Speidel Braumeister (brewmaster)

[Alchemy]

Your actual electricity voltage is probably somewhere between 220v and 250v. It should be the same as all other residential 240v systems in the U.S. The 250V on the receptacle is just its rating. It is not the voltage of your electricity. If you measure the voltage across the two hots of the receptacle you will see your actual voltage (under no load. - It might drop a bit under load). If measure from the ground of the receptacle to either hot you should see 1/2 of the voltage; i.e. ~120v.

Running your Braumeister on this will not damage it because of the type of plug (assuming everything is wired correctly). And as long as the voltage does not exceed the Braumeister voltage rating, everything should work just fine. In fact, you should be better off without the converter.

The Braumeister manual shows '230 V ~'. That means 'approx. 230 V'. I believe U.S. electricity is more properly called 240v (and 120v), but you will hear it referred to as 220, 230, 240, etc. Spiedel says that the Braumeister is designed to run properly with U.S. electricity.

Thank you for putting my mind at ease. Now maybe i can get these guys to make me a cable http://www.elecordset.com/moreinfo.aspx?pid=NEMA10-30P&cs=/products/HeavyDuty.aspx&ai=M

From what i read the Braumeister uses a c13 end, so a nema 10-30p with a c13 female should do the trick.

Then on to installing a vent hood and i can be brewing nearly every day while i do my day job!

 

[dinnerstick]

Hello everyone!

After that I tossed in a hop bag filled with about 0,5kg of uncrushed pilsner malt and put the braumeister in manual mode set at 43 c with the pump off.

interesting, i was wondering where i was going to do my first sour mash (wort). might have to try that. but in the summer! light lemony beer in a blizzard?? a snowblower beer? crazy swedes!
hope it turns out great, cheers for the idea

 

[psehorne]

From what i read the Braumeister uses a c13 end

C13 is correct for a 20L. A previous post stated that 50L takes a C19.

 

[dinnerstick]

I´m planning a big barley wine for the 21st of December and was thinking about 1968 but was afraid that it may end up too sweet. please, let me know how it goes and how much attenuattes looks promising

after another week it's 1.031, i'm calling that final.

 

[Obliviousbrew]

after another week it's 1.031, i'm calling that final.

thank you for the reply 69% doesn´t look bad for a beer that big and with that yeast! I may finally go for it.

 

[Gear101]

I see they are now making a 500l unit. That would work good for a small brew pub, no price on the unit post yet,so that would be approx 8 kegs. They also have now posted new 550l ferms, with 5-7 of those, I think that would be a nice cheap way into a brew pub.

 

[bierdude]

Another alternative to the dryer plug end. First, to add to the post by psehorne - voltage ratings are "nominal" numbers and not the actual measured voltage. You have to use a volt meter to measure the actual Line-to-Line (black wire to black wire) voltage at your panel. Typical US line-to-neutral (black wire to white wire) voltages can be anywhere from 110V to 120V (220V to 240V Line-to-Line). The Line-to-Line voltage on a single phase residential system is double the Line-to-neutral voltage. The Speidel is rated at 230V and as psehorne said is rated to work on the US (220V-240V) line-to-line system. The difference between the US and Euro systems is that Europe is 50Hz and US is 60Hz. This only really matters for motors and analog clocks, etc as they will not operate correctly. But, no issue with the Braumeister as it mainly a resistive heater, the computer power supply converts the voltage run the computer, and the pump(s) are rated 200-240V 50/60Hz (I is an electric utility engineer...).
If you want to use the Speidel plug as-is International Configurations Inc sells a European receptacle that fits in a standard US single-gang box.
The receptacle is part # - 70100X45
Adapter frame is part # - 79120X45-N
White cover plate part# - 79130X45-N
about $30 total.
They also sell a GFCI version which was discussed in Post #636.

 

[Redstag]

I have the 50L Braumeister
Fill to the prescribed mark.
Sparge to replace the water absorbed by the grain.
Boil as stated for the recipe. 60 or 90 min
Adding hops (pellet) directly to kettle.
And end up with much less than 5 g. in each carboy due to trub.
Finishing with about 4 1/4 g. or less in each Keg.

I know some people use sacks/screens to keep the loss of wart to a
minimum.
And some just add there hops to the kettle not worrying about the loss.
As stated by some whirpooling is difficult at best, and letting the hop gunk settle out before transferring to carboy helps.
I know it is expected to lose a bit of wart when racking but ....not happy

Are there any Braumeister's ending up with 5gallons of finished beer in there kegs?
If so, where am I going wrong?
What is the average amount of finished beer you guys and gals are getting out of your systems?

I wish Ya'll a safe and happy holliday season.

 

[psehorne]

I have the 50L Braumeister
Fill to the prescribed mark.
Sparge to replace the water absorbed by the grain.
Boil as stated for the recipe. 60 or 90 min
Adding hops (pellet) directly to kettle.
And end up with much less than 5 g. in each carboy due to trub.
Finishing with about 4 1/4 g. or less in each Keg.

I know some people use sacks/screens to keep the loss of wart to a
minimum.
And some just add there hops to the kettle not worrying about the loss.
As stated by some whirpooling is difficult at best, and letting the hop gunk settle out before transferring to carboy helps.
I know it is expected to lose a bit of wart when racking but ....not happy

Are there any Braumeister's ending up with 5gallons of finished beer in there kegs?
If so, where am I going wrong?
What is the average amount of finished beer you guys and gals are getting out of your systems?

I wish Ya'll a safe and happy holliday season.

I have a 20L not a 50L, but perhaps the following will still be useful to you.

I fill wort up to the neck of my 5 gal carboy. That means about 20L (5 gal + 1L up to the neck.). In doing so I have had wort left that would not fit into the carboy that I threw away or used later for a starter. When filling the carboy to the neck it is necessary to use a blow-off hose, in which case there will be a more than a liter of loss into the blow-off reservoir, leaving a little less than 5 gal in the carboy. Additional loss will occur when racking from the carboy. Total loss in fermenting and racking about 2.4 liter. So starting with 19.5L in the carboy (the most it will hold) I end up with about 17.1 into my keg. I would need to use a larger carboy to do better.

I use BeerSmith and set the batch size to the amount I want to go into the carboy (19.5L) and set the trub loss in the kettle of .6L (best I can do by tilting the kettle when moving wort to the carboy) and adjust the ingredients to get the OG, SRM, and IBU I want.

EDIT: In addition to setting the kettle trub loss to .6L I also set the fermentation loss to 2.4L.


To leave the least amount of trub in the kettle I use one of the malt pipe fine screens in front of the kettle outlet (inside the kettle) to get as much wort out as possible and leave the trub in the kettle. The screen will get clogged quickly; so I rotate the screen to a new spot several times throughout the process to draining the wort from the kettle into the carboy.

I haven't tried it but I think I could get more more out of my 20L. Using BeerSmith it would just be a matter of increasing the batch size and the ingredients appropriately to maintain targets. At some point the amount of ingredients that would be required could exceed the Braumeister capability. How soon this occurs would depend on the OG you are shooting for. So far (5 batches) I have not brewed anything with an OG higher than 1.055; so I think I could increase the batch size (and carboy size) so as to end up with a full 5 gal in my keg. I have thought about doing this, but just have no sprung for another carboy.

Hope there is something here that helps you.

 

[psehorne]

I have a 20L not a 50L, but perhaps the following will still be useful to you.

I fill wort up to the neck of my 5 gal carboy. That means about 20L (5 gal + 1L up to the neck.). In doing so I have had wort left that would not fit into the carboy that I threw away or used later for a starter. When filling the carboy to the neck it is necessary to use a blow-off hose, in which case there will be a more than a liter of loss into the blow-off reservoir, leaving a little less than 5 gal in the carboy. Additional loss will occur when racking from the carboy. Total loss in fermenting and racking about 2.4 liter. So starting with 19.5L in the carboy (the most it will hold) I end up with about 17.1 into my keg. I would need to use a larger carboy to do better.

I use BeerSmith and set the batch size to the amount I want to go into the carboy (19.5L) and set the trub loss in the kettle of .6L (best I can do by tilting the kettle when moving wort to the carboy) and adjust the ingredients to get the OG, SRM, and IBU I want.

EDIT: In addition to setting the kettle trub loss to .6L I also set the fermentation loss to 2.4L.


To leave the least amount of trub in the kettle I use one of the malt pipe fine screens in front of the kettle outlet (inside the kettle) to get as much wort out as possible and leave the trub in the kettle. The screen will get clogged quickly; so I rotate the screen to a new spot several times throughout the process to draining the wort from the kettle into the carboy.

I haven't tried it but I think I could get more more out of my 20L. Using BeerSmith it would just be a matter of increasing the batch size and the ingredients appropriately to maintain targets. At some point the amount of ingredients that would be required could exceed the Braumeister capability. How soon this occurs would depend on the OG you are shooting for. So far (5 batches) I have not brewed anything with an OG higher than 1.055; so I think I could increase the batch size (and carboy size) so as to end up with a full 5 gal in my keg. I have thought about doing this, but just have no sprung for another carboy.

Hope there is something here that helps you.

One more variable. In addition to the batch size you get out of the kettle, if you are using a pre-made starter, you will have that much more to go into the carboy. You can account for that in BeerSmith also.

I've not been using a pre-made starter (that's another topic for later). So my batch size does not include the benefit of adding a starter to the wort coming out of the Braumeister. If I were to use a pre-made starter and leave the batch size the same in BeerSmith and tell BeerSmith to add the starter to the wort going into the carboy fermentor I could brew that same batch size but have 22.5 L go into a (larger) carboy - 19.5 brewed batch plus 3L starter. With 2.4L fermentor loss I would end up with 20.1 L for the keg. (Don't know that it would fit though since a 5 gal keg is designed to hold only 19L.

 

[Redstag]

Thanks psehorne for your suggestions and quick reply. Sounds like I need to get Beersmith. Your use of the filter screen is clever. Also I'm glad your getting full carboys/kegs. I am working hard to get what I have and to get 8 gallons out of a 10 gallon system is a bummer. After all, It's beeeeer.

Anybody else with suggestions, comments. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Redstag]

I made a starter for the last batch and pored off most of the liquid to just pitched the slury. Another good suggestion. Cheers

 

[bierdude]

Well, I made the move and ordered a 50L Braumeister after deciding to move the brewery indoors. The good news: I ordered on 10/25 and FedEx delivered on 11/20 less than 4 weeks. The bad news: The box was in good shape, no visible damage to the box. When I unpacked it, the lower rear handle is pushed in, denting the tank at both welds and the handle weld is broke on one side. Talked to Thorsten, he was helpful and I am sending pictures. But a heads up- Thorsten said it's better to unpack in front of FedEx no matter if the box is in good shape in order to help him/Speidel to make a shipping claim. I'll follow up on how this is resolved.

Update: Thorsten (morebeer4u) and Ralf (Speidel) have been very responsive. Ralf said he would ship a new 50L tank and I agreed to swap the equipment. If it shows up as promised, I'm a happy camper....

 

[WastedCider]

Hi All,

Has anyone confirmed this does work safely with a step up transformer? I am an apartment dweller in LA and, as far as I can tell, will never really be able to live somewhere that I can afford a house. So I need this thing. Even extract is too wonky on a gas apartment stove. But I doubt my current or future building managers will dig the idea of me screwing with 240 outlets and asking probing questions about the load my breakers can handle.

It would be great if there were an American equivalent. I need single vessel electric AG brewing. Sorry if this has been confirmed already. The 1800+ replies got hard to pick through.

 

[bierdude]

Hi All,

Has anyone confirmed this does work safely with a step up transformer? I am an apartment dweller in LA and, as far as I can tell, will never really be able to live somewhere that I can afford a house. So I need this thing. Even extract is too wonky on a gas apartment stove. But I doubt my current or future building managers will dig the idea of me screwing with 240 outlets and asking probing questions about the load my breakers can handle.

It would be great if there were an American equivalent. I need single vessel electric AG brewing. Sorry if this has been confirmed already. The 1800+ replies got hard to pick through.

If you search, there have been a few posts regarding "converters" (or as you properly stated "step-up transformer"). This will work, but be sure the converter/transformer is rated for continuous duty and/or rated for electric heater loads. The 20L model is rated 2023Watt (w/pump load). The 50L model is rated 3246Watt (w/2pump loads) and 230V. The wattage is the same on both sides of the transformer (not counting losses) so the Current = Wattage/Voltage. Since you are using this on a single phase residential circuit and the Braumeister is pretty much a resistive load, you don't have to get into complex calculations. The pump is rated 50/60Hz so that will also work fine on US system.

Using nominal voltage numbers:
20L -> 2023W/120V = 16.8Amps
-> 2023W/240V = 8.4Amps
The electrical theory is that if you double the voltage, the current divides in half while the power (watts) remains constant.

50L -> 3246Watt/120V = 27Amps
-> 3246Watt/240V = 13.5Amps

Be sure to measure your actual voltage and plug that actual voltage number into the calculation so you can size the wiring and breaker appropriately for the current. The wiring and breaker need to be sized for the current at 120Volts if you are plugging the transformer into a 120Volt outlet.

The key is to get a converter/transformer rated over the Wattage needed, make sure it's rated for this type of load, and properly size the wire and breaker - Don't just plug it in and assume the wire is sized correctly.

If you search the posts, the one some folks have successfully used is:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002ITZTNO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Prost!

 

[WastedCider]

Thanks bierdude! So, if I understand this correctly, even with a 5000 Watt step up transformer I would still need a breaker that can handle over 15A to run the 20L on a residential 120V outlet. From the reading I have done in this, quite helpful, thread, I am going to go ahead and guess that most all of my breakers are 15A. Perhaps there is another solution to this I am missing?

 

[bierdude]

Thanks bierdude! So, if I understand this correctly, even with a 5000 Watt step up transformer I would still need a breaker that can handle over 15A to run the 20L on a residential 120V outlet. From the reading I have done in this, quite helpful, thread, I am going to go ahead and guess that most all of my breakers are 15A. Perhaps there is another solution to this I am missing?

not meant to be critical - don't guess. Not knowing how old your apartment is or where you live -- many builders run circuits with #14 wire on 15 amp breakers - this can be installed to code, but is only rated for 15 amps. If you are in an old home with knob and tube wiring, again probably rated only 15 amps. Look at the breakers in your electrical panel. You would need to put the 20L on a 20 amp circuit (breaker should say 20 amp on it and wire should be #12 (it's usually marked on the casing of the wire) or run a dedicated 20 amp circuit to a 20 amp receptacle.

 

[rlhvegas]

I plugged in my Braumeister and the screen just flashes! There's no information on the screen, it just blinks green. Whats wrong?! I have had more then 30 batches through it and it has worked great!

PLEASE HELP!

 

[psehorne]

I plugged in my Braumeister and the screen just flashes! There's no information on the screen, it just blinks green. Whats wrong?! I have had more then 30 batches through it and it has worked great!

PLEASE HELP!

Check for water in the electronics.

 

[rlhvegas]

Check for water in the electronics.

Well, here's an update. I searched the web and found some Aussie home brewers with the same issue. They suggested that I check and clean the temp sensor connection, it's a small three prong connector on the bottom that screws in. I unscrewed it, cleaned, then reinstalled tightly... Sure enough, I was brewing!

 

[psehorne]

Well, here's an update. I searched the web and found some Aussie home brewers with the same issue. They suggested that I check and clean the temp sensor connection, it's a small three prong connector on the bottom that screws in. I unscrewed it, cleaned, then reinstalled tightly... Sure enough, I was brewing!

Interesting.... I'll have to remember that.

 

[tomatitotarifa]

Hello all BM owners & forum members:

I have to agree with an early post, dating back the sub-100 page history of this forum, in which the member (sorry can't remember the name) says it's one of his all-time favourites. It truly reads like a thilling novel, keeping you forever hooked.

I am still reading page 85, started from number 1, without missing a single post, and plan to continue till the end. By then, I hope I will have received my BM 50L, in the town of Tarifa, the southermost town of peninsular Spain, overlooking the Moroccan coast.

Just wanted to let you all know that I am here lurking and hope to be able to contribute experiences (probably not before I have asked many questions!).

So thank you all for such a good source of knowledge and BM-specific information.

Pere Carrizo
Tomatito Bar & Restaurant, Tarifa, Spain

 

[psehorne]

I have tuned my BeerSmith profile for the Braumeister 20L over a half dozen brews now. Will share it with the group in the pic attached.

NOTES:

• Batch Volume: 19.5 liter is how much I put in a 5 gal carboy keg, leaving no head space. Aerate thoroughly while the carboy has head space remaining; i.e., when it is about 3/4 full. I also use a venturi when moving wort from the kettle to the carboy.
• Lauter Tun Headspace: This does apply to the Braumeister because it acts as both a mash tun and a lauter. However, in my configuration I have accounted for this in the Loss to Trub and Chiller field.
• Loss to Trub and Chiller: .600 liter is a little optimistic. I can get there by tilting the kettle and using one of the fine malt filters in front of the port that feeds the spigot.
• Fermentor Loss: is high because I use a blow off hose and lose about 1.5 liter during the blow off (alternative is to put less wort in the carboy and not use a blow off hose), and another ~1 liter is lost in trub/sediment left in the carboy. It might be better to use a smaller batch volume and leave head space in the carboy. This would have the benefit of allowing a higher gravity (because the wort would be less diluted) and less waste. I may change my process to accomplish this. Either way will only end up with about 17 liter of beer. Another alternative would be to use a 6.5 gal carboy, with the advantage of more head space without reducing the volume of wort put into the carboy and end up with a full 5 gal of beer.
• Starter: My batch volumes assumes no starter will be added to the wort. Instead I create the starter after brewing using two to three liters (whatever BeerSmith recommends) of the wort and pitch the following day. Yesterday for the first time I used two packages of Safale US-05 with 7.8 ounces of water; so this 'starter' was added to the wort and accommodated in BeerSmith on the Vols page by setting the Starter Size to .23L and checking the 'Add starter to bottling vol' box.

 

[DeGarre]

I got rid off beersmith2, too complicated and too much clutter. I did all the calcs into a spreadsheet:
24L brewlength
no adjustments needed for evaporation, dead space etc
mash efficiency 76%
mash with 26L, sparge with 6L

With above I consistently get 85-87% mash efficiency and 24L into the FV.

 

[DeGarre]

Pere, is Tomatito a brewpub? Are you going to use 50L BM to brew small scale beer in it?

Very nice.

 

[Obliviousbrew]

Hola desde Benidorm tomatito. Hello from Benidorm tomatio. Good to know there is more spanish users aroud.

 

[tomatitotarifa]

Pere, is Tomatito a brewpub? Are you going to use 50L BM to brew small scale beer in it?

Very nice.

Hi DeGarre

It's a very small bar-restaurant. If & when I get a proper and consistent brew, I will try to sell it bottled in the bar as a start. Eventually I'd like to have a tap parallel to our usual commercial brand (can't afford to have a problem and end up with no tap!)

 

[tomatitotarifa]

Hola desde Benidorm tomatito. Hello from Benidorm tomatio. Good to know there is more spanish users aroud.

Hola!

Nice to hear as well. It looks like it's selling pretty well in Spain. The class they gave in Barcelona to use the BM was fully booked.

Regards
Pere

 

[bierdude]

Update: Thorsten (morebeer4u) and Ralf (Speidel) have been very responsive. Ralf said he would ship a new 50L tank and I agreed to swap the equipment. If it shows up as promised, I'm a happy camper....

Just received a replacement 50L tank in perfect condition. I'm totally satisfied. I can't say enough about the support provided by both Thorsten and Ralf. Thorsten is the only guy I would purchase a Braumeister from. The level of customer support they provided is over and above. Ralf even sent a tube of Locktite and emailed some notes to swap the pumps, etc.

 

[dinnerstick]

has anyone had this problem, i was just cleaning up after another easy brew day (rookbier/rauchbier) and poking around the bottom of my 20L, and around the nut where the central stem is bolted in place there was quite a bit of heavily caramelized goop, it almost looked like some sort of glue or sealer, except that it came off fairly easily with a hot wash cloth. it was tough to get anything onto the nut since i don't have a socket wrench handy, but managed to get a crescent wrench on there for a few fractions of a turn at a time, and it was pretty loose. not finger-loose, but loose enough. i tightened it. i hope it leaks no more