August 11 Visit To Speidel Microbrewery In Memmingen, Munich

[HomeBrewWest]

I finally got around to writing about this:
http://www.homebrewwest.ie/homebrew-news-22-w.asp

[Will_D]

There's a problem in the last para. "€2.40 a half litre" Do you mean they sell them at that price given the production cost you mention at end of para 1?

Cheers

Will

[HomeBrewWest]

Yup. Its still a lot cheaper than Ireland.

[Padraic]

I'm not aware that the no-sparge Braumeister can top 75% (or even achieve it)?

Due to the recirculation in the mash should it not reach a high efficiency?

[HomeBrewWest]

Yeah, a quick google search and it looks like it achieves over 80% efficiency without sparging, and 85+ with sparging:

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/69567-mash-efficiency-on-a-speidel-braumeister/
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=13&p=293584
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/mash-efficiency-speidel-braumeister-374764/
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=54962

[HomeBrewWest]

Oh, and these are the 20 litre units. I'm pretty sure efficiency is much higher with the bigger units.

[Padraic]

I know that some owners of the smaller Braumeisters manually sparge by lifting the malt tube out and rinsing it with water, but for those that don't there is going to be a percentage of the sugars trapped in the grain. As we know every 1Kg of grain will trap ~1 litre of sugary wort.

A good point but would all of the wort not contain more sugar due to the recirculation, thus the litres left behind would contain a lot of sugar but the litres kept would contain more sugar too?

The only way we can test this is if HBW give me a braumeister to experiment with!

[Partridge9]

I have got 80% only once, generally 70%.

but your not chasing efficiency with the Braumeister - your chasing quality and consistency.

As for the cost per liter / pint - its all comes down to what you are paying for your grain.

[Padraic]

I have got 80% only once, generally 70%.

but your not chasing efficiency with the Braumeister - your chasing quality and consistency.

As for the cost per liter / pint - its all comes down to what you are paying for your grain.

And the shiny spousefriendliness of it's design...

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

"20 to 25 cents per litre" -- I'd like to see those maths!

I'm not aware that the no-sparge Braumeister can top 75% (or even achieve it)?

If you are brewing in bulk, you are buying in bulk. Your malt bill goes way down when you buy it on pallets (~1000Kg).

Hops go way down too when you buy them in 5Kg bags. German styles tend to use dramatically less hops also, often only one 60 minute addition. The larger units are likely to be more power and water efficient, by number of liters of output.

Those braumeisters can hit those kind of efficiencies. The RIMS setup nails it. But like other posters have said, its the consistency that matters.

[alealex]

Oh, and these are the 20 litre units. I'm pretty sure efficiency is much higher with the bigger units.

Why would efficiency be higher on 50l one? Isn't the water-malt ratio same on both?

!!!Don't use this one to calculate efficiency!!! 

http://www.brewersfriend.com/

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

You get a certain amount of inertia at the larger scales, which can help you refine your water chemistry easier and hit and keep your mash temps.

I am thinking also about water & power efficiency, rather than just brewhouse efficiency. They influence your costs too, and I suspect there are better efficiencies there at scale.

[HomeBrewWest]

Bear in mind this guy is based near Munich in Germany and used whole grains and hop pellets. I'm using the numbers he provided to me, and I'm fairly confident he knows his own numbers. I don't know what type of yeast solution he uses though. Stupidly, I neglected to ask him this very important question!

[HomeBrewWest]

Ah ha! Here is the info from the horses mouth:
http://www.speidels-braumeister.de/cost-calculation.html

So, excluding beer tax and water charges its 27 cents per litre. I'm thus presuming our friend near munich isn't paying water charges.  Also, the recipes show that less ingredients per litre are used with the bigger units (up to 25% less grain per litre) so they seem to be much more efficient.

BTW, this is Speidel's brand new English web site. Its impressive.

Beware. If you go and have a look here, you will really want a Speidel! Look at the recipe section, all multi temp mashes as far as I can see. I do wonder how much of a difference this makes to a wheat beer or an IPA.

All being well, I'm going to treat myself to one in the new year. It will be available in the shop for all to use (maybe on Saturdays by appointment, tba). All I ask is that you use our ingredients and leave a few beers to cover the running costs !

[HomeBrewWest]

I've added more info on the trip including pics etc:
http://www.homebrewwest.ie/homebrew-news-22-w.asp

More pics to come, if I can find them!

I still can't get over how simple the setup was. Almost like working out of home. Pub was called the "Zoigl" and its in Kaufbeuren, near Munich. Gernot Wildungsmauer was an interesting guy, living his dream to produce traditional style Zoigl beers in his home town. His is a model we could all potentially follow, particularly if you are trained in hospitality or can cook (or know someone who can, that you could go into business with).

I've added a bit on Zoigl beers too, most of it robbed from Wiki and Gernot's web site.