First run on the Brewmagic.

[Killervector]

Gila- I know you'll have something to say, and I'm looking forward to your advice.... LOL

Ok, first run yesterday with the Brew-magic. Things went pretty well, but I think I sparged WAY too quickly. Well, I know I did. I thought I had things set up for a nice slow sparge, but literally 8 minutes in, I look to see how much is left in the HLT and I find it empty. So, I sparged in like 10 minutes. Which didn't give the higher temp a chance to stop enzyme activity or anything.

Boil went well. Nothing to really say about that. Only one small problem noted during the boil. The burners shut off twice, and I had to turn off the propane at the tank and turn it back on to get them to relight. Gila- ever had problems with this?

Only thing I didn't like was my effiency. I figure I only got about 60%.

Recipe:
12# 2row
12# Munich 10L
1# 90 Crystal

OG 1.048.

Should have gotten 1.060 at 75% eff. Sparging slower will help, I'm sure. I have my crush at about .048 in. I had a few particles of grain floating in the boil.

Anyone who uses one have any tips?

Thanks in advance.

 

[GRHunter]

I can only dream of someday owning a Brewmagic. But my 2 cents worth is that a crush 0f .048 seems a little course. I condition my grains and crush at .032 and with a 10 gallon Igloo cooler and a single batch sparge I usually get about 75% efficiency.

 

[Killervector]

Yeah... the literature says to crush at .070 though! There is no way I'm going that course! Thanks for the reply!

 

[iparks81]

im Envious...I want a brewmagic!

 

[carnevoodoo]

Coarse.890

 

[Killervector]

I guess I need to get a decent feeler gauge to see exactly where I'm at... I used sheets of paper to guesstimate where I'm at on my gap. Also, I did have some grain pieces in my boiling kettle under the false bottom, so I'm guessing I need to up the gap some, and not close it.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I crush at .045" through a fixed maltmill and get ME between 75% to 85%. The latter being the most common.

Your sparge is WAY too fast and that will only lead to left behind sugar.

My best advice is to wet run the MLT off to the kettle with the kettle hose off of the 90 el. Get a feel for the flow rate taht way since it's hard, to impossible, to get a good feel for it with all the hose in place.

And then mark your valve.

I keep my runoff to a trickle and let teh sparge go for 45 minutes. About 1/3rd the way through I light my kettle with a slow flame and by time the kettle is full, it's boiling.

As to the propane. IIRC, the BM ships with a 15psi regulator (and not the best one at that). With that much throughput it's easy for the tanks internal killsafe to set and drastically reduce flow. Thus, kill the burners. Yes, I have had that happen as well as freeze up the regulator. It has, however, been a while since I ran propane through mine.

 

[Killervector]

Gila-

Thank you for the tips. I'll run the same crush next time, and check the flow rate. I just found it really hard to see how fast I was running out.... as you said. I'll slow it way down next time and see where we're at.

I'm going to convert to nat gas when I can. I just need to decide if I plan to brew in my basement or my garage on a permanent basis.

Thanks again.

 

[Randar]

Wait, you're running on a brewmagic but you crush at 0.48? You can crush finer than that and if you condition malt you can crush it at 0.20. Makes a huge difference for very little real effort.

 

[schweaty]

So, I sparged in like 10 minutes. Which didn't give the higher temp a chance to stop enzyme activity or anything.

I'm not a Brewmagic user but shouldn't you be able to use the burner and heating element to raise the mash temperature and do a mashout @ 168 or 169 for ten minutes? That would certainly take care of that problem. As far as sparging is concerned, it takes some practice to get the flow rates set to where they need to be.

 

[Killervector]

Well, I had some grain pieces in my boil. That was with crush set at .048. The Brewmagic has a stainless false bottom. My point is that if I'm getting some grain pieces at .048, I'd probly have WAY too much grain in the boil, and would get an astringency in my brews from that.

I dunno. What do you guys think?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Wait, you're running on a brewmagic but you crush at 0.48? You can crush finer than that and if you condition malt you can crush it at 0.20. Makes a huge difference for very little real effort.

The problem is the FB design and centrally located siphon. Even at my .045" crush there are a decent amount of "fines" that get through necessitating a deep clean with every brew to assure nothing is trapped in the system. Which brings up the next point, don;t forget there is about 10 foot of hard, permanently attached SS tube that all this has to be pumped through.

Your point on the crush is valid of course. Even if still at .048 to .045 as the conditioning is meant more to keep the husk pliable so that it tears open at one or two points rather than burst open.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I'm not a Brewmagic user but shouldn't you be able to use the burner and heating element to raise the mash temperature and do a mashout @ 168 or 169 for ten minutes? That would certainly take care of that problem. As far as sparging is concerned, it takes some practice to get the flow rates set to where they need to be.

Not sure I follow you but, the PLC for the BrewMagic is manufacturer programed not to operate the element until the wort is within 5 degree of the desired set-point.

Furthermore, the output from the MLT is through a stainless cross. One side in, top side for temp probe, and then tho other two are valved. One goes directly to the pump for the RIMS and the other straight to the kettle. Therefore, if you are running off you cannot direct flow to the RIMS.

Make any sense?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Well, I had some grain pieces in my boil. That was with crush set at .048. The Brewmagic has a stainless false bottom. My point is that if I'm getting some grain pieces at .048, I'd probly have WAY too much grain in the boil, and would get an astringency in my brews from that.

I dunno. What do you guys think?

"Some" pieces will not make for enough tannins to be palateable. However, something is a fud. Bt time you are running off to the kettle teh recirculation of the mash should have established the filter bed and properly vorlaufed the wort.

So, you either had some residual husk in the plumbing or, you fecked with yer grainbed and for that you get 3 lashes.

 

[Killervector]

Hehe... I didn't mess with the grainbed. I think it had more to do with the extreme speed at which I sparged. I'm gonna try to slow it to a trickle next time. Maybe I should practice some more with just water, silly as it sounds.

Also, I notice when I was bringing my mash temp up that with the burner on, I got a really hot reading from the thermocouple. As soon as I shut the burner down, the temp went down VERY quickly. Heat obviously making it through the side area and ramping the temp up. So, do you just bring the mash temp up like 15 degrees above desired mash temp and then turn it off to see where you've leveled out at? Or is there a way to do it so the temp from the mash burner doesn't make it to the thermocouple?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Hehe... I didn't mess with the grainbed. I think it had more to do with the extreme speed at which I sparged. I'm gonna try to slow it to a trickle next time. Maybe I should practice some more with just water, silly as it sounds.

Also, I notice when I was bringing my mash temp up that with the burner on, I got a really hot reading from the thermocouple. As soon as I shut the burner down, the temp went down VERY quickly. Heat obviously making it through the side area and ramping the temp up. So, do you just bring the mash temp up like 15 degrees above desired mash temp and then turn it off to see where you've leveled out at? Or is there a way to do it so the temp from the mash burner doesn't make it to the thermocouple?

For my sparges, I keep a couple inches over the grain bed until I have added the calculated volume and then I shut the HLT valve off and let the MLT drain. While that is happening I go measure out the boil additions, prep the chiller, get the vacuum out to clean the MLT, etc...

Keep the flame lower. The only burner I let rip full open is the kettle burner but, if you start the kettle mid-way through the runoff even that is unneccessary.

 

[Bru]

Congrats on your new system and the first brew. Please post some pics ! Ive seen the pics on their site but they're not very detailed.

 

[Killervector]

Will do when I have the chance. I've got some on my cell, but I can't get those online, cuz I don't know how... LOL

 

[samc]

Congrats on the new system.

Seems though that the marketing and general "hype" makes one think that you just push a few buttons, dump in your ingredients and walk away. Pretty much like my semi auto system, it's a lot of work to get it all to work right.

 

[schweaty]

Not sure I follow you but, the PLC for the BrewMagic is manufacturer programed not to operate the element until the wort is within 5 degree of the desired set-point.

Furthermore, the output from the MLT is through a stainless cross. One side in, top side for temp probe, and then tho other two are valved. One goes directly to the pump for the RIMS and the other straight to the kettle. Therefore, if you are running off you cannot direct flow to the RIMS.

Make any sense?

I mean before sparging, bring the mash to a temperature of 168-169 for ten minutes. Then begin sparging and running off to the boil kettle. I can't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to do a mashout on a system like that. Use the burner to bring the temp up to 168-169, then switch to RIMS and hold for 10 minutes. Voilà! The OP was worried about "Which didn't give the higher temp a chance to stop enzyme activity or anything." I just think that after the 60 minute or however long the mash takes to ramp it up to mashout temperature and leave it for 10 minutes to deactivate all enzymes and lock in the profile.