Braumeister NEXTGEN Build

[dicko]

Looking at building a braumeister clone, would one of ross's 70lt pots be good for the outer pot.

I dont think you can buy one of the pots from Ross that has not got the hole allready drilled in the side. If the hole suits your design then go for it.

Cheers

 

[Edak]

Hey barrel!, voile is too fine so I would put a splatter guard in its place.

 

[abbottdk]

Lael - You maybe onto something with the crush. I am using a JSP Malt mill that is not adjustable after checking with the feeler gauges I am at 1.0mm.
I am an experienced mash brewer (>50 batches) and have used this mill for a 3V & BIAB (using fine voile) without a problem and have always added the grain at the mash in temp. Maybe this can not be done for the braumeister. It will be interesting to hear what other brewers are doing

 

[Sam England]

My mate and I have had no issues with the voille to date (10-15 brews between us). As mentioned earlier, it's not the really fine voile you use for BIABíng, but a coarser grade with squares just under 1mm square. I've got my mill set on 1mm from my BIAB days and haven't had any issues with the little brown pump pushing the wort through or getting gushers. Your issue is possibly due to the support plate not having enough flow area behind your screen which may rule out the voille option. The pic below is what I'm using for my top plate with the voille held on with a drawstring. Do you have any pics of your setup or from a brew day?

I tend to mash in at around 40deg as the malt bill doesn't tend to clump up as much. I've been doing a protein rest on the way up to the sacch rest probably because I can now, rather than finding I actually need it.
Good luck with your rig. I had a few teething issues as well and it's definitely worth it once you get them sorted out.

 

[abbottdk]

As I did not have pictures I thought I would mash 5 kg today and see what effect the recommendations had on the flow rate as well as take some pictures. I heated the water to 40 deg and then mashed in I had good flow at the start which then dies down, if you stop the pump and let the level fall and then restart the flow is good again until the bed compacts. I tried this with the 2 mm mesh, 1mm mesh and also the 1mm flyscreen and none would allow a consistent flow where you could walk away. The only way I could get a consistent flow was to remove the fine altogether and only use the slotted plate (slots = 25mm x 2.2mm) but this allows fines to pass through and the plate is also a bit smaller than the opening and this is why you see some grain coming through.
With any of the fine mesh in their was temp difference from top to bottom of 10-20 deg depending on flow. (water trials have 3 deg)
I included a plastic malt tube which was my original but only trialled using 3.5kg malt and it flowed OK with the little brown pump , the reason I tried to upgrade was that it was difficult to clip the lid on even so the overflow was uneven.
Conclusions:

• mashing in at 40 deg eliminated plate blockages
• low flow is not due to fine screen
• current bed depth 300mm
• turning the pump off and then on frees the bed and flow commences again
• best result achieved was only on 3.5 kg of grain but was with a 300 mm opening (plastic bucket)
• 240v pump has a greater flow the the 12vdc but both can only develop a 3-4 metre head and both dead head with a high resistance

I plan to replace this malt tube with the big w pot and install new plates the bed depth will decrease from 300mm to 200 mm and this should be OK as it is working for others.

 

[lael]

fascinating. makes me wonder if that is why the brau has the 10 min pump break built in, to let the grain bed collapse and move so it doesn't get stuck / create too much back pressure. How long does it take for the malt pipe to fill without anything in there and how much flow do you get? I wonder if you are actually having sealing issues at the bottom of the malt pipe, and it only is really clear when you are mashing under pressure. Fluid is finding an easier way out the pot - through the bottom?

 

[abbottdk]

If I was to put a timer on I would have said to reset every 10 mins, but I am not sure that this is what evetone is doing with their clone's but may be necessary with a bed depth greater than 200mm. Athough there may be leakage at the bottom seal I think it is minimal as the clearance is .25-.5 mm. I have done several modification to stop the top plate bending which I don't think would happen if if a large amount was leaking. I suspect reading other threads that I probably have less leakage than the systems using the silicon hose on the bottom. Also I have had a fountain hit the ceiling indicating high pressure under the plate.
I think the optimum system was always have the grain fluidised and not compact on the top plate but allow a good flowarte to ensure max heating, however this is not possible as the upward force causes grain to build on the top plate and continue to build increasing the resistence. I think a larger dia would reduce velocity resulting in a lower grain bed density allowing the fliuid to flow more easily.
Anyway this is only a hypothesis and the proof will be when I have the 300 mm pot working.

 

[lael]

lol, I think a wort fountain hitting the ceiling is a very good sign. What seal at the base are you using? I look forward to hearing how you go.

 

[abbottdk]

It is difficult to see how it works with the st steel malt tube as a plate hides it. I have attached pics of the plastic bucket system that uses the same principle. The clearance is quite fine minimising and leakage. The malt tube has a false floor (not shown) for the grain bed to sit on.

 

[Sam England]

Barrel21,
Great job with the build.

I'm starting to think your pump might be the problem. You mentioned earlier that you thought the LBP was flowing too slowly, but mine only trickles slowly over the top of the pot when running (4L/min at a guess). I think the higher flow rate is probably compacting the malt up against the top plate. Once the flow starts to reduce your pressure is going to spike and compact it even further. You're right in saying that the reduced grain depth of a larger pot will help, but I've made a malt pipe extension and can run over 9kg in the BigW pot diameter which is a lot more in grain depth than what your current setup has. Maybe look at throttling your pump back if possible or putting a bypass that you can regulate to reduce the flow rate. This could be as simple as a couple of holes in your pot beneath the bottom false bottom. You couldn't regulate this, but it would help reduce the maximum pressure reached as well. Just a thought if the larger pot doesn't work.

Cheers,
BB

 

[lael]

Barrel21,
Great job with the build.

I'm starting to think your pump might be the problem. You mentioned earlier that you thought the LBP was flowing too slowly, but mine only trickles slowly over the top of the pot when running (4L/min at a guess). I think the higher flow rate is probably compacting the malt up against the top plate. Once the flow starts to reduce your pressure is going to spike and compact it even further. You're right in saying that the reduced grain depth of a larger pot will help, but I've made a malt pipe extension and can run over 9kg in the BigW pot diameter which is a lot more in grain depth than what your current setup has. Maybe look at throttling your pump back if possible or putting a bypass that you can regulate to reduce the flow rate. This could be as simple as a couple of holes in your pot beneath the bottom false bottom. You couldn't regulate this, but it would help reduce the maximum pressure reached as well. Just a thought if the larger pot doesn't work.

Cheers,
BB

Hey Blue Baggers,

how did you extend your BigW malt pipe? I'm thinking about doing the same thing.

 

[Sam England]

Evening Lael,

I basically cut the bottom out of a second pot and pushed the two together. I've got a couple of holes that I use to support the top plate in my design which I then drilled out again through the second pot when they were together and used 4 short M6 bolts to hold them together. You can probably get the gist of it in the image below even though the bolts aren't shown. I picked up an extra 80mm with the design shown. I would have liked more, but the taper on the pots limits this. There were two problems with the design:
1) I can't fit my lid on the keg by about 10mm when it's in use, and 2) the grain bed compacts and doesn't drain quickly enough when sparging. I got around this by pausing the unit, draining the first runnings into a bucket and then adding the sparge water to the keg and circulating it with the pump back through the mash in two lots. I haven't maxxed out the grain bill yet, but I can get just over 6kg in the standard pipe and I managed 25L of 1.070 (7kg grain) into the fermenter with a 60min boil with the larger pipe. I think I could probably go 8kg of grain, but I don't tend to brew too many big beers. I have considered parti-gyle brewing and running off the first runnings to make plus 1.10 beers and making a lower SG second brew with the spargings, but haven't tried this either yet. I actually sparge all my brews with the pump this way now as I've found it doesn't take much longer, I pick up a few extra points on mash efficiency and have an accurate preboil SG and starting volume so I can adjust the boil and hops if required.

 

[Blackbeer&rum]

hello all,

Have just completed reading this entire post and would like to commend all for the free will to share infomation, im new to brewing and the has given me a good start to this intresting hobby and buying a beer will soon be a thing of the past.

just got to get some parts and hope to work out the control system Matho shows in his posts, good at Tig welding but electronics ummmmmm not so good!

once again thanks to all.

 

[bonj]

hello all,

Have just completed reading this entire post and would like to commend all for the free will to share infomation, im new to brewing and the has given me a good start to this intresting hobby and buying a beer will soon be a thing of the past.

just got to get some parts and hope to work out the control system Matho shows in his posts, good at Tig welding but electronics ummmmmm not so good!

once again thanks to all.

Here's a link to the controller thread: http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/59563-i-want-mathos-controler/page-1

I have a number of bonjuino kits ready to ship, but they do need assembly. I can pre-program the chip with the latest code before they ship. On top of that, you will need matho's shield. A post in that thread will tell you if anyone currently has any spare. Failing that, it is extremely easy, and relatively cheap to have a batch of 10 made up (approximately AUD$35 delivered). You will also need to buy the parts and assemble it, along with the project case and power supply.... this thread contains a link somewhere to the instructions and parts list. If you have trouble, there are plenty of folks on here that will be willing to help you out.

 

[Blackbeer&rum]

Yes please would love two kits please, all programmed.

Many thanks

 

[kpaxy444]

yes please I would like a kit ,
Cheers.

 

[bonj]

Blackbeer&rum and kpaxy44,

Here is a link to the bonjuino kit page. All the information about the bonjuino is on there. Make sure you are aware that this is a kit and requires assembly. Also be aware that it is only part of the complete controller and other parts are required.

Bonjuino

 

[Blackbeer&rum]

just payed for two units Bonj, many thanks champ will supply picks as the build takes place

 

[bonj]

Thanks Blackbeer&rum.

Anyone who has orderedthrough the above link, can you please PM me so I can match AHB usernames to orders, thanks

 

[Blackbeer&rum]

just a thought, everyone is going on about the thickness of s/steel mesh for the top of the mash pot and how to hold it from moving and twisting, what about welding a ring on top of the mesh and then the cross braces would stop all movement?

sorry if I'm posting out of order but was just my thought

Question, how do you post i picture, i drew up on cad a pic showing this??