Braumeister - Tips & Tricks

[dicko]

Matt,

My apologies mate, I just re read your post and you have a 50 litre model so I can not comment on the exact volume of water that will be required, however you may be safe in sticking with my first calculation of reducing the volume by the absorption amount over the recommended standard volume.
As long as the wort covers the elements and the wort does not overflow the malt pipe is a good start.

cheers

 

[MattSR]

No worries at all, I'm still getting used to driving this thing and I reckon this next brew should be better than the last one by a mile.

Heck, I might even have my processes down pat enough to remember to measure the O.G. Next time! Maybe I might get to nail the volumes too...


Thanks again for the pointers!

Cheers,
Matt

 

[lukec]

Hey all,
Heres a quick video of the whirlpool/chiller set up im rolling with in my 20l. This was the 1st try and seems to work well
https://youtu.be/HLjORntCHmQ

 

[BJB]

Hey all,
Heres a quick video of the whirlpool/chiller set up im rolling with in my 20l. This was the 1st try and seems to work well
https://youtu.be/HLjORntCHmQ

Looks good, now get a Hop Rocket in there as well.

 

[Dan Pratt]

What's going on with all the hop debris????

 

[lukec]

Boil over,

What's going on with all the hop debris????

 

[wobbly]

My little Sunday morning effort to make a bit of brewing equipment is achieved more easily when most of the brewing community is in church h34r: :lol:

I decided that a Duda Diesel hop spider was out of the question with cost for my BM so this is what I have done to achieve the same result.

First up I bought one of these

http://kegking.com.au/hop-spider.html

Then I went to the local boat chandlary shop and bought a half inch s/steel skin fitting.

Hop Spider 001.jpg

Hop Spider 002.jpg

Hop Spider 003.jpg



The extra hole is because I miscalculated the centre of the bracket once it was bent but it works just the same anyway.

I will use it in anger on my next brew

Hi Dicko re your above post

With your modified Keg king Hop Spider can you detail your hop schedule in particular

• Do you leave the spider in the wort through cooling and until you drain the BM
• If you remove it at the end of the boil how do you stop hop material draining out through the skin fitting hole - or don't you worry about what drains out into the wort/BM
• If you leave the spider and all the hops in the wort/BM through chilling and until you drain the BM how do you calculate/compensate for the additional IBU's post boil

Cheers

Wobbly

 

[dicko]

Hi Wobbly,

I do leave the spider in the kettle until the wort is chilled unless I "no chill" and rhen I lift the spider at flame out.

When I lift the spider I hold it on the centre spigot for a minute or so until the majority of the liquid drains into the wort and then I lift the spider and discard the hop material into the sink.
A small amount of hop material does run out of the centre spigot but I dont worry about it.

Leaving the spider in during chilling is no different to just throwing the hop pellets into the boiler so for all intents and purposes I dont change any calculations for the hops in the spider.

Hope this helps

 

[Wolfman]

Anyone have any problems with over shooting the mash temp?

 

[razz]

By how much Wolfman? I watched mine get to .5 degree above set point and then it drops back to set point.

 

[dicko]

Do you have the new model BM Wolfman?

I have the older model and never had a problem but there has been a bit of discussion on it here...https://forum.braumeisters.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=903&p=8647&hilit=Overshooting+temperatures#p8647

Apparently if you are using the smaller malt pipe it can overshoot.
One pf the posts in that link include a reply from Speidel re the small pipe.

 

[Spiesy]

Anyone have any problems with over shooting the mash temp?

Not according to the Brau temp display.

 

[Wolfman]

I have the older model. Full volume 50L. I noticed it with the last batch. I did have 12.7kg of malt in the pipe. Was the second time I have used the jacket as well. Was mashing at 68 and it was at 70. Checked with a thermometer and at the top it was 65.

This batch is not attenuating very well. Started at 1.070 and dropped quickly to 1.030.

 

[Crusty]

I have the older interface & using the standard malt pipe or the shorter pipe for my 20lt batches it has never given me any overshoot, not once. I'm quite impressed with its accuracy.

 

[Black n Tan]

I have never noticed a temperature over-shoot on my 1st generation 50L BM even with the short malt-pipe.

 

[Wolfman]

I wonder if having the jacket on pushes the temp up? I've only noticed it since having the jacket.

 

[Black n Tan]

I use a jacket also, so don't think that is the reason. Could one of the pumps be blocked?

 

[Batz]

I have an older 50lt, I always use the jacket and have never had a problem.

Batz

 

[Crusty]

Like the boys above, I always use the jacket & no overshoot.

 

[crhall41]

Hi I added a can of amber LME late boil to my last big brew but realized I could not take a valid pre-boil gravity reading which is requested in Beersmith for determining mash efficiency. I did add the LME as an ingredient but I am unclear if Beersmith takes into account the fact that I had not yet added the LME. This made me think about adding the LME during the mash rather than at the end of the boil. Has anyone tried this with their BM or can you think of a reason why this would not be a good idea?

Thx, Chris

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

Hi I added a can of amber LME late boil to my last big brew but realized I could not take a valid pre-boil gravity reading which is requested in Beersmith for determining mash efficiency. I did add the LME as an ingredient but I am unclear if Beersmith takes into account the fact that I had not yet added the LME. This made me think about adding the LME during the mash rather than at the end of the boil. Has anyone tried this with their BM or can you think of a reason why this would not be a good idea?

Thx, Chris

Beersmith has an 'add after boil' tick box on ingredients. Did you try that?

 

[Charst]

Hey All,

Knocked out my Second Batch on my 20L. Tried leaving the mash at mash out temp for a few hours and seen a massive jump in efficiency compared to my maiden brew.

has anyone that does this noticed there beers dont attenuate as well?

I was supposed to be 21L at 1062 but ended up under boiling and got 23odd @ 1055

But I its stopped at 1015.


Mash was

15 @ 52
45 @ 63
30 @ 68
10 @ 72
hours @ 78.

A Wolfman Ive noticed mine overshoot by half a degree with a Jacket. New Controller.

 

[Blind Dog]

Nope. Same attenuation whether I have a 20 min mash out or an overnighter. I can just get more beer, use less grain or get a higher ABV beer with the longer mash out.

You numbers are still around 73% so depending on yeast, pitch, aeration etc that could be it. You are saying it's done because it's stayed steady at 1.015 for a few days? Do a search for fast ferment test if you want to be certain it's done.

 

[wobbly]

There has been considerable discussion on this topic and others about the weak/intensity of boil with the BM and to some extent this has been improved with the use of a "Hood and Thermal Jacket"

There is also another topic where "Full Volume Mashing and No Sparge" are discussed

Has any one experimented with doing a full volume mash say starting with 30liters in a 20lt Braumeister (flooded malt pipe) with a grain bill of say 5/5.5kgs to end up and do a minimal or no sparge to end up with a preboil volume of around only 24lts and so ending up with a post boil volume of 20/21lts and then topping up with say 5 or 6 lts of tap or suitably treated water WRT to pH depending on what you have set your trub losses to targeting a final volume into the fermentor of say 21lts

By having a small boil volume the intensity of the boil should be more vigorous

What started me thinking about this was a side comment on the Braumeister Forum

Cheers

Wobbly

I understand that it may be necessary to adjust hop rates due to the higher wort gravity

 

[Dan Pratt]

Wobbly,

I've been trying full volume no sparge mashed lately and got good results, however I'm not topping up at end of boil.

I've tried between 4 & 5kg malt bills and anywhere from 29 - 34 litres, usually finishing with 19/20lts into the FV.

My calc my start volume on target FV volume. 20lts plus boil off of 3lts for 60mins, plus trub/losses (depends on hops/style) but usually 4litres for APA or IPA, plus grain absorption and with my crush its about 70% so for 4kg malt plus 3lts.

Start volume 30lts.

 

[Blind Dog]

trub/losses (depends on hops/style) but usually 4litres for APA or IPA,

seems like a lot to lose to trub and hops. Is it deliberate to absolutely minimise trub etc into cube/FV, or just something you live with? Must admit I try to recover most of the wort and the trub heavy stuff at the bottom of the BM is often strained and reboiled and either used for a starter or tipped into the cube. Even if I don't do that, losses to trub are a lot less than 4L - mind you, given I can rarely be bothered bottling the last litre or so of beer still int he FV once the keg is full, its kind of dumb I guess

 

[Batz]

seems like a lot to lose to trub and hops. Is it deliberate to absolutely minimise trub etc into cube/FV, or just something you live with? Must admit I try to recover most of the wort and the trub heavy stuff at the bottom of the BM is often strained and reboiled and either used for a starter or tipped into the cube. Even if I don't do that, losses to trub are a lot less than 4L - mind you, given I can rarely be bothered bottling the last litre or so of beer still int he FV once the keg is full, its kind of dumb I guess

Same, I use a dip tube and are left with around 3.5 litres. This I tip into a large jug and let settle, I then pour off 2 - 2.5 PET bottles and freeze. I then boil this for starters, if your a dry yeast guy I guess this is not important.

Edit: Sorry not answering the O.P.'s question.

 

[Charst]

Help wanted!
Not sure if this is the right thread, but Ive done a batch with the Brau and overshot my Preboil Gravity by 4points.
Mash profile attached but started it at 1:00am last night and sparged at lunch. so it sat @ 78 for 10 hours.

Third batch with Beersmith and I cant seem to figure out how I adjust the est preboil (looking for an actual preboil field) so i can adjust the hopping.

Brau Profile was from the BeerSmith Add-ons section.
Recipe Mash shedule is my own..

any help will be much appreciated.

 

[razz]

Just looking at BS Charst I tried changing the total efficiency on the design screen, that changed the pre-boil gravity figure. The first time I overnight mashed I set the BM up for a long 78 degrees rest (like you have done) and I overshot also. The last two batches I have set the BM to sit at 25 degrees for six hours and then keep the other rests the same time frames as I usually would. That kept my mash efficiency the same.

 

[Charst]

Cheers Razz, I think i'll be doing more overnighters so i'll have to dial it in, boil off is still all over the shop also.

I just thought when i got beersmith it would have some on the fly adjustment calculators rather than fiddling with your recipe.


Still made beer.