ACE Microbrewery

IainM said:

A case in point: a thinner mash is more efficient, but has a higher pH, which can counteract the advantage depending on the liquor and grist.

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Interesting didn't know that. So anyone doing full biab will have a higher ph. Guess that's the next thing to look at. Perhaps I get away with it by using RO water.

Hey guys just made a 2nd brew video with this thing.


https://www.youtube.com/embed/-2jzEFKcnW0


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2jzEFKcnW0[/ame]

If anyone has any questions I'll be happy to try to answer them. I have enjoyed some of the info in this thread and what some of you guys have found with this device (temp for mash, etc.) Maybe someone can do a sticky with a table of contents for this thread for better information? I see some of the same questions being asked.

Nice video!

Great stuff man! Your first video helped a lot and I have already noted down a couple of things for my second brew on the ACE.

That Mattmill Lauterhexe looks like a great - and much needed - improvement to the bazooka that comes with the ACE. Where did you get it from?

Great video, how much sparge water did you use, and I noticed the citric acid there did you use that to reduce the pH of the sparge water and does that impart any flavour?

madoIII said:

Great stuff man! Your first video helped a lot and I have already noted down a couple of things for my second brew on the ACE.

That Mattmill Lauterhexe looks like a great - and much needed - improvement to the bazooka that comes with the ACE. Where did you get it from?

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Got it from https://homebrewshop.be/en/

Shipping was quick and install was easy. I found out recently that you dont need the gaskets it comes with to install onto the Ace Microbrewery (aka Klarstein) - someone was telling me the Klarstein might be slightly different? Can someone double check. I thought they were the same exact unit.

Made a huge difference, highly recommended.

foxy said:

Great video, how much sparge water did you use, and I noticed the citric acid there did you use that to reduce the pH of the sparge water and does that impart any flavour?

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Citric acid can impact flavors if used in excess. I actually meant to use Lactic acid grabbed the wrong one- so good eye. I would recomment using Lactic acid for pH adjustment if you had the choice between the two.

I realized this a little ways in but didn't matter too much.

I use phosphoric acid myself for the sparge water, though I have noticed that quite a few Americans do use citric acid, I just supposed it added to the citrus flavour of the hops in the AIPA's

foxy said:

I use phosphoric acid myself for the sparge water, though I have noticed that quite a few Americans do use citric acid, I just supposed it added to the citrus flavour of the hops in the AIPA's

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No I think they are scared to add other acids.

I have had another look the tap on the Klarstein as not got the amount of thread on the back of he tap to fit the Mattmill Lauterhexe to just about have room for the nut to hold the tap inplace

dps51 said:

I have had another look the tap on the Klarstein as not got the amount of thread on the back of he tap to fit the Mattmill Lauterhexe to just about have room for the nut to hold the tap inplace

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replace the locknut with the filter, ebay some Stainless steel washers to use as spacers if needed, and a bit of silicone baking sheet or cake mould can be cut with scissors into a nice soft heat/food safe diy sealing washer.

#1tip under cut the sizes smaller inner hole means you can stretch it onto fit snuggly round the male thread and undecutting the outside will stop it getting squeezed out with the compression used to seal.

I got a new ball valve coming so should be ok
but thanks @Fil

dps51 said:

I have had another look the tap on the Klarstein as not got the amount of thread on the back of he tap to fit the Mattmill Lauterhexe to just about have room for the nut to hold the tap inplace

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Its maybe 4mm left with the nut, it will thread, its stable, and it fits! :thumb:

foxy said:

Great video, how much sparge water did you use, and I noticed the citric acid there did you use that to reduce the pH of the sparge water and does that impart any flavour?

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I used 8 litres for sparging..

Bigcol49 said:

Hi!
Have patience!
They will be out of stock, so to maintain a listing on ebay and to deter new orders until stock arrives, the price is increased to an impossible level.
The same thing happened with the ACE mash tun/boiler.

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these are back on ebay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ACE-Micro...277467?hash=item3f41d2db9b:g:b8oAAOSwal5YHGtg

dps51 said:

these are back on ebay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ACE-Micro...277467?hash=item3f41d2db9b:g:b8oAAOSwal5YHGtg

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only to order not for dispatch yet.

Does anyone recirculate the boiling wort with these machines?

Cheers. Tom

soupdragon said:

Does anyone recirculate the boiling wort with these machines?

Cheers. Tom

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Nah, it warns you not to use the pump with boiling wort.

I know I read something about 80c but then I've been told it's the same pump as the grainfather and that's ok at boiling?

Cheers Tom

Well i did it - went for the ACE - great advice guys, thanks. (from my question here http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=69164 )

Completed my first brew in it a week ago today, So thought i'd share my experience. It's currently still happily bubbling away, so seemed to have gone ok as far as I can tell. I tried an Old speckled hen clone recipe because I wanted to follow a recipe in some form of a beer I could relate to, as a first attempt of all-grain.

Although I had read loads, I still felt quite unsure I was getting things like strike volumes, sparge volumes, pre-boil volume, evaporation rates to get post boil volumes correct, but decided I just need to give it a go and jump in.

The recipe called for 12L strike water with 5kg grain. I calculated the water space under the grain basket to be just under 7 litres (6.7L using pi*(r^2)*h). So I used 19L start water in ACE (i.e 7L + 12L), added my grains.

Mashed at 68C - for 90min (10min @2500W, 80min @1500W)
Grain out - water reduced to 15L.
Estimated 7% evaporation rate for the boil, so used 12L sparge to bring to 27L pre-boil volume. With target volume 25L (2L wastage - so hopefully 23L ferment volume).

Went for 60min boil - 10min @ 2500W, 50min @2000W - but during the 2000W stage it lost the boil (I was brewing in the garage late evening) so I interrupted the cycle and took the remaining time on the timer (about 35mins) and used manual mode and set to boil @2500W for 35mins. It took several mins to bring back to boil before the timer started again so the total boil time was about 70mins.

I ended up with post boil volume between 25L mark and 6 gal mark - so ~24L. It filled up to my 23L mark on my ferment bucket. Complete beginners luck :grin: :whistle:

My pitching SG was 1056.

Some questions - What wattage are people generally using for boils ( I read earlier someone used 1800W but I seemed to lose boil on 2000W (lid off)). Do you guys do your boils with your lids on or off and what evaporation rates do you achieve with lids on.? Just looking to start trying to optimize wattage/energy use.

cheers