Putting together a mixer for the mash

Part of brewing beer at home seems to be to be constantly on the watch for household machines/items that might be usurped into brewing aids. On the hobbybrauer.de forum one of the most common motors for mash mixers is the classic windscreen wiper. This makes sense. In the 20-30l Einkocher class, the Einkocher needs to heat about 25l of a thick stick mash mix. With the heat coming from the base of the pot, some convection currents will be created but there is always the danger that (i) the mash burns on the bottom and (ii) the temperature reading that the Einkocher's digital display shows is a point reading and doesn't reflect the overall temperature. This is why you are advised to stir, stir, stir.

Now, stirring doesn't sound like that much of a problem. Like stirring a cake mixture I suppose. However, I'm thinking that in the hectic of trying to remember everything for the first mash attempt, it would be relatively easy to overlook something. I can see myself browsing in the hobbybrauer.de forum or in the web chat and then smelling something burning - for forgetting to stir. This is why a mixer is probably not a bad idea. It doesn't seem too complicated. I'm getting Grasser Schlosserei to weld me a stainless steel mixer and I'll fix it up to the motor. The motor itself is a 12V motor with incredible torque (it needs it for e.g. icy windows) and a relatively slow speed (otherwise I'll be painting the walls with malt mash). I'm using a PC power unit for providing the 12V (and the 50W the motor uses). I don't want a PC power unit around the cooking pot - or anywhere where there is a chance that water will get near it. That's why I'm experimenting with having the power unit much further away, providing power through a long cable.

Other than that, I'm waiting on the malt mix from Hopfen und Mehr. I ordered the Klosterbier Obergärig (top fermenting). The yeast that it gets delivered with likes temperatures of around 20°C. Down in the Partyraum I have a constant 14°C temperature, which is ok for brewing but would be far too cold for a top fermenting yeast. Once the fermentation keg is filled and is in action, I'll take it upstairs to where it is a bit warmer. 14°C is probably a bit too warm for Untergärig but I may be able to use the other cellar as well - where it is a bit colder.

So I'm going to brew some beer

Insulated boiler with a cooling spiral

I wanted to brew beer for a long time. I even got a birthday present of a beer brewing course in Erding. The course was cancelled due to (believe it or not in the land of beer) lack of interest. In the meantime I was otherwise occupied and had no time for anything else. So when things started to quieten down a little bit, I decided to do some more reading on how beer is actually made, with the short term aim of brewing a first 'Sud'.

The first thing I saw was that (irrespective of what many forums say), you need a lot of equipment. Many "brewing for idiot" guides say you can brew with things you happen to have lying around the house. In fairness, you probably can. You can also dig foundations for a house with a teaspoon. Some jobs need the right tools. Especially for the first Sud, I didn't want to be leaving everything up to chance. Which is why I ordered equipment and am now in the process of getting it set up.

What I have at the moment is the Silvercrest Einkocher from Lidl (the forum hobbybrauer.de gives this very high ratings - it is apparently one of the only Einkocher in this - or any sub €200 class - which can accurately hold temperature (critical when mashing). I also have a Bierspindel (for measuring saccharin) with a sampling cylinder, a fermentation keg (60L), two 30L plastic buckets, a Läuterhexe (with tap), a contraption for putting lids on bottles and some other bits and pieces.

To get ready for mashing/brewing, I needed to make some modifications to some of these purchases. The first thing that needed to be done was to mark up the litres on both plastic buckets. This will be important when measuring how much Bierwürze I get from filtering the mash. To mark the litres I added a litre of water, marked the height, added another litre, marked the height etc. The buckets can actually hold over 34 litres despite being sold as 30L buckets. I'm not complaining about that. I also had to drill a hole towards the bottom of one of the buckets to fix the Läuterhexe. The hole was not the issue - getting the contraption watertight was and still is an issue. I think I have it fixed now - but I'll try with a full bucket before actually chancing a filtration procedure.

The Läuterhexe is installed

Finally, earlier on I insulated the Lidl Einkocher. From what I read on the forum, the Einkocher itself is great, but it reaches its limit when you try to boil hops at 100°C for 60-90 minutes. For boiling hops, the water really has to boil hard - not just bubble lightly, but properly boil. Otherwise the alpha acids in the hops don't get released into the Würze. I insulated it with two layers of a foam exercise mat (again, a tip from the forum). I'll try boiling 27l of water in this as well before I use it to boil hops.

The next step are a cooler for the Würze (once the hops has been boiled, it is important to get the Würze down to about 30°C as quickly as possible, so the yeast can be added. I also need to get something organised to stir the mash constantly. I used a windshield wiper motor from a 1996 Audi. It is a 12V/50W motor which should be well able to deal with the heavy, sticky mash. I asked the fitter who installed our balcony to weld a rotor/propeller which I can hook up to the motor to do the stirring for me.