GUTEN

[Abird89]

2000w keeps it simmering away on mine. Not overly vigorous though. I think 2200w is the sweet spot.

 

[krz]

....

My efficiency has ranged from 78% to 83% depending one the grist.

Thats about what I get.

 

[goatchop41]

I have tried getting to the boil at 3KW and then reducing the power a bit to say 2400W, but last couple fo batches I just left it on full blast. It does reduce the vigour of the boil a bit reduceing the power (funny that) but not sure what effect it has on boil off rate. Didnt pay enough attention.

I would be careful with that. There are a couple of retailers on Guten/Ace groups on FB saying that they have seen a few elements burn out from being used at full blast the whole time. Perhaps it's better to stay just under full blast when raising temps and then have it as low as needed to still get a good rolling boil

 

[wide eyed and legless]

To get a good rolling boil at a low wattage, insulate and knock up a hood, costs about $30.

Without any insulation and in winter, 2000 watt, still have to keep a close eye on it.

 

[altone]

To get a good rolling boil at a low wattage, insulate and knock up a hood, costs about $30.

View attachment 114222 Without any insulation and in winter, 2000 watt, still have to keep a close eye on it.

That hood only cost $30 ? made up or did you do it yourself? I don't have welding gear at all.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Actually just under $30, mixing bowl, $22.50, flue for the top $3.40. No welding required, tools ,grinder, drill, pop riveter. Cut the bottom off the $3.40 pot, if you have a pedestal drill knock up a fly cutter to cut out the bottom of the bowl, or draw a circle slightly less than the ID of the flue size and drill a series of holes and take out the bottom of the bowl, pop rivet the flue to the bowl and place 3 rivets around the rim of the bowl to keep the hood in situ when using. Do not cut the rim of the bowl, they are spun so under stress, make a cut in the rim, the stress starts to release and it will never be flat again.
Mixing bowl about 360 mm
Little pot for flue.

 

[altone]

Actually just under $30, mixing bowl, $22.50, flue for the top $3.40. No welding required, tools ,grinder, drill, pop riveter. Cut the bottom off the $3.40 pot, if you have a pedestal drill knock up a fly cutter to cut out the bottom of the bowl, or draw a circle slightly less than the ID of the flue size and drill a series of holes and take out the bottom of the bowl, pop rivet the flue to the bowl and place 3 rivets around the rim of the bowl to keep the hood in situ when using. Do not cut the rim of the bowl, they are spun so under stress, make a cut in the rim, the stress starts to release and it will never be flat again.
View attachment 114230 Mixing bowl about 360 mm
View attachment 114231 Little pot for flue.

Nice, cheap and simple. Don't have a pedestal drill but I'm sure I could knock one of those together.

 

[lespaul]

First brew day was a shocker. Milled the grain too fine and the water wouldn't flow through the grain bed. So after stuffing around with it ended up with a tiny bit of grain in the kettle.
After I finished up there was so much scorching on the element.
So after all that probably end up on the garden...
Hopefully it will be a bit smoother next time with a coarser crush.

 

[Milhouse]

First brew day was a shocker. Milled the grain too fine and the water wouldn't flow through the grain bed. So after stuffing around with it ended up with a tiny bit of grain in the kettle.
After I finished up there was so much scorching on the element.
So after all that probably end up on the garden...
Hopefully it will be a bit smoother next time with a coarser crush.

Coarser grind will help. Rice hulls help too especially if using wheat or Rye.

 

[goatchop41]

Coarser grind will help. Rice hulls help too especially if using wheat or Rye.

Or conditioning the grain before milling

 

[krz]

I have a Guten 50L.
Today I tried 12.8kg of grain, with 35 litres of water to Mash.
I have a block and tackle and gently lowered the grain but 35 litres was just too much water, I had to drain 6 litres out in order to get the grain soaked.
Anyway, it wasnt that efficient, I ended up with 32L at 1.060 after the boil, which I diluted with 8L water to reach 1.048, I 'll get 2 kegs from that.
I'm kinda thinking 10kg grain about the max for the Guten 50L to get a reasonable efficiency using my method.

A question.
Would it be better to add the water and grain together from cold and slowly ramp up temp to mash temp?
Or is that a bad idea?
Would conditioning help?

Thanks

 

[altone]

@krz I've done over 10Kg in the 40l Guten but yes that sounds like too much water.
Any brews with lots of grain, I use as little water as needed to produce a decent consistency to the mash and then add the rest as sparge..

You should be able to do 13 Kg of grain in the larger Guten without too much issue.

edit: I wouldn't add the grain until the water was up to temp - either protein rest if you do that or mash temp.
I've never tried grain conditioning because my crush is usually good enough without messing with it, so can't comment on that.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I have a Guten 50L.
Today I tried 12.8kg of grain, with 35 litres of water to Mash.
I have a block and tackle and gently lowered the grain but 35 litres was just too much water, I had to drain 6 litres out in order to get the grain soaked.
Anyway, it wasnt that efficient, I ended up with 32L at 1.060 after the boil, which I diluted with 8L water to reach 1.048, I 'll get 2 kegs from that.
I'm kinda thinking 10kg grain about the max for the Guten 50L to get a reasonable efficiency using my method.

A question.
Would it be better to add the water and grain together from cold and slowly ramp up temp to mash temp?
Or is that a bad idea?
Would conditioning help?

Thanks

Water in first, dough in at 40 C and take up to mash temp, I do a 90 minute mash for improved efficiency, not to coarse a grind will help with efficiency, all the fine bits will be dumped back on top of the grain bed through the return flow pipe. No need to condition grain.

 

[Fro-Daddy]

I have a block and tackle and gently lowered the grain

So you have the basket in the air, fill it with grain and then lower the basket down in to the water?
I just slowly pour grain in to the water and stir.

 

[goatchop41]

Would conditioning help?

Conditioning will always help with efficiency, as it allows you to mill more finely and still have plenty of intact husks to bulk up the grain bed and get good flow. The issue for you is that conditioned grain will take up more space/volume (at least initially, until the grain bed settles fully) due to the intact husks taking up a lot more space than pieces of shredded husk.
You'll have to sort out your water:grain ratio a bit better

 

[altone]

So you have the basket in the air, fill it with grain and then lower the basket down in to the water?
I just slowly pour grain in to the water and stir.

Oh good point! I didn't even pick up on that.
I do it the same way as you @Fro-Daddy

 

[Lionman]

I have a Guten 50L.
Today I tried 12.8kg of grain, with 35 litres of water to Mash.
I have a block and tackle and gently lowered the grain but 35 litres was just too much water, I had to drain 6 litres out in order to get the grain soaked.
Anyway, it wasnt that efficient, I ended up with 32L at 1.060 after the boil, which I diluted with 8L water to reach 1.048, I 'll get 2 kegs from that.
I'm kinda thinking 10kg grain about the max for the Guten 50L to get a reasonable efficiency using my method.

A question.
Would it be better to add the water and grain together from cold and slowly ramp up temp to mash temp?
Or is that a bad idea?
Would conditioning help?

Thanks

Hey mate, add the grain slowly to the strike water stirring as you go.

I have tried both with cooler water around 40c and at strike temp of around 70c. It's much easier to stir the grain into cooler water and it saves time as you can dough in as the temp is ramping.

Have the pump running too as the it agitates the surface of the strike water making it easier to stir in the grain.

 

[krz]

Just an idea.
The 3000W is heaps for the 50L, but I need an extra 5-10 litres in order to ferment 3 kegs.
At the moment all I can mash is enough for 2 kegs.
I'm thinking there might be a way to extend the volume of the 50L Guten.

Any thoughts?

 

[nosco]

Can you brew 45lt of higher grav wort, including sparge water, and add water to the fermenter? ie 3x15lt plus water to the fermenter. That's how they do fresh wort kits.

 

[krz]

Can you brew 45lt of higher grav wort, including sparge water, and add water to the fermenter? ie 3x15lt plus water to the fermenter. That's how they do fresh wort kits.

I am not that experienced with mashing. I have done 4 All grains now, but I struggle to get more than 45 litres (including dilution) of wort target gravity 1.048
So yes, I can get 45 litres but that after dilution, so adding in a bit of wastage I get about 2.3 kegs. Of course I'd prefer 3.

Anyway, this is going a bit off topic and should ne in another thread, but I would like to be able to extend the guten another 5 litres.

EDIT: Just read my reply, it sounded a bit rude. Wasnt meant to be. Yes I would love to get 45L of high gravity wort. Im obviously not doing it correctly.