Speidels Braumeister. Impressive Yes. Expensive Yes.

[schooey]

 

[haysie]

I think you guys have to realise that your question is very much a 'how long is a piece of string' question... The answer will lie in what your grist consists of, what you are trying to achieve in your mash, your brewing process, your , milling regime, your mill and how it's powered, what speed it turns...... blah blah

It's going to be very much a suck it and see for your first couple of brews. The first brew I did with the new machine I had the grist similar to what it would have been for my old rig. I made copious amounts of stuff ups and still managed 75% Brewhaus Eff. With a few more brews under the belt and a finer grist I get low 80's consistently with good clarity.

It's part of the fun...

edit: Oh and as far as the remains, I kinda crafted an add-on pick up tube but I won't go into too much detail. Apparently the peeps at Speidel don't like it so much..... h34r: But it allows me to get pretty much everything but less than a litre... I'm happy with that. Gimme twenty minutes and I'll post a pic

Is it good Shooey without all the waffle?, and shit photo too...... in post #something or other.

 

[proudscum]

At last the big box has arrived after a 5 month wait....thanks DHL.
Very excited and just want to get it together and have a play with it and test out the pump and programing etc...calm down laddy read the instruction first so you dont break the new toy.
Brew day Thursday,Friday and saturday i feel

 

[Eater]

Well done on your purchase, im sure it will bring you joy

Now, what was your address again?

*dons ninja garb*

 

[proudscum]

Having read the instructions twice have put it through a test run to make sure all is running smoothly and i understand the set up and processes.quite easy.so now just need to nail down a recipe and plug in the times and temps and will be away.All things being even Thursday is
d-day

 

[haysie]

Having read the instructions twice have put it through a test run to make sure all is running smoothly and i understand the set up and processes.quite easy.so now just need to nail down a recipe and plug in the times and temps and will be away.All things being even Thursday is
d-day

How did it go? Interested in the can the cant and the want to brew opinions. Pro`s n Con`s etc etc

 

[razz]

How did it go? Interested in the can the cant and the want to brew opinions. Pro`s n Con`s etc etc

Are you saving up for one Haysie?

 

[haysie]

Are you saving up for one Haysie?

I cant keep up with those ss conicals systems some have running Razz. Gotta look outside the square.

 

[pmash]

Having read the instructions twice have put it through a test run to make sure all is running smoothly and i understand the set up and processes.quite easy.so now just need to nail down a recipe and plug in the times and temps and will be away.All things being even Thursday is
d-day

Hi mate, just wondering why you want to program in your own settings to do yr first brew? I was quite happy to sit back and marvel at just how cool these machines are.
I've just done #4 brew and must admit, I have been toying with tinkering with the settings already, but waiting to taste my first efforts.
Either way I love mine and hope you enjoy your new toy as much!

Cheers

 

[proudscum]

Knocked out the first brew which was a steep learning curve.Gas fired vs electric...when i put my chiller in at the last 10 min point it killed the boil and dropped the temp stalling the timer so the hop calcs went out the window from 35ibu to 52 ibu.got 80% eff and final volume was spot on...run off is slow because i use whole hops but it was really bright.
Second batch changed the order of my 2 chillers and put the small one in the kettle and the large one in the ice bucket.....no probs this time.eff 83% but the base malt was higher in this batch,not bad seeing as its also a new mill with no milling experience(i do hand crank)the mill is set at 0.91mm and i run it through twice at the same setting.Be interesting to see Florians eff % with the spanky 3 roller mill.need to play with my water treatment as at the moment am using the 5.2 additive which lives up to it name.
So all went as planned for brew #2.
God this is so piss easy i wish i had had one of these when i went all grain 16 yrs ago.

so more than happy just need to work on recipes a bit more and will be back in business making great beers again

 

[brianman]

First brew with the Meister today. Stuffed up the Auto program from the start, at mash in for protein rest didn"t acknowledge, when trying to start mash went straight to heating up to 64deg., tried a few times to reset times, so probably a longer mash than intended. Anyway finally got finished, wow oversparge or what, 30.5lts into fermenter, was supposed to be 28lt batch with 3lt top from 25lts, that's what i used to do with my old system. That 30.5lts OG of 1041, so calculating for 28lts makes it around 88% efficiency. So got rid of a few lts & pitched yeast, will be down a few IBu's. Time for a few more program run throughs.
cheers
Briby up

 

[davewaldo]

Hi Everyone, I thought I'd add this post to this thread as it is good to keep info in one place rather than starting new threads...

My wife is awesome and has suggested buying me a 50L Speidel Brewmaster for me as a graduation present (I've been busting my arse for the last 2 years at uni and running my business). I'm just wanting to post here first to make sure I'm making the right decision!

I like the look of these for several reasons: It has a small foot print, it will add a lot more control and consistency to my brewing, it should save me time (cleaning time as well). All of these points should mean I can brew a lot more often, and hopefully brew better beer as I will be able to remove a lot of variables from my current system.

I already have a relatively good, simple, gravity 3 vessel system. But what annoys me is consistency and all the gear to store. Every brew day seems different and I end up having to adjust recipes on the fly. I realise the brewmaster won't be perfect, but it should be a lot more consistent. I believe this consistency will help me grow as a brewer as I can focus more on recipe and mash schedules rather than all of the various variables in my current system.

I don't really like brewing mega high gravity beers so this limitation with the Brewmaster is not a big deal to me (although the 50L version can do a smaller batch at high gravity if needed). The cost although really quite high compares to other turnkey solutions with similar automation, and as a gift (yes my wife rocks!) is less of a concern.

So any reason why I shouldn't go down this path, or other systems I should look at?

Also the only question I have about the Brewmaster itself is: Everything looks top notch on it other than it looks to use brass piping under the unit for the pumps? I would have expected SS throughout??? Should this be a concern?

Thanks for any help and feedback

Cheers,

David.

 

[schooey]

It seems to me that you've just about already talked yourself into it; you don't need my help...pretty much everything you mentioned is why I made the choice to buy one. The two pumps have two brass elbows each and that's pretty much it...they don't operate when the wort is boiling, so the tiny bit of wirt that is in contact with the very minimal amount if brass in the system is the least of my worries when it comes to poisoning my body with heavy metals.

IMHO ...dollar for dollar there is no better system for functionality and compactness and ease of cleaning.

 

[winkle]

It seems to me that you've just about already talked yourself into it; you don't need my help...pretty much everything you mentioned is why I made the choice to buy one. The two pumps have two brass elbows each and that's pretty much it...they don't operate when the wort is boiling, so the tiny bit of wirt that is in contact with the very minimal amount if brass in the system is the least of my worries when it comes to poisoning my body with heavy metals.

IMHO ...dollar for dollar there is no better system for functionality and compactness and ease of cleaning.

Jasus Schooey, you've convinced me - now if it weren't for the impossibilty of getting it passed the Minister-for-saying-no, I'd get one. I wouldn't be worried about brass either.

 

[davewaldo]

Thanks schooey, you're right, I have basically talked myself into it I had a 15amp powerpoint installed outside today (just incase).

I'm just chasing some reassurance I guess that the assumptions I've made about the brewmaster are correct. ie. very consistent and reliable, and that it will encourage my brewing and learning.

Its good to hear you chose this unit for the same reasons, and it sounds like you're very happy with it.

Also, other than the expected drop in efficiency, and the difficulty in producing high gravity worts; are there any other limitations you've found?

Cheers,

David.

 

[schooey]

Also, other than the expected drop in efficiency, and the difficulty in producing high gravity worts; are there any other limitations you've found?

Just to clarify here, I assume that you make this statement based on MHB's comment on the previous page about woeful efficiency on an 1.114 SG beer... This isn't just to be expected from the Braumeister; it's typical of any system. If you plotted SG vs Breehaus efficiency for the same volume of wort, you can expect the efficiency to drop as the SG rises, regardless of equipment.

The only other limitation I've found with it is I'm severely limited on time to spend with it atm...

 

[davewaldo]

Thanks mate, from what I have read, efficiency is slightly lower due to the fact it is a no sparge system / full volume mash. Many people say efficiency of 70-80% is normal, whereas many 3 vessel systems produce closer to 90%. Is this not the case in your experience?

Some users do a small sparge after the malt pipe is raised and this can increase efficiency.....

 

[MHB]

Efficiency is such vague expression, sometimes I think everyone has their own interpretation of what it means. I like to refer to BHY (Brew House Yield) and routinely get 80% BHY, that's 80% of the test value into the fermenter, which is pretty dam good as it includes all the losses throughout the whole system.

Yes I do a flood sparge when I lift the malt pipe; went and got a little plastic urn from K-Mart, it says it holds eight litres but if you aren't boiling you can put in ten, set the thermostat to about 3/5 and it holds very close to 80^oC, easy as.

Next time there is a super high gravity in the works am planning on lifting the malt pipe and putting it into a preheated pot of water, sort of like a Party-Gyle, will let you know how it goes.

MHB

 

[schooey]

I guess everyones mileage may vary...My old rig used to average around 80-85% eff with a 3V HERMS rig and I still get about the same with not so much a sparge, but more a wash of the spent grains in the malt pipe with 5 or so litres of 80C water.

I figure if I'm getting over 80% and my beer is good, then I'm cheering. I don't see the point in chasing efficiency unless I was brewing 300 hL batches for profit, especially if it comes at the cost if quality.

 

[davewaldo]

Thanks guys, so the efficiency and the brass isn't really a concern after all.

Now to finish this damn uni course so I can start brewing again! :super:

Thanks for the feedback.

Dave.