Braumeister settings

[Crusty]

What would be the best setting for the grain mill then? Or is that subjective dependant on whether it can be adjusted and model?

I eyeball mine sort of. I set the gap to the thickness of my credit card initially & then ever so slightly open the gap just a fraction more making sure it's even on both sides. I need to get a decent set of feeler gauges at some stage but this works pretty well for me. I'm gusessing that the gap on the Mini Mill is 1.2-1.4mm or so.

 

[Wolfman]

When using Beersmith do you add the sparge water suggested to the mash water then minus the amount of water, grain mass, from the total?

 

[Black n Tan]

Yep!
I'll take some photos next brew.

what do you use to whirlpool? How long do you leave it to settle? How much whirlfloc or brewbrite do you use? I just always seem to leave behind 6-8L of trubby wort. I just can't imagine only leaving behind 2L. I have tried a lot of different things but I never seem to be able to reduce the trub losses. A few extra litres in the fermenter would be good, although not the be all and end all.

 

[Black n Tan]

What would be the best setting for the grain mill then? Or is that subjective dependant on whether it can be adjusted and model?

Mine is currently set to 1.2mm (two roller Barley Crusher Malt Mill) and I have the roller turn relatively slowly. Different mills may need a different setting, but this is somewhere to start. It does tear the husk a little, so it would be possible to go wider, say 1.4mm. I like to push the BM to the capacity limit and I find with a 1.2mm crush I can get more malt in the maltpipe than with a 1.4mm crush.

 

[Black n Tan]

When using Beersmith do you add the sparge water suggested to the mash water then minus the amount of water, grain mass, from the total?

Hi Wolfman, dow did the first brew on the Bm go? In BS you have different options on how to handle this. I sparge at 1L/kg which replaces the water absorbed by the grain. In the BS profile I add the sparge water to the 'top up water for kettle' and set this to 10L (e.g. for a typical 10kg batch).

 

[Crusty]

When using Beersmith do you add the sparge water suggested to the mash water then minus the amount of water, grain mass, from the total?

No.
I mash in with 55lt of water ( 2lt of that is the amount left behind in the BM after transferring to the fermenter )
So the system has 55lt to work with. Out of that amount, boil off, grain absorption & fermenter loss is taken into account. The sparge volume is then worked out to get me to my required pre-boil volume, which for me is 63.08lt. Sparge volume is calculated at 18.22lt + 2.28lt so I'm sparging with 20.5lt of water.

what do you use to whirlpool? How long do you leave it to settle? How much whirlfloc or brewbrite do you use? I just always seem to leave behind 6-8L of trubby wort. I just can't imagine only leaving behind 2L. I have tried a lot of different things but I never seem to be able to reduce the trub losses. A few extra litres in the fermenter would be good, although not the be all and end all.

I'm whirlpooling with a wooden paddle. I go pretty hard & get a nice whirlpool going. I whirlpool after I take out the immersion chiller so maybe 15-20mins after the machine has finished boiling. I take out the chiller, whirlpool & leave it for about 20mins or so. I transfer to the fermenter & have to tip the BM forward to get as much wort out as possible. I use one whirlfloc tablet for 52lt into the fermenter. My Mill gap is probably more like 1.4mm so I'm crushing pretty open but efficiency hasn't suffered @78%+. I get a very clean break so it's mostly trub with very little wort left behind.

 

[Black n Tan]

I'm whirlpooling with a wooden paddle.

I have toyed with the idea of using my wooden mash paddle to whirlpool but was too worried about an infection.

 

[Crusty]

I have toyed with the idea of using my wooden mash paddle to whirlpool but was too worried about an infection.

I have trouble getting the wort to pitching temp on hot days just using the outside tap so I'm whirlpooling pretty warm. No infections so far. I usually end up putting the fermenter into the fermenting fridge which is set @18deg to get it down to temp & it usually takes overnight to get there. I pitched @24deg last brew & it was @18deg not long after that. Not ideal but again no problems so far. That's the only disavantage with the immersion chiller, ambient temps. I could rig up an esky, pump with ice water but it's just as easy to chuck it in the fridge.

 

[Andy_Chil]

Hi Mr Spisey,

Definitely 1.2mm is the go for grain crush. On the 20l I fill to the 25litre mark and mash in. I then calculate final volume (23l mostly) less grain absorption (1litre per kg) and boil off (3 litres per hour) and then sparge the difference to bring it back to the final volume. Never fails. On another forum, I think this is called "the Dicko Method". Never fails. Mash efficiency usually 75% on the knocker.

 

[Cervantes]

Hi Mr Spisey,

Definitely 1.2mm is the go for grain crush. On the 20l I fill to the 25litre mark and mash in. I then calculate final volume (23l mostly) less grain absorption (1litre per kg) and boil off (3 litres per hour) and then sparge the difference to bring it back to the final volume. Never fails. On another forum, I think this is called "the Dicko Method". Never fails. Mash efficiency usually 75% on the knocker.

This is exactly the procedure that I use as well with similar mash efficiency.

 

[Crusty]

Hi Mr Spisey,

Definitely 1.2mm is the go for grain crush. On the 20l I fill to the 25litre mark and mash in. I then calculate final volume (23l mostly) less grain absorption (1litre per kg) and boil off (3 litres per hour) and then sparge the difference to bring it back to the final volume. Never fails. On another forum, I think this is called "the Dicko Method". Never fails. Mash efficiency usually 75% on the knocker.

Can you post your Braumeister equipment profile Andy?
Cheers

 

[dicko]

When using Beersmith do you add the sparge water suggested to the mash water then minus the amount of water, grain mass, from the total?

What I do is have beersmith calculate the total water needed and measure it accurately into the BM then drain the amount that is the difference between the top mark on th BM centre rod and the total water needed.
In my case, 20 litre BM, I use the total minus the 25 litres recommended for the sparge.
This is usually around 7 to 8 litres, depending on the amount of grain.
I have my grain absorption at .65 litres per kilo aproximately which will get you close and you may fine tune from there.

Cheers

 

[Andy_Chil]

Well close to the Dicko method. It think there is a tad more accuracy with the actual Dicko method!! I have never seem to get my grain absorption numbers that low. I use 1 litre per kg, but the actual figure is closer to 900g per litre.

 

[Cervantes]

I have never seem to get my grain absorption numbers that low. I use 1 litre per kg, but the actual figure is closer to 900g per litre.

Do you squeeze down on the top filter plate after you sparge?

This makes a big difference to your grain absorption rate.

 

[Dan Pratt]

Note to self!.......Do not drink that extra glass & jump on the forum & talk about beer & equipment. I posted my 50lt BM profile which is not correct. Loss to Trub & Chiller should be 0. The profile for the BM for me is Lauter Tun Deadspace 2lt & Fermenter loss 2lt.

50lt BM Settings.PNG

Hi crusty, no losses to trub and chiller seems weird, I get that you do have losses but place those to lauter tun and fermented. effectively your brewhouse eff is at 78% and if you include the real losses of trub and chiller that %would be sub 70% right?

Unless ofcourse you don't have losses to trub and chiller

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

I find this thread pretty interesting from an approach point of view. Seems you guys generally treat a sparge as a constant, like mash volume. For me, sparge is a variable correction - I hit my target OG through sparge. It's probably within 500ml every time, but I never really think of it as X litres in, I think of it as Y OG out...

 

[dicko]

Hi crusty, no losses to trub and chiller seems weird, I get that you do have losses but place those to lauter tun and fermented. effectively your brewhouse eff is at 78% and if you include the real losses of trub and chiller that %would be sub 70% right?
Unless ofcourse you don't have losses to trub and chiller

I am like Crusty and I ignore the losses to trub and chiller.

IMO this figure is useless at the home brew level and really just goes to cause confusion when a newby is setting up Beersmith 2.

In a commercial situation it becomes a lot more relevant as this figure will come into play with your profit (or loss) factors.

In the HB situation as long as you achieve the amount of beer you need to fill your keg or your required amount of bottles then that is really all that matters.
Many BM brewers let the trub settle out and can gain a litre or two of wort for starters or just add that wort to the fermenter during fermentation.
This, of course, is only my opinion

Cheers

 

[Spiesy]

I am like Crusty and I ignore the losses to trub and chiller.

IMO this figure is useless at the home brew level and really just goes to cause confusion when a newby is setting up Beersmith 2.

In a commercial situation it becomes a lot more relevant as this figure will come into play with your profit (or loss) factors.

In the HB situation as long as you achieve the amount of beer you need to fill your keg or your required amount of bottles then that is really all that matters.
Many BM brewers let the trub settle out and can gain a litre or two of wort for starters or just add that wort to the fermenter during fermentation.
This, of course, is only my opinion

Cheers

But knowing your losses help you calculate how much you need to hit your target volume and subsequently fill that keg.

 

[Dan2]

The way Beersmith is set up, every loss affects your efficiency.
This means that your efficiency on a very hoppy boil/whirlpool brew with dry hop additions too will give you a much lower eff. than say a weizen or something with very little losses after the boil.
Which is not true - your mash efficiency should stay constant (given a consistent crush and enough time to convert).
So the best we can do for consistency for now is as Dicko and Crusty have said - don't put in trub or fermentor losses.
I have set up several profiles, all with exactly the same eff, boil off, (zero) losses after boil etc, but with different end of boil volumes to account for trub, dry hop, and filter losses.
I have emailed Brad about this and he is working on setting up the equations linked to mash eff. to work separate from brewhouse eff.

 

[Spiesy]

The way Beersmith is set up, every loss affects your efficiency.
This means that your efficiency on a very hoppy boil/whirlpool brew with dry hop additions too will give you a much lower eff. than say a weizen or something with very little losses after the boil.
Which is not true - your mash efficiency should stay constant (given a consistent crush and enough time to convert).
So the best we can do for consistency for now is as Dicko and Crusty have said - don't put in trub or fermentor losses.
I have set up several profiles, all with exactly the same eff, boil off, (zero) losses after boil etc, but with different end of boil volumes to account for trub, dry hop, and filter losses.
I have emailed Brad about this and he is working on setting up the equations linked to mash eff. to work separate from brewhouse eff.

Got you. Yeah, spot on - there should be difference between mash and total brewhouse efficiency.

I use BeerAlchemy, so this doesn't affect me.