Speidel Braumeister (brewmaster)

[nifty9000]

don't this is going to work, my evaporation rate is 0.9 US gallons per hour so you would have to wait over an extra 2 hours to reduce by 2 gallons, also the water/grist ratio would be well outside the normal range

 

[wobdee]

don't this is going to work, my evaporation rate is 0.9 US gallons per hour so you would have to wait over an extra 2 hours to reduce by 2 gallons, also the water/grist ratio would be well outside the normal range

How much water do you start with? Speidel recommends 25l? I read over on the Braumeister forum you can get away with 20-21 liters as long as the heating elements are covered. I guess it also depends on grain absorption as well, a full malt pipe may suck up more water and expose the elements if you only start out with 20l of water but I'd only be using 5-6 lbs of grain so may be it will work? I guess it's something I'll have to play around with.

 

[wobdee]

Will this power cord work for the 20l BM?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004WJODBW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[rlhvegas]

Hello Everyone,

Wanted to let everyone know I'm selling my Braumeister 20L so that I can upgrade to a larger pilot system for my startup nanobrewery. Come by the "for sale" section and take a look if you are interested in an additional system, or know someone who wants to purchase a well maintained Braumeister 20L.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=548720

Cheers.

 

[HopSong]

Will this power cord work for the 20l BM?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004WJODBW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Should work fine. I'm using..
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0093WFT66/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

and
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00002NAT0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[wobdee]

Brewed up my first batch the other day. I targeted 3.5 gal batch of pilsner figuring I'd leave behind a half gal in the kettle for trub settling. I started off with 5.5 gal of water and 5.5 lbs of grain. Found out fast that this wasn't enough water to cover the heating elements so I added another half gal. So now I have 6 gal total and adjusted my boil time from 90 min to 120 to compensate the extra water.

Everything went fine except midway through the mash the pump made a whinning noise and stopped pumping. I turned it on and off a few times and it went back to normal ops. I think there may have been some grain in the impeller?

I targeted 78% efficiency and got 79%. Ended up with 3.5 gal in the kettle and 3 gal clean wort in the fermenter.

I have to work out a few bugs but I really like this system and looking forward to many more brews. Thanks to all that posted here for your info and knowledge, it helped me greatly.

 

[Harloc]

Hello guys. Does anybody have the brewmeister 50l hood?
Could you help me with the dimensions of this hood? Upper diameter...height in the middle and total height?

Best, Peter

 

[dude1]

Super solution, thanks.
I would recommend to put the aluminum lining inside to prevent the pad from melting at the level of the heating coil.

 

[Mike_McBrew]

Hello all,

I would like to be able to brew (post fermentation) volumes in the range of
20 litres - 18 litre corny keg plus a couple of bottles - so maybe 22 litres into the fermentor
30 litres - 18 litre corny keg plus a quite a few bottles - so maybe 32 litres into the fermentor
(Eventually, if I get a bigger fermentor -> 40 litres - 2 x 18 litre corny kegs plus a couple of bottles - so maybe 42 litres into the fermentor)

I am assuming the 20 litre Braumeister will not allow me to hit 30 litres post fermentation
The 50 litre Braumeister seems well suited based on a post I found elsewhere (link):

Hi, I have a 50L braumeister although i've not yet used the 50L malt pipe as I've just been using the 25L (only 3 brews so far) but have been playing around with recipe's on beersmith so this is just a guesstimate.

The 3 brews i have done withe the 25L malt pipe have ended up as follows:

Amber Ale: 30L mash in, 4.82KG grain, 4L sparge, 23L into fermenter, OG 1.047.
Butser Bitter: 30L mash in, 4.42KG grain, 12L Sparge, 30L into fermenter, OG 1.036.
Wheat Beer: 27.5 mash in, 5.00KG grain, 10L sparge, 25L into fermenter, OG 1.044 (missed target should have been 1.047)

That post seems to suggest that even with the 25 litre malt pipe you can exceed 25 litres of water.
I am therefore assuming that the malt pipe is not a water volume limitation but does limit the total malt weight that can be used and hence the beer strength.

Have I understood correctly?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Nesto]

There are a few ways to get 30+ liters out of a BM 20. Here's one: How-To: Double Mashing for Volume

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...meisters.net/viewtopic.php?t=703&share_type=t

 

[Mike_McBrew]

I'm not sure my calculations are correct but I think that with a max grain bill of 6 Kg then 30 litres after the boil would give a max OG of:

1.044 at 70% efficiency
1.035 at 55% efficiency

for 25 litres that becomes

1.053 at 70% efficiency
1.042 at 55% efficiency

So if the post I quoted earlier is correct then 30 litres seems possible unless I want a high OG beer (although at 20 litres / 6 Kg then 1.067 is achievable at 70% efficiency).

Am I missing something?
It goes back to my original question:

I am therefore assuming that the malt pipe is not a water volume limitation but does limit the total malt weight that can be used and hence the beer strength.

Mike

 

[Willee]

Just got a used 20L Braumeister and these are my first comments about it.

First batch was planed to be a 5 gallon batch.
The standard malt tube (grain bucket) requires a minimum of 6 gallons of water to start with.
Otherwise the top coil of the heater is exposed to air when the pump takes the water from the outer area and pumps it into the Malt tube.
Until the malt tube (grain bucket) fills and overflows no liquid will flow back into the outer area and that is where the heating coils are.
They do sell a shorter Malt tube but if the standard one was about 1 inch shorter it would fix this.
Or possably moving the coils 1 inch lower might fix it also.
I have ordered the short Malt tube and hope it will hold enough grain for a 5 gallon run.
This one has the older controller and it will allow you to run the unit manually much like a GrainFather. The big difference is the flow of mash liquid from the bottom of the grain to the top instead of from the the top to bottom. Is this better? I dont know but it is different.
Once the Malt tube is up on its upper stops for sparging the sparge water flows from top to bottom thru the grain.
Running on 220 volts it seems to heat much faster than my GrainFather running on 110 volts.
My only other comment would be about the placement of the control unit at the bottom of the boiler.
If you have the unit setting on a table it is easy to see and control but lifting the malt tube up after mashing is not so easy. Setting on the floor, lifting the malt tube up and onto the stops is easy but then the controller is near the floor and hard to see. GrainFather was smart putting the controller where they did and giving it a slanted face so it is easy to see and control when the unit is setting on the floor.

I look forward to seeing what other think of this system.

 

[wobdee]

Just got a used 20L Braumeister and these are my first comments about it.

First batch was planed to be a 5 gallon batch.
The standard malt tube (grain bucket) requires a minimum of 6 gallons of water to start with.
Otherwise the top coil of the heater is exposed to air when the pump takes the water from the outer area and pumps it into the Malt tube.
Until the malt tube (grain bucket) fills and overflows no liquid will flow back into the outer area and that is where the heating coils are.
They do sell a shorter Malt tube but if the standard one was about 1 inch shorter it would fix this.
Or possably moving the coils 1 inch lower might fix it also.
I have ordered the short Malt tube and hope it will hold enough grain for a 5 gallon run.
This one has the older controller and it will allow you to run the unit manually much like a GrainFather. The big difference is the flow of mash liquid from the bottom of the grain to the top instead of from the the top to bottom. Is this better? I dont know but it is different.
Once the Malt tube is up on its upper stops for sparging the sparge water flows from top to bottom thru the grain.
Running on 220 volts it seems to heat much faster than my GrainFather running on 110 volts.
My only other comment would be about the placement of the control unit at the bottom of the boiler.
If you have the unit setting on a table it is easy to see and control but lifting the malt tube up after mashing is not so easy. Setting on the floor, lifting the malt tube up and onto the stops is easy but then the controller is near the floor and hard to see. GrainFather was smart putting the controller where they did and giving it a slanted face so it is easy to see and control when the unit is setting on the floor.

I look forward to seeing what other think of this system.

The short malt pipe is designed for 2.5 gal batches not 5. You should have no problem with the standard 20l malt pipe for a 5 gal batch. You shouldn't have to sparge for a 5 gal batch as well, many use more water to start with and even flood the malt pipe to forgo the sparge.

 

[topoisomerase]

i've been using my 20L braumeister for five years now and still absolutely love it. occasionally i do brew a big beer and need to use some DME to hit my gravity - but i don't view that as a negative as it rarely comes up.

i do "rinse" the grain bed with sparge water a few times, which of course isn't really sparging per se. i've thought about going to no sparge but haven't been terribly motivated to do so, so me and my coffee urn continue in the same mode and i don't mind it a bit. some day i'll do the experiment of flooding it vs rinsing 1L at a time but haven't done so yet.

i don't even think i took the pump apart the first four years i used it, without any issues. i now do check/clean it each batch and this is super easy.

my old-style controller did fail after three years and i replaced it with the new version, and haven't had any issues since.

-jason

Just got a used 20L Braumeister and these are my first comments about it.

First batch was planed to be a 5 gallon batch.
The standard malt tube (grain bucket) requires a minimum of 6 gallons of water to start with.
Otherwise the top coil of the heater is exposed to air when the pump takes the water from the outer area and pumps it into the Malt tube.
Until the malt tube (grain bucket) fills and overflows no liquid will flow back into the outer area and that is where the heating coils are.
They do sell a shorter Malt tube but if the standard one was about 1 inch shorter it would fix this.
Or possably moving the coils 1 inch lower might fix it also.
I have ordered the short Malt tube and hope it will hold enough grain for a 5 gallon run.
This one has the older controller and it will allow you to run the unit manually much like a GrainFather. The big difference is the flow of mash liquid from the bottom of the grain to the top instead of from the the top to bottom. Is this better? I dont know but it is different.
Once the Malt tube is up on its upper stops for sparging the sparge water flows from top to bottom thru the grain.
Running on 220 volts it seems to heat much faster than my GrainFather running on 110 volts.
My only other comment would be about the placement of the control unit at the bottom of the boiler.
If you have the unit setting on a table it is easy to see and control but lifting the malt tube up after mashing is not so easy. Setting on the floor, lifting the malt tube up and onto the stops is easy but then the controller is near the floor and hard to see. GrainFather was smart putting the controller where they did and giving it a slanted face so it is easy to see and control when the unit is setting on the floor.

I look forward to seeing what other think of this system.

 

[Willee]

here is what the info says about the short malt pipe.
"By utilizing this shortened mash pipe, you can now brew either a 2.5 or 5 gallon batch with your 20L Braumeister!"
So it is possable to brew 5 gal with it ... according to what they say.

 

[wobdee]

here is what the info says about the short malt pipe.
"By utilizing this shortened mash pipe, you can now brew either a 2.5 or 5 gallon batch with your 20L Braumeister!"
So it is possable to brew 5 gal with it ... according to what they say.

No, a 2.5 with the short pipe and a 5 with the standard pipe. You can't brew a 2.5 gal batch with the standard 20l pipe so they basically cut it in half for smaller batches not larger. You still need the larger malt pipe for 5 gal batches.

 

[Willee]

No, a 2.5 with the short pipe and a 5 with the standard pipe. You can't brew a 2.5 gal batch with the standard 20l pipe so they basically cut it in half for smaller batches not larger. You still need the larger malt pipe for 5 gal batches.

I guess they have mis-advertized this ... I'll send it back as soon as it gets here.

 

[gr82fly]

I've had mine for 7 months and love it. I've brewed a lot of good IPAs.
Here's a website I found handy for my first couple of uses information:

http://www.speidelbraumeister.com/

 

[Garage12brewing]

Hi there, I just found this old Braumeister thread. I have been using a 20L for about 3 years and now I upgraded to a 50L system. If anyone with questions about his system I will be glad to help. I also use Speidel conical fermenters and chilling system and controllers.

 

[Juggernaut27]

Hi there, I just found this old Braumeister thread. I have been using a 20L for about 3 years and now I upgraded to a 50L system. If anyone with questions about his system I will be glad to help. I also use Speidel conical fermenters and chilling system and controllers.

Hey there! I see you're a fellow Canadian. Have you done any mod's to your system? I'm looking for an option to improve the valve, so I can connect easier to my pump. Also, do you have the vented lid? I can't seem to source one in Canada.

 

[Garage12brewing]

Hey there! I see you're a fellow Canadian. Have you done any mod's to your system? I'm looking for an option to improve the valve, so I can connect easier to my pump. Also, do you have the vented lid? I can't seem to source one in Canada.

Hi ! Why are you using a pump exactly ? To transfer the wort I guess ? If so Speidel offer this :

https://homebrewsupplies.ca/product/4591-speidel-20l-wort-pump-pipe/

Are you talking about the vented hood ?

https://homebrewsupplies.ca/product/2745-stainless-steel-hood-20l/

If so you can order it from these guys too at Canadian Home brew supply.

 

[Juggernaut27]

Hi ! Why are you using a pump exactly ? To transfer the wort I guess ? If so Speidel offer this :

https://homebrewsupplies.ca/product/4591-speidel-20l-wort-pump-pipe/

Are you talking about the vented hood ?

https://homebrewsupplies.ca/product/2745-stainless-steel-hood-20l/

If so you can order it from these guys too at Canadian Home brew supply.

That's great, thanks! Yes I'm pumping to transfer wort. Cheers!

 

[Newbibrewbi]

Hey, I'm bumping this old thread since I've searched far and wide without finding an answer to my problem.
My efficiency is terrible. When I first bought my BM 20 the efficiency was alright but gradually it's been getting worse and worse. Now I'm down to about 51% Brewhouse efficiency (after tilting it) and I feel like I have to do something about it.

I started out with a bulldog malt mill and have since uppgraded to a mattmill master.
For the last 2 years I've used the same mill and I'm using fine filters from BAC brewing (1,5mm)
I've tried nosparge and sparge but the problem persists regardless.

I'm adjusting my water and using a multi-step mash program. Fresh ingredients.
Yesterdays brew I got a 52% BM efficiency, Beersmith calculated a 55,6% mash efficiency.

Water:
Ca 21,6
Mg 7,3
Na 8,0
Sulfate 31,2
Chloride 39,3
Bicarbonate 16
Treated mash PH to 5,4 with phosphoric acid.

Malt:
94,9% Pils
2,5% Vienna
2,5% Carapils

Did a sparge with 1/3 of the water volume,
mash steps:
mash in 50 C
35 min @ 63 C
35 min @ 69 C
Mashout 20 min @ 78C

I crushed my grains at 1,45 which is a bit smaller than Speidel's recommended 1,6 but the crush looked good.
I pre-treated the grains with about 2% water prior to crushing.
I've tried a finer crush but it always leads to me getting wort fountains.

I've measured the temperature at the top of the water and it doesn't deviate from what the temperature sensor says so I don't think there is a problem with the temp sensor.

Model is a 2015 with a black control box, no wifi-module.


I have considered getting the wifi-module to update the software and to change the pump but I have no indications to suggest it would resolve the issue.

I'm at my wit's end here. If anyone has any idea, suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pocketmon]

my .002

1. How many kgs of malt and wort into fermenter exactly? Sometimes, it might be wrong calculation.
2. Increase Ca. Ca helps enzymes.
3. Try the finest crush. My buddy once brewed a 100% wheat malt beer without clogging. It should be fine to crush to the finest.

 

[GoeHaarden]

I'm using fine filters from BAC brewing (1,5mm)

Are you using the Fine filter or the 1.5mm filter? I have the fine (0.9mm) BAC and I've been getting around 65% conversion efficiency, but I'm still fairly new to the BM and I've been trying to figure out the right crush. BAC even says the large mesh filter will allow for more flow increasing efficiency.

Did your efficiency drop after you changed your mill? I wonder just how sensitive the BM is to the crush.

51% Brewhouse efficiency (after tilting it)

FYI, The BAC siphon will knock down your dead space loss to about 1 liter without tilting. Edit: BM20

3. Try the finest crush. My buddy once brewed a 100% wheat malt beer without clogging. It should be fine to crush to the finest.

Was this on a BM or another AOI? I believe this kind of goes against most suggestions of running a BM. I'm not sure clogging is a major concern with bottom-up flow - more of getting a uniform flow for better conversion.

@Newbibrewbi Are you sure your water is what you think it is? Have you tried doing a batch with treated distilled water? The BrunWater spreadsheet will get your water however you want - I don't even check pH anymore as I trust it.

 

[Newbibrewbi]

my .002

1. How many kgs of malt and wort into fermenter exactly? Sometimes, it might be wrong calculation.
2. Increase Ca. Ca helps enzymes.
3. Try the finest crush. My buddy once brewed a 100% wheat malt beer without clogging. It should be fine to crush to the finest.

4,74 kg malt total, 20l into the fermentor. OG 1.036.
I'll see if bumping up the Ca helps. What would be a good target?
And I can't crush any finer without wort fountains. When I get fountains wort will come out from under the lid and it makes a mess.

Are you using the Fine filter or the 1.5mm filter? I have the fine (0.9mm) BAC and I've been getting around 65% conversion efficiency, but I'm still fairly new to the BM and I've been trying to figure out the right crush. BAC even says the large mesh filter will allow for more flow increasing efficiency.

Did your efficiency drop after you changed your mill? I wonder just how sensitive the BM is to the crush.



FYI, The BAC siphon will knock down your dead space loss to about 1 liter without tilting. Edit: BM20



Was this on a BM or another AOI? I believe this kind of goes against most suggestions of running a BM. I'm not sure clogging is a major concern with bottom-up flow - more of getting a uniform flow for better conversion.

@Newbibrewbi Are you sure your water is what you think it is? Have you tried doing a batch with treated distilled water? The BrunWater spreadsheet will get your water however you want - I don't even check pH anymore as I trust it.

I'm using the 1,5 filter.

I think the BM is sensitive to the crush but one big reason I spent so much on a mattmill is because my efficiency was terrible and I thought a new, better mill could improve that. The efficiency was fine for a few brews and since then it's plummeted.

I have the BAC springer filter but I don't really like it, I prefer tilting the BM instead, that way I can control how much of the trub goes into the fermenter.

The water I used yesterday was RO water. I'm fairly certain that my water calculations are alright with this one. I have the same issue with untreated tap water though.

 

[brian320fo]

Hey, I'm bumping this old thread since I've searched far and wide without finding an answer to my problem.
My efficiency is terrible. When I first bought my BM 20 the efficiency was alright but gradually it's been getting worse and worse. Now I'm down to about 51% Brewhouse efficiency (after tilting it) and I feel like I have to do something about it.

I started out with a bulldog malt mill and have since uppgraded to a mattmill master.
For the last 2 years I've used the same mill and I'm using fine filters from BAC brewing (1,5mm)
I've tried nosparge and sparge but the problem persists regardless.

I'm adjusting my water and using a multi-step mash program. Fresh ingredients.
Yesterdays brew I got a 52% BM efficiency, Beersmith calculated a 55,6% mash efficiency.

Water:
Ca 21,6
Mg 7,3
Na 8,0
Sulfate 31,2
Chloride 39,3
Bicarbonate 16
Treated mash PH to 5,4 with phosphoric acid.

Malt:
94,9% Pils
2,5% Vienna
2,5% Carapils

Did a sparge with 1/3 of the water volume,
mash steps:
mash in 50 C
35 min @ 63 C
35 min @ 69 C
Mashout 20 min @ 78C

I crushed my grains at 1,45 which is a bit smaller than Speidel's recommended 1,6 but the crush looked good.
I pre-treated the grains with about 2% water prior to crushing.
I've tried a finer crush but it always leads to me getting wort fountains.

I've measured the temperature at the top of the water and it doesn't deviate from what the temperature sensor says so I don't think there is a problem with the temp sensor.

Model is a 2015 with a black control box, no wifi-module.


I have considered getting the wifi-module to update the software and to change the pump but I have no indications to suggest it would resolve the issue.

I'm at my wit's end here. If anyone has any idea, suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I used to have this same problem with the same system. I finally started to do a mash stir two or three times during the process. I would stop the pump, take the wing nut off the post and remove the screens. Using a paddle I would loosen up the grain. This solved the problem for me. The question is how much grain are you putting in the pipe? You give us the recipe in %, but what's the actual weight? I found anything over 12lbs in the BM20 I would start to lose efficiency very quickly. I had a tough time getting anything over 1.060.

 

[Newbibrewbi]

I used to have this same problem with the same system. I finally started to do a mash stir two or three times during the process. I would stop the pump, take the wing nut off the post and remove the screens. Using a paddle I would loosen up the grain. This solved the problem for me. The question is how much grain are you putting in the pipe? You give us the recipe in %, but what's the actual weight? I found anything over 12lbs in the BM20 I would start to lose efficiency very quickly. I had a tough time getting anything over 1.060.

I've tried pausing the program and stirring and I've noticed it helps a litte but not enough to solve the issue. At the same time I feel like with an advanced system like the BM I shouldn't have to. Plus it's a pain in the neck if I want to do a nosparge and cover the malt pipe with the mash-in water. I didn't yesterday though. It was a normal mash with a sparge. Added 22liters as per Speidel's recommendations and sparged with 8l.

In yesterday's brew I used 4,74 kg of malt. That's roughly 11.45 lbs. So I don't think the issue is related to over-packing the malt pipe.

I've never gotten a higher gravity than 1.052 (and that was once in the beginning before I started having issues). that time I used about 5,7kg or 12,5 lbs of malt.

 

[pocketmon]

4,74 kg malt total, 20l into the fermentor. OG 1.036.
I'll see if bumping up the Ca helps. What would be a good target?
And I can't crush any finer without wort fountains. When I get fountains wort will come out from under the lid and it makes a mess.


I'm using the 1,5 filter.

I think the BM is sensitive to the crush but one big reason I spent so much on a mattmill is because my efficiency was terrible and I thought a new, better mill could improve that. The efficiency was fine for a few brews and since then it's plummeted.

I have the BAC springer filter but I don't really like it, I prefer tilting the BM instead, that way I can control how much of the trub goes into the fermenter.

The water I used yesterday was RO water. I'm fairly certain that my water calculations are alright with this one. I have the same issue with untreated tap water though.

I am no expert, but 50+ppm is a good starting point. My city is low on Ca, around 13ppm. I tried a few batches without adding brewing salt, and the efficiency dropped a little bit.

I am using the Cereal Killer with finest setting and get around 75~80% for recipes of around 10lbs grains. My BAC filter is 0.9mm, though.

 

[GoeHaarden]

I am using the Cereal Killer with finest setting and get around 75~80% for recipes of around 10lbs grains. My BAC filter is 0.9mm, though.

Interesting. I'm still learning my BM20, and I was going to start opening up my mill gap, but now I might close it more. It's crazy how different results are across users...

Crankandstein 3GT at 0.045 gets me ~65% mash efficiency with 0.9mm filter.