Dedicated Braumeister Guide, Problems & Solution Thread

[Bridges]

Ok seems like the new controller is available as an upgrade in some places. Canada for instance. Not sure its worth it as most of the new features, link to smart phone app, wifi etc don't seem to be going yet. Seems pretty exxy and opens the whole what would you do with the old controller question. Spose you'd get a few bucks for them from d.i.y. builders. Any word if they are coming here?

 

[Black n Tan]

Yes they are coming here but not sure when. It would be a swap-out arrangement to stop the re-sellign of the controller to DYI-ers.

 

[razz]

I got my tax return recently so I lashed out and purchased a 50lt BM from GnG at their birthday sale this week. Just organising a sparky mate to install the 15amp circuit. :super:

 

[Blind Dog]

Enjoy.

 

[Crusty]

I got my tax return recently so I lashed out and purchased a 50lt BM from GnG at their birthday sale this week. Just organising a sparky mate to install the 15amp circuit. :super:

Welcome aboard razz.
One of the best investments you'll make to your brewing arsenal.
Don't be concerned about the somewhat simmering boil on the new machine. You don't need to blast the wort out of the kettle which I once thought was necessary.
Enjoy mate....... :beerbang:

 

[razz]

Old habits die hard Crusty, I regularly hit 8lts per hour in my 3V system. I wonder what I can get the BM up to, 104 degrees maybe?

 

[paulyman]

I got my tax return recently so I lashed out and purchased a 50lt BM from GnG at their birthday sale this week. Just organising a sparky mate to install the 15amp circuit. :super:

Holy crap, that's some tax return!

If I got one I think I'd wait until tax time too and tell the wife it was paid for through my tax return.

 

[dicko]

Just bought a short malt pipe for my 20 litre model, mainly for the reson of doing small batches for testing recipes.

Going to give it its first run this morning and For the test run I am just going to halve all my ingredients from a normal recipe but maintain the boil off and the grain absorption figures.
From the results today I will begin to build an Equipment Profile for the small pipe in Beersmith.

 

[Coalminer]

Just bought a short malt pipe for my 20 litre model, mainly for the reson of doing small batches for testing recipes.

Going to give it its first run this morning and For the test run I am just going to halve all my ingredients from a normal recipe but maintain the boil off and the grain absorption figures.
From the results today I will begin to build an Equipment Profile for the small pipe in Beersmith.

Dicko
I have done this a few time and found my boil-off rates to increase by about 25% - 28% due to smaller starting volume

 

[dicko]

Thanks for the tip Coalminer,

I put some figures through Beersmith last nite and the software increased the boil off automatically and when I noticed this I began to wonder about what you said. I used the scale recipe function.
I am not on my desktop now, but from memory it went from boil off 11.2% to around 19%.

I fugure if the OG is too high I can add the extra water but long term I would like to have my software spot on to be able to achieve repeatability.
Over time I will report back on here of my results

 

[wobbly]

Surely the volume you boil off for a given heat input will generally stay the same but will indicate an increased figure when expressed as a percentage of the starting volume

eg. 4lt boil off in 34lts equals 11.7%
Where as the same 4lt boil off in 17lts equals 23.5%

Wobbly

 

[danestead]

Old habits die hard Crusty, I regularly hit 8lts per hour in my 3V system. I wonder what I can get the BM up to, 104 degrees maybe?

Maybe if you live under the ocean.

On a slightly different note, I bought a 500w over the side type element for my 20L braumeister. I used it yesterday. I got about 4L/hr boil off compared to 3.1L/hr normally. The wort boiled crazy around the element but I'm not sure I'm a fan. I don't think I'll use it again. I think for best effect, you are better off getting a 2400w element built into the bottom to replace the original.

 

[danestead]

Surely the volume you boil off for a given heat input will generally stay the same but will indicate an increased figure when expressed as a percentage of the starting volume

eg. 4lt boil off in 34lts equals 11.7%
Where as the same 4lt boil off in 17lts equals 23.5%

Wobbly

You are correct in what you say about it percentage wise however I would tend to disagree that the actual volume boiled off per hour stays the same. Because the boil is only really a simmer when you do a full batch, with a half size batch I would expect more surface agitation due to a stronger boil and a resulting increase in the boil off volume per hour in litres.

 

[wobbly]

You are correct in what you say about it percentage wise however I would tend to disagree that the actual volume boiled off per hour stays the same. Because the boil is only really a simmer when you do a full batch, with a half size batch I would expect more surface agitation due to a stronger boil and a resulting increase in the boil off volume per hour in litres.

I did make a qualification by stating "Generally"

Maybe there's a case if boiling a smaller volume in say the 20lt Braumeister to set the temperature controller to say 100C or 101C instead of the 102C

Wobbly

 

[danestead]

I did make a qualification by stating "Generally"

Maybe there's a case if boiling a smaller volume in say the 20lt Braumeister to set the temperature controller to say 100C or 101C instead of the 102C

Wobbly

Hmm Im not sure about the whole setting the temperature lower. The reason it is encouraged to set it at 102c is because in a standard atmosphere, the wort will never reach 102c and the element will stay on constantly which is what you want. If you set it to say 100c, it may turn on and off temporarily which I dont think would be ideal.

Im not having a dig at you, just expressing my thoughts.

 

[wobbly]

No offence taken - Just throwing up possible discussion points/thoughts

I will get my 20lt BM out today and see what happens boil wise with plain tap water if I set the temp to 100C with only 17lts (half my normal boil vol) and observe the boil action and evaporation rate

Conditions

• No malt pipe
• home made insulated cover (carpet)
• "Dickos" style SS Bowel Hood in place

Wobbly

 

[tiprya]

Yeah, the water never 'reaches' 102, and I strongly doubt setting it to 102 instead of 100 increases the power to the element. The higher setting just ensures the element never turns off in boil mode.

I leave the lid half-on and get a good rolling boil. Have been considering getting a hood for my 20L, but will be harder to remove than taking the lid off.

 

[wobbly]

OK The results are in.

• I started with 17lt (17kg weighed) of tap water in the BM at 47C ex the HWS
• Jacket on the BM
• Dickos Hood on
• Set mash schedule to all zeros and boil schedule to 60 mins at 100C so BM would function on auto
• During boil phase heating element cycled ON/OFF at 81% ON - 18% OFF ratio. This was checked/taken over 6 min time period by counting the "BM Flashing Timer" and noting when the Heater light was ON and when it was OFF
• At the end of the boil time (60mins) the remaining water was reweighed at 14.651kg (14.651lts)
• Evaporation rate = 17 minus 14.651 = 2.349kg (lts) or 13.8%

So the next question to understand is are Coalminers "Boil Off" rates above the result of setting the boil temperature to 102C?

Next question is what/how much is an acceptable target "Boil Off" rate. The Institute of Brewing publication "The Function of Boiling Wort" (unable to attach the PDF link here??) talks about traditional boils lengths being of 90 mins and 10% minimum evaporation and then goes on to say that modern kettle designs operate with 60 min boils and evaporation rates of between 5 and 9%
From my observation of the BM during this test was that to achieve a boil off (evaporation rate) of between 5 and 9% it would be a very very gentle boil with minimal movement of the surface of the wort

I guess the above Institute of Brewing publication raises the age old question about the need or otherwise of a "vigorous/aggressive boil"

In view of this it would appear that it would be acceptable to set the BM temperature to 100C and achieve boil off rates of around the 12 to 14%

Open for discussion

Wobbly

 

[razz]

Hi all. I'm getting the required 15 amp outlet installed into my brew cave. Have other forum members had a dedicated circuit installed (from board to outlet) or just a 15 amp outlet fitted to an existing circuit? Thanks gang.

 

[dicko]

I was actually surprised how much more vigorous the boil was with the smaller volume.

I am wondering can the hood only allow a certain amount of boil off...???

My pre boil volume was 17.4 litres but this only produced 11.5 litres into the fermenter when I took into account loss in the kettle.
This amount will be too small as I want to fill a 12 litre keg most times when I use the short pipe.

Over 80 mins I boiled off 4.9 litres which is an extra half a litre over my 20 litre volume figures.

This is only my first brew so I will be taking accurate figures over the next few times I use the short pipe and will report back here.
I will need to get my final volume spot on before I will determine the exact boil off figure as it obviously is affected by the pre boil volume.

I also had thoughts about cutting the boil temp set point down a degree to possibly achieve the same boil off rate.
This may make a difference to the melanoiden profile of the finished wort or I could be just over thinking the whole process. :unsure: