Speidel Braumeister (brewmaster)

[wyzazz]

The potential issue with #1 would be that the heating coil is on the outside of the of the malt tube. You could potentially not be boiling the wort on the inside of the malt tube. Give it a shot to test it, it may work without a hitch!

 

[beefeater]

The potential issue with #1 would be that the heating coil is on the outside of the of the malt tube. You could potentially not be boiling the wort on the inside of the malt tube. Give it a shot to test it, it may work without a hitch!

I think you're right about that. It might work if you raised the malt pipe up from the bottom. Rest it on the edge in the lowest position. Also remove the gasket.
Give it a try!

You can use whole hops. The pump aren't supposed to run after the start of boil. Whole hops will clog the pump holes and you'll have to pull the pump for cleaning, but it won't affect the brew.

 

[rico567]

The potential issue with #1 would be that the heating coil is on the outside of the of the malt tube. You could potentially not be boiling the wort on the inside of the malt tube. Give it a shot to test it, it may work without a hitch!

If the coil is able to raise the liquid inside the main body of the Braumeister to 212F, and hold a boil, I don't see how the hops in the malt tube wouldn't be utilitzed. I would be more concerned about the pump's ability to withstand circulating the wort at the higher boiling temperatures through and over the malt tube, because of course to be effective the entire volume of the wort would have to be circulated. through the hops in much the same way as the mash circulates. I don't think this would work at all for pellet hops, because I don't think the malt tube could successfully filter them out.

 

[DeGarre]

I brewed today, Bitter with some Challenger but mostly Northdown, aimed for 1049 but got 1052. Anyway, interesting and potentially scary thing happened right in the beginning: wort looked like it was going to go sky high again. 2 times out of 10 this has happened now, luckily this time I was able to fix it and didn't have to pause the programme. Check out the vids how I managed to come through OK under immense pressure:

part 1
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO8HakrhPkU]Speidel Braumeister potential mashing problem Part1 - YouTube[/ame]

part 2
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E2lFhR0MnI]Speidel Braumeister potential mashing problem Part2 - YouTube[/ame]

part 3
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny94dC4exho]Speidel Braumeister potential mashing problem Part3 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[apratsunrthd]

Looks like a channel through the grain bed. I'd think re-stirring might help. What gap are you crushing at?

 

[DeGarre]

...What gap are you crushing at?

Corona at non-flour setting with ample husks...

 

[beefeater]

Ølbrygging med Speidel - YouTube

A fellow brewer posted a Braumeister film he made on the Norwegian forum. The talking is in Norwegian but the pictures are nice! He's brewing an altbier.

 

[beefeater]

Corona at non-flour setting with ample husks...

I've had that happen on two 50% raw wheat grists and just recently on a 100% pils malt grist that I knew I had milled way too fine.

So it's a stuck mash issue. I'd consider milling a little bit coarser the next time.

 

[DeGarre]

I've had that happen on two 50% raw wheat grists and just recently on a 100% pils malt grist that I knew I had milled way too fine.

So it's a stuck mash issue. I'd consider milling a little bit coarser the next time.

There was only 5% wheat malt and the overall courseness was as usual. I also spend a lot of time making sure there are no dough balls. I've had this happen 2 times out of 10, both times using lighter malt bills.

 

[DeGarre]

Ølbrygging med Speidel - YouTube

A fellow brewer posted a Braumeister film he made on the Norwegian forum. The talking is in Norwegian but the pictures are nice! He's brewing an altbier.

Nice! Thanks!
(I could watch Speidel videos all day long)

 

[apratsunrthd]

My Braumeister came in yesterday and I brewed the first batch on it today. All in all, it was really nice being able to key in a mash schedule and not have to manually bother with it. I do have a couple of concerns/suggestions.

I brewed a hopbursted IPA. I can say without question: DO NOT use whole leaf hops in the Braumeister without a bag. You WILL clog the ball valve and have to search manically for an auto-siphon to get the rest of your wort out.

Also, this has been mentioned before, but the high position of the outlet ball valve is plain ridiculous. The manual actually suggests you try to create a whirlpool, but by the time you've nearly tilted the damn thing on its side to get your beer out, it's nearly pointless. Looks like I'll be fashioning a dip tube as some here have done.

Other than that, it seems to be a well-made device that certainly simplified my brew day.

 

[Getafix]

My Braumeister came in yesterday

Congrats, happy brewing.

 

[Yambor44]

My Braumeister came in yesterday and I brewed the first batch on it today. All in all, it was really nice being able to key in a mash schedule and not have to manually bother with it. I do have a couple of concerns/suggestions.

I brewed a hopbursted IPA. I can say without question: DO NOT use whole leaf hops in the Braumeister without a bag. You WILL clog the ball valve and have to search manically for an auto-siphon to get the rest of your wort out.

Also, this has been mentioned before, but the high position of the outlet ball valve is plain ridiculous. The manual actually suggests you try to create a whirlpool, but by the time you've nearly tilted the damn thing on its side to get your beer out, it's nearly pointless. Looks like I'll be fashioning a dip tube as some here have done.

Other than that, it seems to be a well-made device that certainly simplified my brew day.

Dip tube is the way to go. I was worried about mine touching the element but never had a problem. I think (hope) they will fashion one from the factory before its over with (hopefully soon). I'm holding out on my 20L in hopes some small but important changes (to me) will come down the pipe.

According to everyone I have polled, there are no such plans for any changes, but I can always hope!!

Congrats on your new BM. Once you have that dip-tube fashioned and get a few brews under your belt, you are going to absolutely love this thing!

 

[apratsunrthd]

I'm holding out on my 20L in hopes some small but important changes (to me) will come down the pipe.

According to everyone I have polled, there are no such plans for any changes, but I can always hope!!

Congrats on your new BM. Once you have that dip-tube fashioned and get a few brews under your belt, you are going to absolutely love this thing!

Oh, I already know I'm going to love it. I've actually been looking for beers with ridiculous mash schedules just to put this thing through its paces.

I'm in the process of opening a commercial brewery and I talked to Thorsten about the 200l Braumeisters. He advised me to order quickly because stainless steel prices are going up. HOWEVER, he also said improvements were being made. Now, does that mean improvements only to the 200l? Hopefully not. We can dream, right?

 

[wedge421]

My one concern with this machine is that they say not to brew over 1.060.

 

[DeGarre]

My one concern with this machine is that they say not to brew over 1.060.

I used 6 kg of grain once and that gave me 1062 OG. Pump was struggling but managed. if you search the thread a few months back you'll see a lengthy discussion on this - more than 6kg has been used with good results. And there are ways to tweak the system and method to increase OG > 1060.

 

[apratsunrthd]

My one concern with this machine is that they say not to brew over 1.060.

I hit 1.066 yesterday with enough room left in the malt pipe for at least another couple pounds of grain and the pump didn't seem to have any trouble at all.

 

[Yambor44]

I hit 1.066 yesterday with enough room left in the malt pipe for at least another couple pounds of grain and the pump didn't seem to have any trouble at all.

What was the total weight of your grain bill?

 

[Getafix]

Finally another brewday for me this Sunday. I'm thinking something like this:

Recipe: Kelheim Weissbier-10.08lbs-5gl
Style: Weizen/Weissbier
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.61 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.61 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.26 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 6.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 14.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 73.8 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
7.81 gal Toronto Ontario, Canada Water 1 -
6.36 lb Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 63.5 %
1.60 lb Pilsner (Weyermann) (1.7 SRM) Grain 3 16.0 %
1.60 lb Vienna Malt (Weyermann) (3.0 SRM) Grain 4 16.0 %
0.45 lb Caramunich I-51L (Weyermann) (51.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.5 %
0.32 lb Rice Hulls (Mash 167.0 mins) Other 6 -
8.50 g Hallertauer Hersbrucker [3.10 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 7 4.7 IBUs
5.90 g Northern Brewer [7.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 7.4 IBUs
19.50 g Hallertauer Hersbrucker [3.10 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 9 1.9 IBUs
1.0 pkg Hefeweizen Ale (White Labs #WLP300) [35.49 ml] Yeast 10 -

Mash Schedule: Braumeister-20L-Ferulic-Light
Total Grain Weight: 10.02 lb
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash-In Add 25.00 l of water and heat to 111.0 111.0 F 20 min
Saccharification Heat to 150.0 F over 22 min 150.0 F 60 min
Mash-Out Heat to 170.0 F over 11 min 170.0 F 10 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 1.20 gal water at 170.0 F
-

This recipe is based on a BYO magazine article and the book Brew Classic European Beers at Home.

The first Wheat brew I made on the Braumeister was bottled about a week and a half ago with 1.5L Speise. While it is still young and undercarbonated, the beer is good and has many of the attributes I was looking for. I'm hoping that a less complex mash schedule will have comparable results, I have a long list of Wheats todo. This brew, I would like to see how much of a difference the rice hulls will make to the recirculating flow and overall results.

The Tripel Karmeliet approximation I made last brew stalled out and needed a boost from a bit of Wyeast 3711, that should have no problem chewing through all that raw grain. The mash schedule used on it just happened to be gleaned from Phil's Farmhouse Ales. This time of year the basement is good for starting fermentations but is getting too cool for my secondaries, bottle carbonation is also taking a bit more time. Fortunately the family doesn't mind the fermenters throughout the house and my 3 1/2 year old figures its just another component to the beer robot (Braumeister).

 

[beefeater]

Got myselt an upgrade today; the copper hat.

Looks good and I hope this will work to get rid of most of the steam when brewing indoors

 

[Redstag]

BeefEater
I like the way you are thinking. Let us know how it works out

 

[apratsunrthd]

What was the total weight of your grain bill?

13.97 lbs. Efficiency was a bit low. Still need to work that out.

 

[apratsunrthd]

Well, I had my second brew day today and everything went MUCH better. I assembled a copper dip tube as suggested earlier (only I used a 1/2" street elbow to the reducer rather than a standard elbow to a 1/2" pipe to a reducer). After some adjustments in BeerSmith, I hit my efficiency (68%) and boil off ON THE NOSE. I'll be looking to improve my efficiency with a finer crush and rice hulls on the next brew day.

ONE THING: Any great suggestions on how to clean this thing out? Maybe it's just because I'm new to it but I feel like I'm spending an unreasonable amount of time on cleaning.

 

[Tknojnky]

Holy CRAP! FedEx came through 3 days early! My Braumeister is waiting at home for me RIGHT NOW!! Can't wait to check it out.. Looks like Sunday will be a brew day for me.

 

[apratsunrthd]

Holy CRAP! FedEx came through 3 days early! My Braumeister is waiting at home for me RIGHT NOW!! Can't wait to check it out.. Looks like Sunday will be a brew day for me.

Welcome to the club!

 

[DeGarre]

Well, I had my second brew day today and ...Any great suggestions on how to clean this thing out?

This is how I do it, still looks like new.

I rinse the inside around with a hose, use a soft sponge to wipe sides and bottom, I do this quickly 2-3 times throwing out the water. After this sides and bottom should look clean. Then I cover the bottom with a little water, and using a thin kitchen rag, wipe behind the elements to make them spanking shiny. Rinse off.

I turn BM upside down and with a wet cloth wipe it, also the control unit, not too wet though, to get any sticky wort stains off.

Open the pump, take off (and put in later) the parts very carefully, be very gentle with the pin sticking out, with a cloth wipe off any grains etc, rinse and wipe the rotor and ring. Let it open overnight so any moisture will dry out. I left it once closed with moisture in and got the tiniest rust speck...

Every now and then I run starsan through the pump manually, but during the clean up no chemicals and such are really needed. Just water and a soft sponge/towel to avoid any scratches.

Before brewing I then freshen up insides with a damp soft towel. When you ventilate the pump you may see some grains, so if you want you can ventilate already after cleaning. But leave the pump open overnight.

 

[beefeater]

I do it about the same way as DeGarre, only I use some detergent. PBW, Dishwasher detergent or whatever I have on hand. When filling the unit with some water for cleaning i put the water hose in both pump holes to force any gunk out of them. The malt pipe, filters and other stuff I use on brewday are cleaned in the dishwasher.
After every ten brews or so I also soak a rag with concentrated starsan (use gloves) and wipe over the inside of the kettle, then rinse. This is not neccessary but the acid makes that stainless shinier than when new!

 

[Getafix]

@ apratsunrthd

I clean as the others do; rinse well, use some microfibre towels to get around the hard to reach spots of the elements, and to wipe inside and out, then fill it up with water with or without some kind of cleanser then manually run the pump and heating elements for 20-30min then rinse well.

Being so far north and it being so close to Christmas, I have the advantage of an Elfin helper:

 

[DeGarre]

Getafix, looks like a healthy young future brewer there!

 

[beefeater]

Did a brew today with the copper hat, gasket and flexible hose to vent off steam. It worked great! No steam in the kitchen.

Bent the hose down first, then up under the middle of the ventilator over my stove. Made a hole in the hose at the lowest point to drain condensed water into a box.

Boiled without the thermocollar and set the temperature to 102 degC.
Had some boilover in the beginning. It oozed up into the hose and into the box. Some oozed out between the hose and the hat because I didn't fasten it with a hose clamp. But the stuff kept inside the unit, hose and box so no mess in the kitchen.

Need to get some FermCap, but the stuff isn't for sale in this country. Anyone know some online shop who will send small items as a letter or small flat-rate box? International shipping fromMoreBeer is insane.

Boiloff went down from 10 to 8.6% pr hour. Still enough!