All in one Brewing System

[woolley2002]

HI All,
I have only ever brewed beer kits to date but I am thinking of moving on to all grain.

I am looking at getting an all in one system and was wondering if anyone had any advice on the following systems I am looking at.

Brewmonk
Brewdevil
Brewzilla
Hopcat

Any advice or comparison to one and another would be appreciated.

 

[DavidHatton]

Brew Monk is on offer at Geterbrewed, I have one and they are very good.
Had it 4 months and had no issues.

 

[chopps]

3 of those are identical. Just the sticker on the box. All are good machines.

 

[Davemc]

I have one of the early systems called the ACE, it's been great and made some awesome beers in it. My mate has just bought one of the Brewdevil ones and is very happy with it. I think they are all much the same and if not made in the same factory and just branded differently then made using the same components. Angel homebrew had a package deal with hop spider, chiller, false bottom, jacket and other stuff, which is what my friend bought. Have a look around and see which is the best deal for you. You won't be disappointed. I have brewed pretty much all styles of beers using mine

 

[Leon103]

Best look today. Seems to be a few deals floating about

 

[Clint]

3 of those are identical. Just the sticker on the box. All are good machines.

Sounds like that guessing game from Sesame Street...
"Three of these things are not like the other..."
"None of these things are kinda the same..."

 

[MickDundee]

3 of those are identical. Just the sticker on the box. All are good machines.

Hopcat switched their supplier I believe so it’s just the Brewdevil and Brewmonk that are effectively the same rebadged Guten machine.

The main difference between the Brewdevil and the Brewmonk is that the Brewmonk has a sight glass, or at least that was the only difference when I got the Brewdevil in January.

 

[HeavensBrew]

I thought I would have a look as well, being Black Friday.

40L capacity/30L wort Brew Monk £295 - EXCLUDES wort chiller and spider. The jacket is £35
45L Hopcat £400 - Includes wort chiller, jacket, paddle and spider
30L Brew Devil £360 - EXCLUDES wort chiller and spider. £424 for the jacket, wort chiller and spider.
35l Breziller £369 - Includes paddle, spider and jacket. It also includes 'chiller connection fittings', so not quite a wort chiller, but I'm not sure what I would need to add.

When you arrive at this level, you already have a couple of paddles and probably a hop spider. I guess it's the value of the jacket and wort chiller that are of interest.

It's about 22C where I will be brewing, so I could skip the jacket and just add a wort chiller to the brewmonk at a later stage.

Any thoughts?

 

[chopps]

Also Royal Catering. Sold via Expondo. £355.
40L physical capacity but marked to 30L (like the others usually)
https://www.expondo.co.uk/royal-catering-home-brew-mash-tun-30-litres-2-500-watts-10010891Their ebay shop is £355 delivered.

Brewmonk looks the best value to me plus one of these https://www.amazon.it/SODIAL-Fermen...=1&keywords=hop+filter&qid=1606476130&sr=8-46
Immersion chiller for about £25 ebay. I've never needed a jacket even brewing in the shed. Looks nice though.

 

[HeavensBrew]

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/brew-monk-magnus-45l-an-unofficial-review.89072/
Appears we have a recent review of the Brew Monk. They sent it back and got a Brewzilla. I have asked for more feedback in that thread and hope they will reply in time.

 

[chopps]

Hmm. They do take a bit of tuning, but the temp issues are well documented on the web and are simply overcome. This applies to all of the guten clones.

If you have the power too high, it will overshoot a lot. Mine does. I give it full power only to get it to target temp and set a 1 minute timer.
The mash power is set at 500W and it floats right around target temp for the whole duration.

For boil, this is a common one where some people just can't get it rolling.
You can adjust the calibration by pressing a few buttons. Boil temp is not always exactly 100C wherever you are in the world - altitude etc. so they allow adjustment. Mine was 1.5C out on delivery, so the display said 100C and thought it was boiling, when in fact we were at 98.5C and not. Couple of clicks to remove the 1.5 C difference and all sweet. I wouldn't let that review put me off if you're happy to twiddle with the settings.

Jolum's experience is not unique. If you expect to plug in and go you might be disappointed.

 

[DavidHatton]

I am very satified with my 30l Brew Monk, it does everything as it should for what it is.
Reaches and holds temp within a fraction of a degree, comes to the boil fast enough and has a very good boil.
Much easier brew day than when I had my other BIAB set up.

 

[HeavensBrew]

Just found that the easiest supplier for me here has a preorder on the system called 'easygrain'. I can avoid the delivery costs and get the 40L/30L for 186 euros (£167). Arrives January.

I'm not sure if I can post the link (here: 2ª PREVENDITA EASYGRAIN - Macchina per Birra all grain + 1 Kit All grain Birramia® NUOVO MODELLO). However, it looks exactly like the Brew Monk, except for the it lacks the marked sight-glass for the recirc pipe and the bazooker 'might be' a wider mesh.

They throw in an AG kit and I can add a wort chiller for an extra 35 euros / £31.50.

Seems to good to be true, so either they need to create a name for the brand or it's a relabeled older version.

 

[chopps]

Wow! Good find. Identical to the others mentioned, even down the the spare pump elbow and zip ties. Great price.

ps it’s not old stock, the angled display is the newer version

 

[chopps]

Hang on mate.

ACCONTO PREVENDITA - ATTENZIONE LE MACCHINE ARRIVERANNO A INIZIO GENNAIO 2021 - PREZZO FINALE €395,00

PRE-SALE DEPOSIT - ATTENTION THE MACHINES WILL ARRIVE AT THE BEGINNING OF JANUARY 2021 - FINAL PRICE € 395.00

 

[HeavensBrew]

I spoke with the agent (a pub that resells their stuff) before typing the above messages and he said that will be the price when they sell them in January. That these are special prices for preordering. It would be crappy trick to state the price in that position and hide the full price as a nasty surprise.

Just sent him a message to double check. However, he can't confirm until tomorrow morning.

 

[chopps]

Perhaps he misunderstood.

This is the full google translation :

ATTENTION: THE ARRIVAL OF THIS SUPPLY IS EXPECTED AT THE BEGINNING OF JANUARY 2021. DUE TO THE GREAT REQUEST, WE RECOMMEND THOSE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING TO BOOK IT -


READ THE CONDITIONS BEFORE PURCHASING:
-By purchasing this reservation and paying the deposit upon arrival of the car, you will be contacted by one of our staff to close the order and pay the difference in cost (€ 195)
- We DO NOT ACCEPT pre-sale orders with CASH ON payment method; such orders will be canceled
- Any other products purchased together with the presale will be shipped together with the machine at the time of the order; in case of immediate need for other products it is necessary to place two separate orders.

 

[foxy]

I started a bulk buy for the Guten/Brew Monk/ HopCat/Brew Devil on AHB forum $185 US for the 34/40 litre and $220 for the 50 litre. There must be other manufacturers who are not already exporting to the UK where, if there was enough interest to do a bulk buy.
I bought my first one direct from China for $500 AUD about 250 GBP ordered on a Friday delivered on the Monday. Anyone had a look on Alibaba?

 

[chopps]

Pretty sure this is the OEM.
https://fsdamai.en.alibaba.com/

 

[foxy]

Pretty sure this is the OEM.
https://fsdamai.en.alibaba.com/

Yes, that's who I bought my first Chinese vessel off 4 years ago and who I was organising the bulk buy with.