Speidel Braumeister (brewmaster)

[dinnerstick]

How much steam does this unit make. I would like to run it in my laundry room as it will be warmer to brew in the winter than in the garage. Are you guys using this indoors using this in the kitchen under the range hood or with a couple of windows open in a laundry room?

i brew almost exclusively in my kitchen. i close doors to bedrooms and such, and crack the kitchen windows, and weather permitting open some windows on the other side of the house to get airflow. when it's cool weather (which is most of the year here) i get some moderate condensation on the ceiling. we have that kind of paint that you can have on the ceiling of a shower so it doesn't seem to be a big deal. ideally i would run it under an extractor fan; those 2-3 liters boil-off have to go somewhere, but for my couple times a month brewing it's been fine for me just to open the windows. or on a nice day i take the show outside.

 

[rico567]

When I started homebrewing and did extract, I did my full boils in the kitchen, and never noticed anything. Of course, it's so dry here in the Winter, and the windows are open or the A/C is going during the warm weather, so that's probably why.

 

[Soviet]

Hmmm...if I understand you right, then you need an extra pot to preheat the sparge water

80% mash efficiency isn't good enough for you? Why sparge? If you read books like Gordon Strong's Brewing Better Beer, you'll find he uses a "no sparge" technique or his maltiest and darker beers to limit the "graininess" that comes from sparging. With the Braumeister, you're basically never sparging and therfore always have that nice and smooth wort without the tannins.

 

[Soviet]

i brew almost exclusively in my kitchen. i close doors to bedrooms and such, and crack the kitchen windows, and weather permitting open some windows on the other side of the house to get airflow. when it's cool weather (which is most of the year here) i get some moderate condensation on the ceiling. we have that kind of paint that you can have on the ceiling of a shower so it doesn't seem to be a big deal. ideally i would run it under an extractor fan; those 2-3 liters boil-off have to go somewhere, but for my couple times a month brewing it's been fine for me just to open the windows. or on a nice day i take the show outside.

I brew in my basement furnace room. I have no paint on the ceiling, just plumbing, hvac pipes, and rafters/wooden studs. I sometimes get concerned that I'll start growing mold there, but I brew one day every other week, and haven't seen anything forming there. The cold pipes do cause some steam to condense and drip down on the cement floor slowly over the course of the brew day. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[Soviet]

These questions about the efficiency of the Braumeister are getting tiresome. The efficiency is a NON-ISSUE with this machine, achieving 80%+ mash efficiency pretty consistently. Please see my post on 1 year after buying the braumeister for some insights into the machine's performance.

EVERY brewing system you will ever own will have it's limitations. Period. IMHO the biggest two limitations with the Braumeister 50L (and probably the 20L) are the volume/capacity of the malt-pipe limits the amount of grain you can put in it. Specifically, it limits you to a ceiling of ~ 1.060-1.065 for a 10 gallon batch without adding DME or other fermentables. The second limitation is that the boil is weak.

The former limitation can be worked around by doing a smaller volume of high gravity beer, or simply adding DME to achieve the gravity you want on a full 10 gallon batch. There's also the possibility of doing a double mash, but that's also a double PITA .

The latter can be helped slightly by purchasing or making an insulated wrap, and doing an extended boil (I do 90 minutes standard) and rapid cooling with a good chiller to avoid DMS.

 

[Soviet]

Also, what is the water to grain ratio on these units?

Greatly appreciated.

The whole idea of water-grain gets thrown out the window with this machine. Grain is pretty-densely packed in the malt pipe, and there's a larger volume (than you would see in most other systems) of water outside the malt-pipe that recirculates through it. Let's just leave it at that you get 80%+ mash efficiency with it.

 

[goodgodilovebeer]

Nothing you all haven't seen before, but who doesn't like looking at brewing pics

This was my second batch brewed on the BM, the first to be tasted (1st was a Marzen to be tapped late summer). I have to say, there's something more "refined" about this one compared to my old setup. Maybe it's all in my head. My brews were always good, but this one...

 

[dinnerstick]

These questions about the efficiency of the Braumeister are getting tiresome. The efficiency is a NON-ISSUE with this machine, achieving 80%+ mash efficiency pretty consistently. Please see my post on 1 year after buying the braumeister for some insights into the machine's performance.

soviet- great writeup, i hadn't seen it (was on vacation!). but i don't get 80% very easily on my 20L BM. the only time i got that high was with a lot of slow sparging. i had been on a corona mill and am now only 1 brew into a proper adjustable mill, so there is still room to fine tune that aspect, but on my first brew with the new mill i was in the same ballpark, 71% total efficiency with my standard ~23 L at dough-in plus about 4-5 L sparge, collect around 25 and boil down to 22. granted i don't know my mineral levels, my tap water "seems" middle of the road and mash pH when measured (admittedly not often) has checked in between 5.0 and 5.5...
and like you i am a friend of the dme. i plan big beer recipes around a dme addition, and use it to fine tune normal beers whenever needed

 

[Soviet]

soviet- great writeup, i hadn't seen it (was on vacation!). but i don't get 80% very easily on my 20L BM. the only time i got that high was with a lot of slow sparging. i had been on a corona mill and am now only 1 brew into a proper adjustable mill, so there is still room to fine tune that aspect, but on my first brew with the new mill i was in the same ballpark, 71% total efficiency with my standard ~23 L at dough-in plus about 4-5 L sparge, collect around 25 and boil down to 22. granted i don't know my mineral levels, my tap water "seems" middle of the road and mash pH when measured (admittedly not often) has checked in between 5.0 and 5.5...
and like you i am a friend of the dme. i plan big beer recipes around a dme addition, and use it to fine tune normal beers whenever needed

Did you read the part in my write up about mash efficiency vs. brewhouse efficiency? Which one are you measuring? If you're using beersmith or the like, the "efficiency" you see on the recipe design main tab is brewhouse efficiency. Mine is more like 67%. My mash efficiency, however, is 80%+, and yours should be as well. Let me know if you need help figuring out your mash efficiency.

 

[pjk49202]

FedEx tried to deliver my BM today but alas I was not around. Unfortunately, this package is not available to hold so I have no idea when I'm going to be around during the day to sign for it. Can't wait to get cracking on this thing!

 

[dinnerstick]

Did you read the part in my write up about mash efficiency vs. brewhouse efficiency? Which one are you measuring? If you're using beersmith or the like, the "efficiency" you see on the recipe design main tab is brewhouse efficiency. Mine is more like 67%. My mash efficiency, however, is 80%+, and yours should be as well. Let me know if you need help figuring out your mash efficiency.

you're right! sorry my eyes somehow bounced over that part of the sentence! i got 80% ME on my last batch with 71% total for 22 liters of 1.065 wort. thanks

 

[pjk49202]

Has anyone experienced extensive damage upon openeing their BM package? I opened my BM at the FedEx office and didn't notice anything. When I brought it home and took it out of the package, it was beyond ****ed up!

 

[goodgodilovebeer]

Has anyone experienced extensive damage upon openeing their BM package? I opened my BM at the FedEx office and didn't notice anything. When I brought it home and took it out of the package, it was beyond ****ed up!

Mine had a few scuffs on the inside of the unit from the bolts of the malt pipe hitting it. Other than that, nada.

Sorry to hear about damage. Elaborate on "beyond f'd up"

 

[pjk49202]

Meaning that the top was bent enough to make it look oblong while looking down at it. And one of the front legs were pushed in so far that it started pushing the back panel of the computer box open.

 

[John_Tomaszewski]

I finally had my inaugural brewday on my new 20L over the weekend. I went with a simple Amarillo APA recipe I found in the "sample" recipe folder on BeerSmith with an equipment profile I found earlier in this thread. I must admit - for this first batch - I didn't record any numbers or use my refractometer. I just wanted to familiarize myself with this new system which is my first delve into all-grain.

I was able to find a nice stainless steel cart on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GWED7I/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 which worked out great for a Braumeister brewstand. I brew in my garage, so I needed something which had wheels on it so I could move it towards the garden hose when it came time for cooling. Also, I liked I was able to level the cart easily to compensate for the slight slope of my garage floor.

The power cord I purchased - thanks to another post earlier in this thread - made it very simple to just "plug and play" without having to cut the existing cord to modify it. This was also purchased on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0093WFT66/ref=oh_details_o09_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

I was quite happy with the operation of the unit and am grateful for all the tips people have put on this thread. I had a bit of trouble with the stock valve clogging on the break/hop material, but it was my fault for not using any trub control methods (whirlpool/hopsock). If it continues to be an issue I may follow yet another suggestion to upgrade the valve to a more standard, robust ball valve. Using PBW made clean up a breeze (especially the heating coils) using the pump on manual mode for a beautiful "no scrub" experience.

 

[Yambor44]

Has anyone had to send their unit back to Germany because of damage? If so, did you get reimbursed for the cost? Thorsten is asking me to send my damaged one back to Germany with a replacement one coming my way. Paying an additional 500 bucks in shipping is not happening.

If they're sending a replacement unit, they should send or setup return shipping. You should be able to use the same box the new one is coming in if you need to. Call Thorsten back and ask him about this option. You should absolutely not be asked to pay for return shipping and wait for reimbursement.

 

[pjk49202]

And I'm an idiot, I now have the return labels in my email. Open mouth, insert foot......

 

[pjk49202]

Proud new member of the club, my BM20 just arrived yesterday!!!

Just now working on my plug and this post in particular was really helpful. I've got the same leviton 14-30P plug and although I'm certainly no electrician, isn't the green/yellow wire on the wrong prong? Redstag says he hooked it up to the "negative," which I assume he meant "neutral." Shouldn't it be on Ground?

From what I've read, again, I'm no electrician so correct me if I'm wrong:
In the old three-prong dryer plugs there were two hots and a neutral/ground (neutral/ground was the L-shaped prong). However, in the newer four prong plugs, which are now code, the neutral and ground were divided into two separate prongs: The round prong with the green screw is ground (to the right in his picture), and the L-shaped prong is neutral (to the left in his picture). The neutral prong isn't required since the BM doesn't need 120V. The BM's yellow/green wire is ground, not neutral, so it goes to the round prong with the green screw (ground). The BM's hot and neutral wires (brown and blue) then go to the plug's two hot prongs. Since the plug and receptacle's neutral isn't required, I'm not even going to insert the L-shaped prong into the case (the Leviton plug's prongs are are removable).

Does this sound about right? Hurry if I'm wrong, I'm wiring mine up this afternoon.

Cheers,
Todd

How did your wiring go with your setup? I have an old school 10-30 three prong outlet as well. However, I have a 50 l set up.

 

[William625]

Looks like you can't sparge with

 

[Soviet]

Some people like to squeeze out those extra couple of gravity points by sparging in the Braumeister, but there's really no need for it.

 

[DeGarre]

Some people like to squeeze out those extra couple of gravity points by sparging in the Braumeister, but there's really no need for it.

My first 2 brews I did not sparge. I did hit the OG and got a lot less than 20 litres of beer. Now I sparge, hit the OG, and get 23-24 litres of beer.

You do the math

 

[hunmojo]

Hey guys first of all I just want to say that this is an awesome thread and LONG at that. I got to page 89 before i started skipping around....but I will head back when i have time.

I am here in Europe helping my friend invest in a small brew pub. What we have imagined is a small brewery attached to it, well it would be like a small show room (that we use to supply the few taps of beer we would have.
What sparked our interest was the possibility of having 3-4 50L systems because of space savings. it would certanly meet our needs for beer, since its a small pub. Running 4 different batches we would be able to do very nice designer beers, and seasonal offerings monthly if we wanted. (while supplies last..lol). My question is as overall impression from everyone. Is a setup like i just described do these systems offer enough versatility for us to be able to crank out any style of beer, and experiment.

We would also like to keep is small because we figured we would offer people a chance to brew themselves as workshops..

thanks for the info really looking for your help, especially people, who are brewing frequently on a bigger scale with these systems..

 

[dinnerstick]

hi where are you hunmojo? i think that a new small brewery in the netherlands called oersoep started out on a couple of 50L speidels but i'm not sure. might be worth contacting them for advice. met the guys once and they are friendly!

on an unrelated note, when does a thread reach 'sticky' status? we're almost 2100 posts in

 

[hunmojo]

haha yea I agree its long past sticky....

Im in Hungary. right now. But originally from Seattle. i work in a bar with a tittle of "creative manager" whatever that means... Im prety much in charge of food stuff experimentation,, anything alcohol related, working with brew pubs and other bars..
Thanks for the insight... I will contact them right away..

I also emailed speidel about their 200l system. but the reply I got back from them made it seem that the 200L system is even more "limited" than the smaller ones. Reading this forum I was excited to hear people crank out pretty much anything that they would like to make. Where as I got a reply that the 200L can only handle 1.050 Gravity....ouch...now thats not a good system for a brew pub...as far as versatility..

 

[sj_engr]

Brewing the second 20G batch on the 50L Braumeister. Tried to max out the malt pipe with 30lb of grain. The pumps did push through with no spouts but I found that draining the malt pipe was super, super slow. Previous had no issues with 25 lbs. Perhaps try 28lbs next or some rice hulls. 30 lbs of grain and 6 lbs of DME for a ~82L of 1.05 boiling away.

 

[miwibeer]

Brewing the second 20G batch on the 50L Braumeister. Tried to max out the malt pipe with 30lb of grain. The pumps did push through with no spouts but I found that draining the malt pipe was super, super slow. Previous had no issues with 25 lbs. Perhaps try 28lbs next or some rice hulls. 30 lbs of grain and 6 lbs of DME for a ~82L of 1.05 boiling away.

In my experience 13kg is close to the maximum load of the 50L malt pibe, but I think one should be carefull not to go to the absolute limit. I have measured the flow during my mashings, and filling the pibe too much reduces the flow considerably, although the pumps are able to push through. I think it's adviceable not to go above 12.5kg (27.5lbs).

 

[hunmojo]

ok i have gotten through to page 130 roughly... and iv decided to get an BM. now the question is 20 or 50L.,.... ????
im happy to say that money is not an issue for once in my life. when deciding which system to get. so on to the other pros and cons.....

1. I am planing on using this system for a pilot setup to test batches for up cumming brews.
2. all my beers usually fall between 5-6% , but i do like to experiment. and if im spending this kind of cash i dont want to be held back.
3. i am brewing in doors, and with my current cooling fridges set up i can only accommodate 20L-30l batches for fermentation.

the only reason I am considering the 50L with the 20l malt pipe is because it seems to be better equipped with the pumps and heating element. wich would allow me to better stuff the pipe with malt.

another thing im worried about is the lack of rice hulls available here in hungary....it does not exist......will this pose a problem with channeling. or am i thinking correctly assuming that the 50l w 20l malt will solve this problem for me.

i also dont mind buying the hood if it helps, but i didnt really get a good idea weather its helpfull or not, people either say without it boil is lacking with it its splashing all over...9at least when it comes to the 20L)

please honest answers are appreciated regardless of which size yOU use (try not to be biased towards your system) will really help me out. Im ready to push the buy button, i just need to figure out if the 50/20 setup is better than the regular 20, if we are not looking at money here..... thanks guys...

 

[sebring96hbg]

I received my 20L today directly from Speidel through HomeBrewWest. It looks great. Communication and customer service by Brian at HBW have been great. The weekend can't come soon enough to run it!

 

[goodgodilovebeer]

I wonder how many units Speidel has sold because of this thread alone?

 

[hunmojo]

Any input guys on mechanics. Differences ...