[Homebrew Shop] HomeBrewWest

[Fal]

Its funny I was looking at that sparge plate on the bulldog facebook page and was trying to figure out what is diferent. The V2 sparge plate was fixed, there must have been another version since then, no?

Here is a pic I robbed from that page about the sparge plate I'm talking about. my version the plate is fixed at the top of the centre tube.

[HomeBrewWest]

I'll check with bulldog. But all the ones I've seem can slide up and down. Except the v1 which just hangs from the top at a fixed distance. Email from bulldog confirms this. Are you sure you can't slide your v2 sparse plate up and down?

[Fal]

yeah definatly, it's got a little small tack weld holding it about 1cm from the top. I could try and snap the weld because it's not perfectly level either and when recirculating one side gets more liquid than the other. I'll see if I can find a pic online or upload one later

[HomeBrewWest]

OK, I've emailed Bulldog to see if there was some interim sparge plate version that we missed here. Guess it will be Monday before we hear back. I'll see if I can get an upgrade for you.

[Fal]

Here's some pics of mine. You can see the small welds.

[Motorbikeman]

 I think there are different versions in different countries it turns out.  The real V3 has a new type control unit that can set any wattage you like and does step mashes.     They also have the sliding sparge plate that will lower all the way to the bottom. 

This increases efficiency somehow

[HomeBrewWest]

I'll check again, but Bulldog are saying that our v2 is the most recent model. I know that the sparge plate is adjustable all the way down.

[Fal]

Not mine

[HomeBrewWest]

Fal, Motorbikeman we will replace your sparge plates with the adjustable ones; I just need the OK from Bulldog before I can offer to replace any others . . . we need to find out how many we got with the fixed sparge plate and see if they will replace them all.

[Damofto]

I was really disappointed with the sparge plate when I got it for my V1. It just sits on the very top of the malt pipe which is not even down low enough to let you but your hose from the pump in through the lid properly.
You need to be able to slide it down the malt pipe similar to the Grainfather for it to be effective in my opinion, so I've abandoned it and gone back to using the silicone hose.
It's ok for sparging but no use at all for recirculating in the V1.

[HomeBrewWest]

Problem with the V1 is that the malt pipe has no centre tube for the sparge plate to slide down on.

Blue sky here:
1/ What if you simply let it lie on top of the grain? As in don't use the V1 hooks?
2/ Could we supply some silicone tubing that could be paced between the V1 sparge plate and the malt pipe to hold it in place at a set height in the malt pipe?

[Damofto]

Thanks Brian. My problem was that I couldn't actually get it down into the malt-pipe on my last brew day. I took it out again this morning and discovered that with a little bit of pressure you can get it in and if you remove the handle its even easier. I might try sitting it on the grain bed next time and see how that works. 
Overall though I'm still really happy with the V1, I'm getting mash efficiency of 85% and I'd doubt the newer versions are achieving much more.

[HomeBrewWest]

Let me know how you get on with it and if you need any bits and pieces to make it work.

[HomeBrewWest]

New All American All Grain Kits
See here:
http://www.homebrewwest.ie/all-american-all-grain-clones-and-gold-medal-winners-464-c.asp
These are make from Colorado malt wherever possible to create authentic US style beers. They include some US competition winners and clones of well known US commercial beers. We figure that American 2 row pale is required to make true US ales.

We've been working on "sessionable" recipes for our Speldel micros and have added the two best ones we've been able to come up with: a cream ale and blonde ale. Both are variations of very successful US all grain recipes; they are tried and true recipes that have stood the test of time.

To promote Colorado malts, all of these kits are currently ridiculously cheap for what they are (look at the hop bills in some of them).

[HomeBrewWest]

Bulldog Brewer V2 Update And Flash Sale
New V2 Euro 395.95 for the weekend, limited number. OK, so we just fired up a brew (All American Cream Ale) with the new V2 . . . we have the most recent version. There are differences with the new ones so I can see why UK stores are calling them the V3 (wrong, its still the V2):
- power setting 100 to 2500 watts in increments of 100 watts so perfect rolling boils possible at minimum power,
- shorter pipe on sparge plate (15 cm, about half the other one) so it fits snugly on even low grain bill beers,
- new 1 Amp Pump,
- 90 minute timer, and
- finer mesh on the malt pipe (compared to V1, not sure when this changed).

More good news: Bulldog are going to be selling upgrades for the older models including the new pumps, malt pipes, sparge plates and even new PCB/display units (these will require a qualified electrician to swap out). So you will be able to upgrade even the original V1 to the newest version. We are waiting for pricing and will sell the upgrades at cost. I'll post here as soon as I hear.