Braumeister

Will I be horribly shunned if I go the Braumeister route?
I believe it was what got this whole BIAB thing started wasn't it Pat?
I have always struggled with mash temps, thermometers and subzero ambient temps,and decided that I could afford the system and I like the control offered by it.
In the years to come it would make brewing a much easier option for me.I can see no hindrance to my association here and will probably still break out the bag and burner in the summer or if I should happen to a liking to high OG beers.
You all have helped me keep my sanity through a very difficcult 2012 and I am in your debt for it.
I owe 90 percent of my brewing knowledge to this sight and look forward to blowing you all away again in the Cheesestradamus 2013.
Yeah I'm drunk but I still love you guys!

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I will still talk to you Lylo

• • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From Great Britain
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• • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From Greece
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Lylo,

I rigged Cheesestradamus so you would win to save me on postage! I didn't think you would spend the prize money on a Beermister? I should have took PP's bribe? I didn't know what 50 pounds of (Roo) meat was? I guess your a big boy! Congratulations anyway!

• • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America
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The Long politically correct answer bought to you by Pat

Pat wrote:Congratulations on your Cheesetradamus win Lylo . Nice to see you are celebrating .

The Braumeister didn't start the BIAB movement although it was definitely in production at the time. As to whether it would be a good investment or not would require some investigation. Some questions to consider might include...

1. How easy are they to clean? Can the taps, pump etc be pulled apart?
2. What are the cost of replacement parts? Can you do the repairs if required?
3. What is the actual capacity of the kettle? I believe that to get the advertised yield requires topping up the kettle during the boil and/or sparging.
4. Is it really set and forget or do you have to keep an eye on the boil?

I would not be concerned about the maintaining of mash temperatures as this is not very hard to do with a normal BIAB set up. There is also no evidence to say that maintaining a perfectly even mash temp is a good or bad thing.

If you would like to brew less often but make more beer, another option would be to use a larger kettle and double batch, cubing half and fermenting the other half straight away. For a far lower price, you could even have two large kettles and brew two double batches at the same time.

I believe purchasing a Braumeister could be a great decision or a very poor one depending entirely on your circumstances. The main thing is to make sure your expectations match the reality.

And, of course you wouldn't be shunned if you bought one .

BIABrewer.info is more about helping people make educated decisions in their brewing practices. We think full-volume mashing, which the Braumeister can be used for, is a very sensible way to go however there are situations where individual circumstances or limitations might require two or three-vessel techniques to be employed. Members here often help other members in these areas.

The process of creating sweet liquor that occurs between mash in and the beginning of the boil is only one part of the brewing process. I think a lot of three vessel brewers would actually enjoy and be valuable participants in many of the subjects that the current members explore here. They are certainly most welcome here.

with your investigation Lylo,
Pat

Short answer - Yes you will be shunned Dont show your braumeistered face around these parts any more. I can't stands people thinking they're better than me cause I use $12 bucks worth of poorly engineered voile to make beer

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Sorry Pat,I have been so busy with my fan mail that I forgot that I started this topic.
I am sure I read somewhere on the web(so it must be true)not that the Braumeister started the whole thing so much as maybe it was an inspiration to you guys.If I can find the time I am going to go back to the deep archives of AHB and reread the history.
After exrensive research I have found:
1: the cleanup is very easy.In my case maybe easier because the brewing would be done right beside my brewhouse sink.
2:The only problem I has seen reported has to do with the pump which is warranted and easily repaired by a goof like me.
3:I may need to sparge depending on the grain bill.I brew mostly low alc sessin beers anyway so mostly would not need this step.Even if needed the sparge is really only a rince of the grains while the are suspennded over the wort.I believe many of us are doing something similar as well when our pots are a little small.
4:Not really set and forget,and who wants to do that!There is always a threat of having what they are calling Geysers,(at first I thought they were talking about BB )These happen when the grain bed gets compacted and the wort tries to channel through it. The boil doesn't seem to require anymore attention than It gets right now.
5:I really look forward to brewing inside in the winter and outsice if I wish too.I will not miss screaming at my wife to run downtown to get me a thermometer battery. I will be ables to start using my sleeping bags for what they were made for.( I think I will have to Google that)
6: I know taht the mash temps are not as critical as we make out and that step mashing is not necesarry with our well modified grains,however my temps now will be correct and if I wish to do a step mash for whatever reason it is there with no additional work,planning or attention by me.
I knew this wouldn't be a problem with you guys as I have always thought that the forum was more about brewing than just BIAB. Thanks
I can hardly wait to see my shiny precious sitting on the floor calling to me.

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I’m here (God help you all) because I was reading a Canadian site and read one of Lylo’s plugs for this site. Lots of Canadians have been signing up lately

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GR, I know you and your better half are MD's or something but,,,do you really want a $2000 fermentor?
For all of info that you could posslbly want,
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/speidel ... er-229225/
That should keep you busy for a while!!

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Lylo are you really going to make me read all that for my answers about bazooka screens and bags in there

I wouldn’t spend that much for a fermenter but for a complete all-in-one automated brewing/fermenting system I might.

Adding fermentation to the process has advantages…for example no need to sanitise a fermenter as the boiling has done that, one step less in the process, and exposing the hops to alcohol, as mentioned.

No I was just kidding The truth is I have tonnes of money and I’m getting really fed up with these cheap nasty plastic buckets

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Lylo, I found my answers in here http://www.speidels-braumeister.de/medi ... on_20l.pdf. Found the link right at the beginning ot that 192 page thread you sent me off to read Now I'm bored again

looks like a lot of trouble to me... all the instructions, next do this, next do that, how to clean this and how to maintain that.

Hope it works out well for you though.

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You skipped the first 191 pages? I promised everyone that I could keep you busy until the snow melted!!

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No sign of the thaw yet Lylo eh!

Have you taken that pump apart yet to clean and service it? Did you install the malt pipe and make sure the seal was facing downwards when the buzzer went off has it driven you crazy yet? or did I already do that?

Did you read page #8 of 26 pages in the instruction manual? Who's going to be busy until spring???

Don’t get me wrong. I admire your craziness and imagination. These Canadian winters are awfully long, stuck inside, staring at the walls. That’s why I was thinking of getting a Brauemeister (did I spell it right?), it’s not because I’m made of money (my ex-wife cleaned me out) it’s just because I get so desperately bored and crazy here in the winter. The summer is great! I’ll be lying by the pool, and I promise you won’t hear from me. I can’t promise that next winter I won’t end up ordering a $2,000 fermenting machine. Anything could happen! and I fully understand. For now Lylo my dream is a microbrewery, or even 2 weeks in the sun. Neither will happen sadly because I am too poor. That's my next thread..."How to get rich". I won't start it because Nuff will be after me, but I do believe beer might be the key. Sex, even the promise of sex (it's in all the ads, even Pepsi and chewing gum) and alcohol is where the money is.

Page 8 for those that aren't "in the know":

The pump and heating remain switched on until the
programmed mashing temperature is reached. The set
temperature and actual temperature are shown on the display.
On reaching the mashing temperature, a signal tone sounds,
which must be acknowledged by pressing the ENTER button.
The pump is now switched off.
The malt pipe can now be installed in the boiler with the seal
facing downwards. Make sure that the pipe is clean, centred
and lying flat on the bottom. Now insert the first sieve base
(with the pipe’s jointing sleeve facing upwards) into the malt
pipe and put the first filter cloth on top of it. The cloth must lie
on the sheet metal sieve and it is not allowed to float upwards.
The whole malt is now poured into the malt pipe with a scoop,
then stirred in well. Take care that the malt is poured in neatly
and that nothing falls into the tank, which could block the pump. Now put the second
filter cloth on top and then the second sheet metal sieve over that again (with the
pipe’s jointing sleeve facing upwards). This is screwed together with the stirrup and
wing nut for fastening and clamping down the malt pipe, and is pressed downwards
while doing so.
When you have filled in the malt, confirm this by pressing
ENTER. The inquiry “Malt filled?” appears again as a check.
You can now start the actual brewing process of the
Braumeister by pressing START. The pump and heating are
switched on. The wort rises in the pipe and flows over. The
circulation has started and the malt will be washed out by
means of pumped recycling during the next phases.
Protein mode
The malt’s large molecules of protein are split up into small components during the
protein mode. The protein mode is not only important for clarification and fullbodiedness
but for the beer’s foaming stability and capacity to bind carbonic acid. The
temperature is approximately 52°C and it is maintained for 5 to 20 minutes according
to the programmed recipe.
The display now shows the mode, set and actual temperature
and the time. On reaching the set temperature, the time display
changes to a downward-counting remaining time display
(flashing) for this phase. The further phases take place
completely automatically, during which the display again
shows the corresponding times and temperatures as in Phase 1.

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