Speidel Braumeister (brewmaster)

[Drachental_Des]

Just looking for pics or a vid of how you mash in.

Ah, OK, I'll dig the super-8 out and see what we can do!!

 

[wyzazz]

Ah, OK, I'll dig the super-8 out and see what we can do!!

:rockin: Thanks!

 

[hfk2]

Thanks for joining us Drachental Des. It's great to have an experienced BM user here. You will probably regret it eventually because I'm sure we are going to bombard you with questions. The use of a pipe instead of a paddle sounds interesting. I've been using a mash paddle with a stab and twist motion to distribute the mash initially. Do you find better efficiency by stopping the mash and redistributing the grain bed? Thanks

 

[rico567]

The screen looks like nothing more than the nylon screen on our front porch.....d'oh! Not sure I ever would have thought of that.....

 

[Drachental_Des]

hfk2: I haven't seen much, if any, variation in efficiency, just in time to complete conversion. As for regretting “joining in”, the feeling so far is akin to sitting in a circle and standing up to say, “Hello, my name’s Des and I use a Braumeister” – A very liberating feeling

As for Rico567 not thinking of the door screen: if you don’t see everyday, household items as potential brewing aids, I think you need consider if brewing is really for you !! (I’m new here and hope my sense of humor won’t offend!)

Please ask anything about our brewing and if I can’t answer I’ll say

 

[cyberbackpacker]

Ahh, Tirol... I lived in Colorado and there are many 14k+ foot mountains in Colorado, and whenever we'd go for a trek in the mountains there was an old hiking song we used to sing about Tirol. I wish I could remember it now!

 

[FiveKaiBrewing]

Des, WELCOME!

Thanks for the info. Where would one find this mesh for the filter?

Thanks,

Rob

i happen to have some of this stuff we use to line our bonsai pots with.

http://www.maibanbonsai.com/bonsaipotscreen14x11sheetcovers35holesplus.aspx

looks pretty close to me!

 

[FiveKaiBrewing]

hfk2: I haven't seen much, if any, variation in efficiency, just in time to complete conversion. As for regretting “joining in”, the feeling so far is akin to sitting in a circle and standing up to say, “Hello, my name’s Des and I use a Braumeister” – A very liberating feeling

I know what you mean.. Ill go next. Hello, My name is kai I have a Braumeister and im addicted to brewing now because of it. they say the first step to recovery is accepting that your addicted. Now what if i dont want to kick this habit? lmao

i originally purchased this unit so that i could still brew even with my tight schedule. I find my self using the new found free time created by the Braumeister, to brew MORE!

 

[wyzazz]

i happen to have some of this stuff we use to line our bonsai pots with.

http://www.maibanbonsai.com/bonsaipotscreen14x11sheetcovers35holesplus.aspx

looks pretty close to me!

Just a word of caution, before you go and brew with anything that is not rated for temp or food-grade, boil whatever it is in a pot of water for 30mins or so and taste the water to see if you can detect any off-flavors.

 

[FiveKaiBrewing]

Just a word of caution, before you go and brew with anything that is not rated for temp or food-grade, boil whatever it is in a pot of water for 30mins or so and taste the water to see if you can detect any off-flavors.

personally ill stick with my stainless mesh from a splatter screen. my wife is all coo coo about organics and against any type of plastic coming into contact with food at high heat. From what she says and she reads alot, thats a one way ticket to carcinogens in your food.

 

[Yambor44]

personally ill stick with my stainless mesh from a splatter screen. my wife is all coo coo about organics and against any type of plastic coming into contact with food at high heat. From what she says and she reads alot, thats a one way ticket to carcinogens in your food.

My wife is exactly the same. Good points. I'll stick with my stainless splash screen for now. I think I will buy a larger plash screen eventually and cut it back so its not missing those holes around the outer edge. Last time I did as suggested and added the cloth type filter first and then the splatter screen held that down nicely, but just don't know if that may choke the flow too much.

 

[wyzazz]

My wife is exactly the same. Good points. I'll stick with my stainless splash screen for now. I think I will buy a larger plash screen eventually and cut it back so its not missing those holes around the outer edge. Last time I did as suggested and added the cloth type filter first and then the splatter screen held that down nicely, but just don't know if that may choke the flow too much.

Didn't you get like 80% odd percent efficiency? I wouldn't worry about choking the flow too much at that point.

 

[Yambor44]

Didn't you get like 80% odd percent efficiency? I wouldn't worry about choking the flow too much at that point.

Cool. Yeah, 84% on the 10 gallon batch I think and 80 on the 5 with the new patented double filtration system!

Was just curious if too much restriction could cause pre-mature pump disruptous, commonly known as PMPD?

 

[wyzazz]

I wouldn't think so, that's one of the reasons most brewers use Mag Drive pumps.

 

[Drachental_Des]

From what she says and she reads alot, thats a one way ticket to carcinogens in your food.

That's a point I never thought of I guess, just because I can't see or taste the effect it doesn't mean that it's not there ... Damm, now I'm walking around eyeing up splash guards and, frankly, getting some odd looks - Oh, the life of a braumeister is never easy

Seriously, though, thanks for the thought provoking input ...

A quick question for you guys - Have you experimented much with grind size variation? I ask because we "think" we have got the mix between enough to maximise the extraction vs so fine that we get tooooo much trub about right, but others experiance would be interesting ...

 

[Yambor44]

I think you missed on the first programming step called "Mashing".
"Mashing" is badly translated from german and means dough in temperature or mash-in temperature.
Can be adjusted up and down with the arrows as all the other steps.
It is not considered a rest/phase by the machine but it won't accept any steps/phases lower than "Mashing".

So if you want your first rest at 62, set "Mashing" too at 62.

Got it done right today! Thanks for the info. Also, if I wanted to pause in the middle of the mash to stir, I can do this by:

1. Press up/down arrows simultaneously.
2. Stir.
3. Press up arrow to resume?

Thanks.

 

[beefeater]

Got it done right today! Thanks for the info. Also, if I wanted to pause in the middle of the mash to stir, I can do this by:

1. Press up/down arrows simultaneously.
2. Stir.
3. Press up arrow to resume?

Thanks.

Yes, I think that was the procedure. Good luck today!

 

[Yambor44]

Well, all went well. I made a Hopburst from the Aussie site. This means you add all your hops together, mix well, then add as the recipe calls (times and amounts). I ended up at 1.054 which was 83% efficiency, however I only recovered 9 gallons f finished product. So in the 2nd fermenter, I added 1 gallon of bottled spring water which dropped the OG to 1.042.

This recipe actually called for Glacier at the 5 minute mark but I didn't realize until I was measuring the hops out that my "Glacier" was actually "Galena". So I made the adjustments and used Galena instead. They smelled really nice so I'm sure no harm no foul.

I also ran out of standard 2 row so I had to make up the last 6 pounds with Maris Otter.

Hopburst APA #79 (Mix all hops, add as recipe)
10-A American Pale Ale
Author: Aussie HB
Date: 5/8/11

Size: 12.15 gal
Efficiency: 83.0%
Attenuation: 73.0%
Calories: 181.31 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.054 (1.045 - 1.060)
Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (1.010 - 1.015)
Color: 8.24 (5.0 - 14.0)
Alcohol: 5.2% (4.5% - 6.2%)
Bitterness: 36.7 (30.0 - 45.0)

Ingredients:
11.4 lb Standard 2-Row
6.1 lb Maris Otter Pale
2.0 lb Crystal Malt 20°L
2.0 lb Crystal Malt 10°L
1.0 lb Cara-Pils® Malt
2 ea Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05
2.5 oz Amarillo (7.1%) - added during boil, boiled 45 min
1.5 oz Cascade (6.93%) - added during boil, boiled 20 min
1.25 oz Galena (11.0%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min

Notes
Mix all hops together to blend. Then add as recipe calls for (times and amounts).

A=1.054
B= 1.042 (had to add a gallon of spring water to get to 5 gallons).

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.16

 

[waynemil]

Hi guys,

Today I did a fat tire clone that went pretty smoothly. I have been using a temperature correcting spectrometer to get gravities, but they seemed off so I really don't know what my efficiencies were. I will have to figure that out. I have attached some pictures below. I added 20 percent more base grain due to the no sparge, and I also got real lazy and used a grain bag purchased from my local home brew store. Basically I put in the malt pipe and the lower filter, then cut a small hole in the grain bag and put it in. Next I put in the grain, and the top filter, then just folded the top of the grain bag over. When I was finished, I just lifted out the grain bag and dumped into the trash and washed it later. I don't know if the bag affected efficiency, but the wort was crystal clear, so whoever tells you you can just get cloudy wort with this system is full of baloney. After the mashout, I recirculated a few pitcher fulls by just pouring it out of the spout and back on top of the malt pipe. it was already crystal clear, i just wanted to set up a little grain bed in the opposite direction as I poured about 2 liters of 168 degree water on top to get a little more sweet wort out of the grain. The last picture is of a cheapo drain tap I made based on the previous drawings. i just used one elbow and 2 pieces of silicone tubing. It barely clears the coil and may even touch a little but I have not noticed any problems and I can drain the kettle dry. Let me know if you have any questions,

best,

Wayne

 

[waynemil]

Sorry for the sideways photos. I took on my Iphone.:cross:

Here are the last few.


Wayne

 

[Inodoro_Pereyra]

I know this is kind of off topic (sorry), but, can anybody tell me what's the depth of the kettle on the 50L braumeister?

Thanks in advance.

 

[BeerEagle]

Sorry for the sideways photos. I took on my Iphone.

try the free adobe PS express app. Does rotate and crop etc. right on the iPhone.

 

[waynemil]

Thanks,

will do.

Wayne

try the free adobe PS express app. Does rotate and crop etc. right on the iPhone.

 

[wreals]

Wow what a great thread. I was looking to go all electric but I'm not handy and I like the temp set point controller idea. The small foot print is key for me, as I dont have a lot of room to store something like a BrewMagic or Brewmation

I've been researching it for months but it's great hear good feedback.

Now the question is Pulling the trigger on 50l model and also getting the short malt pipe.

Is it possible to do a Double IPA on the 50l system. I can't tell how much grain, in weight, the malt pipe(s) will hold.

 

[rnarzisi]

@wreals As I understand from one of the Norwegian forums, one method to overcome the inherent capacity limits of the braumeister is to mash twice. The first mash uses half the grain bill and proceeds as normal. After the first mash is complete, remove the malt pipe and empty the spent grain, refill the malt pipe with the remainder of your grain add some top off water and mash in the wort already produced. Finally you can increase the efficiency with a sparge if needed. (Remember I'm getting these directions off of a translated Norwegian site, I have not tried this method myself, YMMV.)

For me personally, I'm interested in brewing beers under 5.5 ABV, when I want a big beer I have litterally hundreds of options at the various pubs and bottle shops in Seattle. What is hard to find are tasty session beers, why is it so hard (for commercial brewers) to create an oatmeal stout at 5% or a pale ale at 4.2%?

 

[Yambor44]

You could also just make less gallons right? So instead of 10 gallons of a IIPA, you would end up with 6-8?? I used 22.5#'s this past brew day and still had several inches of space between the top of the grain and top of the malt pipe.

The idea marzi suggests seems the best though. Hadn't heard of that one yet!

 

[Yambor44]

Wayne,

Thanks for the pics of the BIAB method. Looks like a nice batch you got there!

 

[wreals]

You could also just make less gallons right? So instead of 10 gallons of a IIPA, you would end up with 6-8?? I used 22.5#'s this past brew day and still had several inches of space between the top of the grain and top of the malt pipe.

The idea marzi suggests seems the best though. Hadn't heard of that one yet!

Ahh ok, that makes sense. I most make session ales these days but it's good to know that there is flexibility.

 

[waynemil]

My Pleasure,
Yes, it was so clear--, and when I saw the bag at the homebrew store I could not resist. Although I thought it would save a lot of cleanup time too, that was really not the case, because it took a lot of rinsing to get all the grains out. I think I will also go with the splatter screen idea everyone is doing for the next batch. I think I have been getting a little lower efficiencies because I have not been stirring. When I had the brewmagic, they said that was a no-no or it would affect repeatability. I have been to lazy to stir during the 2 minute pump pauses and Thorsten from Morebeer4you says he does not do it. I think a compromise for me in the future will be, after I lift the malt pipe up, I will give it a good stir and then just pour about 2 liters over the grain to see what happens. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

Thanks,

Wayne

Wayne,

Thanks for the pics of the BIAB method. Looks like a nice batch you got there!

 

[beefeater]

My Pleasure,
Yes, it was so clear--, and when I saw the bag at the homebrew store I could not resist. Although I thought it would save a lot of cleanup time too, that was really not the case, because it took a lot of rinsing to get all the grains out. I think I will also go with the splatter screen idea everyone is doing for the next batch. I think I have been getting a little lower efficiencies because I have not been stirring. When I had the brewmagic, they said that was a no-no or it would affect repeatability. I have been to lazy to stir during the 2 minute pump pauses and Thorsten from Morebeer4you says he does not do it. I think a compromise for me in the future will be, after I lift the malt pipe up, I will give it a good stir and then just pour about 2 liters over the grain to see what happens. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

Thanks,

Wayne

Hi,
I wouldn't stir the grains just before sparging / pouring water over them. That sounds like a recipe for unclear wort.

Pause to stir or not to... I have never done it and I get consistent pre-boil efficiencies it the high 80's. Good enough for me to not start stirring. I allways sparge, though.