Designing the perfect German beer homebrewing setup

If you go with a 10-gallon brew-house, then gravity will be your necessary friend. Unless, of course, you have a pump.

 

March and Chugger pumps are not slurry pumps. Not sure where you get one for Homebrew scale.

For Homebrew decoctions I have a 5 gallon copper bottom clad revere ware pot, and a wife that helps stir with a mash paddle.

I have seen a two vessel German breweries that decoct. They have a mash/lauter tun and pump the thick part to the boil kettle to decoct. That kettle had the stirring arms and copper chains, one big links, one smaller links that trails behind to keep the decoction from scorching. The brew kettle was direct fired with fuel oil, as it was out in the sticks in Niederbayern.

 

I think I have seen this place from @patto1ro and on Kai's site. Maybe @herrburgess has been? Not too much technology. It has been said it is some of the best bier in Germany by some.
http://www.brauerei-schmitt.de/bilder/technik/

Here is Eck (thank you Ron Pattinson)
http://www.brauerei-eck.de/geschichte-der-brauerei/

 

Schmitt makes my favorite pils in world.

 

Yes. I hate to have to worry too much about that during process. As others have said, a dialed-in process is very important.

Fair enough...

I brewed on a 1 BBL homebrew system and we considered using a slow moving motor to stir from the top. An award-winning [[including Sam Adams Longshot competition finalist] colleague and mentor has an attachment that stirs his 10 gal homebrew.

SO2. A lot of fresh German lagers have a hint of it in the nose. Always refreshing to experience when it is handled really deftly.

 

If you want to do it the German way we'll have to stick you down in a cave. J/K Check out the Yuengling story.

 

I'm actually interested in this myself…was just talking with Jack & Dave Berg about it not long ago. Have plans to build a spunding system in the not too distant future...

I'm thinking auger if you're planning on pumping thick mash…maybe a 1" to 1.5" pvc with an auger to move it over?

correct, generally you're trying to get about 1/3 of the total mash volume to give you an idea of size. so if you could build in a slow rotating arm/paddle that drags a small chain…?

 

Correct, I was looking at this pressure relief valve:
https://www.grainger.com/product/CD...m/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/4TK26_AS01?$smthumb$

Basically setting up something like this:
http://byo.com/color/item/397-build-your-own-spunding-valve-to-carbonate-in-the-keg

 

Dave, have you ever drank a beer from a corny keg with a spunding valve? Was the brewer able to exactly nail the desired carbonation level?

Cheers!

 

Never did try…but I would think it wouldn't be hard…
My thought was for my first pilsner (once I get it together) is to set ferm vessel @ like 55F and spunding valve at 20psi. Then once it's cold-crashed, there should be ~2.5 volumes in the beer already…easy right?

 

A rationale for implementing a spunding valve when brewing German lagers was previously discussed in this thread: to retain some sulfur aromatics - specifically sulfur dioxide.

Cheers!

 

As I understand it, it's a combination. Fermenting under pressure allows you to do so at higher temps without producing the esters/higher alcohols usually associated with that. So you have benefit of faster fermentations that retain natural CO2 and have the added benefit of increased SO2 [which many people prize when it's handled right...but too much not a good thing]. It's tricky business, but Germans seem to have gotten it right.

 

So you have any recommendations for a rookie who just bought the components to put together a spunding valve? Would you agree with my technique above or would you start with a low pressure setting on the valve and increase near the end of ferm? (sorry acelin if I'm highjacking your thread here…)

 

If he's using a conical or something that can hold decent pressure, maybe start spunding at around 2-3 degrees P from FG. If we are talking the spunding valves people put on corny kegs, I'm not sure how I'd handle. Treat corny like a secondary FV and transfer over there from primary at around 2-3 degrees P from FG and spund? Dunno exactly.