GUTEN

[nosco]

All good. I have a 40lt so just trying to figure out how your brewing.
Are you using software. That will tell you straight away what volumes you can use. Even try some free software. Enter in your kettle dimensions and put in a basic recipe and that will give you a good idea of how much you can make.
Are you sparging or using the full volume of water for your brew?

 

[altone]

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?

Are you running out of space for grain or water?
I just scaled up an APA recipe for a 55l batch and was 12Kg which should fit in your malt pipe
(I'm assuming the 50l has a deeper malt pipe then the 40l I have had over 10Kg in my 40l)

If it's liquid space you are running out of, just use the max amount of water you can manage and make
a higher gravity wort than required then add boiled water to your fermenter to reach required volume/gravity.

If it's the maltpipe that's too small, you'd need to make a deeper maltpipe.

Otherwise you could try a decoction mash. That seems to increase efficiency and therefore
gravity by a huge chunk the couple of times I've done it.
A lot of messing about though.

 

[goatchop41]

Otherwise you could try a decoction mash. That seems to increase efficiency and therefore
gravity by a huge chunk the couple of times I've done it.
A lot of messing about though.

A reiterated mash would be much better (or is that what you're thinking of?).
Reiterated = split the malt bill in half and do 2 mashes with the same mash water (gives much better efficiency with big grain bills);
Decoction = taking out some of the mash water and grist to boil separately to encourage melanoidin formation (I didn't know that decoction changed efficiency)

 

[altone]

A reiterated mash would be much better (or is that what you're thinking of?).
Reiterated = split the malt bill in half and do 2 mashes with the same mash water (gives much better efficiency with big grain bills);
Decoction = taking out some of the mash water and grist to boil separately to encourage melanoidin formation (I didn't know that decoction changed efficiency)

I was thinking of decoction. I've never done a reiterated mash but you are right that would be better and easier.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Reiterated mash would do it but that means 2 mashes on the one brew session, another thing to be wary of is, with the concealed element you are likely to get sugar scorching onto the base of the unit which will slow down your boil. The other way is to just go ahead with your grainbill for your required OG, mash into 3 to 4 litres / kg do the 90 minute mash, slow sparge take notes on the efficiency and adjust if needed.

Quote from dibbz - 50L does a 40L batch, 46.7L max for boil. Just 2 cubes with none to spare.

As for the scorching depending on the grain bill I have twice emptied the kettle (two different brews) cleaned off the scorched sugar before going into the boil phase.

 

[krz]

A reiterated mash would be much better (or is that what you're thinking of?).
Reiterated = split the malt bill in half and do 2 mashes with the same mash water (gives much better efficiency with big grain bills);
Decoction = taking out some of the mash water and grist to boil separately to encourage melanoidin formation (I didn't know that decoction changed efficiency)

Wow, Im glad I asked the question - seriously.
Now I have something more to learn

Reiterated, sounds logical, the Decoction I'll have to look up!

Thanks for response

 

[krz]

....As for the scorching depending on the grain bill I have twice emptied the kettle (two different brews) cleaned off the scorched sugar before going into the boil phase.

You probably already know this, but Vinegar cleans the scorch EASY.
I buy 4 litres of white vinegar from Costco, cheap as.

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

Has anyone used the whirlpool arm? If so how did you go about filtering the inlet for the pump?

I thought of placing a small peice of pipe in there to have the inlet raised a bit to keep it above the hop matter but not sure how this will effect the recirc when mashing.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Has anyone used the whirlpool arm? If so how did you go about filtering the inlet for the pump?

I thought of placing a small peice of pipe in there to have the inlet raised a bit to keep it above the hop matter but not sure how this will effect the recirc when mashing.

If you wish to put your pump on during chilling there is a filter which you can buy, otherwise use a paddle to move the wort around while chilling.

 

[FarsideOfCrazy]

If you wish to put your pump on during chilling there is a filter which you can buy, otherwise use a paddle to move the wort around while chilling.

Where can that be bought? Anywhere in Australia?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Where can that be bought? Anywhere in Australia?

Wherever, the Guten is being sold I would imagine, its part of the accessories.

 

[Mya]

Where can that be bought? Anywhere in Australia?

You should be able to make that with a piece of stainless tube, hose clamp and filter mesh.

 

[lespaul]

My Guten keeps turning itself off after about 3 minutes of running. It's not tripping the circuit breaker in the house. Doesn't seem to matter what power setting or if the pump is on or not. Comes good after another 3 minutes and I can turn it back on. Any ideas before I can call kegking at 9:30???????

 

[lespaul]

So managed to get it working at 1800w for no known reason.
After the mash still getting grain in the kettle. It was a course crush this time and still no idea why it's happening.
I've been recirculating the wort now through a hop spider and Ive pulled out 3 of these.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Where is all that foam coming from? You shouldn't need to recirculate through anything the grain bed is your filter, any odd pieces of grain which you miss the malt pipe with will get sucked up and dumped on the top of the grain bed, same with small bits of flour.

 

[altone]

So managed to get it working at 1800w for no known reason.
After the mash still getting grain in the kettle. It was a course crush this time and still no idea why it's happening.
I've been recirculating the wort now through a hop spider and Ive pulled out 3 of these.

I normally set mine to 1800w anyway, only use more when ramping up at start and to reach boil .
You'll need to contact KK about it though.

As for grain in kettle - like WEAL said your grainbed should be your filter.
I use the top screen and adjust recirc so it doesn't go through the overflow pipe.
Maybe you are getting a lot of grain going through the overflow?
Very easy to happen if you don't use the topscreen and don't adjust the recirc flow.

Maybe next brew take a few pics of your process just so folks can get a better idea of why it's happening.

My brews are normally running clear after the first 10 minutes of mash time.

Hope todays effort turns out well for you.

 

[lespaul]

So that grain in the hop spider was after I had finished the mash and removed the grain basket. I have no idea how the grain is even getting in there. The water level never got above the overflow height and I had a hop screen on the overflow anyway.
I put all the wort in cubes pre boil and the element is black again... So I'm going to have to pour this batch on the garden too. 2 for 2....
I'll call kegking to troubleshoot

 

[goatchop41]

So that grain in the hop spider was after I had finished the mash and removed the grain basket. I have no idea how the grain is even getting in there. The water level never got above the overflow height and I had a hop screen on the overflow anyway.
I put all the wort in cubes pre boil and the element is black again... So I'm going to have to pour this batch on the garden too. 2 for 2....
I'll call kegking to troubleshoot

Check the fit/shape of your bottom screen, and the pipe in it. If they aren't fitting properly, then that creates and opening for the grain to move through.
How are you putting the bottom screen in to the malt pipe? Do you have it with the raised middle section/bump facing up or down? If it's facing down, then it can bend and let grain through

 

[lespaul]

I'll check when I get home. I have the bump facing up.
How loose should the pipe be screwed into the bottom plate? I had it a tiny bit loose so if I moved it, it wouldn't move the bottom plate and let any grain slip by.
Only other thing is I stirred the grain after mashing in and scraped the bottom plate. Not sure if that could affect it.

 

[altone]

I'll check when I get home. I have the bump facing up.
How loose should the pipe be screwed into the bottom plate? I had it a tiny bit loose so if I moved it, it wouldn't move the bottom plate and let any grain slip by.
Only other thing is I stirred the grain after mashing in and scraped the bottom plate. Not sure if that could affect it.

I have mine as tight as I can make it so it doesn't flop around.
Try not to move the pipe when mashing in etc.
I can't imagine scraping the plate so long as it wasn't with mighty force would cause an issue.

Did you say you got scorching BEFORE the boil? Set at 1800w? There's something amiss, wish I could tell you what.