What are the technical capabilities of my Minibrew system?

System Capabilities

This is a guide to the capabilities of your MiniBrew. You can use this for the planning and creation of recipes in the Brewery Portal.

If you are using a Brew Pack,  this information is not relevant, as all the ingredients are already calculated for you!

Problematic Ingredients

Below is a list of ingredients that have been known to have caused issues up to and including failed brews and damage to the hardware:

• Wet Hops (whole leaf)
• Rice Hulls
• Liquid Extract
• Whirlfloc Tablets
• Irish Moss

Process Capabilities

When crafting a beer, we need to account for the limitations of your Minibrew. These are limitations in the capability of the machines and restrictions that ensure a successful and quality brew every time. We take care of some of the variables for you, but we are always aiming to increase the capabilities of our system as we a whole while we learn more about how our customers are using it. As such, we will continue to refine and develops these capabilities over time.

However, there are some variables that you should consider for yourself. We will enforce these limitations in the Brewery Portal software, but please feel free to reference this document for an overview of all the current limitations in place for each phase of the brewing and fermentation processes. 

Preparation

When adding water to your malt and mixing,  the amount of water you need is calculated for you. However, you need to ensure that you distribute the water evenly when mixing with the malt. If part of the malt is still dry when the mashing begins, some of the fine malt powder may pass through the malt filter which could result in a blockage.

Brewing

Brewing is split up into the following phases, each of which has its own limitations:

• Mashing
• Boiling
• Cooling

 

Mashing Phase
Limitation Description	Parameter
Temperature	40-78℃
pH Value (acidity)	5.2-5.5 (optimal) 4.0-6.0 pH (supported)
Duration	30-120 minutes per mash (60+ for optimal  extraction)
Order of steps	From low to high temperature only (to prevent enzyme deactivation)
Number of mashing stages	1 or 2
Single or multi-step mashing (max of 20)	Either (multi-step is more efficient)
Maximum achievable Specific Gravity(without added sugar)	1,061 SG(single stage mash) 1,123 SG(double stage mash)
Maximum achievable Specific Gravity(with added sugar)	1,068 SG(single stage mash) 1,130 SG(double stage mash)

Boiling Step

The boiling step:

• The boil timer beings when the wort is heated to boiling temperature (as adjusted for barometric pressure).
• Can be between 1-120 minutes long

Cooling Step

During the cooling phase, the wort cools to 25℃, which is the pitching yeast temp. If this does not happen within 30 minutes, due to high environmental temp or inlet water temp, then cooling will be completed on the keg using the Peltier.

Fermentation Step
Stage	Duration	Temp	Pitching
Primary fermentation	Unlimited	5-40℃	According to yeast
Secondary fermentation	Unlimited	5-40℃	According to yeast
Tertiary fermentation	Unlimited	5-40℃	According to yeast
Conditioning	Unlimited	5-40℃	According to yeast

• The total number of fermentation steps including conditioning can be up to 38, more in some cases.
• Lower temperatures (<8℃) may not be reached if the environment temperature is higher than 25℃.
• The carbonation phase requires the use of at least 1 CO2 cartridge (more may be required).

Serving

• The serving temp is set in the recipe, but can also be manually adjusted during the serving phase. Lower temperatures (<8℃) may not be reached if the environment temperature is higher than 25℃.
• Best before date varies by beer.  1-month guaranteed under normal usage.

CIP (Clean In Place) 

When running the CIP you need to use a washing tablet. This tablet must:

• Not contain a polishing agent
• Not be a fluid cleaning agent
• Must not exceed the dosage for a single dishwashing cycle

Ingredient Capabilities

 

When deciding which ingredients to use, there are a number of important limitations in place that you need to keep in mind if you want to get the most out of your MiniBrew. Aside from helping you make the best beer possible, these limitations also exist to prevent technical issues such as blockages that could ruin your brew altogether.

• The total malt bill per mash must be between 1200g-2300g (Including adjuncts and fermentables) to ensure that the mashing process can take place in a proper way and so that the machine experiences the least amount of issues, such as dry-runs.

Mashables
Type of grain	Crushed (yes/no)	Crush Size	% of malt bill
Pilsner malt	Yes	DBCG(0.7-1.0mm)	0-100%
Pale ale malt	Yes	DBCG(0.7-1.0mm)	0-100%
Maris otter malt	Yes	DBCG(0.7-1.0mm)	0-100%
Wheat malt	Yes	DBCG(0.7-1.0mm)	0-50%
Specialty malts	Yes	DBCG(0.7-1.0mm)	0-10%(for each type of specialty malt)
Flaked malts	No	N/A	0-10%
Sugars	N/A	N/A	0-10%*

• *If you want as much sugar as possible, you can add 10% sugars to the malt and up to 240g of candy sugar during the boil in addition.

Hops/Sugars
Type of ingredient	Weight per compartment	Total allowed weight
Hop (pellet)	12g	60g
Candy sugar	40g	240g

• Dry hopping can be done at any time during fermentation. 
• Up to 60g can be added throughout fermentation
• An extra trub removal needs to be performed for every 10g. 
• Bear in mind that each trub removal can reduce the total volume of your beer by 10-150ml, depending on the amount of matter inside.

Yeast
Form	Amount
Dry Yeast	1 Packet or less (11.5g)
Cultivated/Liquid) Yeast (Imperial, White Labs, Wyeast, etc)	1 Packet or less (125ml)
Lactobacillus Brevis before primary (GB110, WLP672, etc)	1 Packet or less
Brettanomyces (during secondary fermentation or after)	1 Packet or less

• Additional yeasts can be added during secondary fermentation as well as primary (We do not currently have user actions for this so you be served a generic user action).

Water

The water used during the brewing process is made up of the following types:

• Kettle water
• Pre-mix (inmash) water

The exact amounts for each of these types of water is calculated automatically based on the fermentables you include in your mash stage(s).

The water used must not contain

• Chlorine
• Antibiotics

The water used for brewing never comes in contact with the water that comes through the inlet at the back of the machine. As such, if you wish to treat the water you add into the kettle and the pre-mix to match a certain water profile, you can.

Adjuncts and Fermentables (Any adjuncts added during boiling must be inside of a hop bag)
Type	Form	When	Amount
Herbs	Dried	During the boil or fermentation	10g per carousel compartment during boiling
Spices	Dried	During the boil(unless in powder form) or fermentation	10g per carousel compartment during boiling
Sugars*	Dried	During the boil(unless in powder form) or fermentation	10g per carousel compartment during boiling
Fruits, flowers, peels, zests, and berries	Dried	During the boil or fermentation	10g per carousel compartment during boiling

• *When adding sugar in the boil, it is best to place the sugar drop early on in the boil to prevent the sugar from melting and not dropping properly.
• Large ingredients such as twigs or sticks can be used during boiling but are not supported during fermentation.