Braumeister - Tips & Tricks

[mckenry]

Da-Da - can I get a high 5? Ive joined the club with a 50L arriving tomorrow. After 8 years on a 3V and god knows how long with the esky mash tun before that, Ive decided to update to the air conditioned, cruise controlled, ABS model..

OK, after 2 days getting through all 44 pages, I have two questions.

1. Now that MHB is no longer in business, where can I buy a pickup tube? Not overly interested in getting someone to make one for me.
2. Whats the go with the boil temp? Its not well explained for a thickhead like me. Seems like everyone is using 102°C to ensure it doesnt flick on/off all the time? Now, I don't have a manual yet, but wouldn't this temp never be reached and therefore the countdown never begin? Bit vague on the reasons.
Cheers bretheren.
mckenry

 

[Brew Matt]

2. Whats the go with the boil temp? Its not well explained for a thickhead like me. Seems like everyone is using 102°C to ensure it doesnt flick on/off all the time? Now, I don't have a manual yet, but wouldn't this temp never be reached and therefore the countdown never begin? Bit vague on the reasons.
Cheers bretheren.
mckenry

What you state here is correct. The programming of the BM however handles this, and as a result, the countdown does begin when 100°C is reached. (I am assuming it is 100°C, and not 99.xx°C), but can tell you that the BM does not get caught in an infinite loop (which is a worry for beginners trying to make sense of things).

 

[razz]

Well done mckenry and welcome to the club. Q1, making a pick up is pretty easy and I even soldered mine together. If you want something of the shelf then you could look at the springer assembly that is on the Braumeister forum and made in Italy. Reasonably expensive when you get freight included. Not sure of any other products out there and I don't recall what MHB had on their site.
Q2. Reaching 102 degrees is beside the point, it does keep the element powered on and I get a good consistent rolling boil that gives me 5lts per hour evaporation rate. The countdown does begin when the temp is steady for two minutes or something like that. Works every time for me so far. I just had a squizz through my instruction booklet and can't find the reference to commencing the boil, I may have read it elsewhere.

 

[Crusty]

It will never reach 102 therefore the element will be on continuously. Don't panic either when it reads 99 & seems to be well & truly boiling as it needs a stable temp before the countdown begins & this can be up to a couple of minutes after you thinks it's boiling. Forget the dip tube, it's really not essential.

 

[brewchampion]

It will never reach 102 therefore the element will be on continuously. Don't panic either when it reads 99 & seems to be well & truly boiling as it needs a stable temp before the countdown begins & this can be up to a couple of minutes after you thinks it's boiling. Forget the dip tube, it's really not essential.

I second crusty,
I dont think the dip tube is needed.
Thats a big gap between the trub and the tap.
Let the cold break in though, give your yeast food!

 

[mckenry]

Is anyone using a little brown pump to push through a plate chiller on the way to the fermenter?
Any pics of how its setup?

 

[Black Devil Dog]

This is my pick up tube. I bought the s/s tube from online brewing supplies and the silicon plug from Full pint, the plug is from a Brewtech conical fermenter.

You might need to buy an el-cheapo s/steel bowl and make a hood, they definitely improve the boil.

 

[Charst]

Kmart has a steel mixing bowl for $6 that does my job perfectly

 

[mckenry]

It will never reach 102 therefore the element will be on continuously. Don't panic either when it reads 99 & seems to be well & truly boiling as it needs a stable temp before the countdown begins & this can be up to a couple of minutes after you thinks it's boiling. Forget the dip tube, it's really not essential.

I second crusty,
I dont think the dip tube is needed.
Thats a big gap between the trub and the tap.
Let the cold break in though, give your yeast food!

So what are the losses to trub and kettle without a pickup tube?
With and without tipping I guess would be good to know. At this stage I feel as if I wont want to tip the kettle. Might be a hangup from 3V though.
Cheers.

 

[razz]

In the 50BM i measured 10 lts loss in the kettle (without tilting the kettle) so that's why I installed a pickup. Now I chill in the kettle, pump everything into the fermenter, allow to settle and rack off a couple of litres of trub after a few hours of chilling. No big deal in tilting the kettle, just watch out for the bottom of the console when doing so.

 

[Crusty]

So what are the losses to trub and kettle without a pickup tube?
With and without tipping I guess would be good to know. At this stage I feel as if I wont want to tip the kettle. Might be a hangup from 3V though.
Cheers.

Ive got BeerSmith set to 4.0lt. After the boil, I put the lid on & walk away for 15-20mins. Come back, whirlpool, lid on & disappear again for 20-30mins. Come back to crystal clear wort. Drain it to fermenter till it stops on its own, tilt the BM to get the last couple of litres out, too easy.

 

[Dan Pratt]

After the boil, I put the lid on & walk away for 15-20mins. Come back, whirlpool, lid on & disappear again for 20-30mins. Come back to crystal clear wort.

Crusty,

Why do you put the lid on, then 15-20mins later come back and do the whirlpool and wait another 20mins or so?

When my boil is finished I whirlpool and comeback 10mins later with either FV or cube for transfer and the wort is crystal clear.

Seems like you could get the same process done in much less time, unless your hopstanding?

 

[Charst]

Pretty sure Crusty is giving the wort time to drop in temp a bit before whirlpooling to reduce the amount of convection currents.
If an immediate whirlpool works for you happy days, but I usually wait until my worts drops to 80 odd before I whirlpool as the convection currents even if minor, are stirring your wort up otherwise.

 

[Crusty]

Crusty,

Why do you put the lid on, then 15-20mins later come back and do the whirlpool and wait another 20mins or so?

When my boil is finished I whirlpool and comeback 10mins later with either FV or cube for transfer and the wort is crystal clear.

Seems like you could get the same process done in much less time, unless your hopstanding?

As Charst pointed out, I just give it some time for the convection currents to settle down & I find better seperation doing it this way as opposed to whirlpooling straight away.

 

[zoigl]

Pretty sure Crusty is giving the wort time to drop in temp a bit before whirlpooling to reduce the amount of convection currents.
If an immediate whirlpool works for you happy days, but I usually wait until my worts drops to 80 odd before I whirlpool as the convection currents even if minor, are stirring your wort up otherwise.

This sounds a bit strange to me, why bother about convection currents when you are going to whirlpool? Surely whirl-pooling will stir up the wort while chilling it and should thus defeat your original goals. I put a lid on my BM50 to keep out airborne bugs as the wort cools especially below 78c. I am open to hear your views.

 

[paulyman]

Convection currents are stirring up the wort all over the place, so all the coagulating protein and hop matter will drop fairly uniformly all over the bottom. A whirlpool is aiming to stir the wort in a uniform direction to get all the protein and hop matter to drop into the center. Waiting for the convection currents to reduce will minimise the two systems of movement competing.

 

[paulyman]

That being said, it would be an interesting exbeeriment to see whether there was any visual difference between starting the whirlpool straight away and leaving for 30 minutes and leaving for 20 minutes and then whirlpooling for the final 10. I'd hypothesise that after 20 minutes in either case the motion of the whirlpool is dominating and the end result would be indistinguishable.

 

[mckenry]

Cant speak for the braumeister yet (have a note to pick it up from the post office today woo hoo) but in my 3V, if I whirlpooled while convection currents were still active, it would appear to dominate and everything would gather to the centre, but the kettle was still hot after 10 minutes and the convection currents would 'flare up' again and the trub would resuspend.
I'd imagine that's the same for the brau or any kettle?

Ive only ever had gas fired boilers, so maybe they get the kettle hotter than electric models like BIAB and brau, (hence the more vigorous boil) therefore requiring a 20 minute rest for the temp to drop in the vessel, convection to die down, before whirlpooling is effective.

If the brau is cooler quicker, then yes, the wait may not be required. Maybe those that are waiting are doing so for no reason?

Be interesting to see.
Sorry for the fence sitting.

 

[Batz]

By the time I remove the hop bag and give it a quick hose off, I believe the convection currents are all but over. I do my whirlpool straight after this, perhaps 2 minutes, always have had a good result. But each to their own.

Batz

 

[zoigl]

I use a conical fermenter, so I am not too worried about the trub, it settles fairly quickly. I also only use 1 whirlfloc tablet (crushed) per 43 litres of wort. I prefer the taste of unfiltered beer and some very minor haze is OK with me, but generally my Pilsners sparkle. I lager for a minimum of 4 weeks at 8 c

 

[Goose]

Ive got BeerSmith set to 4.0lt. After the boil, I put the lid on & walk away for 15-20mins. Come back, whirlpool, lid on & disappear again for 20-30mins. Come back to crystal clear wort. Drain it to fermenter till it stops on its own, tilt the BM to get the last couple of litres out, too easy.

I was just bequeathed a very little used ( i think twice) 50l BM from a person that decided brewing was'nt for him. Being used to a 3V system finely calibrated to Beersmith, I have to start again with this unit.

I gave it a water run today, and after a tilt (using my refractometer case as the support at rear) to drain, I measured very close to 5 litres of liquid remaining. That seems quite a bit to me, or is this normal in your experience ?

Hence considering a dip tube, but at least in my case the element seems to traverse the diameter of the exit drain and not keen to have the element touch the dip tube. :blink:. I suppose i could increase my tilt angle manually toward the end to scrape out another litre instead of a dip tube ?

 

[Coalminer]

Goose
My dip tube touches the element and has no effect on anything
have done 74 brews with my 20L with no problems

 

[lickapop]

Just wondering if anyone has ever noticed any sour notes in their brews when doing an overnight mash?
In the past I have soaked sorghum overnight and it is pretty funky in the morning from natural fermentation. Have you guys ever noticed this with malt? Is it even possible?

I am definitely going to try an overnight mash as soon as I finish building my new brew space but the natural fermentation scenario has always been a question I have wanted to ask those that have successfully done over nighters

 

[Batz]

I do lots of o/night mashing and have never had any sour notes. The mash does sit at mash out temperature so it would be very doubtful if any natural fermentation would take place.

 

[lickapop]

ok thanks.
So you mash out for a longer period. Makes sense.
I'm not sure if I was reading here or elsewhere but some were mashing in for extended periods @25C.

 

[Batz]

I do a normal mash and just let it sit at mash out until I get up and start the sparge.

 

[razz]

I do the opposite to Batz lickapop, I overnight mash but the mash sits at 25 degrees for 6-7 hours and then the mash goes through a regular process. No signs of sourness with mine either.

 

[lickapop]

I just found some distillers malt in storage and put some on to soak as an experiment to see if I get any activity.

I'm guessing 6 hour soak isn't going to make a difference but I'm keen to see anyway just to keep my options open.

 

[Goose]

I do lots of o/night mashing and have never had any sour notes. The mash does sit at mash out temperature so it would be very doubtful if any natural fermentation would take place.

I presume that is at 78... no astringency either due to extended (how many hours) mashout ?

 

[Batz]

I presume that is at 78... no astringency either due to extended (how many hours) mashout ?

For my o/night I mash-out at 77C, never had a problem with astringency either. Mash-out nominally sits for around 6 hours.