Speidel Braumeister?

[EskiBrew]

Thanks for the update BrewHead - when you brew, please link to it from here so it is easy to find :thumb:

 

[swiggingpig]

There is a home brew shop owner in Austrailia who can supply a SS pick-up tube and a seal for the top filter, they are a worthwhile addition to the BM. Using whole hops, with a ss mesh filer that I attach to the pickup, I have a little over 1 litre of dead space in the BM.

Thanks swiggingpig I was wondering about that - the videos I have seen all show people using pellets rather than whole leaf hops therefore I was wondering how I could make a filter. Can you post a link to the Ozzy one or alternatively photos of your one?

I'll go and have a look to see if you have posted a brew thread using your BM next :thumb:

I posted up a brew day a couple of weeks ago and forgot to put the link in here

I blame old age myself

Here's my brewday http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=31141

 

[EskiBrew]

Thanks swiggingpig, very good to see. The more I see of these the more I want one

 

[IPA]

Just a quick update - took delivery of a 50L unit and short malt pipe during the week. Got it out today to give it an initial clean and it really is a quality piece of equipment. The stainless steel is thick and solid, it feels very well made, and everything is designed for ease (appreciate it should be for the price!). The only downside so far is the weight of the unit which makes it a bit tricky to manhandle for cleaning etc. I'm going to brew my first beer with it on Friday so any recipe suggestions are most welcome. Was thinking of a pale ale/IPA, but might do a lager so I can try all the different mash options it has.

Hi BH
Congratulations! Try this recipe by Graham Wheeler it is excellent. Use the mash schedule for ALE I posted earlier on this topic. By the way I allways set the boiling temp to 101° so that I get a rolling boil.

Fermentable Colour lb: oz Grams Ratio
Pale Malt 7 EBC 17 lbs. 10.1 oz 8000 grams 87.7%
Crystal Malt 130 EBC 1 lbs. 12.1 oz 800 grams 8.8%
Sugar, Household White 0 EBC 0 lbs. 11.2 oz 320 grams 3.5%

Hop Variety Type Alpha Time lb: oz grams Ratio
Target Whole 11.4 % 90 mins 0 lbs. 0.8 oz 22 grams 31.4%
Challenger Whole 7.6 % 90 mins 0 lbs. 0.5 oz 14 grams 20%
Northdown Whole 8.3 % 90 mins 0 lbs. 0.6 oz 16 grams 22.9%
Golding Whole 5.7 % 15 mins 0 lbs. 0.6 oz 18 grams 25.7%

Final Volume: 50 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.045
Final Gravity: 1.010
Alcohol Content: 4.6% ABV
Mash Efficiency: 82 %
Bitterness: 27.7247875466477 EBU
Colour: 26 EBC
By the way I contacted Ralf Leukart at Speidel on the subject of hop filters and he sent me the drawing for the filter they are proposing to make and it looks very interesting. It looks like it will reduce the lost volume containing the trub.
Cheers
Ian

 

[swiggingpig]

Thanks swiggingpig, very good to see. The more I see of these the more I want one

If you're ever in the Huddersfield area your very welcome to view one in the flesh as it were :

 

[swiggingpig]

By the way I contacted Ralf Leukart at Speidel on the subject of hop filters and he sent me the drawing for the filter they are proposing to make and it looks very interesting. It looks like it will reduce the lost volume containing the trub.
Cheers
Ian

Any chance you can post up the drawing

 

[IPA]

Any chance you can post up the drawing

Hi swiggingpig
I don't feel I can post it up because they have not yet started manufacturing it yet and there would be copyright issues. All that I will say is that if they manufacture it I will be one of the first people to buy it!
Cheers IPA

 

[swiggingpig]

Any chance you can post up the drawing

Hi swiggingpig
I don't feel I can post it up because they have not yet started manufacturing it yet and there would be copyright issues. All that I will say is that if they manufacture it I will be one of the first people to buy it!
Cheers IPA

That's cool, I fully understand :thumb:

 

[caerleon]

Any chance you can post up the drawing

Hi swiggingpig
I don't feel I can post it up because they have not yet started manufacturing it yet and there would be copyright issues. All that I will say is that if they manufacture it I will be one of the first people to buy it!
Cheers IPA

I think it should be free issued to current owners. They havent got it totally right, draining tap clogs easily, the pump has no filters, the top grain pipe filter needs a rubber seal to keep the grain in the pipe with low volume grain bills, the lid causes overboil, the vents on the lids direct steam right at the handle your supposed to lift it off with!

But i still love the unit - Brewing tomorrow with it!

 

[IPA]

I think it should be free issued to current owners. They havent got it totally right, draining tap clogs easily, the pump has no filters, the top grain pipe filter needs a rubber seal to keep the grain in the pipe with low volume grain bills, the lid causes overboil, the vents on the lids direct steam right at the handle your supposed to lift it off with!

I have never had a problem with blocked tap because I use a hopsock. If the pump had a filter it would choke up with any loose grains which normally pass straight through. Resulting in no flow of wort. I've never had a problem with the top filter maybe because I have an early model which uses cloth filters top and bottom. All lids cause over boil and Speidel tell you to boil with the lid of. I am thinking of buying the copper top and attaching a hose to my extractor fan. One piece of advice I offer to anyone is to remove the pump rotor every three or four brews and soak it in a strong solution of bottle/barrel cleaner. This makes sure that the 1mm holes that allow liquid to pass behind it are kept clear if they become even partially blocked the rotor rubs against the housing and the magnets in it become de-magnetised and the pump stops working. This happened to me with both the 20L and the 50L models. In both cases Speidel replaced them free charge! out of the guarantee period.
You are dead right it is an amazing bit of kit.
IPA

 

[BrewHead]

Thanks Ian for your recipe suggestion (was it London Pride?) + sorry I'm a bit late getting back to you. In the end I brewed 50L of a Cluster pale ale last Friday (lager + vienna + crystal malt, cluster hops, nottingham yeast) which went reasonably well. My main feedback from the brewday are:

1) Despite me being very careful and only pouring the malt inside the malt pipe, malt did escape because there is a slight gap between the fine mesh filter and the malt pipe itself (perhaps there is a rubber seal that would solve this?)

2) 50L doesn't fit in my fermenter so I had to quickly clean a second one

3) Although the tap doesn't seem to drip, its very slow for transferring the wort to the fermenter

4) The lack of a hop filter is a big problem as it meant a lot of break material in the fermenters

5) The malt pipe is a b**** to lift out because of the suction

6) I sparged with 12L of water. Despite me having the malt pipe sitting as high as it will go, the level of liquid in the braumeister rose to above the bottom of the malt pipe when sparging meaning the malt pipe never fully drained. Perhaps it would be better to let the malt pipe drain over the braumeister, then transfer the malt pipe to a spare fermenter and sparge into that. The sparge runnings could then be added to the braumeister.

7) After I worried my 13amp electrics wouldn't be up to running a 16amp appliance, the plug and 6m cable hardly got warm at all. The kettle element plug and cable I used to use only consumed 10amps but was a lot hotter than the braumeister one.

8) Its very heavy for lifting and cleaning. I'm half tempted to get a cheap submersible pump for cleaning duties otherwise its a struggle to pick it up to drain it when its got water in it.

BH

 

[IPA]

Hi BH
You could try starting with less water 45-50 Litres instead of the recommended 53 Litres and then you could use 12 Litres to sparge but I would advise using less sparge or even none at all as per the manual. Think about it, the grains have in fact been continually sparged for over 90 mins during the mashing and therefore the extracted sugars are already in suspension in the liquor. All that is required is to let them drain out for 30 minutes, again as per the manual. With a normal mash tun you sparge because you are starting out with a much smaller volume of liquid and need to release the sugars trapped by the grain this is not the case with the BM. Next time when you have lifted out the malt tube and after it hase drained for thirty mins taste the grain and you will not detect any remaining sugar unlike conventionally mashed grain. I am still using the original cloth type filters and hardly any grain escapes from the tube. As I said in an earlier post Speidel are working on a hop filter which attaches to BM and should resolve the trub issue. I will contact them shortly to see when it will be available. You will need to buy a couple of 60 Litre fermenting vessels. Have a look at the round ones I use on the Brouwland site. For the transfer I use silicone tube which fits nicely on outlet tap. I did warn you that malt tube is quite heavy. I use an electric hoist but I am fortunate in the fact that space is not an issue. If you brew in a garage you could easily rig one up. As regards cleaning I simply put in enough hot water to cover the elements give them a good scrub with a brush and then a thorough clean with a cloth and then tip out the water and rinse a couple more times. If your sink is too high tip it into a large bucket. Well spotted, it was London Pride. This is the preferred session beer of the expats living here in Wineland. I know it seems a bit daunting when you move up to 50 Litre brewlengths. I felt the same but you quickly get used to it. If you need any more help I can send you photos of my setup just PM me your email address
Happy Brewing
Ian

 

[caerleon]

One piece of advice I offer to anyone is to remove the pump rotor every three or four brews and soak it in a strong solution of bottle/barrel cleaner. This makes sure that the 1mm holes that allow liquid to pass behind it are kept clear if they become even partially blocked the rotor rubs against the housing and the magnets in it become de-magnetised and the pump stops working. This happened to me with both the 20L and the 50L models. In both cases Speidel replaced them free charge! out of the guarantee period.
You are dead right it is an amazing bit of kit.
IPA

I removed the vane it and dried after the first use, checked it for the second brew and found a lot of mold inside the rotor vanes. I now take it out sanitize and dry it thoroughly before storage and before use again. I store mine inside at about 18-20 Deg so there should have been no moisture present.

The reason i state that the pump should have some sort of filter is when using mine in normal operation, i keep finding hops inside the pipes for the pump and attached to the vane, even thou it's not in use in the program after 80 Deg.

I wash it and cleaned it yesterday took the pump off and low and behold more hops in the pump piping and i know i didnt have it on manual at all.

Have you tried contacting Speidal to get the stainless mesh filters for your machine or are you still happy with the cloth? I assume it is better for filtering?

 

[KOzric]

Hi guys, could I ask a favour of anyone with a 20l and/or 50l Braumeister to tell me roughly how much liquid the malt pipes alone hold. I'm currently having a go at building a similar system for home use and was wondering what sort of sizes 'the professionals' are using.

Thanks,
KOzric

 

[HowlingDog]

Hi guys, could I ask a favour of anyone with a 20l and/or 50l Braumeister to tell me roughly how much liquid the malt pipes alone hold. I'm currently having a go at building a similar system for home use and was wondering what sort of sizes 'the professionals' are using.

Thanks,
KOzric

20L - dia: 270mm
- height: 365mm

 

[IPA]

Hi guys, could I ask a favour of anyone with a 20l and/or 50l Braumeister to tell me roughly how much liquid the malt pipes alone hold. I'm currently having a go at building a similar system for home use and was wondering what sort of sizes 'the professionals' are using.

Thanks,
KOzric

20L - dia: 270mm
- height: 365mm

The 50L model has a tube diametre of 34cm and a total height of 47cm. According to Pythagoras radius x radius x 3.142 x height = volume. Making roughly 42L but the volume for the grain with the top and bottom filters in place is 32L.
I sold my 20L one so I don't know the sizes for it.
Absolute max grain capacities are roughly.
20L = 5.5kg
50L = 12kg
Hope this helps.

 

[KOzric]

Cheers guys, this gives me a good starting point. Though in the end I don't suppose it matters that much, as long as there's always water in both parts of the pot, and the water keeps circulating.

 

[IPA]

By the way I contacted Ralf Leukart at Speidel on the subject of hop filters and he sent me the drawing for the filter they are proposing to make and it looks very interesting. It looks like it will reduce the lost volume containing the trub.
Cheers
Ian

Any chance you can post up the drawing

After four years of using a Braumeister I have at last found a way of stopping the trub exiting by the tap into the FV.
I use a mesh bag, from a Thorn Electrim Boiler, to hold the main quota of hops and a hop sock for the late addition hops. After the boil I remove the mesh bag and perch the hop sock on the top of the central spindle. When the level of wort is just above the tap hole I wedge the hop sock between it and the heating element and the tilt the BM. The hops in the sock act as a filter and you can drain of all of the wort leaving the trub behind. I have now done this twice and it works a treat. No more lost volume.

 

[MashBag]

Great thread.

Been brewing manually for a a few years - just got a BM so I reading everything.

It is so nice to see contributors so positive - I think it is a fantastic piece of kit and has reignited my all grain brewing.
I have to say it seems more common to find folks knocking the BM as Satan's work either because of the price or because 'that's not brewing'. For me it is all about recipe & consistency.

thanks guys I have learnt a lot just by reading this thread.

 

[bobsbeer]

Welcome : Glad you like it. :thumb: