Klarstein Mundschenk

[fluketamer]

these go between the tap and the kettle.
1/2 inch npt female so you can screw the tap into the other end.

they are weldless so you just drill a hole and insert. you can put a thermometer in the other end also but since my aio has thermometer and i figure it already has the hole for the tap . i can just insert this in between . im going to try it and see how it goes.


i was worried also about liquid not boiling but read several threads about kettle sight glass users and thats not an issue apparently the liquid is either boiling in the tube or near boiling.

was wondfering if anyone else has already doen this,

i think the 16 inch should fit

thanks for the replies

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Sight glass is very useful, standard fitting on the Guten. Cleaning it is a pain.

It's made of some kind of plastic tubing with wall about 3mm thick.
The tube is threaded to screw in at the base.
I like this one with protection for the tube.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/330...lgo_pvid=55b3b86f-8c43-4642-84ff-f9c055cd25a9

 

[foxy]

View attachment 95161

View attachment 95162

View attachment 95165
these go between the tap and the kettle.
1/2 inch npt female so you can screw the tap into the other end.

they are weldless so you just drill a hole and insert. you can put a thermometer in the other end also but since my aio has thermometer and i figure it already has the hole for the tap . i can just insert this in between . im going to try it and see how it goes.


i was worried also about liquid not boiling but read several threads about kettle sight glass users and thats not an issue apparently the liquid is either boiling in the tube or near boiling.

was wondfering if anyone else has already doen this,

i think the 16 inch should fit

thanks for the replies

I just can't see the point of adding things to a unit that will not improve in any shape or form the beer one is attempting to make. A sight glass along with a PID will not improve the AIO vessel performance, the AIO is only ever going to be as good as the person using it.
Any vessel is going to be a hands-on unit during the mash, in the early stages at least. And looking for ways to improve the lauter efficiency would be far more worthwhile than tarting the vessel up.
Keep things simple, what's wrong with a piece of dowel with the calibration of the volume of liquor in the vessel? Nothing to knock, break, or clean.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

I just can't see the point of adding things to a unit that will not improve in any shape or form the beer one is attempting to make. A sight glass along with a PID will not improve the AIO vessel performance, the AIO is only ever going to be as good as the person using it.
Any vessel is going to be a hands-on unit during the mash, in the early stages at least. And looking for ways to improve the lauter efficiency would be far more worthwhile than tarting the vessel up.
Keep things simple, what's wrong with a piece of dowel with the calibration of the volume of liquor in the vessel? Nothing to knock, break, or clean.
View attachment 95177

You don't have to.

 

[foxy]

You don't have to.

I wouldn't want to. I would like to see an explanation of how anyone thinks it is going to improve their brewing technique.

 

[malhal]

The issue with this is running the pump post boil. How do you prevent blockages?

The main risk of blockage is a hop pellet during whirl pool so I don't run the pump until pellets dissolved and am careful not to add them over inlet hole by adding to opposite side. I had it happen before and to clear I used a large syringe to push air into the camlock fitting so backwards into the pump and cleared it fine.

Then I use whirlpool arm and let settle for 15min before transferring out with pump. After kettle is drained there is a huge hop/turn cone in center so no risk of pump blocking and no need for hop bags/spider/bazooka.

 

[fluketamer]

I just can't see the point of adding things to a unit that will not improve in any shape or form the beer one is attempting to make. A sight glass along with a PID will not improve the AIO vessel performance, the AIO is only ever going to be as good as the person using it.
Any vessel is going to be a hands-on unit during the mash, in the early stages at least. And looking for ways to improve the lauter efficiency would be far more worthwhile than tarting the vessel up.
Keep things simple, what's wrong with a piece of dowel with the calibration of the volume of liquor in the vessel? Nothing to knock, break, or clean.
View attachment 95177

thanks for the reply foxy.
im not trying to improve my beer with the sight glass i am just trying to make my brew day easier.
i got my aio to make my brewing easier not to make better beer. i make great beer on the stovetop but its apples and oranges in terms of ease of brewing now that i have my aio. temp control alone makes it so much easier.
efficiency isnt an issue for me and i am not trying top improve it. i was getting a rediculous 75 percent with a thin mash. i thickened my mash and hit a whopping 79 percent which is more than i need. i think the keys to me improving at this point may lie in adjusting my water profiles - off topic.


the whole point is to make things easier on me. as i siad beofre i hate having to lift my basket out to read volume...i could solve that with no sparge but i dont like the idea of low efficiency with no sparge.

i am not saying adding a glass will improve efficieny . it obviously wont. it has nothing to do with the mash . but thats not what i am after i just want less hassel which i think this outside kettle sight glass will provide me.

i really like the simplicity of the dowel idea and if this doesnt work i will go that route. what do you just dip the dowel in like an oil dipstick to check level. that seems a little innaccurate potentially to me like if the dowel isnt perfectly vertical you will be off. also i dont know if i can get a dowel between my kettle and grain basket. i run a vevor which is the closest to a klarstein i can find. the vevor has much less dead space around the basket than the klarstien. it might be an issue for me to squeeze something in there several times.
but thanks for all the replies.



,

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Remember to factor in expansion of the water in your measurements.
The brewing software does this.
Another feature of the sight glass is it shows you the volume during recirculation. This helps to prevent bottom of kettle being pumped dry if mash flow is slow.
Chance of this with thick mash, you mention this mash mix. But if you go high gravity batch you'll have to go thicker.

 

[foxy]

thanks for the reply foxy.
im not trying to improve my beer with the sight glass i am just trying to make my brew day easier.
i got my aio to make my brewing easier not to make better beer. i make great beer on the stovetop but its apples and oranges in terms of ease of brewing now that i have my aio. temp control alone makes it so much easier.
efficiency isnt an issue for me and i am not trying top improve it. i was getting a rediculous 75 percent with a thin mash. i thickened my mash and hit a whopping 79 percent which is more than i need. i think the keys to me improving at this point may lie in adjusting my water profiles - off topic.


the whole point is to make things easier on me. as i siad beofre i hate having to lift my basket out to read volume...i could solve that with no sparge but i dont like the idea of low efficiency with no sparge.

i am not saying adding a glass will improve efficieny . it obviously wont. it has nothing to do with the mash . but thats not what i am after i just want less hassel which i think this outside kettle sight glass will provide me.

i really like the simplicity of the dowel idea and if this doesnt work i will go that route. what do you just dip the dowel in like an oil dipstick to check level. that seems a little innaccurate potentially to me like if the dowel isnt perfectly vertical you will be off. also i dont know if i can get a dowel between my kettle and grain basket. i run a vevor which is the closest to a klarstein i can find. the vevor has much less dead space around the basket than the klarstien. it might be an issue for me to squeeze something in there several times.
but thanks for all the replies.



,

Why do you want to check your level during the mash? Holding a dowel level shouldn't be an issue, even at a bit of an angle it would register the level as close as needed. What could be more simple?

One will get a lower mash efficiency with no sparge but can make up for it with lauter efficiency (squeezing the grain) so BHE can be on a par with someone who spends time heating up sparge water and one hour sparging.

If you want to make brewing easier just keep everything simple and you can make better beer at the same time and stop worrying about efficiency. ( a thinner mash will give you better efficiency) I have yet to read a judges scorecard saying loses points on poor efficiency.
Just as a point of interest what is your current BHE?

 

[fluketamer]

Why do you want to check your level during the mash? Holding a dowel level shouldn't be an issue, even at a bit of an angle it would register the level as close as needed. What could be more simple?

One will get a lower mash efficiency with no sparge but can make up for it with lauter efficiency (squeezing the grain) so BHE can be on a par with someone who spends time heating up sparge water and one hour sparging.

If you want to make brewing easier just keep everything simple and you can make better beer at the same time and stop worrying about efficiency. ( a thinner mash will give you better efficiency) I have yet to read a judges scorecard saying loses points on poor efficiency.
Just as a point of interest what is your current BHE?

hey sorry for the late reply. the last batch i brewed was this:

9 lbs pilsner
1 lb flaked corn
1/2 lb carapils
1 oz pacifca at 60
1 oz pacifica at 15
1 oz mandarina whirlpooled

i got 6.5 gallons in the fermenter at 1.046

when i plugged this into brewers friend it said 76 percent bhe. i dont know if thats good or not but the beer tastes great and this recipe came out amazing .

 

[foxy]

hey sorry for the late reply. the last batch i brewed was this:

9 lbs pilsner
1 lb flaked corn
1/2 lb carapils
1 oz pacifca at 60
1 oz pacifica at 15
1 oz mandarina whirlpooled

i got 6.5 gallons in the fermenter at 1.046

when i plugged this into brewers friend it said 76 percent bhe. i dont know if thats good or not but the beer tastes great and this recipe came out amazing .

Then not much difference to my BHE doing full volume. I am regularly 74.2 but with effort get over 75%

 

[fluketamer]

so at first i thought the no sparge makes no sense but now i see its really not worth the effort to sparge if i can fit all the water in there anyway and only lose a few points efficeicney if any.

also i see it has the advantage of allowing for pretty small batches. even in a 9 gallon aio.

the dead space prevents little batches but if the sparge water is in there it seems more doable..

 

[Fezzer]

The Klarstein Mundschenk Mash Tun is on sale on Amazon. Grabbed the 65l for £369. (£100 off voucher) should have been £469. Just received email to says it has been despatched as well. Weren't going to bother with this company after the last fiasco I had with them, but there's nothing else 65 litre about for that type of money.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

The Klarstein Mundschenk Mash Tun is on sale on Amazon. Grabbed the 65l for £369. (£100 off voucher) should have been £469. Just received email to says it has been despatched as well. Weren't going to bother with this company after the last fiasco I had with them, but there's nothing else 65 litre about for that type of money.

It looks a bargain to me, I'd go for it if it was an option in NZ and I didn't already have an equivalent all in one. I don't regret stepping up in size from a 30 litre system, 20 to 40 litre batches are a breeze.

 

[Fezzer]

It looks a bargain to me, I'd go for it if it was an option in NZ and I didn't already have an equivalent all in one. I don't regret stepping up in size from a 30 litre system, 20 to 40 litre batches are a breeze.

Ive got 30 litre kettle now but a corny only lasts me a weekend. So I've fallen out with brewing a little bit because I seem to never have any stock, and forever seem to be brewing. So thought I'd go bigger.

 

[fluketamer]

blinged out my AIO.
very happy with the result no leaks on a wet run . will likely brew on weds.

i have to figure out how to put graduated markings on the tube.

permanent marker not working on SS. i may just file or grind lines in it.

 

[Jiffy176]

Little bit of tape at said points?

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Think about whether you want cold or hot gradations on the sight glass. Or both.

 

[fluketamer]

Little bit of tape at said points?

just a few wraps on the ball valve tap is all it needed

Think about whether you want cold or hot gradations on the sight glass. Or both.

i didnt think of this. does the liquid expand enough from the heat that the marks will be different with hot and cold liquids.?

 

[RoomWithABrew]

just a few wraps on the ball valve tap is all it needed


i didnt think of this. does the liquid expand enough from the heat that the marks will be different with hot and cold liquids.?

Yes about 4% expansion from 20C to boiling.

The software takes account of this in brewfather and others I expect. So when it says pre boil volume that's at 100c. But starting volume or end of chilling volume is around 20 C on the software.

I have to take this into account as the water from our solar heater is at 50C when I fill my Guten 70 and put a little more in to account for expansion.

This calculator will help you.
https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/volumetric-temperature-expansion-d_315.html