Braumeister NEXTGEN Build

[djar007]

remove the board from the shield. Program it and reassemble. My boards are just slotted together . Not hard soldered anywhere. So you can remove it for any code tweaks or updates.

edit: Too slow. What he said above.


Lael. I am setting up my 3v setup. It is on hold for the moment as I needed to spend some money and my wife has made me promise o wait until tax time to complete it. But really I have had a think about my needs and the Brau setup I have is awesome. With the addition of the hundred dollar electric gantry winch talked about on this site I have a great setup which is hassle free. If there is one thing I would strongly recommend for these systems it is a tap on the top side of the pump. Really slow flow has improved my brews since changing my pumps and stopped the compaction of the wort and channeling. The top plate for most of the brew is not forced hard up against the locking bar and the grain bed looks a lot softer and fluffier when I sparge. Does anyone use a crab cooker style pot underneath the malt pipe when sparging or draining after mash out?

 

[jwollmer]

Ahh, that makes more sense.

Thanks

 

[lael]

As djar said, pull it off, program, put it back on. Gentle, but firm pressure required.

 

[zwitter]

To program
Unplug Arduino
Program with USB (it powers it to)
Plug back in and it works.
Simple

I too think it is a little poor in blocking the port. But maybe there was a reason?

Zwitter


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[lael]

I'll sparge 5L to 10L or so over the Brau and then sit it on a plastic bucket to sparge any further (double and larger batches). That way you can check the gravity that is coming out..

 

[xredwood]

I have been inspired by everyone here to have a crack at things myself. I have been slaving away with Excel today (my options for graphic software were incredibly limited!). All of the components were drawn in Excel and I tried to be as accurate as I can so hopefully you can figure out what everything is. There is a bit of a legend at the bottom to help.

The plan is for a 50L kettle with 30L ish malt pipe or a 36L kettle with 20L malt pipe. The inlet to the pump is much the same as on the Braumiser (same flush mount fitting), all hoses are camlocks, the pump will be removable and I also intend to make a longer pipe with whirlpool attachment for it as well. I am still very much in the planning stage so if you wouldn't mind taking a look and letting me know your thoughts on what I've got so far I would be very grateful!

The malt pipe will have a flush mount fitting as well which should allow it to drain when it is above the kettle and it connects to an internal threaded coupling on the main kettle. The pump outlet into the main kettle is through a tee which has the threaded rod attached to a cap in the bottom and the threaded rod will go straight through all of the other fittings. The idea is once reaching strike temp, the malt pipe will be lowered then threaded into the coupling, a domed or legged false bottom dropped in to act as a dispersion screen, then a filter plate on top to be made out of a splatter guard and maybe also a more sturdy plate over the top of that.

The part that I am most worried about making is the filter screens so if anyone can offer me any advice for that I would be very grateful!

After mashing, the malt pipe will be unthreaded from the base, and lifted out (I may use a winch/pulley for this) and can then be drained/sparged before boiling. After boiling I intend to use a whirlpool fitting on the side as well as either an immersion chiller or plate chiller. For the element I will either use a 2200-2400W element or a 3400-3600W element (thoughts anyone?). I am planning on doing 20L batches only however if I go for the 50L option I imagine I could do a double batch.

To control it, I am planning on getting a BCS460 mainly because brewing beer on an iPhone seems pretty damn cool to me!

If anyone has any questions, comments, ideas, criticisms, etc I would love to hear them! I'm going to keep playing in excel to give more views of what I'm planning and will post those as well if anyone is interested.

Cheers!

 

[MastersBrewery]

for easier conection Malt pipe to pump line, you might consider using cam locks, check out Arnies Braubushka detailed earlier in this thread. As far as filter plates go, I discussed this with Lael while brewing on his machine and the general consensus was to cut them slightly larger and grind down to create a nice snug fit. His were 2mm plate with 3mm holes on standard pitch, and sourced from M&S stainless. Good luck with the build

MB

 

[angus_grant]

I would say a 36L kettle with 20L malt pipe would be pushing it for boil space if you are wanting to push the malt pipe to the max with grain bill (about 6kgs in my case although that is calculated and not real world)

I have a 50L kettle and first batch on it was 31L after sparging. So a 36L kettle would only have 5L headspace above boil. Not much in my book.

A 50L kettle and 30L malt pipe would be a nice combination. Quick look at volume calculations and you would have max grain bill of 9.6kgs.

You would need actual dimensions of malt pipe to work out min water levels to calculate it all out correctly.

 

[xredwood]

Hi MB,

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not sure that would work. How would I connect and disconnect the malt pipe without being to get at the levers on the cam lock?

 

[xredwood]

I've just discovered another issue. If I use 1/2" camlock with M10 threaded rod through it, I'm leaving virtually no room for wort flow. I think I'll have to go 3/4" with M8 rod which shouldn't be too hard, it just means from the tee up everything needs to be 3/4" which none of the brew shops seem to carry. Shouldn't be too hard to get from a plumbing supply shop though.

Thanks Angus, that's what I was thinking of going with anyway, it's not much more money for the bigger pots so might as well.

 

[angus_grant]

The cam lock setup does not actually lock the levers down. In fact your remove the levers.

Without fully thinking it through the threaded rod running through the cam lock seems a complicated way to go. And you are leaving yourself a very small pathway for the wort to flow. If work flow pathway gets blocked by grain then you are screwed.

I think most of the pathways on the various brau-clones are 1/2" so somewhat unlikely to block. Yours would be a fairly small gap.

3/8" - 8mm is a fairly small gap.

To remove a blockage on mine I would have to undo cam locks on pump tubing. You are undoing everything.

Apologies if I have not understood your design properly. Although the plan you uploaded seems fairly clear.

 

[MastersBrewery]

check arnies set up here, I looked at this some months prior to Matho's was posted, I decided to follow the same route as Matho, Edak, Lael and others as the malt pipe system is simpler. Best advice I can give is to read up, all of this thread and the controller thread and there are also some handy hints in this thread also. I know I've just told you to read 150 odd pages of posts, this is not a simple project, there are pitfalls along the way, if you put the time in now you can save some head aches and possibly some money.
cheers

MB

ED: Also it makes it easier if we know where you are, one of the guys who have completed this project may well offer assistance or even just the chance to see a working clone in action.

 

[angus_grant]

Just worked the gap out. 0.295mm where-as mine would be 0.5mm. So 2mm extra. Doesn't sound like much but every mm counts.

That's what I tell my wife, anyways.

 

[xredwood]

I've been looking at the malt pipe design for the braubushka and 2.0 but I can't figure out how he attaches the malt pipe to the pump outlet... What am I missing? It says all you have to do is lower the mash tun then twist but doesn't say what the connection is or how to connect/disconnect when necessary.

Oh and I am in Cairns.

I am trying to think how I could have the threaded rod attached to the mash pipe only used as a guide for the filter plates to avoid them tilting and letting grain out. One idea I have had is to use the modified cam lock from the origninal braubushka and just have it slightly offset from center and have the threaded rod attached only to the mash tun to avoid all the extra plumbing. The only issue I see with this is making sure I have it lined up properly when inserting the mash pipe could be quite difficult, though I suppose it would be empty at this point.

From what I can see in the pictures, the port in the bottom of the braubushka is a male cam lock and the female cam lock is attached to the bottom of the mash pipe with the levers removed. Is it that simple? Is he suggesting the weight of the mash pipe is enough for an adequate seal and then all I need to do is find a way to hold the top filter plate down?

 

[lael]

The filter plate gap is not as big an issue as you would think. On two side of the pot on Saturday there was about a 2-3mm gap. As the grain swells it creates a filter and stops anything getting through. Not sure if it would make a difference if you were cramming the grain in though.


The other thing I was interested in is that I thought Arnie's efficiency numbers were fairly low. I don't remember if he sparged or not, but I wondered if it was cause the wort doesn't spread as well through the grain bed from a cam fitting.

 

[MastersBrewery]

the first info on that system was on brewtroller forum here. heh that took a bit of thinking to remember.

 

[lael]

To your last question - it looks like it...

 

[MastersBrewery]

To your last question - it looks like it...

yeah confirmed in the link I posted

 

[angus_grant]

Correct there is no clamping for the cam lock system.

 

[xredwood]

OK I've come up with something quite similar to the Braubushka now. Very similar plumbing with the pipe, only difference will be I'm going to mount it slightly to the side and then have a threaded rod dead center of the mash tun to hold the false bottom and top filter in place. It has simplified the plumbing immensely! Here is the updated diagram.