Angel Homebrew BrewDevil 50l

[Hew's Brews]

Hi All,

Apologies for the long post but perhaps it will be useful for someone. TLDR - the BrewDevil 50l is a great turnkey solution.

I have been researching to find a well featured and reasonably priced all grain system for many months having being close to buying a Grainfather on several occasions, but there are some missing features that I would like.

Last Tuesday 21st April I received my BrewDevil 50l from Angel Homebrew having ordered it the previous Thursday. Considering all that is going on the delivery time is excellent. The overall experience ordering from AHB was very positive – Paul got back to me with various queries in just a few hours each time.

I have joint ownership of a Bulldog Brewer V2 and the BD beats it in many respects. A post for version 3 of the Bulldog came up on eBay the other day, , for £620. The BD was over £100 cheaper, has a greater capacity, has many more extras and looks way cooler.

I wanted a bigger capacity unit to make stronger beers but the Brewzilla 65l and GF 70l appear to have 3.5kw elements which is too much for a 13 amp circuit – I would probably need to get a sparky in to fit a 16 amp circuit. The BD 50l has a 3kw element so works fine on a 13 amp circuit.

The BrewDevil I received had all the latest features: the “rippled” malt pipe plates ( like these ones, https://www.angelhomebrew.co.uk/en/...wdevil-upgraded-malt-pipe-bottom-plate.html); a sight glass with pre-printed measurements and a “T” connector to fit it behind the tap; a telescopic overflow pipe; insulation jacket; colour-coded hose connectors for the (quite large) immersion chiller; a hop spider and whirlpool arm.

The sight glass markings appear to be out by 0.5l and is not adjustable but once you know that then you can make any adjustments necessary.

Re. the telescopic overflow pipe, I emailed Paul because I was expecting to get the one he sells and the one that came with the unit didn’t look anything like his and didn’t come with a cap to fit on the top. Paul said the new one is provided by the unit’s manufacturer and not from him. But in actual use it is fine, there is no need for a cap because it extends way beyond the top of the unit, see picture, so it would actually be quite difficult to get any grain down it.

The brew day (a pilsner) went very well. I nearly always get a stuck mash and/or sparge with the Bulldog which can make things a real drag but with the BrewDevil it just didn’t happen and sparging was complete in under ten minutes. Knocking off 45 mins to an hour and a half off the total time. I did a 23l batch (31l in the kettle) and the whirlpool arm did a good job of piling up the trub in the middle.

Also, I built a little trolley to make moving it around the garage eaiser. You may need to cut some lengths of hose for the chiller but apart from that the kit has all the bits and pieces you need to get started straight away.

This link is for the Brewsmith profile I used based on Stuart Hardman’s version.

 

[kelper]

The markings on the sight glass are out by half a litre. But is that half litre difference deliberate? Could it take into account the water below the outlet, or below the malt pipe? Anyway, thanks for a great review. I have a similar unit but branded as a Coobra CB5 reviewed elsewhere on this forum. Can you post a picture of the telescopic pipe in use?

 

[Hew's Brews]

The markings on the sight glass are out by half a litre. But is that half litre difference deliberate? Could it take into account the water below the outlet, or below the malt pipe? Anyway, thanks for a great review. I have a similar unit but branded as a Coobra CB5 reviewed elsewhere on this forum. Can you post a picture of the telescopic pipe in use?

Sure!

 

[Session]

Nice review - thanks for posting

 

[Hew's Brews]

Could it take into account the water below the outlet, or below the malt pipe?

Good idea, however, the water below the pipe is 2.6 litres and below the malt pipe is 8 litres.

 

[foxy]

They have just recently modified the telescopic overflow pipe, they have had a few breakages, more to mishandling methinks. Just be careful when emptying the grain basket not to hold on to the pipe.

 

[Hew's Brews]

They have just recently modified the telescopic overflow pipe, they have had a few breakages, more to mishandling methinks. Just be careful when emptying the grain basket not to hold on to the pipe.

Great, thanks for the advice :)

 

[Banbeer]

Great review, I have the 30L Brewster Beacon that is very similar, didn't think about the sight glass being out, I will check this, thanks

 

[JohnnyRobbo]

I'm current just starting out after trying to start 5 years ago but due to back operations ect I had to put it on hold. I half built a 3 tier stainless steel 3 vessel system back then but now I'm back and ready to brew (drink) I don't know wether to can my old system and get one of the brewdevils off Paul. They look very good and easier for me with my back. Thanks for the great review.