers off their forum. Anybody have better numbers for the 20L?

Thanks,
Brian
 
psehorne said:
May I assume you are using a hydrometer, not a refractometer? If so, are you allowing the wort to cool to ~70F before taking a reading? and are you correcting for temperature?

Could your hydrometer have gotten bumped and damaged, such that the scale is able to move?
Click to expand...

Yes, I use a hydrometer and have calibrated it with distiller water. It seems to be fine. All my other readings are normal so I'm investigating other areas in my system. Unfortunately this was not a one time issue, it's been a consistent problem for the last couple of months. I'm thinking maybe my therminator is leaking. I've talked to Blichman and they're helping me with that.

Thanks,
Brian
 
brian320fo said:
Yes, I use a hydrometer and have calibrated it with distiller water. It seems to be fine. All my other readings are normal so I'm investigating other areas in my system. Unfortunately this was not a one time issue, it's been a consistent problem for the last couple of months. I'm thinking maybe my therminator is leaking. I've talked to Blichman and they're helping me with that.

Thanks,
Brian
Click to expand...

If you're hitting your final volume it doesn't really make sense that your chiller is leaking. To have no change in gravity from pre to post boil means you'd have to leak the same amount you've evaporated in which case your final volume would equal your starting volume. For the sake of being thorough you could try checking your hydrometer in a known sugar solution. Dissolve 10g of sugar in 90g of distilled water and see if it reads 1.040. Don't forget to adjust for whatever temperature your hydrometer is calibrated at.

Robert
 
flemming said:
If you're hitting your final volume it doesn't really make sense that your chiller is leaking. To have no change in gravity from pre to post boil means you'd have to leak the same amount you've evaporated in which case your final volume would equal your starting volume. For the sake of being thorough you could try checking your hydrometer in a known sugar solution. Dissolve 10g of sugar in 90g of distilled water and see if it reads 1.040. Don't forget to adjust for whatever temperature your hydrometer is calibrated at.

Robert
Click to expand...

My bad, I misused terminology. When I said final volume I was talking about as measured in the Braumeister before transferring to fermenter. I will test my hydrometer again using your suggestion. Thanks.
 

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