Speidel Braumeister (brewmaster)

[mattdru]

Appreciate all the feedback. I did a lot fo research...after running across the SB it made complete sense to me (versus a 3 barrel system with propane). I have a habit of easing into a hobby....so I end up upgrading equipment 3 times in the first 6 months and ultimately wasting money that way.

Dinnerstick - I should have noted that I plan to sparge with 8L.

To everyone on this board I do want to say thanks. As a long time reader....I have been able to get invaluable tips.

 

[afr0byte]

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!

Uh, it's pretty darn easy to brew a bad beer, unless you're not picky at all.

 

[DeGarre]

mattdru, only thing caught my beady eyes were do you have enough minutes in the mash schedule to convert?

 

[irish91001]

What was your set temp at on e control panel?

I set it to 102C. I even tried it in manual when I was cleaning the BM. It did achieve a mild boil, so the water temp is ok, it's just that the readout on the control panel stays at 95C

 

[flemming]

I set it to 102C. I even tried it in manual when I was cleaning the BM. It did achieve a mild boil, so the water temp is ok, it's just that the readout on the control panel stays at 95C

You mentioned that you were at 4,000ft. If you use a boiling point calculator like:

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/boilingpoint.html

You'll find that your calculated boiling point is right around 95C. Your profile says you're in Ogden, UT so I used a barometric pressure of 30 and an elevation of 4334ft.

Robert

 

[irish91001]

You mentioned that you were at 4,000ft. If you use a boiling point calculator like:

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/boilingpoint.html

You'll find that your calculated boiling point is right around 95C. Your profile says you're in Ogden, UT so I used a barometric pressure of 30 and an elevation of 4334ft.

Robert

Yep I used that exact calculation s few days ago and came up with the same answer. It's not a big concern because I do achieve a boil. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue. The main pitfall is that the boil timer doesn't activate since 100C is never reached. But I can just set it to 95 and overcome that issue.

 

[mattdru]

mattdru, only thing caught my beady eyes were do you have enough minutes in the mash schedule to convert?

If you have any specific suggestions let me know. I got the mash schedule from a couple of clone recipes and a book called "Brewing With Wheat". In the book the brewmaster at Boulevard provided that data....so I assumed should work here as well. Hopefully.

 

[wasp]

Yep I used that exact calculation s few days ago and came up with the same answer. It's not a big concern because I do achieve a boil. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue. The main pitfall is that the boil timer doesn't activate since 100C is never reached. But I can just set it to 95 and overcome that issue.

Since your boiling point is ~95*C, try setting it at 97*C.

I'm at 200ft and I set mine to 102*C. The timer works perfectly even though the "boil" reads 99 or 100*C.

A gentle long boil is preferred for many European beers, especially lagers. Despite being a less violent boil than I have used in the past, it does work well for the non-lager beers I also brew.

The BM is a very nice unit, I'm delighted with mine - welcome to the club.

 

[pedominguez]

.

 

[pedominguez]

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

mattdru, I recommend you include about 1/2 pound of rice hulls in your grain bill to compensate for the wheat and wheat malt you're using.

 

[Batfink]

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?

A change in plans. Got this idea from a fellow member on a finnish homebrew forum, that instead of cutting the malt pipe, i'm just gonna drill about ten half inch holes in the side of the pipe. That way I don't have to make new lifting bolts, and if I sometime in the future want to make a 50 l batch, I can just plug the holes with bolts and nuts.

Calculated that 9kg of malt for a 20l batch would make about a 9.8 ABV wort at 70% effiency. So I just filled the 50l malt pipe with 10kg (22lbs) of malt, put in the upper plate and measured at what height to drill the holes (5 inches from the top that is). The only thing that still worries me is if I'm going to have enough brewing water with such small batch size and large grain bill, so that the heating coils won't be partially running dry. That's why I'm gonna do a "no sparge" for my first attempt, just in case.

I'll report back with some pictures on how the brew went. It should either be a success or a total f*#c up.


And NO, I don't wanna do double mashes. Just want to get a high gravity wort (1.100) with a 60 min single infusion mash. Is that really too much to ask for?

 

[SFBrewer]

A change in plans. Got this idea from a fellow member on a finnish homebrew forum, that instead of cutting the malt pipe, i'm just gonna drill about ten half inch holes in the side of the pipe. That way I don't have to make new lifting bolts, and if I sometime in the future want to make a 50 l batch, I can just plug the holes with bolts and nuts.

a couple of thoughts...

I wonder if you might need to cut a custom length pipe/spacer to keep the top mash screen/sieve below the level of the holes to keep the grain escaping when the pressure inevitably pushes the mash up, thereby raising the screens as well.

I also wonder if slits cut into the sides might make more sense. Maybe use a cut off tool or angle grinder to make them every 1/2" or so, maybe at 45 degrees to the X axis of the pipe, spiral like, if you catch my geometry. You could use something like a Silpat (the big commercial baker kind) wrapped around the interior to keep the seal intact when doing 50l batches. Just wrap in and fill the pipe to keep it in place...less troublesome than bolts and whatnot.

or maybe I'm off base with the concept?


@Yambor: yeah! looking forward to your triumphant return and accompanying videos!




edit: on second thought, maybe every inch or so is better, don't want to compromise the integrity of the pipe itself...

 

[Batfink]

a couple of thoughts...

I wonder if you might need to cut a custom length pipe/spacer to keep the top mash screen/sieve below the level of the holes to keep the grain escaping when the pressure inevitably pushes the mash up, thereby raising the screens as well.

Yes it's exactly what I'm going to do. Tought I'd cut a new distance sleeve - or whatever it's called - from a stainless steel pipe to a lenght so that the upper plate stays about half an inch below the holes. Used 10kg of malt for measuring so that there still will be some room left for the upper plate to move with a 8-9 kg grain bill. When mashing over 6kg with the smaller malt pipe, you have to use some force to get the wing nut screwed on, and the mash becomes really tight, which probably decreases efficiency.

I also wonder if slits cut into the sides might make more sense. Maybe use a cut off tool or angle grinder to make them every 1/2" or so, maybe at 45 degrees to the X axis of the pipe, spiral like, if you catch my geometry. You could use something like a Silpat (the big commercial baker kind) wrapped around the interior to keep the seal intact when doing 50l batches. Just wrap in and fill the pipe to keep it in place...less troublesome than bolts and whatnot.

With the tools I got, I think I'm gonna stick with the holes, but I can see your vision.

Does anyone by the way have an estimate of the flow rate for the 50l BM? Just wondering if 10 half inch holes will be enough to create a good flow.

 

[sj_engr]

Wait so you're going to cut the 50L pipe so you can brew high gravity 5G batches? (tried to read back a few pages but missed the purpose of slicing up the malt pipe)

 

[rnarzisi]

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.

95.7 for 4000 feet is spot on.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/boiling-points-water-altitude-d_1344.html

 

[Batfink]

Wait so you're going to cut the 50L pipe so you can brew high gravity 5G batches? (tried to read back a few pages but missed the purpose of slicing up the malt pipe)

Yes, because the 20l malt pipe won't fit enough grain, and the large pipe is to high to get proper circulation with the amount of water needed for a high gravity 5 G batch. That's why I'm gonna drill holes 5 inches from the top of the malt pipe. That way I can fit around 8-9kg of malt and the wort will be running out through the holes.

 

[sj_engr]

Couldn't you just add less water and use the 50L malt pipe as-is for 5G end batch? Guessing you would have extended boil since need min amount to not run pumps dry. Have you checked?

 

[flemming]

Couldn't you just add less water and use the 50L malt pipe as-is for 5G end batch? Guessing you would have extended boil since need min amount to not run pumps dry. Have you checked?

Here's a post from someone who tried this very thing:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/speidel-braumeister-brewmaster-229225/index158.html#post4271765

Robert

 

[mattdru]

First Brew-

Overall went very well. I had planned on 5 or 6 hours...ended up taking around 10. First problem was when I was cleaning the SB for the brew I realized it didn't have the nozzle/sprout...so ran to Home Depot and made one.

Also create an immersion chiller with ice slush solution that worked great (used a pond pump).

I was expecting my effeciency would be around 1.045-1.050 (came in around 1.038). I think this was due to my grain crush being a little large.

Machine worked perfectly the entire time...had a really nice boil.

Had a great time doing it can't wait for next run at this. Biggest problem was I started drinking beer about 4 hours into brew thinking I should be done in a few hours....so by the time I got to the 10th hour I was rather intoxicated.

 

[uberg33k]

Hi all!

After reading over this thread for the last couple days, I have to say I am really jonesing for one of these systems. Unfortunately, I have to pay for a wedding before I can even consider buying it, but one day ... one day...

In the mean time, I have two questions:
1. It seems that a fair number of you sparge your malt tube. It is often mentioned that you "need another burner" to achieve this. Is there some reason you can't heat the water up in the Braumeister using manual mode, drain it into an insulated cooler, and hold onto it until sparge time? This would be easier in my mind and not require a second heat source. I haven't seen any mention of anyone doing this.

2. There's a lot of talk of not being able to do big beers on this system, especially on the 20L model. While I understand this isn't an acceptable option for some, is there any reason you can't do an extra long boil to concentrate your wort? Doing some quick math, it would seem that you could load the unit up with about 13 lbs of grain and boil down to about 3 gals and have a 1.110 wort. Would boiling for that long hurt the unit or beer somehow that I'm not aware of?

 

[Obliviousbrew]

You don't need to buy an extra burner for your sparge water the most water I've used were 11 liters when using the large malt pipe that can easily fit in one or two pots and heat it in your kitchen, also I don't see a reason why you can't preheat water and save it. About this think that you need to keep the water temp for almost two hours but with a good insulated container can be done.
You can make bigger beers with the braumeister longer boils or double mash or both, user Soviet mentioned a 1.093 wort by doing an overnight mash and 3 hour boil. One mash and 70 minute boil got me 1.075 wort two weeks ago... its a little trickier to make bigger beers but I don't brew big beers very often otherwise I'll be wasted 24/7

 

[Obliviousbrew]

I forgot to mention that you can make the same beers either with the 20 or 50 liter setup

 

[sj_engr]

Anyone figured out methods to increase evaporation rate? Perhaps a fan+heat stick could lower condensing boil time such that high 5G OG batches using 50L malt pipe would be less time consuming.

I think someone had 8% per hour as an approx for BeerSmith. Maybe we can double that to half the time?

 

[sj_engr]

In the mean time, I have two questions:
1. It seems that a fair number of you sparge your malt tube. It is often mentioned that you "need another burner" to achieve this. Is there some reason you can't heat the water up in the Braumeister using manual mode, drain it into an insulated cooler, and hold onto it until sparge time? This would be easier in my mind and not require a second heat source. I haven't seen any mention of anyone doing this.

2. There's a lot of talk of not being able to do big beers on this system, especially on the 20L model. While I understand this isn't an acceptable option for some, is there any reason you can't do an extra long boil to concentrate your wort? Doing some quick math, it would seem that you could load the unit up with about 13 lbs of grain and boil down to about 3 gals and have a 1.110 wort. Would boiling for that long hurt the unit or beer somehow that I'm not aware of?

1. I lift my malt pipe and let is drain as I activate the boil. After a bit I press the grains with my mash paddle. Using this method I've got 82% efficiency. I recently grabbed a "hot pot" (Sharper Image brand from Tuesday morning ~$50) that holds approx 2L of water at 170*. Using that to re-hydrate the grains and press with paddle again I get approx ~85-90% efficiency. [btw I use latic acid to adjust mash pH]

2. I've used DME, honey or candy sugar to easily make 9-10% ABV beers.

 

[uberg33k]

You don't need to buy an extra burner for your sparge water the most water I've used were 11 liters when using the large malt pipe that can easily fit in one or two pots and heat it in your kitchen, also I don't see a reason why you can't preheat water and save it. About this think that you need to keep the water temp for almost two hours but with a good insulated container can be done.
You can make bigger beers with the braumeister longer boils or double mash or both, user Soviet mentioned a 1.093 wort by doing an overnight mash and 3 hour boil. One mash and 70 minute boil got me 1.075 wort two weeks ago... its a little trickier to make bigger beers but I don't brew big beers very often otherwise I'll be wasted 24/7

I'm not sure I'd ever sparge, it just struck me as being overly complicated to have a second heating source. A large part of the attraction of this unit is it keeps everything simple. Why would I want to make it more difficult by adding more stuff?

I did see the post by Soviet. I think the idea of doing an overnight mash is really interesting, but I'd have to read up more on that before I attempted such a thing.

1. I lift my malt pipe and let is drain as I activate the boil. After a bit I press the grains with my mash paddle. Using this method I've got 82% efficiency. I recently grabbed a "hot pot" (Sharper Image brand from Tuesday morning ~$50) that holds approx 2L of water at 170*. Using that to re-hydrate the grains and press with paddle again I get approx ~85-90% efficiency. [btw I use latic acid to adjust mash pH]

2. I've used DME, honey or candy sugar to easily make 9-10% ABV beers.

I would probably just end up using DME as you said. I really don't have much interest in doing a lot of big beers, I just want to have the option to do one if the mood ever strikes. I'm perfectly ok with boiling down to about 3 gallons (12L or so) to get a more concentrated wort if I do make a big beer, I just wanted to make sure that the water level is still high enough to cover the heating element. I would not be comfortable boiling down to the point the element is exposed to air.

 

[dinnerstick]

I was expecting my effeciency would be around 1.045-1.050 (came in around 1.038). I think this was due to my grain crush being a little large.

perhaps try stirring the mash a few times during pump breaks, many people (myself included) have noted an increase in efficiency doing this, especially when the malt pipe is very full. pause it by pressing the up and down buttons, when it has a pump break, open, turn and stir for a minute, close it back up, restart. efficiency, to be pedantic, is the % of the potential extractable sugars in the grain that you extract. 1.038 is your gravity (i assume your post-boil reading, so original gravity)

 

[Obliviousbrew]

perhaps try stirring the mash a few times during pump breaks, many people (myself included) have noted an increase in efficiency doing this, especially when the malt pipe is very full. pause it by pressing the up and down buttons, when it has a pump break, open, turn and stir for a minute, close it back up, restart. efficiency, to be pedantic, is the % of the potential extractable sugars in the grain that you extract. 1.038 is your gravity (i assume your post-boil reading, so original gravity)

Agree I do the same thing

 

[sj_engr]

Searched through thread and couldn't locate a post. Has anyone tried to brew a large quantity from the 50L? (not big beer in OG but big size)

Seems there is tons of room in the vessel to top up to 80L or so. Eying a brewhemoth so trying to see if I could get 20G batch from the Braumeister. Seems like it would be possible using DME as long as math was done to scale everything up after the all grain mash.

Already bought a heatstick from amazon to aid to boiling power.

 

[Redstag]

I just got back from a great Labor day weekend with my BFF (not sure guys have best friends forever, I figure it’s a Paris Hilton kind of thing)
But anyway I will change that to “My Best Beer Drinking Buddy”, BBDB.
It was his birthday and I brewed the clone for the occasion. I made a few mistakes along the way. The one mistake that worried me the most came at the end of the process. Of which I will now have to reproduce due to the fact that my brew was a big hit, even for the folks that normally don’t drink IPA’s. I transferred the beer to the keg and gave it what I thought was a good shot of Co2 and some dark sugar for natural carbonation. I then left for three weeks to visit family in Wyoming. I figured the longer I can leave the beer for conditioning the better. When I got home I wanted to check out how much carbonation had taken place. I lifted the relief valve slightly on the keg and it hissed for less than a half a second. Oh my god the beer didn’t produce any carbonation and what’s the deal with the Co2 I put into the keg before I left. (I had unhooked the Co2 line.) I looked at my gauge and realized I had a problem. The pressure gauge showing the amount of Co2 in the bottle was pegged out at maximum and the other gauge showed zero pressure available for the keg. I’m thinking, I just spent a seven weeks making a load of crap beer. I have to taste it to see just how bad it really is. I don’t want to show up with junk beer. I have a nitrogen setup, so I hooked it up and gave it a good shot, shook the keg around a bit and left it for a while. My curiosity got the better of me, I could only stand to let it sit for about twenty minutes. I opened the tap and got a glass of foam, “ok, just let it settle out….patience” I put the glass in the freezer for fifteen minutes, pulled it out and gave it a sniff. MMMM smells good, …Wow it tasted great. The Nitrogen really brought out the malt, the hops came in great at the end, and the creamy foam from the last sip in the glass was amazing. So I guess the moral of the story is, not all mistakes are bad and don’t forget to try some nitrogen, it’s not just for Guinness.
We tried a comparison with a bottle of the original DFH 90 min IPA. Mine was a little sweeter and of course creamier due to the nitro, the color was slightly darker because of the double mash. All in all, pretty damn close to the real thing. I can’t wait to brew it again. The keg lasted perfectly for the three day weekend, ending with the last glass going to my BBDB. Mission accomplished.
Many thanks to all Braumeister’s

 

[Batfink]

Said and done! Got the malt pipe drilled at a friends CNC workshop, ten 12mm holes 12,5cm (5 inches) from the top, and also got a new distance sleeve. I'll be doing a test run monday or tuesday when I get a fermenter free. Really have my hopes up that I finally will be able to brew a high gravity wort, without double mashes, boiling for hours, DME or or other playing around.