Speidel Braumeister (brewmaster)

[dinnerstick]

Been reading alot about the Braumeister then WOW! 246th page thats alot of reading. This has to be HBT record?

I really do want one of these as one would not need so much space, storage when not in use, brew year round. Yes its an art to do it all the more economical way but sheesh this just seems the answer. Art is a feeling you accomplished on your own, nobody cares unless it tastes good what the art of creating it was. Crap now most professional artists are on a computer,,,,times change.

when the BM first came out people (on this very forum!) complained that it was a machine that made beer for you at the push of a button. as if you didn't make recipes, grind malt, dough in, decide mash regimes, design hopping regimes and techniques, clean up, sanitize, and most importantly master yeast to execute a proper fermentation. if these same people grew and malted their own grain, maybe i'd listen, but... their folly is not worthy of your ear!
the BM, like you say, is a nice piece of kit for making wort, with a small footprint both in use and storage. and it's shiny.

 

[Cervantes]

Am I the dumbest BM user on the planet? Yesterday I was brewing for the first time since June and all was going well.
Grains weighed and crushed.
Water filtered and sat overnight.
Starter going for day and a half.
Brought water up to dough in temp.
Disaster!!
While I was doughing in I was looking down beside the BM and noticed both sets of screens!!
Of course I was only one scoop short of having the whole malt bill in the tube.
I severely admonished my self, pulled the plug,Drained 1/2 of the wort into a bucket then tipped the whole thing into a bucket with an old BIAB bag I had.
After much swearing, rinsing, and cleaning ( including special care to the pump) I was ready to roll again.
I had only 2 scoops into the tube this time before I started calling myself all of the names my wife saves for me.
F#$% I did it again.
Went through the cleaning process again, and finished the brewday with no more excitement. The whole mess cost me about an hour so not that bad, and only missed my OG by a coulpe of points.
I expect/hope I am not the only one that has ever done this, however, it is with great humility that I admit that this was not my first expeience with idiocy, as I did the same exact thing with my 3rd BM day and didn't think I could possibly ever repeat it.
Hands up everyone who has ever done this?? I hope I am no alone in first place.:rockin:

Yes, I've done this. But not twice.....................Yet

 

[lylo]

Yes, I've done this. But not twice.....................Yet

Stupid doesn't always come quickly!

 

[MaldenMA]

I live in a small apartment, and have been brewing for about 20 years, first with extract, then moving on to BIAB about 10 years ago (I really have to single out and thank the multitude of brewers, mostly Australian at first, who were the first to document this space saving technique that made all grain brewing a possibility for me). Since then, I fell in love with the Braumeister concept for all the various reasons people have been discussing on this board (most importantly, the ability to precisely control mash times and temperatures). Conveniently, I was on vacation this past week, and finally received my Braumeister 20L this past Tuesday (four days ago), put together a USA compatible power cable on Wednesday, and brewed my first beer on Thursday. So far, I am very happy.

One investment I have yet to make is in a wort pump to move beer from the brew kettle to the fermenter. But, since the Braumeister's pump pushes wort up through a fitting in the bottom of the brew kettle, I will not make that investment. I will press a pipe over this fitting, and wort will be pushed up through the pipe. A hose attached to this pipe will carry the wort to my fermenter.

My prototype is made of 0.5 inch pvc pipe rated for high temperatures, and a piece of 2x3 inch wood (eventually I will replace the wood with pvc for sanitation reasons). The 0.5 inch pipe has a rubber gasket that forms a seal with the pump fitting at the bottom of the kettle. The 0.5 inch pipe is pressed down using Braumeister's connecting rod. See the photographs of the prototype (as always, each picture is worth a thousand words).

The piece of wood has two holes drilled about 1.75 inches (about 4.5 cm) apart, one for the connecting rod, and one for the 0.5 inch pipe. The wood is intended to slide over the connecting rod and over the 0.5 inch pipe. The 0.5 inch pipe was cut about 13 inches (abut 33 cm) from the bottom, and then reconnected using a fitting that has a larger outside diameter than the pipe. The wood cannot slide past the large od fitting. When the wood is secured down onto the connecting rod using the wing nut, it pushes down on the 0.5 inch pipe and forms a seal with pump's output fitting.

So far I've only tested it with clear water. When time to transfer the wort, I expect it to be a challenge to find the pump fitting in the bottom of the kettle (cannot see through the wort). So, I'll have to be sure to remember its approximate location ahead of time.

cheers

 

[rawlus]

Great solution!

 

[rnarzisi]

That's pretty damn clever. I look forward to hearing about how it will work post brewing with the wort, hops and trub obscuring your vision and presumably the hole as well.

Could a T pipe be added post pump to the plumbing below to essentially do the same thing without have to fuss with getting the pipe into the hole from the top?

 

[Atertee]

Good day I decided to post my Braumeister 50L brew setup. The Braumeister is amazing for small apartment and since I live in 3 and a half I have no regrets. My latest modification is the condenser that connect to the copper hood using flexible tubing. On my last brew the condenser enabled me to recover 2liters of water that is a lot of humidity in a bucket and not in my apartment.

Happy Brewing.

 

[nielsr]

Good day I decided to post my Braumeister 50L brew setup. The Braumeister is amazing for small apartment and since I live in 3 and a half I have no regrets. My latest modification is the condenser that connect to the copper hood using flexible tubing. On my last brew the condenser enabled me to recover 2liters of water that is a lot of humidity in a bucket and not in my apartment.

Happy Brewing.

Cool setup! Is this condenser DIY or off-the-shelf? Would you mind sharing some info about how it operates (I suppose you run cold water through it which makes the evaporation condens or something similar...)?

Cheers,
Niels

 

[dinnerstick]

very nice!

 

[Soviet]

I posted this in the other forum, but I thought I'd start a quick discussion. Let's call it Sparging is for Suckers:

5 Reasons you shouldn't sparge:

1. You have $3000 (more if you modified) electric all-in-one vessel machine and you're still heating water in a separate vessel?
2. You still have to adjust/acidify your sparge water, additional steps, additional measurements required, simplify your process
3. Improper adjustment of sparge water can lead to excess tannin extraction
4. You can avoid 1,2, and 3 (above) if you simply use a bit more grain and don't sparge
5. You can avoid 1,2, and 3 if you add a little bit of DME too

So, why would you sparge? To save a few bucks on ingredients? Maybe?

 

[DeGarre]

I get my water for the sparge from the hot tap and hot water boiler, no extra hassle. And by sparging I get many litres more beer and still hit my gravity. I mash with 26L and would end up with a lot less than 20L of finished beer if I didn't sparge. Now I sparge with 6-8L and get to bottle 22-23L of beer minimum. First 2 times I brewed with BM I mashed with the "recommended" 23L or so and didn't sparge, got around 16 litres of beer max.

I did the math.

 

[ColdJazz]

...you don't have to adjust/acidify your sparge water since the grain has enough buffering power by itself (which is true in many cases - there are exceptions of course). What you however always should keep an eye on is the pH of the runnings (or what ever you call it – the outcoming wort )

 

[Soviet]

I get my water for the sparge from the hot tap and hot water boiler, no extra hassle. And by sparging I get many litres more beer and still hit my gravity. I mash with 26L and would end up with a lot less than 20L of finished beer if I didn't sparge. Now I sparge with 6-8L and get to bottle 22-23L of beer minimum. First 2 times I brewed with BM I mashed with the "recommended" 23L or so and didn't sparge, got around 16 litres of beer max.

I did the math.

I don't see how this should necessarily affect the volume of your finished beer. I just top up with whatever volume of water I need to achieve my target pre-boil volume, and I don't have to process or heat that water separately.

...you don't have to adjust/acidify your sparge water since the grain has enough buffering power by itself (which is true in many cases - there are exceptions of course). What you however always should keep an eye on is the pH of the runnings (or what ever you call it – the outcoming wort )

You're kind of contradicting yourself there... if the first part of your claim is true, then you don't need to keep an eye on the runnings PH.

 

[ColdJazz]

You're kind of contradicting yourself there... if the first part of your claim is true, then you don't need to keep an eye on the runnings PH.

This is exactly the reason why I try to stay away from forums. Dont you figure you will lose buffering power as you sparge? Think about how chemistry works.

 

[ColdJazz]

I wont comment any more in this thread until it's about the BM. Anyone who is interested about the subject I just commented about is welcome to PM me.

 

[Soviet]

This is exactly the reason why I try to stay away from forums. Dont you figure you will lose buffering power as you sparge? Think about how chemistry works.

Read carefully before making snide remarks. I wasn't making the argument you're disputing. Of course the mash loses buffering power! That's precisely the reason professional brewers acidify their sparge water. That's Sierra Nevada's process, and I'm sure they're not the only ones.

Now that we're on the same page, can you enlighten us as to what basis you have to claim that:

"you don't have to adjust/acidify your sparge water since the grain has enough buffering power."

Can you quantify "enough," for us?

Anyone who is interested about the subject I just commented about is welcome to PM me.

We are discussing good arguments for sparging on the BM even though sparging isn't required. I'm pretty sure we're on topic.

 

[TXFB]

I've been trying to follow along and one problem I keep hearing is that the 20L system is limited to 13lbs of grain and not being able to create big beers. Why not just increase the size of the tube? Same size on the bottom to ensure the seal, but widen starting at 2-3 inches from the bottom? Add another 1-3 inches in diameter.

 

[DogStar]

I don't think that would work. There needs to be enough liquid around the outside of the pipe to act as a reservoir for the pumps. You would also need bigger capacity pumps to push the greater amount of water over the top of the pipe which would make it worse. It's a case of diminishing returns.

As the lower part of the pipe would need be the same diameter as it is now the grain would still tend to compact more at the bottom. It would be worse due to the weight of the extra grain. That would affect the efficiency.

Fortunately, I never make high gravity beers so the Braumeister suits me perfectly. Apart from doing a double mash or adding sugar or malt extract I don't think there's a good solution.

 

[AleWife1]

Can anyone provide any links or personal knowledge of the 500L being used in a small commercial nano brewery setting? I am an owner operator of a very small brewpub in upstate NY. We have been open since 2008 and brewing with 50 gallon Blichmann Boilermakers and Blichmann 42 gallon fermenters since day 1. We are looking into upgrading and expanding just enough to do a little local distribution while still staying small and staying true to our roots as homebrewers. We are looking into something at least the size of a 4-barrel for our next step and the convenience and small and smart package of the Spiedel is very intriguing. As you all know it takes practically the same amount of time and energy to brew 10 gallons as it does 5. It will probably take the same amount of time and energy to brew 4 barrels as it does 1 using the 500L versus a single barrel system.

A few questions for you folks using the 20L and 50L.....

Would you imagine brewing on the 500L would be very similar to brewing on the smaller versions...only larger volume? Obviously cooling hot wort is a little different with the glycol jacket of the 500L, and the time it takes to dispose of spent grain and cleaning/flushing the system a bit more time consuming.

What would you imagine the shortcomings may be by using this system in a commercial application? I have hunch that most of you will say that higher gravity beers are a bit more challenging from what I've read.

Has anyone done double batches with the 20 or 50....and also done double batches on a traditional mash tun and HLT cooler and boiling kettle (3 vessel) and can compare their findings in the time it takes from start to finish of brewing on the two different systems? It seems to me that any size Spiedel is less conducive to double batches since you must completely drain and clean the wort boil compartment before starting a new batch...whereas you can be mashing while cooling wort in a 3 vessel system. There is some time saved though with the spiedel by not sparging and not transferring the wort from the mash tun to the boiling kettle.

Has anyone been able to calculate their electric usage cost of the spiedel vs. gas usage cost on a conventional direct-fired brewing kettle?

Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences with this machine. I'd really like to think the 500L has a place in the brewpub/nano brewery world, and I'm willing to really pursue it if you all think I should go for it. The only other system I'm looking at right now as an upgrade to our single barrel is a Psycho Brew 5-barrel system that uses (2) 100 gallon mash tuns and (2) 100 gallon boiling kettles and a on-demand hot water system for sparging. Cleaning 4 kettles that you can't reach into without tipping over and climbing in seems to be a real labor of love. It's hard enough to reach into (2) 50 gallon kettles and clean a Therminator everyday.

 

[AleWife1]

Bump

 

[AleWife1]

Any updates from our Speidel brewing friends? Techniques? Mods?

 

[ColdJazz]

...Mods?

This is not really a mod...but close enough.

After struggling a “few” times with hops (pellets) getting stuck in the tap which comes as standard with the Braumeister, I decided I had to do something about it (so tired of trying to clear the tap from stuck hops when transferring to the fermentor and losing a few liters of wort).

So I bought myself the ball lock valve from Speidel which has the same 3/4” thread as the standard tap.

From MoreBeer I bought a Stainless - 1.5" TC x 3/4" Female BSPP, a 1.5” Tri-Clap connector, a Stainless - 1.5" TC x 1" Barb and some gaskets and O-rings. Expensive to order from Sweden, but hopefully well worth it!

This won’t only solve the hops getting stuck in the tap – but also speed up the transfer to the fermentor.

Please note that I use the 20 liter version of the Braumeister. I have not successfully been able to create a Whirlpool due to the dimension of the Braumeister. So the only way for me to get rid of hops and some break material is to strain the wort. Works really well – as long as the hops doesn’t get stuck in the tap

/Anton

 

[tequilatom]

Sorry to change subject, but I had to post this...

Just found out that an American IPA I brewed using my 50L won 1st Place and Best of Show at the annual Canfield Homebrew contest! There were 100 entries, 12 First Place winners for different styles of beer, and 1 Best of Show picked from the top 12. I also placed 2nd in the Imperial IPA category. Entries were judged by BJCP certified judges.

Not quite ready to give up the day job though!!!


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[pfgonzo]

Congrats! Big accomplishment!

Are you comfortable sharing the recipe?

 

[tequilatom]

It was actually a recipe from Northern Brewer (Cascade Mountains West Coast Imperial IPA).
Due to an error in adjusting my mill gap, I only got 55-58% efficiency, so I entered it in the American IPA category, which ended up in my favor!



Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[The_Fat_Jedi]

Hey! Nice one buddy! Congrats.


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[Broham1]

Proud new owner of a used 20L BM!

I've been reading this thread for over a year and the right opportunity presented itself two weeks ago.

It just arrived last night, so I've only been able to run a test with water, but everything went well. Unfortunately, first brew day won't be until Monday.

 

[ibbones]

Proud new owner of a used 20L BM!

Jealousy has set in all over me.

Congrats on your new toy. I hope to some day say that same thing.

 

[tequilatom]

Proud new owner of a used 20L BM!

I've been reading this thread for over a year and the right opportunity presented itself two weeks ago.

It just arrived last night, so I've only been able to run a test with water, but everything went well. Unfortunately, first brew day won't be until Monday.

Congrats on your BM purchase!
Let us know how brewday goes.
Going to brew a breakfast stout using Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee on the 25th, can't wait!


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[snurrig]

Long time reader of the forums and have been following this thread from the start, don't post much.

I have a like new 20L Speidel Braumeister. Used only a dozen or so times. I got it when I was a single brewer living in an apartment. Now I have a fiance with a nice system he built himself.

Paid $1950. Looking to get $1250 + buyer pays shipping cost. If you live anywhere between NYC and DC might be able to arrange a delivery/meet between. (I am in Wilmington DE and am frequently in Baltimore for business.)

PM with questions/details.