Klarstein

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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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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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.
 
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! 😁
 
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