GUTEN

[wide eyed and legless]

What am i doing wrong with the helix then if mine takes so long / stops draining after a while? It was even slow when i used a hop spider rather than dumping straight in

Are you using an immersion chiller, no amount of hops can stop the flow but maybe the cold break can, that's the only explanation I could come up with.

Can't open the helix link

Yes, didn't work on mine either I shall have to download something better than the windows app.

 

[Abird89]

Are you using an immersion chiller, no amount of hops can stop the flow but maybe the cold break can, that's the only explanation I could come up with.
.

Last brew (first on Guten) I hot cubed. To connect the helix to the tap i used that little spare elbow it comes with and jammed in. Perhaps that restricted the flow too much.
With the robo i could just twist it in to the tap hole and it'd hold. How are people attaching it to the Guten?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Last brew (first on Guten) I hot cubed. To connect the helix to the tap i used that little spare elbow it comes with and jammed in. Perhaps that restricted the flow too much.
With the robo i could just twist it in to the tap hole and it'd hold. How are people attaching it to the Guten?

When I was supplying the helix I also supplied a 1/2 BSP = elbow I found it a bit fiddly and started using a capillary elbow much easier to slip it in.

 

[krz]

For the Guteneers, .......
View attachment 113588 The bazooka with some silicone tube inserted on the inside, this means the liquor has to go over the top of the tube though I haven't found any difference in pre boil gravity using the overflow and not.
The hood cheap and easy to make after a visit to a Chinese cooking utensil shop help keeps the heat in.
View attachment 113591 ....

Great idea with the bazooka. Sticking it on top is a fantastic idea.
Now the hood, where did you get this hood from?

 

[Abird89]

When I was supplying the helix I also supplied a 1/2 BSP = elbow I found it a bit fiddly and started using a capillary elbow much easier to slip it in.

Ah cheers. Now that you mention it that’s probably what’s screwed inside the Robobrew from when I used it in there

 

[krz]

Today I did my first all grain brew every using the 50l Guten.
My objective was to make 45 litres of work with at least 1.056 sg, so that I can then dilute with about 12-15 litres (targeting 1.048) which allows me to make 3 kegs in the fermenter.

What I ended up with was about 42l into my fermenter at 1.046
I used 11kg of grain, with 30 litres of water for the mash, sparged with 15 litres and ended up with only 35 litres!!! Somehow I lost 10 litres, I think this is too much water loss.

My Guten experiences.

• I dont have a 15A circuit, so I purchased a AMFibian 15A to 10A power adaptor. I set the unit at 3000W and attempted to boil but about 75C the power adaptor tripped. I reduced to 2500W and didnt have another issue
  
• The hop spider doesnt sit properly by itself in the kettle, it submerged, and I lost hops into the wort. I carefully scooped out most with a sieve.
• You cant have the hop spider sitting in with the lid on flush. If the hop spider had a top that would be great, need to think of an alternativate to the hop spider. I did try a hop bag, but I think the hop pellets got thru that as well. Any suggestions>
• In Aldi yesterday I spotted a 1100KG chain hoist for $60. I set that up above the Guten and used it to lift out the grain, its worked perfectly, I initially just lifted in 10 cm, and let it drain, then higher and higher until I could rest the basket on the edges as intended.
• The immersion cooler worked really well, I ended up buying some compression fittings and fit them to it with some male hose ends. This allowed me to connected 2 hoses to it with garden quick disconnects. The temp dropped from 100C to 45C in about 15 mins. Next time I will collect the hot water into another vessel to use for cleaning.
• I ended up using the Guten pump to transfer directly to the keg. I used a sieve to filter any stray matter, but there was bugger all stray matter. Just before all the wort was drained I stopped the pump and there was a little bit of hop crud sitting on the botton.
• Cleaning was easy, there was some slight burnt brown sugar marks on the top of the heating element, This came off easy with some vinegar.

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

Anyone ever dropped the lid for your Guten? They shatter as if they have been shot! I learned this by experiencing this last Friday. I'm in the USA and have no way to replace it short of a $70 shipping fee. Anyone know if a Robobrew, or Grainfather lid might fit? I know the pump return hole will not work, but i'm thinking of buying a distillation lid and drilling the requisite hole for the pump return. Any thoughts will be much appreciated!

Yeah toughened glass will sort of explode with a big enough impact in the wrong place. The GF and robo are a smaller diameter so the lids aren't going to fit. Maybe try a kitchenware shop to see if you can get one that is the same size, do you still have the ring?

 

[altone]

For the Guteneers, this is what I do, you don't have to do the same or agree just some ideas.
I made a video of the emptying if I can load it I shall.
Brewing a 23 litre batch of Best Bitter no sparge method.
View attachment 113585 Helix coil in position
View attachment 113586 32 litres of liquor, the silicone tube is to prevent an exodus of grain through the handle holes, the bazooka is mounted on the top of the overflow pipe.
View attachment 113587 End of mash. View attachment 113588 The bazooka with some silicone tube inserted on the inside, this means the liquor has to go over the top of the tube though I haven't found any difference in pre boil gravity using the overflow and not..

Some nice ideas there, might have to pinch a few of them when I do a special brew.
I'm happy to keep sparging with 5l for my junk APA's which is mostly what I'm doing now, as it always worked well before.
.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Anyone ever dropped the lid for your Guten? They shatter as if they have been shot! I learned this by experiencing this last Friday. I'm in the USA and have no way to replace it short of a $70 shipping fee. Anyone know if a Robobrew, or Grainfather lid might fit? I know the pump return hole will not work, but i'm thinking of buying a distillation lid and drilling the requisite hole for the pump return. Any thoughts will be much appreciated!

Those lids are actually wok lids, but even if you got one the right size you wouldn't be able to drill it, maybe look for a s/steel or aluminium lid which fits. Otherwise get some perspex and make one.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

• The hop spider doesnt sit properly by itself in the kettle, it submerged, and I lost hops into the wort. I carefully scooped out most with a sieve.
• You cant have the hop spider sitting in with the lid on flush. If the hop spider had a top that would be great, need to think of an alternativate to the hop spider. I did try a hop bag, but I think the hop pellets got thru that as well. Any suggestions>

Can your hop spider sit on the malt pipe retaining ring? You could always grab some fine mesh and make a top for the hop spider.

 

[altone]

Today I did my first all grain brew every using the 50l Guten.

My Guten experiences.

• The hop spider doesnt sit properly by itself in the kettle, it submerged, and I lost hops into the wort. I carefully scooped out most with a sieve.
• You cant have the hop spider sitting in with the lid on flush. If the hop spider had a top that would be great, need to think of an alternativate to the hop spider. I did try a hop bag, but I think the hop pellets got thru that as well. Any suggestions>

I'm assuming the hop spider slid in and was at an angle?
My fix for this:


Not the Guten hopspider but my old one. If you bend the handle a bit it should stop it tipping down.

When I'm boiling and adding hops I don't use the lid. You do?

 

[Ayinger]

Good news on the lid. I found that my old brew kettle stainless lid fits it... another perk is that it is already fitted with a distillation collar for my still, so that means sooner or later i'll be trying out a distillation with the guten. Out of curiosity have any of you completed 50-100 brews on the Guten yet?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

When I'm boiling and adding hops I don't use the lid. You do?

That's a good point

 

[krz]

...

When I'm boiling and adding hops I don't use the lid. You do?

Well, I assumed it would be good to have a lid on, but I guess with the lid off, it doesnt foam up as much, and its only water coming out?
Good tip

 

[Silverfox]

Well, I assumed it would be good to have a lid on, but I guess with the lid off, it doesnt foam up as much, and its only water coming out?
Good tip

Not just water..

 

[NC1984]

Did my first AG yesterday, I think it went well, my toddler broke my hydrometer after the pre boil gravity reading 1038, my spare I know is out by around 2 points and OG came to 1048, volume was bang on desired 25L, how so efficient as this gives me around 80+%....

 

[NC1984]

Did my first AG yesterday, I think it went well, my toddler broke my hydrometer after the pre boil gravity reading 1038, my spare I know is out by around 2 points and OG came to 1048, volume was bang on desired 25L, how so efficient as this gives me around 80+%....

 

[NC1984]

4.5kg grain bill, 16L mash, 19L sparge, 25 L batch

 

[Leyther]

Well, I assumed it would be good to have a lid on, but I guess with the lid off, it doesnt foam up as much, and its only water coming out?
Good tip

You definitely want the lid off during the boil, unwanted chemicals (dimethyl sulfide (DMS)) get boiled off and you want them in the atmosphere not on your lid where they will condensate and drop back into the boil.

 

[goatchop41]

You definitely want the lid off during the boil, unwanted chemicals (dimethyl sulfide (DMS)) get boiled off and you want them in the atmosphere not on your lid where they will condensate and drop back into the boil.

Come on, do you really think that this is actually an issue in this day and age?
The vast majority of modern malts that the vast majority of brewers will be using are modified well enough by the maltsters that SMM levels (and therefore DMS later on) are negligible. Is DMS really an issue anymore, outside of less modified malts from Europe?