Tips for first brew on Brewmeister

[fego]

Tomorrow will be my first brew day on the BM20 I bought last month.

I was just wondering if anyone had any useful tips to share or things for me to look out for in this virgin state? For example, I haven't got a hop filter for it yet so how should I manage hop control? I'm planning on brewing something simple with about 100g of hops and have both leaf and pellet.

[Aleman]

No Hop filter go with pellets.

Don't worry about hitting your targets.

Personally I've gone no sparge so 31L into the BM, Up to temp, pull of 6L, mash in, switch on, then add back the 6L. You may need to take some out to remove the clamp.

Boil . . . Cool, transfer to FV, determine losses, and liquor back . . . Update beersmith profile

[Aleman]

Psssst! Wanna Buy a Hop Filter???

[fego]

Thanks for that. Interesting approach but logical and simple I guess.

I'll PM you about the filter after seeing how today goes - thanks again - I've got a few bits and bobs from old equipment that I might be able to use if I'm lucky...

[Aleman]

I've only done two brews on my BM so I am still trying to hit targets and what not. The good thing is that so far I am always over gravity post boil, which means liquoring back is an option. I had to empty my hop freezer as the hops that were in there were just to old, and were either cheesy or zero aroma/flavour . . . They had to go, so I am revisiting pellets again which didn't really work in my 3V system I know a lot of brewers that say they work brilliantly in a BM

I'm sure Jim won't mind me giving a plug for the https://forum.braumeisters.net/index.ph ... ster Forum

[BrewerBen]

I use mostly pellets in hop bags with mine. Keeping them contained in the bag makes the cleanup much easier and you can run the pump when cooling and no worries about getting hop debris in the fermenter. I also like to think that using pellets offsets any lost utilisation of using the bags but i'm just guessing so don't take my word for it.

[fego]

The Brewday went well and I can see how good this machine will be (when I've got used to it). Headlines for me were;

- I spent a long time cleaning it before use, a lot more than necessary probably although the domed lid was still leaving black residues on tissues after the 5th clean/wipe.

- the immersion chiller surprisingly had some rust on it which I couldn't get off easily.

- I spent much less time cleaning up afterwards than I used to with my 3V set ups. I used an oversized electric toothbrush type cleaner from Aldi which cleaned the elements and boil gunk very quickly.

- compressing the malt into the tube (by putting a few blocks of wood and a house brick on them over a perforated pizza tray above a bucked) gave me an extra litre of wort and meant really easy tidying by throwing it in a bin bag.

- I found the initial set up of the recipe difficult and confusing, partly because in direct sunlight I couldn't see the screen very well but also because you can't rename anything and some of the names that came up included delete. I think this is a one off issue.

- I had quite a few grains escape from the tube so I might add a slice of beer pipe round the edge of the plate to stop that happening. I did however have a hop filter tube plugged vertically into the pump inlet which stopped anything hitting the pump.

- my best attempt at a hop filter at the tap was a wire mesh disc held against the inside through a rod held in place through the chiller. This didn't work very well at all and meant a lot of recirculating to get clearer wort. It did keep out the leaves but not the pellets really.

- I ended up 2 points and 2 litres below target which may have been caused partly by the old grain I used and the additional boil time. The domed lid provides a terrifically aggressive rolling boil.

- I didn't realise that the timer would stop if the temperature dropped a bit so when I topped up with the final wort runnings and put the chiller in, the countdown stopped until 2 minutes of continuous temperature had been achieved. This meant my boil was more than 60 minutes planned and that in particular my last 15 minute hops would have extracted more bitterness and less aroma than the recipe called for.

- I liked the beep alerts for each stage, but I could have done with one telling me I was approaching the boil. The first I knew was when Mrs. F shouted that 'your thing is foaming everywhere'.

- in the clean up of the boil over, I wiped the display and later noticed it had scratches over it a bit like the older iPods had when they used the cheap plastic. Wasn't very impressed with that tbh given the quality elsewhere.

- the pump is a dream to clean up but when I opened it for the first time there was a small piece of metal inside. Looked like a tiny clip of some sort. I presume the twisting adjusts the pumps speed.

So, the only issue I have is the hop filter really. I'm sure I can sort the efficiency out and factor any temp changes into my recipes (or stop taking the lid off to have a look). So, Aleman, about that hop filter...

[Wezzel]

I pop a bit of cling film over the display while I'm using or cleaning it. The buttons still work and it keeps the sticky wort splashes off.

[Matt12398]

My process is identical to Aleman but rather than use a set volume each time and liqour back I put the recipe into Beersmith, let it work out the total liquor volume based on losses and then add that.

I don't use a hop filter. I've used a lot of leaf hops and had problems but with a small amount of leaf and the rest pellets it works fine. I use a sieve after the tap to catch any pellets.

I also have had a few bits of grain coming out, mainly due to my clumsiness when adding it but they tend to disappear somewhere and have not impacted on flavour.

I have run the pumps with all pellet brews to whirlpool during cooling because I'm told it should not cause any problems for the pump although don't run them continuously, just to occasionally distribute any temperature differences.

Have you had any issues with the sensitivity of the touch control on the front? I had my unit replaced due to this issue but the replacement is the same.

One word or warning, when cleaning the pump impellers, treat them like your children. I managed to drop one on a tiled floor and broke a piece off as they are made of some kind of fragile magnetic composite. They are very sensitive to balancing so I had to replace one.

[Andy]

No Hop filter go with pellets.

Don't worry about hitting your targets.

Personally I've gone no sparge so 31L into the BM, Up to temp, pull of 6L, mash in, switch on, then add back the 6L. You may need to take some out to remove the clamp.

Boil . . . Cool, transfer to FV, determine losses, and liquor back . . . Update beersmith profile

Why do you remove 6L before the mash and then add if back in vs leaving it in the BM ? Is it something to do with water volumes in the BM when the dry grain is added ?

[Aleman]

I've gone no sparge so 31L into the BM, Up to temp, pull of 6L, mash in, switch on, then add back the 6L. You may need to take some out to remove the clamp.

Why do you remove 6L before the mash and then add if back in vs leaving it in the BM ? Is it something to do with water volumes in the BM when the dry grain is added ?

You've got it, when mashing in you need to ensure that the water level doesn't exceed the height of the malt pipe when you add the grain. Once you have done that and put the upper filters in place, you can top up with what you removed.

[Andy]

Gotcha, thanks.

A mate's just purchased a 50L BM and I'll be helping out with the commissioning brew, hence the interest

[Aleman]

It depends on how much grain is in the recipe. Both of my brews have had around 5 kg . . . Which in a 20L Braumeister with 31L of water in it . . . Would be messy

[barneey]

It depends on how much grain is in the recipe. Both of my brews have had around 5 kg . . . Which in a 20L Braumeister with 31L of water in it . . . Would be messy

With the funnel lid in place, I found you can just about get away with it.

[Andy]

Daft question time!

With the 50L BM + short malt pipe fitted what batch size can we brew ? (assuming session strength ale)