Thanks Galena
This has a concealed element so presumably no need for a false bottom. The bazooka would be useful if it doesn't get clogged?
How long does it take you to get to strike temperature normally? And from mash to boil?
Mine also has a concealed element but the false bottom keeps the bag off the bottom and some stuff away from the valve, I stopped using the bazooka it was usually okay but on one brew it got completely blocked and I had to stick my arm in to clear it. Thats another reason I like having the false bottom.
It is quite quick to heat up, I couldn't give you a time, from cold to strike I usually do other things like measure out grain, boil some adjustment water in a pan and so on, I haven't timed it though. From mash to boil though it is very quick.
Also, does the klarstein just display the temperature of the wort or does it allow you to set it to reach a certain temperature and then just walk away? It looks as though you control the temperature with the knob next to the display?
The Fullhorn has two dials, one is a timer that I don't really use, you set it to a time and it dings and cuts off the heater when time is up, I tend to just leave it on without timer and use my phone.
The other dial is to adjust temperature which you set on a LCD display. When you are adjusting it displays the desired temperature so you can adjust it to say 67 deg. it then defaults to the wort temperature as it heats up and the thermostat will hold it at 67 deg once it gets there. Pressing and holding the knob will show you what you have set it to, so both numbers are always available.
There is also a Klarstein Beerfest which is almost the same as the Fullhorn only a bit cheaper as it does not have the LCD display, personally I would find this less accurate for mash temperature.
What I do now though is to have a cooler with my sparge water in and then the mash water in the Fullhorn. I do the mash but have started to recirculate manually with a jug because any heated mash tun will be warmer at the bottom where the thermostat is, I only need to do this now and again, like when the heater turns on and I monitor temperature at the top with a digital thermometer. I will get a pump for this eventually.
Then when the mash is over I decant to a bucket and then batch sparge from the cooler, remove the grains and then put the wort from the bucket back in the Fullhorn. You don't need to do this but I found it was a slightly better efficiency.
There is a BIAB bag available for the Beerfest which also fits the Klarstein, it is not cheap but it does fit well and I have now bought a second bag because rather then use a hop spider or a small muslin bag for hops I have started to use the second mash bag for the hops because it gives full water to the hops and is not restricted, you can just empty and quickly rinse out the mash bag of course, which is what I did but buying a second bag for convenience.
