Speidel Braumeister (brewmaster)

[digitaldeluge]

How about now?

Looks great!, 120 is bad enough 240 can really knock you on your a** so better safe then sorry. Especially by a pool. :cross:

I predict we will see pictures of a water test soon

 

[psehorne]

I predict we will see pictures of a water test soon

Water test Tuesday.... Assistant Brewer is charging his video camera battery tonight....I've never put anything on YouTube before, but if the video is worthwhile I'll see what I can do....standby...

 

[Redstag]

 

[psehorne]

Water test Tuesday.... Assistant Brewer is charging his video camera battery tonight....I've never put anything on YouTube before, but if the video is worthwhile I'll see what I can do....standby...

Water test went very well today. Lot's of video recorded. Will take some time to review and edit.

Some highlights:
We were using only 15 liters of water.
Each mash rest was set at 5 minutes.
Ambient Temperature: 15C
Barometric pressure: 30.52
Ground Elevation: 600 ft
Beginning Water Temperature: 15C
Average water temperature increase: ~1.5C/minute
Time to go from mash-out at 76C to 100C boil (without insulating jacket): 17 min
Time from 76C to 100C with insulating jacket: 15 min

I was concerned that the Braumeister would have a hard time reaching/maintaining a boil with the cool outdoor temp. It did very well. After proving it would get a vigorous boil going without the blanket, we cooled the water to 76C again, installed the blanket, and recorded time to climb from 76C to 100C with the jacket - time 15 minutes, two minutes less than without the jacket.

The first cooling from 100C to 76C was done in two minutes. The second cooling from 100C to 25C took only 9 minutes. I was pumping 12.8C water out of our our swimming pool through a 50' stainless steel immersion wort chiller.

Later...

 

[psehorne]

It's here! The box is in really good shape (minor scar). So hopefully no damage. Now on to the un-boxing.

The machine was shipped via FedEx. Un-boxing went well. No damage to anything. I took a lot of pics but pruned down to only the few below.

As you can see the Braumeister is packed with multi-layer, heavy-duty corrugated cardboard. There is no 'conventional' packing material; instead, there are sturdy and strategically placed cardboard dividers/spacers.

In the last pic you can see all that was included in my shipment. My unit was provided with the stainless steel fine mesh sieves (vs the cloth version). The optional insulating jacket and two extra sets of fine mesh stainless still sieves are near the right side of the pic.

My pump is the black one.

The only 'installation' that was required was:
1) attach the knob to the lid - no tools required; it threaded on the the provided bolt by hand and tightened against a soft washer. Compressing the washer a little with just hand pressure provided a secure fixture.
2) screw four pegs onto the four bolts that protrude from the mash pipe. Covered the pegs with a napkin to protect the finish and tightened slightly with a pair of pliers.
3) screw the spigot into the female port on the kettle and tighten slightly (only enough to slightly compress the rubber o-ring) with a wrench.

 

[psehorne]

• Mash-in: 38C
• Phase 1: 5 min @ 53C
• Phase 2: 30 min @ 63C
• Phase 3: 30 min @ 73C
• Phase 4: 15 min @ 78C
• Phase 5: 0 min @ 78C (Mash-out)
• Boil: 80 min @ 100C

 

[psehorne]

Today we will be brewing our first batch on the 20L - not only our first batch on the 20L, but our first batch ever. I hope to capture much of today's activities on video. Hopefully Assistant Brewer Larry remembered to charge the battery of his video recorder last night.

For this first brew we have chosen a simple recipe. Almost a SMASH (single malt and single hops), but not quite. We will be using two malts.

• 4kg 2-row pale American malt
• .300 10 degree crystal malt
• One package of Willamette hops (1 oz/28.35mg)
• One package of Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast

Our mash schedule is probably more extensive that it needs to be. Everything I've read indicates that with today's highly-modified malts our extensive mash schedule is not necessary, but it shouldn't hurt, and I want to give this first brew every opportunity to succeed. The system is automated; so the complex mash schedule does not complicate our brew day. With today's highly-modified malts some of the comments I have in parenthesis after each mash step may not be pertinent, but they explain my reasoning.

Mash-in: 38C
1) Protein Rest 1: 30 min @ 50C (to develop yeast nutrients)
2) Protein Rest 2: 15 min @ 60C (Improve clarity and foam potential)
3) Beta rest. Saccharification: 20 min @ 66C (for light-bodied beer)
4) Alpha rest. Dextrinization: 0 min at 76 (for heavy-bodied beer)
5) Mash out: 10 min at 76C
Boil: 75 min at 100C
Willamette hops added at 60 min
Irish moss (1 oz/ 28.35mg) and additional 4mg gypsum (see below) added at 15 min

We're using our tap water, which is very, very soft and with very high mineral content (Texas version of Burton) and high pH. Out of the tap the pH was off the scale of my litmus paper on the high side - digital pH meter read 8.4. Yesterday we prepared the water with an initial addition of 4mg of gypsum. This brought the hardness up to between 50 and 100 ppm (litmus paper is not too precise) and the pH down somewhat. We then added 7ml of 85% phosphoric acid (food grade) and the pH dropped to just above our target of 5.8. It was at 6.1. This morning before the brew I will check the pH and hardness again and touch up, with a goal of beginning the mash with 5.8 pH and hardness >50 and <100 (don't want the water too hard during the mash). Near the end of the mash additional gypsum will be added to get the hardness up to ~150 ppm.

I have not made a starter. My plan is make a starter from the wort brewed today. This will mean that pitching yeast will be delayed a bit.

Wish us luck.

 

[digitaldeluge]

Today we will be brewing our first batch on the 20L - not only our first batch on the 20L, but our first batch ever. I hope to capture much of today's activities on video. Hopefully Assistant Brewer Larry remembered to charge the battery of his video recorder last night.

For this first brew we have chosen a simple recipe. Almost a SMASH (single malt and single hops), but not quite. We will be using two malts.

• 4kg 2-row pale American malt
• .300 10 degree crystal malt
• One package of Willamette hops (1 oz/28.35mg)
• One package of Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast

Our mash schedule is probably more extensive that it needs to be. Everything I've read indicates that with today's highly-modified malts our extensive mash schedule is not necessary, but it shouldn't hurt, and I want to give this first brew every opportunity to succeed. The system is automated; so the complex mash schedule does not complicate our brew day. With today's highly-modified malts some of the comments I have in parenthesis after each mash step may not be pertinent, but they explain my reasoning.

Mash-in: 38C
1) Protein Rest 1: 30 min @ 50C (to develop yeast nutrients)
2) Protein Rest 2: 15 min @ 60C (Improve clarity and foam potential)
3) Beta rest. Saccharification: 20 min @ 66C (for light-bodied beer)
4) Alpha rest. Dextrinization: 0 min at 76 (for heavy-bodied beer)
5) Mash out: 10 min at 76C
Boil: 75 min at 100C
Willamette hops added at 60 min
Irish moss (1 oz/ 28.35mg) and additional 4mg gypsum (see below) added at 15 min

We're using our tap water, which is very, very soft and with very high mineral content (Texas version of Burton) and high pH. Out of the tap the pH was off the scale of my litmus paper on the high side - digital pH meter read 8.4. Yesterday we prepared the water with an initial addition of 4mg of gypsum. This brought the hardness up to between 50 and 100 ppm (litmus paper is not too precise) and the pH down somewhat. We then added 7ml of 85% phosphoric acid (food grade) and the pH dropped to just above our target of 5.8. It was at 6.1. This morning before the brew I will check the pH and hardness again and touch up, with a goal of beginning the mash with 5.8 pH and hardness >50 and <100 (don't want the water too hard during the mash). Near the end of the mash additional gypsum will be added to get the hardness up to ~150 ppm.

I have not made a starter. My plan is make a starter from the wort brewed today. This will mean that pitching yeast will be delayed a bit.

Wish us luck.

change the boil to 102

 

[psehorne]

change the boil to 102

I increased it to 101C and started to get boil over. Had to baby sit it to keep it from boiling over.

 

[psehorne]

We had a near catastrophe yesterday

When it came time to lift the malt pipe, I removed the wing nut and the top sieves and the grain under them suddenly rose, and before I could react, were 1/8" above the top of the malt pipe and grain was overflowing into the outer compartment. It took quite a bit of effort for the Assistant Brewer and I to hold the sieves down, to stop the overflow of grain. And because of the downward pressure we were holding on the sieves, even more effort to lift the malt pipe up. A lot of grain ended up in the wort.

We strained all we could out and proceeded. Although there was a lot of grain in the wort, the pump had no problem.

I've read this thread in its entirely and do not remember anyone reporting this occurrence; so I wasn't prepared for it and it took me completely by surprise.

 

[psehorne]

We had a near catastrophe yesterday

... and the top sieves and the grain under them suddenly rose, and before I could react, were 1/8" above the top of the malt pipe and grain was overflowing into the outer compartment...

Because of the aforementioned problem and other happenings (we spend too much time talking with a neighbor who stopped by during the brew), we got behind the curve and let the system get ahead of us.

I screwed up and added the Irish moss during the last few minutes of the mash instead of during the boil. Did not realize this until the system beeped during the last few minutes of the boil to remind me to add the Irish moss; so we added another 1g of Irish moss at that time.

We prepped the water and got it to around 100ppm hardness before brewing and expected to add more gypsum near the end of the mash, but when we measured the hardness near the end of the mash prior to adding more gypsum, the hardness was already above 250 ppm; so we did not add any more gypsum.

I started out will 15 liters of water, which covered the heater coils, but once the pumps started the water level on the coils dropped below the lever of the highest coil; the part of the vessel where the heating coil was closest to the vessel wall got very hot, and the insulating jacked melted somewhat and stuck to the vessel wall. We added another 4l of water and proceeded. The heating coil was not damaged and the brew moved on. After the brew we pealed the insulating jacket off the vessel, and the vessel cleaned up just fine; although the heating jacket has an area that is charred black on the inside. The outside is not blackened but does show some distortion in the area that got too hot.

Pics attached.

 

[psehorne]

I screwed up and added the Irish moss during the last few minutes of the mash instead of during the boil. Did not realize this until the system beeped during the last few minutes of the boil to remind me to add the Irish moss; so we added another 1g of Irish moss at that time.

Pic of wort attached. You can see some of the Irish moss sitting on the sieve near the bottom right of the pic. Wort is very clear at this point. Pic must have been taken before the grain overflow.

Because of the events of the day we did not get any other pics taken and only a minute or two of video.

 

[Yambor44]

Did you add the water to the correct marking on the center rod and then add the malt pipe? I don't see how the coils didn't stay covered?

Also, were the pumps still running when you started removing the sieve?

 

[psehorne]

Did you add the water to the correct marking on the center rod and then add the malt pipe? I don't see how the coils didn't stay covered?

Also, were the pumps still running when you started removing the sieve?

I added water to the 15l mark before inserting the malt pipe, then added 4.3 kg of grains. I thought that 15l would be enough. It was not.

I believe the pump was not running when we started removing the malt pipe. If I remember correctly the system prompted us to remove the malt pipe and paused awaiting a response. Things got pretty hectic all of a sudden. Maybe the pump started up and pushed the grain and sieves up, but I don't think so. I don't remember rushing to stop the pump.

 

[psehorne]

Today we will be brewing our first batch on the 20L - not only our first batch on the 20L, but our first batch ever. ..

For this first brew we have chosen a simple recipe. Almost a SMASH (single malt and single hops), but not quite. We will be using two malts.

• 4kg 2-row pale American malt
• .300 10 degree crystal malt
• One package of Willamette hops (1 oz/28.35mg)
• One package of Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast

An American Blonde Ale (the camera makes it look a little darker)
SG: 1.051
Yeast has now been pitched. Let the fermenting begin!

 

[sj_engr]

I didn't know the 20L units were so dangerous

 

[digitaldeluge]

Crazy! Any damage to the machine? If you were boiling over those jackets must really work. I never hit above 99 un-jacketed with my temp set at 102

 

[psehorne]

Crazy! Any damage to the machine? If you were boiling over those jackets must really work. I never hit above 99 un-jacketed with my temp set at 102

No damage to the machine. Just had to scrape off the sticky from where the jacket stuck to the vessel. Yay! for stainless.

I may not have needed the jacket. The water test with 15l and no jacket provided vigorous boil, but that was with no grain and less water than used during the actual brew. I figured that since I have the jack I may as well use it. Got to store it somewhere, what better place than on the vessel. So I will probably always use it. Just one less item to keep up with.

 

[psehorne]

An American Blonde Ale (the camera makes it look a little darker)
SG: 1.051
Yeast has now been pitched. Let the fermenting begin!

Measured SRM (before fermenting): 10.2
A little high for an American Blonde.
Will measure again when ready for kegging.

 

[DeGarre]

You're not supposed to touch the metal grill and sieve, just open the nut and get rid of the bar, then lift the pipe to rest on the kettle. When you lift the malt pipe, the sieve and grill will move up too along the centre metal rod. When you then lift the malt pipe away say onto a big bucket to drain, no need to touch the sieve either.

 

[psehorne]

You're not supposed to touch the metal grill and sieve, just open the nut and get rid of the bar, then lift the pipe to rest on the kettle. When you lift the malt pipe, the sieve and grill will move up too along the centre metal rod. When you then lift the malt pipe away say onto a big bucket to drain, no need to touch the sieve either.

I had no choice. The two top sieves and the grain below moved up above the malt pipe and grain began flowing out all around the malt pipe.

 

[psehorne]

An American Blonde Ale (the camera makes it look a little darker)
SG: 1.051
Yeast has now been pitched. Let the fermenting begin!

Here is a pic of the wort (near beer?) Friday morning (yeast was pitched Thursday evening). Notice how much the beer line has dropped. I started out with 19.5 liter (5 gal 17 oz). It is now at about the 4.8 gal level.

Note, I did not create a starter in advance. We brewed on Wednesday. I used 2+ liters of the wort to create a starter - then pitched the starter Thursday evening.

 

[brian320fo]

I just finished my 14th batch on the 20 litre system. I've had a problem on the last 6 batches or so and I can't seem to pin it down.

My pre-boil gravity and volume are right on the money. I do a 90 minute boil and my post boil volume is right on but my OG is about 10 -15 points low, in fact today it was exactly the same gravity as the pre-boil gravity! How is this possible? When I first noticed this many batches ago I just assumed I had made a measurement error. So the last 5 batches I was very careful and precise in my measurements, in fact doing them with two different samples. I correct for temperature and have also checked my hydrometer in distilled water at 59*F. I've also noticed my FG coming out about 6 points lower than expected. Anyone else have this problem?

 

[psehorne]

May I assume you are using a hydrometer, not a refractometer? If so, are you allowing the wort to cool to ~70F before taking a reading? and are you correcting for temperature?

Could your hydrometer have gotten bumped and damaged, such that the scale is able to move?

 

[Batfink]

I do a 90 minute boil and my post boil volume is right on but my OG is about 10 -15 points low, in fact today it was exactly the same gravity as the pre-boil gravity!

That seems impossible. The only thing I can come up with is if you were to boil with the lid on, and not get any evaporation. But you wouldn't do that, would you?

 

[Obliviousbrew]

If your pre-boil volume and gravity are spot on, and your final volume is spot on there is no way you can miss your final gravity, there has to be some miscalculation in your recipe or if you are using some beer software it´s probably not well adjusted.
Boiling the wort will anly reduce your volume and therefore increase the gravity of your wort it´s impossible to loose sugar during the boil,

 

[brian320fo]

If your pre-boil volume and gravity are spot on, and your final volume is spot on there is no way you can miss your final gravity, there has to be some miscalculation in your recipe or if you are using some beer software it´s probably not well adjusted.
Boiling the wort will anly reduce your volume and therefore increase the gravity of your wort it´s impossible to loose sugar during the boil,

I know. This is what has me so baffled. I'm very meticulous about my measurements. I'm beginning to think my therminator has a leak in it, thinning out my wort as I chill it. Next time I'll take a sample before chilling and one after and compare the results.

As far as software goes I use BeerSmith and got my numbers off their forum. Anybody have better numbers for the 20L?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[brian320fo]

May I assume you are using a hydrometer, not a refractometer? If so, are you allowing the wort to cool to ~70F before taking a reading? and are you correcting for temperature?

Could your hydrometer have gotten bumped and damaged, such that the scale is able to move?

Yes, I use a hydrometer and have calibrated it with distiller water. It seems to be fine. All my other readings are normal so I'm investigating other areas in my system. Unfortunately this was not a one time issue, it's been a consistent problem for the last couple of months. I'm thinking maybe my therminator is leaking. I've talked to Blichman and they're helping me with that.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[flemming]

Yes, I use a hydrometer and have calibrated it with distiller water. It seems to be fine. All my other readings are normal so I'm investigating other areas in my system. Unfortunately this was not a one time issue, it's been a consistent problem for the last couple of months. I'm thinking maybe my therminator is leaking. I've talked to Blichman and they're helping me with that.

Thanks,
Brian

If you're hitting your final volume it doesn't really make sense that your chiller is leaking. To have no change in gravity from pre to post boil means you'd have to leak the same amount you've evaporated in which case your final volume would equal your starting volume. For the sake of being thorough you could try checking your hydrometer in a known sugar solution. Dissolve 10g of sugar in 90g of distilled water and see if it reads 1.040. Don't forget to adjust for whatever temperature your hydrometer is calibrated at.

Robert

 

[brian320fo]

If you're hitting your final volume it doesn't really make sense that your chiller is leaking. To have no change in gravity from pre to post boil means you'd have to leak the same amount you've evaporated in which case your final volume would equal your starting volume. For the sake of being thorough you could try checking your hydrometer in a known sugar solution. Dissolve 10g of sugar in 90g of distilled water and see if it reads 1.040. Don't forget to adjust for whatever temperature your hydrometer is calibrated at.

Robert

My bad, I misused terminology. When I said final volume I was talking about as measured in the Braumeister before transferring to fermenter. I will test my hydrometer again using your suggestion. Thanks.