Mash/sparge volumes (preferably for Brewdevil/Brewmonk/Klarstein/Hopcat)

[Loco_ola]

The issue I've found with my system and calculating water amounts is that technically the mash tun addition is variable depending on how much grain you have in there.

This is because the inner filter section has both the gap underneath (which is fixed)- and at the sides (the height of which will be determined by the volume of grain in the filter). So I figure you actually need to know the volume of grain to work out the real amounts.

Obviously it's just a bit of basic maths (enter π) to work out the volume of grain that will not be sitting in water.

I could be wrong of course, and I also figure it's probably not too critical as long as you are over the volume of grain.

 

[SteveH]

Similar to previous responses I use 20l to mash in and about 10l to sparge with on my Robobrew 3.1, might use slightly more at mash in for a big grain bill, or slightly less for a small one, but 20l is in the right ballpark (I've tried less and had issues with a stuck mash)

Re blocking the pump, I have had issues with that, using both pellet and leaf hops - using a large mash bag does help, but it's a pain when chilling as it gets in the way.

I saw that @matt76 has been using the grain basket as a large hop spider which seems like a good idea particularly since it doesn't involve buying any new kit - IIRC @David Heath heath also has a couple of videos about doing similar with a grainfather which may be worth checking out.

I'm planning to give this a go next brew as I've blocked the pump every time over the last few brews and it's getting a bit annoying (it's probably my fault as I bought a whirlpool arm and the pump has blocked every single time since )

 

[foxy]

Every user of the single vessel breweries has their own idea of the ratio of grain to liquor, personally I prefer a very fluid mash 32 to 34 litres depending on the grain bill. Don't get a stuck mash and don't have to sparge. The best way to check out the performance of the hop spider for yourself is to do two consecutive brews using the same recipe, and make it an AIPA so there are plenty of hops involved.
This is what I did and have my own view of hop spiders. I now have a hop spider for sale only used once.
The whirlpool arm is a waste of space, cool with the immersion chiller and let everything settle out even if it takes an hour, draw off clear wort into the fermenter, even if you have to use a syphon.

 

[SteveH]

> The whirlpool arm is a waste of space, cool with the immersion chiller and let everything settle out even if it takes an hour

The main reason I'd like to use it is previous experiments whirlpooling against the flow of the immersion chiller seemed to result in much quicker cooling - as you say I don't think it did much for wort clarity.

 

[matt76]

I saw that @matt76 has been using the grain basket as a large hop spider which seems like a good idea particularly since it doesn't involve buying any new kit -

Just to clarify, I use the grain basket as a hop spider for leaf hops only. I think it would be like trying to stop a mosquito with a goal net if you were using pellets!

With pellets I just leave it a few hours after chilling to let the crud settle out, similar to what @foxy suggests ( I do this in all cases anyway actually to let all the trub settle out)

 

[mark123]

How idi you get on with the angel? I have an angel home brew micro brewery but I struggle with the awful instructions - Its makes two types of bell or ringing noises when brewing – what do they mean? and how do I stop them? What happens when they stop? A pointer towards some decent, simple idiot proof instructions for the angel home brew would be handy.
Many thanks and happy brewing

 

[MickDundee]

How idi you get on with the angel? I have an angel home brew micro brewery but I struggle with the awful instructions - Its makes two types of bell or ringing noises when brewing – what do they mean? and how do I stop them? What happens when they stop? A pointer towards some decent, simple idiot proof instructions for the angel home brew would be handy.
Many thanks and happy brewing

I like it a lot, although I’ve only used it on manual setting. I’ve not tried to schedule a stepped mash or programmed my hop timings or anything like that on it yet - was planning to get to grips with the manual settings first before doing anything like that.

I’ve only heard 2 “bells” - one goes off when it initially reaches the set temperature and just beeps a couple of times then stops. The other one goes off at the end of your timer and you need to press stop.

 

[mark123]

Great! So when it reaches temperature it rings a couple of times. Then what happens ? Does it carry on with what it is doing? How do I know what it is doing?
Separately, when it rings at the end of the timer, which button do i press? What happens then? How do I know what it is doing? Sorry to be so thick but it is not clear at all in the instructions!

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi Mark

The instructions aren't clear, they do seem to have lost a little in the translation ... but I did email Angel Home Brew about some questions and they came back promptly and were really helpful.

But I can help with your initial questions ...

So when it reaches temperature it rings a couple of times. Then what happens ? Does it carry on with what it is doing? How do I know what it is doing?

... the times it sits there dinging are when it's waiting for you to do something, and needs you to confirm you're doing it (or have done it) before it moves on ... the first time it has got up to temperature and it's waiting for you to dough in your grain, to stop it dinging and get it to move on to the next step you need to push the "AUTO" button ... in the instructions it says ...

When S1 temperature is reached, there is reminder ringing, timer will not countdown unless you press AUTO button to confirm. It is ingredients filling reminder.

... if you can stand it sitting there dinging at you while you dough in, you can wait till after mixing before pushing that button, or you can push the button and then dough in ... but bear in mind the timer will start once you push that AUTO button so if you take a while to dough in you're cutting into your mash time

Then the second time it dings is at the end of the step before you've set it to boil, and it'll ding at you to remind you to remove your grain and sparge (if you're going to do that) ... to stop it dinging you push the AUTO button again, but I'd suggest you at least lift the grain basket out and set it to drain before you do that.

Cheers, PhilB

 

[PhilBrew]

... oh and @mark123 ... I found watching this video from Daft Cat Brewing showing an entire brewday, including programming, mashing and boiling (she does a full-volume mash, so no sparge) really informative ... she's using an earlier version than you probably got more recently, but the principles are the same ...



Cheers, PhilB