Braumeister NEXTGEN Build

[matho]

I'm only concerned with the water to grain ratio inside the malt pipe because that is what is going to affect the flow through the malt pipe. The rest of the liquid is just there so we can heat it and pump it through the malt pipe.

cheers

 

[Edak]

I'm only concerned with the water to grain ratio inside the malt pipe because that is what is going to affect the flow through the malt pipe. The rest of the liquid is just there so we can heat it and pump it through the malt pipe.

cheers

Can't you just boil all of the extra volume out? Just make sure it's in your hop adding calculations...

 

[matho]

sorry I must be confusing people, that calculation of 21l is the minimum amount of water needed to be able to pump without the element being exposed, you will still have to add water for the sparge to get to pre boil volume. The problem with the braumiser/braumeister is it get confusing because there is 2 different liquid to grain ratio, you have the total liquid to grain ratio which I really think doesn't matter much and the liquid to grain ratio inside the malt pipe which is important to give you good flow, too much grain and you won't get good flow. I said 3l/kg which works well but you could push it to 2.5l/kg if you really want but anything stiffer will probably cause problems. The mention of to much liquid was because once I tried to reduce the amount of water I needed to sparge so I decided to start with more water, the initial water level was only about an inch below the lip of the malt pipe, when i added the grain the water level increased, of course, and ended up going over the top of the malt pipe make a mess of things.

cheers steve

 

[Edak]

sorry I must be confusing people, that calculation of 21l is the minimum amount of water needed to be able to pump without the element being exposed, you will still have to add water for the sparge to get to pre boil volume. The problem with the braumiser/braumeister is it get confusing because there is 2 different liquid to grain ratio, you have the total liquid to grain ratio which I really think doesn't matter much and the liquid to grain ratio inside the malt pipe which is important to give you good flow, too much grain and you won't get good flow. I said 3l/kg which works well but you could push it to 2.5l/kg if you really want but anything stiffer will probably cause problems. The mention of to much liquid was because once I tried to reduce the amount of water I needed to sparge so I decided to start with more water, the initial water level was only about an inch below the lip of the malt pipe, when i added the grain the water level increased, of course, and ended up going over the top of the malt pipe make a mess of things.

cheers steve

I understood that what you meant was the total volume of water plus malt resulted in a higher level than the top of the malt pipe.

 

[cspencer]

sorry I must be confusing people, that calculation of 21l is the minimum amount of water needed to be able to pump without the element being exposed, you will still have to add water for the sparge to get to pre boil volume. The problem with the braumiser/braumeister is it get confusing because there is 2 different liquid to grain ratio, you have the total liquid to grain ratio which I really think doesn't matter much and the liquid to grain ratio inside the malt pipe which is important to give you good flow, too much grain and you won't get good flow. I said 3l/kg which works well but you could push it to 2.5l/kg if you really want but anything stiffer will probably cause problems. The mention of to much liquid was because once I tried to reduce the amount of water I needed to sparge so I decided to start with more water, the initial water level was only about an inch below the lip of the malt pipe, when i added the grain the water level increased, of course, and ended up going over the top of the malt pipe make a mess of things.

cheers steve

steve, I've got it now I, i think :huh:

step 1. put 21L water in pot without malt pipe, bring up to 70+ degrees
step 2. drain most of this water out into clean bucket/drum/pot thing > 21L capacity
step 3. insert and secure malt pipe
step 4. put back into malt pipe about 10L water (just enough to mix/mash up grain)
step 5. secure top filter to malt pipe,
step 6. add remaining water to bring above mini fill level for heating element safety

are step 1-2 required? or just bring up water and grain to desired temp (67ish) from room temp (20ish)

 

[matho]

steve, I've got it now I, i think :huh:

step 1. put 21L water in pot without malt pipe, bring up to 70+ degrees
step 2. drain most of this water out into clean bucket/drum/pot thing > 21L capacity
step 3. insert and secure malt pipe
step 4. put back into malt pipe about 10L water (just enough to mix/mash up grain)
step 3. put bottom filter in place, add malt and stir
step 5. secure top filter to malt pipe,
step 6. add remaining water to bring above mini fill level for heating element safety

are step 1-2 required? or just bring up water and grain to desired temp (67ish) from room temp (20ish)

just take step 2 out, you don't need to remove the water, there should be enough height in the malt pipe so you dont have to worry about it going over the top. With the example in the pdf the height of the water level with 21l and malt added to the malt pipe and the pump off would be about 19cm so you still have 8 cm to go to the top of the malt pipe, you could even add 25l instead of 21l if you want and still have enough height in the malt pipe when filling with grain.

cheers steve

 

[lukec]

Hey guys,
Just thought I would let you know how my first brew in my dodgy braumeister went.
Was a heferweisen, 50% wheat 50% pale.
Added 23 litres water to start got to 50c added grain and raised to 64, all going well so far. Pump running well, element stayed underwater.It held no worries at 64 for the hr then raised to 78 for 15 min mash out.Went to raised malt pipe for sparge when I realized I had not made a handle to lift it straight out.2 pairs of multi grips and scorched hands later I sparges with 12 litres an had pre boil of 30 litres.Could not measure gravity as I dropped my hydrometer and smashed it on concrete.Boiled awesome with 2400 watt element.Ended up with 24 litres post boil and 22 into fermenter.Chilled to 24 and pitched starter and set ferment temp to 19c.I'll let you all know how it turns out.
Anks again for advice and help on how to build one of these.
Luke

 

[lukec]

Hey guys,
Just thought I would let you know how my first brew in my dodgy braumeister went.
Was a heferweisen, 50% wheat 50% pale.
Added 23 litres water to start got to 50c added grain and raised to 64, all going well so far. Pump running well, element stayed underwater.It held no worries at 64 for the hr then raised to 78 for 15 min mash out.Went to raised malt pipe for sparge when I realized I had not made a handle to lift it straight out.2 pairs of multi grips and scorched hands later I sparges with 12 litres an had pre boil of 30 litres.Could not measure gravity as I dropped my hydrometer and smashed it on concrete.Boiled awesome with 2400 watt element.Ended up with 24 litres post boil and 22 into fermenter.Chilled to 24 and pitched starter and set ferment temp to 19c.I'll let you all know how it turns out.
Anks again for advice and help on how to build one of these.
Luke

 

[matho]

sounds good luke, any pics?

cheers steve

 

[lukec]

sounds good luke, any pics?

cheers steve

Yep, a few. I'll try to get them on here tonight.

 

[angus_grant]

Despite all that, you still made beer... :kooi: Nice work Luke.

Sounds like people are starting to get these things up and running. I wonder whether we should split out our builds into separate threads. It is next to impossible to follow a particular build through all 27 pages of this thread.

I ordered one of those USB data acquisition boards last night so look forward to playing with that. The one problem is that I will need my small laptop whenever I want to brew. But that is one downside to so many upsides. And laptops are so cheap these days. I am also wondering about a Windows tablet with touch-screen, etc, etc. That would be swanky, but a future purchase. Still got to buy my pots, heating element, etc, etc.. And build the damn thing. ha ha..

So what size malt pipe (seems most people are using the Big W pot) and main vessel pots are people using? It seems the 19L Big W pot is popular for the malt pipe. And I have seen a couple of posts where people are using a 50L main vessel pot. I've got Matho's pdf document to calculate water size and making sure it is above the element, but have not calculated it out yet.

I played with the idea of ordering the Braumeister 20L malt pipe plus filters for the 50L model, but it comes out to $170 or so. Figure I can build something much cheaper than that.

I take it that a double-batch (not that I am doing them but it is a consideration) would not be achievable in a 19L malt pipe due to grain to liquid ratio problems. I just realised how open-ended a question that is. Let's say a double-batch of 4.5% beer. Even the amount of liquid would be very close to the volume of a 50L vessel, and that doesn't even account for boil-off. So not easily achieved without top-ups into fermenter, etc, etc. I think I just answered my own question

 

[cspencer]

Hey guys,
Just thought I would let you know how my first brew in my dodgy braumeister went.
Was a heferweisen, 50% wheat 50% pale.
Added 23 litres water to start got to 50c added grain and raised to 64, all going well so far. Pump running well, element stayed underwater.It held no worries at 64 for the hr then raised to 78 for 15 min mash out.Went to raised malt pipe for sparge when I realized I had not made a handle to lift it straight out.2 pairs of multi grips and scorched hands later I sparges with 12 litres an had pre boil of 30 litres.Could not measure gravity as I dropped my hydrometer and smashed it on concrete.Boiled awesome with 2400 watt element.Ended up with 24 litres post boil and 22 into fermenter.Chilled to 24 and pitched starter and set ferment temp to 19c.I'll let you all know how it turns out.
Anks again for advice and help on how to build one of these.
Luke

great work luke, can't wait to see the pics.

 

[Edak]

great work luke, can't wait to see the pics.

+1 :drinks:

Good to hear that it went well though. Was the wort nice and clear?

 

[Edak]

Thermal products Thomastown. 900mm, 2400w element was about $80.

Looking back through at this, what was the model number of your element? I can't find it...

 

[dkaos]

Just call them and tell them the specs, they will know what you need once you tell them. I spoke to them the other day and they were good.

 

[lukec]

Looking back through at this, what was the model number of your element? I can't find it...

reciept is on my desk at work. I will let you know tomorrow

 

[lukec]

This is the only clear photo the rest are a bit steamy. Its about 15mins into the mash. By the end it was crystal clear.
Next brew i will video a few parts and post.

Checked fermenter tonight and everything looks good. Big krausen up which had gone up through air lock.

 

[angus_grant]

Hi everybody,

I earnt some extra money over the last couple of weeks and am now looking at buying my pots for the build. I am looking at these guys pots: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BRAND-NEW-COMME...#ht_4888wt_1397

Now after doing some calculations (thanks so much Matho for your "malt pipe" calculations), my current 19L Big W pot + a 50L stainless pot from eBay will give me 4.45ks gain (as per Matho's calcs from the pdf). I wonder whether that is enough if I wanted to do some bigger beers.

So I was looking at a 25L + 71L from the eBay people. This would give me around 5.8kg grain capability with 26L minimum water. This minimum figure is a bit rough as the pot tapers from top to bottom. My homebrew book is at home so I can't really look up recipes (plus I am at work now). So using 5.8kg as the grain amount, that would give me about 9L in grain volume. So 26L - 9L grain volume gives me 17L, so then sparging with 12L to get me back up to 29L pre-boil volume. Assuming 3L trub and 3L boil loss, that would give me 23L into the fermenter.

Does this all sound sensible? I am sure I am missing something...

 

[lukec]

reciept is on my desk at work. I will let you know tomorrow

Checked there websit, it's not on it. Part number is h03725. $71.50 in gst.

 

[matho]

Hi everybody,

I earnt some extra money over the last couple of weeks and am now looking at buying my pots for the build. I am looking at these guys pots: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BRAND-NEW-COMME...#ht_4888wt_1397

Now after doing some calculations (thanks so much Matho for your "malt pipe" calculations), my current 19L Big W pot + a 50L stainless pot from eBay will give me 4.45ks gain (as per Matho's calcs from the pdf). I wonder whether that is enough if I wanted to do some bigger beers.

So I was looking at a 25L + 71L from the eBay people. This would give me around 5.8kg grain capability with 26L minimum water. This minimum figure is a bit rough as the pot tapers from top to bottom. My homebrew book is at home so I can't really look up recipes (plus I am at work now). So using 5.8kg as the grain amount, that would give me about 9L in grain volume. So 26L - 9L grain volume gives me 17L, so then sparging with 12L to get me back up to 29L pre-boil volume. Assuming 3L trub and 3L boil loss, that would give me 23L into the fermenter.

Does this all sound sensible? I am sure I am missing something...

those figures I quoted in the PDF were conservative estimates, in the braumiser I went for a pot that gave me about 7.5l 'mash tun' capacity. Now this has limited me to about 10l of 1.050 wort into the fermenter, that is with 2.5kg of grain. What I have found with my system is that extract efficiency drops off rapidly as the grain bill increase, at 2kg of grain I can expect 80%+ extract at 2.5kg that has dropped to about 72%. If you can, go larger because it will give you more flexibility with the grain bill, your figures look good at glance, without knowing the exact dimensions of the pots. With a 19l pot you could probably squeeze over 5kg into it but the flow and efficiency will suffer.

cheers steve