Speidel Braumeister (brewmaster)

[OntarioBeerKegs]

I just have to ask. Are you folks sing the rice hulls on top/bottom or both? It would appear to me that the top of the pipe is where they would be needed the most.

 

[makomachine]

I just have to ask. Are you folks sing the rice hulls on top/bottom or both? It would appear to me that the top of the pipe is where they would be needed the most.

Crush your grain, add the rice hulls, and mix in before dumping in the pipe. Even distribution.

 

[SFBrewer]

Crush your grain, add the rice hulls, and mix in before dumping in the pipe. Even distribution.

agreed...in my case I also mixed about a 1/4 lb into the cereal mash right out of the rice cooker when it was still easy to mess with. The minute it cools it turns into a big sticky blob, which fortunately is water soluble.

I also scattered a layer on the very top of the mash mostly because it made me feel better about putting 5ish lbs of soggy glue like gunk in the malt pipe.

 

[DeGarre]

I am thinking about making an insulation jacket out of an insulated camping sleeping pad which looks to be about similar thickness as the Speidel stock one. Obviously I need to make some nice slits and holes for handles and tap. How is the standard issue fastened around BM, is it velcro? Thanks.

 

[dinnerstick]

yep, velcro sewn on

 

[sj_engr]

Anyone got the copper lid for 50L they want to sell?

 

[pedominguez]

Anyone got the copper lid for 50L they want to sell?

I've got one for the 20L, and other than inverting it for a funnel for filling the malt pipe, I find it's useless:
- during the boil condensation forms on it, and because it overhangs the vessel, the condensation drips around the vessel.
- as the boil begins, the copper hood greatly increases the chance of a boil over, and it's difficult to see until it's too late.

Don't waste your money, even though it is pretty when it's shined up.

 

[swiggingpig]

I've got one for the 20L, and other than inverting it for a funnel for filling the malt pipe, I find it's useless:
- during the boil condensation forms on it, and because it overhangs the vessel, the condensation drips around the vessel.
- as the boil begins, the copper hood greatly increases the chance of a boil over, and it's difficult to see until it's too late.

Don't waste your money, even though it is pretty when it's shined up.

I have the copper hood for my 20L BM which came with a rubber seal around the edge which makes a water tight seal on the top edge of the BM.

I place mine on the big U shaped bar so that I can keep an eye on the boil until the hot break has passed.

The primary reason for me to purchase the hood was to connect it via a 4" hose to an extractor fan to keep SWMBO happy, this unfortunately means you cannot smell the hops but we have to make some sacrifices if we are to brew in the cellar AND maintain marital harmony

 

[sj_engr]

Thought the hole in the hood was big enough to prevent boil over. Dern, any 50L hood owners care to comment? Thinking would allow for less energy waste and more rolling boil. My 50L doesn't boil that hard even with jacket.

 

[clasley]

I have a cooper hood with the silicon gasket for my 20L. I posted a video several pages back showing a comparison of the boil with and without it. It definitely helps produce a vigorous boil but dealing with boil overs lead me to give it up. I tried a couple of the anti-foam solutions but it still caused me grief. It's solid as heck and makes a fine funnel. Ultimately mine is sitting in the garage gathering dust. If there's a 20L owner out there interested in one state-side shoot me a PM.

-Chris

 

[wasp]

PM sent.

 

[SFBrewer]

I've used the hood on my 50L for every brew to date and have only had the threat of boil over problems with higher gravity recipes using the full capacity of the BM. Pretty satisfied with how it works out. I followed the lead of others here on the forums and use a high draw duct fan and a length of foil/wire ducting from the hood to vent the excess steam and heat out of my brewcave. If I don't it starts to rain from condensation about 40 minutes into the boil! I do believe my evap rate is higher as a result.

 

[Batfink]

I'v now brewed 6 batches with my 50l BM using the 20l malt pipe, and the only thing that's been giving me some headache, except for my great beers, is how to brew higher gravity beers. Managed to get up to 1.082 on an Imperial Stout by stuffing the malt pipe with 6.3kg of grain and a two hour boil, but still wasn't satisfied, because obviously with that amount of grain the efficency suffers. Since I probably won't be doing any 50l batches anyway, I now been juggling with the idea of having the 50l malt pipe cut down so it would fit about 10kg of grain. My only worry is if there is going to be enough water to rinse through the malt bed if I, lets say made a 20 litre batch with 9kg malt using ruffly 32 litres of brewing water?

 

[wasp]

Batfink,

Why don't you consider a double mash? That's what I'll do when I want a high gravity beer using a single sacch' Rest.

The only problem I can see is if you need a multi-step mash schedule. The starting temp of the second mash would be too high.

I'm wondering whether that could be solved by lowering the initial mash water volume, reducing the first mash sparge/rinse water, and topping up with ice cubes/water to get down to the lowest rest temperature required for the start of the second mash.

"pH5.2 Stabilizer" would maintain the pH if that's bothering you - maybe added at the start of each mash?

 

[mandrakemuffley]

I can't add to the info on the high grav side of things, but i have brewed a 32/33 litre batch in the 50l, with 8.2kg of grain and it is sufficient water to rinse the bed. i did a 75 min boil and it wound out to about 28l

 

[mandrakemuffley]

and that was with the standard 50l pipe

 

[bcryan]

I always thought that after I put my top plate on and screwed it down with the wing nut that I should tighten as little as possible so the grain wouldnt be compacted and would help with circulation. Wrong. Tightening it as much as possible improves the flow over the malt pipe big time. I'm sure it will improve my efficiency.

 

[bcryan]

First time ever seeing the bottom rods when recirculating.

 

[jammin]

Managed to get up to 1.082 on an Imperial Stout by stuffing the malt pipe with 6.3kg of grain and a two hour boil, but still wasn't satisfied, because obviously with that amount of grain the efficency suffers.

If you got 1.082 out of 6.3kg (13.86lbs) with a 20L (5.3g) batch size; you had ~ 86% brew house efficiency. I wouldn't quite say your efficiency is "suffering" lol.

 

[Batfink]

If you got 1.082 out of 6.3kg (13.86lbs) with a 20L (5.3g) batch size; you had ~ 86% brew house efficiency. I wouldn't quite say your efficiency is "suffering" lol.

I only got 17l (4.5g) into the fermentor on that brew and Brewmate calculates a 70% brewhouse efficiency.

Seems lika as soon as you go over 5kg (11lbs) grain in a recipe, your effiency starts dropping down to the lower 70s.

I think I just might go for it and fill the 50l maltpipe with 10kg (22lbs) of grain to make a mark on where to cut it, and then go wild with the grinder. Don't think the lap at the top of the pipe is that necessary? Just have to make new lifting bolts by drilling holes and using threaded rod and nuts to create new ones. And of course a longer distance sleeve is needed.

 

[jammin]

I only got 17l (4.5g) into the fermentor on that brew and Brewmate calculates a 70% brewhouse efficiency.

The wort leftover in your kettle is still part of your brewhouse efficiency. You just need to be wary of your kettle's deadspace and hop/trub absorbtion. This will allow you to plan accordingly for proper batch size (knowing ahead of time appx. how much you plan to leave in the kettle).

You need to set your efficiency to determine what sugar concentration you want in wort at the end of the boil. This way the wort is at the desired OG. You can adjust your batch size (end of boil) to accomodate for trub loss and dead space etc.. You're on the right track, just don't let the tail wag the dog by calculating efficiency based on what you siphon into the fermenter.

I always plan my recipes for 6 gallons. This way I can leave a half gallon in the kettle and still get 5.5 gallons in my fermenter. This gets me a full 5 gallons into my corny keg.

 

[mattdru]

Hello to everyone. I have been reading the message board for years, finally went out and bought a SB. Finally showed up, got my electrical done and I am ready to go. Good news is is that I am really excited. Bad news is is that I have never brewed beer before. I have read several books, watched all the You Tube videos (and yes I was devestated when I read Yanbor44 sold his SB...almost derailed a year of research at that point ), read a bunch of blogs and drank a lot of beer.

For you experienced brewers...do you see anything majorly wrong with my game plan for Brew #1? It is a Boulevard Wheat Clone (I like in Kansas City)...and it is a combination of a bunch of data I have gathered.

Grain Bill: lbs
MaltEurop American 2 Row Pale Malt 5.75 54.8%
Rahr White Wheat Malt 2.50 23.8%
Rahr Unmalted Wheat 2.00 19.0%
Belgian Munich Malt 0.25 2.4%
10.50

Crush grain at 1.25
Liters Gallons
Initial water 23 6.1

Mashing Schedule C F
6.5 minutes (mash in) 47 104
25 minutes 50 122
12 minutes 63 145
15 minutes 73 163
5 minutes (Knockout) 76 169

70 minutes (Boil) 102 216
(Add German Magnum Hop Pellets 10 minutes into boil)
(Add Simcoe Hop Pellets 60 minutes into boil)


Any advise would be helpful. I don't mind honest feeback, my goal is to spend time and effort trying to create some good beers and have fun.

Thanks
Matt

 

[phoenixs4r]

I don't have any experience with this particular machine, but from brewing for almost 2 years, I'd say its pretty fan hard to brew a bad beer! Good luck!

 

[mjwitz]

No, it can't, and it isn't. You can build a brutus type system for 1/3 what this system costs, and this system will never give you the flexibility a brutus will. For most of us here, it's not about having some cheap beer at hand, nor about how much we can brew: it's about learning from the process, so we can eventually make a better product, or one that's more suited to our particular tastes. Evolving.
That system could never give you that, simply because it takes control of the process. That way, you just become a material handler, not a brewer.



And that's great. If that's what you want, go for it. But, again, you can achieve the same goal, at a fraction of the money (and the work) by just brewing kits. But then again, it's your call.

I have to disagree here. It is a tool to make more consistent beer. The art is making a recipe and consistently brewing it again and again. The control lets you accurately do mash steps at the proper temperatures and is programmable to your recipe. Do you use your camera in manual mode? No, because you can't consistently take good pictures. I do think it is way to expensive but I would love to build one! If I can't figure out how to build one at a reasonable price I'll stick with my cooler mash tuns.

 

[Toggels]

Matt,
I recently bought one also and getting ready for the first brew... It is going to be a few weeks away (business trip), but please post how it goes.
I am interested in doing something simular for the first brew.... and trying to work out a recipe as well...

Mike

 

[Soviet]

You guys will love your new braumeister rigs. I am surprised to hear you spent that much money before you knew you were in LOVE with the hobby. Most of us started with a 5 gallon pot on the stove top with relatively low investments.

I wouldn't recommend brewing a beer with a lot of wheat as the VERY FIRST beer you brew. Especially if it's the first beer you've EVER brewed. I recommend finding a nice all-barley recipe because you will have a lower risk of getting a stuck mash or something related.

Good Luck!

Alex

 

[irish91001]

I just used mine for the first time last weekend. It was awesome to use and very easy. The only problem I had was that my control panel never got above 95C, even though there was a mild boil. I am not sure if it's because I live at 4,000 ft or something is wrong with the control panel. Not a huge detriment as the mash temps were hit and the boil was actually going. All in all, I am very happy with it.

 

[dinnerstick]

I wouldn't recommend brewing a beer with a lot of wheat as the VERY FIRST beer you brew. Especially if it's the first beer you've EVER brewed. I recommend finding a nice all-barley recipe because you will have a lower risk of getting a stuck mash or something related.

agreed, although i did make a standard witbier with around 50% unmalted wheat for my first BM brew and it went fine, i would add- definitely don't try to get too tricky at first, and don't go for a high gravity wort until you know the machine pretty well. due to my staunch aversion to non-metric i couldn't face adding up your grain bill!! but if everything is flowing through the malt pipe well you will be fine. i wouldn't be afraid to give the mash an occasional stir during a pump break, and think in advance about whether you will sparge, as starting with 23 L and draining the tube for say 30min you will need to add quite a few liters back if you want 20L wort in the fermenter, i heat up a pot of ~8-10L water to mashout temp on the stove towards the end of the mash.

 

[Yambor44]

I just used mine for the first time last weekend. It was awesome to use and very easy. The only problem I had was that my control panel never got above 95C, even though there was a mild boil. I am not sure if it's because I live at 4,000 ft or something is wrong with the control panel. Not a huge detriment as the mash temps were hit and the boil was actually going. All in all, I am very happy with it.

What was your set temp at on e control panel?

 

[Yambor44]

Matt,

You made a great choice and actually saved yourself a ton of money by starting with BM in my opinion. The reason I sold my 50L BM was to get a 20L version so I can brew more and feel it will be easier to handle and clean. I haven't purchased one yet as we have been doing some construction on the house and remodeling and what not. I'll be back in the BM game before long!