Klarstein

[Caramel Ox]

Yeah, this is true. I don't get overshoot but yes the temp will drop 4ºC before the thermostat kicks in so your mash temperature must be varying somewhat. It's a niggle but my beer still turns out well.


Same. A pump isn't essential at all, but I wouldn't go back.

I also remember now another I ditched the grain basket in favour of a grain bag...

The basket has solid sides, not perforated. So even with a pump the liquor there is not recirculated. If you take a gravity reading from the top of the grain bed in the basket it can read artificially high.

Simple solution could be to raise & dunk the basket a few times during the mash, but to be fair even if you just leave it your mash will work fine and you can still make great beer.

I don’t understand that perspective- it has solid sides, the wort is pumped from below to on top then flows down past the grain which should improve extraction and mix temperature. There is a small dead space between the grain basket and the kettle side but that can’t add up to much, and the fluid level there will be lowered during recirculation.

I don’t know if the MashFest is any better or worse than similar all in ones - but it is sometimes much cheaper.

 

[MashBag]

Absolutely agree.I think we have a perception issue here. The temp will vary from the top to the bottom of the malt tube.
I doubt the controller is that inaccurate, more that it is accurate in and around the probe.
Ps. The walls need to be solid

 

[Padraic]

How does everyone find raising the mash pipe on the Maischfest?
I was surprised there aren't any steps or anything, you just have to lift it all out at once and whoosh the sparge stand into place.

 

[foxy]

How does everyone find raising the mash pipe? I was surprised there aren't any steps or anything, you just have to lift it all out at once and whoosh the sparge stand into place.

What is a Klarstein? Any chance of a photo?

 

[matt76]

How does everyone find raising the mash pipe on the Maischfest?
I was surprised there aren't any steps or anything, you just have to lift it all out at once and whoosh the sparge stand into place.

As noted above I don't use it any more (or very very rarely) - 1 less thing to clean! (2 actually if you include the sparge stand)

Instead I just use 4 x fold back clips to clip the grain bag to the top of the kettle. I think the bag allows better free circulation than the solid metal walls of the mash pipe/grain basket.

Generally you want to limit splashing where possible on the hot side - so when I have used it, I would raise it just above the level of the liquid and allow the bulk of the liquid to drain before lifting it up onto the sparge stand.

 

[Begbie]

I tend to only do 15L or 16L batches, so the grain bill is usually around 3.5 to 5kg worth, which when saturated with wort, is light enough to raise a little and strain some wort before lifting fully to slide the ring into place. I don't find it an issue. If you're doing larger batches though, I imagine that the grain basket will be much heavier and more effort to lift and hold while whooshing in the ring!

 

[Rodcx500z]

Just get the missis to lift the basket while you do the whooshing

 

[Rodcx500z]

Just get the missis to lift the basket while you do the whooshing