GUTEN

[goatchop41]

Had my first run on my 30L unit today.
One lesson that I learnt - I need to mill much more coarsely than I thought.... I went with the oft-recommended gap of 'credit card thickness' and ended up with a metric shitload of flour amongst my grain [emoji35]
This, in conjunction with 45% of my grain bill being wheat malt, resulted in a stuck sparge! (Something that I've never encountered before as a BIABer). What was planned to be a cruisy brew day with me being mostly free thanks to the mash programming of the guten actually turned in to me having to constantly tweak the recirculation flow rate, then **** about trying to free up the grain bed to allow some flow through.
I ended up way over volume and under gravity, and still under gravity after a two hour boil to try to get my volume back down to something reasonable.

At least one positive was that the helix did a hell of a job! The pic doesn't do it justice, even though I forgot to add my whirlfloc, the trub cone was lovely and tall until I got greedy and drained wort from below it

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Write every step down methodically to get to know how it performs, I had trouble with the Guten and the BM with a stuck sparge, I was reading Gordon Strong adds a 1lb of rice hulls per gallon not just when he is using wheat, oats, maize and the like but for every brew, says it keeps the mash insulated.

 

[malt junkie]

Write every step down methodically to get to know how it performs, I had trouble with the Guten and the BM with a stuck sparge, I was reading Gordon Strong adds a 1lb of rice hulls per gallon not just when he is using wheat, oats, maize and the like but for every brew, says it keeps the mash insulated.

So in real measurements 450g to 3.8L. Call it 100g /L thats near 2 kg a batch. Thats 2kg of grain space though with free flowing bed and I wouldn't call it insulation, but greater mass will hold heat better but will take more power to heat intially, which you could do with more grain, but then up goes the gravity. Having pushed my malt pipes to and beyond their limits over the years (hydrostatic pressure will bend 2mm plate surprisingly). I found a good crush and a hand full of hulls (per 5kg grain) will get you through even when stretching the boundaries.

 

[nosco]

ON my last brew on the Guten (No.5?) the drainage slowed to a trickle. Is that a stuck sparge? I took of the top plate and gave it a stir and it was as good gold. I opened the valve right up after that.

OT sorry. MJ is hydrostatic pressure the pressure from the wort via the pump recirc?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Sorry about that MJ should have said per 5 gallon not one gallon.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

ON my last brew on the Guten (No.5?) the drainage slowed to a trickle. Is that a stuck sparge? I took of the top plate and gave it a stir and it was as good gold. I opened the valve right up after that.

OT sorry. MJ is hydrostatic pressure the pressure from the wort via the pump recirc?

Was you using the helix nosco ? My Landlord clone slowed down yesterday in the BM for the last 21/2 litres, I was thinking instead of leveling it up as I usually do is to slightly tilt it back then level it at the last drop, though I have never had trouble before, could have been my whirlpooling.

 

[nosco]

Nah just using the 2 bazooka's and a T peice. The Helix is for my bigger system that Im upgrading with a malt pipe. But ive been enjoying brewing with the Guten so much latley and with other stuff the bigger pot hasnt got a look in for a while.

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

Can someone please tell me what this silicone elbow is for?

Just got my 30litre guten. I think this silicone elbow is to attach the ss bazooka to the outlet tap? Something like this perhaps?

 

[goatchop41]

Just got my 30litre guten. I think this silicone elbow is to attach the ss bazooka to the outlet tap? Something like this perhaps?

Nope. Sandy replied to my email and said that it is a spare for the pump. I haven't had the time to open up the bottom and check the size again. Perhaps the tube from the inlet to the pump is smaller than the one from the pump to the recirc arm, I can't recall and in all honesty probably didn't have a really good look!

 

[SnailAle]

I did my first run last weekend and it seemed to have gone off without a hitch.

Just a quick question though, I'm hoping to do another this weekend, and regarding cleaning. Do people clean it by heating up water in unit or do you use a cleaning agent? Just wasn't sure if putting a cleaner in might be bad for the pump/element or something.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Use some sodium percarbonate in some water heated up to about 55 degrees and recirculate, otherwise you will be getting mould in the bend of the recirculating tube. Also let it dry before packing it away.

 

[SnailAle]

Use some sodium percarbonate in some water heated up to about 55 degrees and recirculate, otherwise you will be getting mould in the bend of the recirculating tube. Also let it dry before packing it away.

Yeah right so just some oxper? How do you dry the tube? Do you rinse it with water before running?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I recirculate for about 10 to 15 mins, once all the sugar residue has been washed out just let it air dry. Before using again I do repeat the process if I haven't used it for a while, otherwise just a rinse with cold water.

 

[malt junkie]

ON my last brew on the Guten (No.5?) the drainage slowed to a trickle. Is that a stuck sparge? I took of the top plate and gave it a stir and it was as good gold. I opened the valve right up after that.

OT sorry. MJ is hydrostatic pressure the pressure from the wort via the pump recirc?

yeah but not applicable to these units, I have a Bm clone(reverse flow of GF/guten), initial testing was a lot of trial and error.

 

[nosco]

Just curious. I have an untested 1V on the go.

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

Has anyone been able to get a filter working so the pump can be used for a cf chiller or even just pumping out?

The alternative might be to use the helix and pump from the tap then silicone hose back into the top while using a cf chiller. How do those KK mag drive pumps handle a bit of debris if it got through?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

You could get the pump outlet to pump out, I was thinking of doing something along those lines, the problem I could see was, if I ran a short helix into a tee piece with the helix around the perimeter is that any bits of husk would be trapped at the bottom and therefore go into the boil. If you wanted to leave the Guten on the deck and pump the wort out, a better idea would be to use the helix as normal write to Sandy and ask if you could buy a spare pump, would cost a poofteenth of buggerall and set the pump to pump out of the tap into the fermenter.
The pump can handle some debris that's why it's good to not to impede the outlet in any way the debris gets pumped to the top and stays there

 

[DaFooze]

Am looking at the Robobrew Vs the Guten at the moment. Had a chat with one of the suppliers from Alibaba and they have said that their product material thickness is only 0.5mm of 304SS. Does anybody know what the material thickness for the Robobrew is? If anyone has one that could measure??
Cheers

 

[nosco]

I imagine it would be very hard to measure because of the lip on the top. If your thinking about the durability of both machines Im guessing that they would be made from exactly the same grade and thickness of stainless.

 

[Lionman]

Anyone get a quote recently for the 50L Guten?

Worked out at about $700 delivered when I talked to the supplier. Has it gone up?