Help with equipment purchase please.

[Sadfield]

Gear doesn't make beer. If you don't learn to drive, a Lotus won't get you very far. Beware of confirmation and choice-supportive bias. A bicycle, skoda or Lotus will all get you from A to B, circumstance could make any of the three impractical.

 

[ruskythegreat]

Anybody used one of these for brewing, or am i totally out of the box. View attachment 89086

You won't get far using that to brew but as a sparge heater yes. Although you can get them for a lot less.

 

[Birdsnestbrewery]

If you use a more traditional 3-vessel system as I do, then it might work as a boiler.
Be careful about any automatic cut-outs. I had to modify my boiler to disable that (not the same urn as the OP's attachment).
Also, the tap might not be useful.

 

[The Baron]

I think it is possible to use it as a BIAB system with a large brew bag but as Birdsnest has said you would need to sort out the cut out as it will just reach a boil temp and shut down as it is a water heater.
I think many brewers have used these system prior to AIO systems becoming so popular, Baby Burcos and Swan water heaters being prevalent in their use and the auto cutout defeated but you do need to know about electrics.
Search the internet and I am sure you will find plenty of info how to do this and you will be able to mash then boil in the same vessel

 

[Joetp]

A bit late to the party, but wanted to iterate that for impact on end product, cold side is way more important than hot side. I got that advice relatively early on and knocked together a fridge, inkbird, heating belt and appreciated it. My beer was instantly better and I was using a simple peco BIAB at the time.

I agree all in ones are good! Stay away from the Grainfather S40. I had a nightmare with that, but like others have said the Brewzilla gets good reviews on here and elsewhere by those that have them. A peco is definitely a decent low cost solution imo but I think you will want to upgrade to something more substantial eventually (something with a pump too), so an all in one is probably a good idea if you're serious.

It sounds like you might need to hone in on some beer styles too for creating recipes. A couple of books that are great for explaining recipes and the backbone of each beer style could be a shout! I like Designing Great Beer by Ray Daniels and Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer. Maybe look at Brewfather too for recipe design and batch tracking - great piece of software!

 

[MashBag]

Nice Post.

A good all in one should remove a lot of hard work out of the grain processing.

A temp controlled fermentation setup should take the guesswork out of fermentation.

But as always there isn't one way or one budget.

 

[Andy44]

It's possible but you need to be careful of:
How to clean out debris from the water level tube.
The basic plastic taps can be dodgy (people normally refit with metal food grade ball valve taps)
Does it have a single or dual element, as boiling on a single 3kw element with only basic temperature control can be quite tricky.

You might want to also look at the simpler end of dedicated beer equipment eg second hand or 'b' grade klarstein fullhorn - (other brands available).
That gets you metal ball valve tap, dual switchable elements and a false bottom for BIAB.

You should be able to pick one up second hand if you are patient, as people often use these as a stepping stone before they jump to expensive all in one systems

Thanks jof

 

[Andy44]

With any machine, the question is "how much does it do for you?"

This boils the water. Tick.
Does it, hold accurate temps, hold steps, have the right fittings, contain the grain, pump. Etc etc... No

In vehicle terms we are not talking about a skoda or a lotus. It's a push bike.

Haha push bike, thanks Mash bag

 

[user 43495]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advise from people in the know.... I'll try and make this post as short as possible...

I started experimenting with home brew about 7 years ago buying kits from the like of Wilko and a local (now closed) brew shop. I wasn't getting the results I had hoped for, the beer was drinkable but nothing special, so I convinced myself to buy a grainfather G30 to start all grain brewing. I had a about 6 or 7 brews under my belt on the grainfather with varying results, none particularly successful, despite at the time having an old undercounter fridge with a greenhouse heater in it run on an inkbird controller to act as a fermenting chamber. Losing patience with the G30 I decided to sell it and bought a couple of Burco water boilers and started to do brew in a bag brews. Had a bit more success with these but kind of regretted selling the G30 thinking that I probably should have invested more time with it. About 5 years ago I decided homebrew wasn't really worth the effort for the returns that I was getting and sold everything I had! I have regretted this decision ever since.
I am now back to give it another go. I am literally starting off from the beginning again, I don't have as much as a stirring paddle to my name. I assume there have been changes to the scene since I last dabbled so my question is would you recommend buying another G30 or go for one of the cheaper options available like the brewzilla gen 4? I have watched quite a few review videos and not much seems to have changed with the G30 other than the controller. The brewzilla looks very similar for a few hundred pounds less but does it perform as well?

Thanks in advance for any answers/advice

I expect to be a lone voice here but I cannot understand why people spend hundreds of pounds on a Grainfather or similar. I saw one in a brew shop some years ago and thought: "my goodness look at all those things to go wrong". The other issue is such reliance on tech for brewing and recipes means you don't get to learn much about brewing and recipes because it's done for you - well to a fashion. For a fraction of the cost of a GF take a look at the insulated mash tuns (cool boxes with a tap and bazooka attached) for mashing; and a 15 gallon kettle with 2 x 2 KW heating elements for the boil. Get a sparging arm for the mash tun, the usual peripheries of spoons, syphons, fermenting bins (at least 7 gall capacity I suggest) and you're away. The other advantage with this method is hardly anything to go wrong, and if anything does it's easily fixed there and then. I posted photos (by request) of one of my brewdays where you can see my old fashioned set up doing three brews in one day. 2 x 10 gallons and 1 x 5 gallons. They're here somewhere on the site....

 

[Birdsnestbrewery]

I expect to be a lone voice here but I cannot understand why people spend hundreds of pounds on a Grainfather or similar. I saw one in a brew shop some years ago and thought: "my goodness look at all those things to go wrong". The other issue is such reliance on tech for brewing and recipes means you don't get to learn much about brewing and recipes because it's done for you - well to a fashion. For a fraction of the cost of a GF take a look at the insulated mash tuns (cool boxes with a tap and bazooka attached) for mashing; and a 15 gallon kettle with 2 x 2 KW heating elements for the boil. Get a sparging arm for the mash tun, the usual peripheries of spoons, syphons, fermenting bins (at least 7 gall capacity I suggest) and you're away. The other advantage with this method is hardly anything to go wrong, and if anything does it's easily fixed there and then. I posted photos (by request) of one of my brewdays where you can see my old fashioned set up doing three brews in one day. 2 x 10 gallons and 1 x 5 gallons. They're here somewhere on the site....

I have a system like you describe, cool box mash tun, catering boiler etc.
Where I did think it was worth spending a bit more was on the Grainfather conical fermenter, simply due to the temperature control, most importantly the cooling.
I got the cooling pump kit and a chiller unit to provide cold water to keep my fermentation at a good temperature.
I did balk at the idea of a proper glycol chiller though!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

my goodness look at all those things to go wrong"

Many years later and the majority of all in one owners have found they don't go wrong.

 

[Stu's Brews]

I expect to be a lone voice here but I cannot understand why people spend hundreds of pounds on a Grainfather or similar. I saw one in a brew shop some years ago and thought: "my goodness look at all those things to go wrong". The other issue is such reliance on tech for brewing and recipes means you don't get to learn much about brewing and recipes because it's done for you - well to a fashion. For a fraction of the cost of a GF take a look at the insulated mash tuns (cool boxes with a tap and bazooka attached) for mashing; and a 15 gallon kettle with 2 x 2 KW heating elements for the boil. Get a sparging arm for the mash tun, the usual peripheries of spoons, syphons, fermenting bins (at least 7 gall capacity I suggest) and you're away. The other advantage with this method is hardly anything to go wrong, and if anything does it's easily fixed there and then. I posted photos (by request) of one of my brewdays where you can see my old fashioned set up doing three brews in one day. 2 x 10 gallons and 1 x 5 gallons. They're here somewhere on the site....

I must have done 30+ brews on my Grainfather. Not had a single problem. Yes, there are definitely cheaper solutions out there but if you want a Grainfather, from my experience reliability is not a reason to buy elsewhere.

I don't buy the argument about 'tech means you don't get to learn much about brewing and recipes because it's done for you' - I could easily switch to a completely analogue system and have absolutely no problems brewing a great beer. You still need to understand basic concepts for determining water volumes, grain quantities, mash temperatures, etc. to create your own recipe. Obviously, you can also take a ready-made recipe for the GrainFather, which may be beneficial for beginners who feel they have a steep learning curve.

At the end of the day, there are different solutions that may be right for different people. Some people may want the simplicity of not having to build up their brew kit from cool boxes, etc. Others might quite enjoy that challenge.

 

[Sadfield]

Many years later and the majority of all in one owners have found they don't go wrong.

In fairness you've confirmed the point, a minority of them do go wrong.

Saying that, by 'going wrong' they do appear very physically reliable, but there are plenty threads where their added complexity has led performative failure often aided by or facilitating human error.

I don't think they stop people learning about brewing, though. That's down to not putting in adequate work researching the process before mashing in. There's plenty of that. Perhaps there is there an argument that AIO automation encourages this?

 

[Sadfield]

Double post.

 

[MashBag]

Are the machines mechanically reliable. Yes

Do machines make us stupid. Yes.

How many people can still navigate properly. As opposed to following the blue line. We as a species are losing skills.

I certainly have seen a rise in the number of brewers who know "how" but not necessarily know "why". I don't think this is just beer, it is the age of instant gratification. I have for the first time this year actually typed something along the lines of "buy a book"

To answer the the op. I bought my machine quite a few years ago to trade money for time. It was purchased it to make the job easier and quicker after I had done biab for a while. I bought a simple robot to perform a task.

 

[ruskythegreat]

I must have done 30+ brews on my Grainfather. Not had a single problem. Yes, there are definitely cheaper solutions out there but if you want a Grainfather, from my experience reliability is not a reason to buy elsewhere.

I don't buy the argument about 'tech means you don't get to learn much about brewing and recipes because it's done for you' - I could easily switch to a completely analogue system and have absolutely no problems brewing a great beer. You still need to understand basic concepts for determining water volumes, grain quantities, mash temperatures, etc. to create your own recipe. Obviously, you can also take a ready-made recipe for the GrainFather, which may be beneficial for beginners who feel they have a steep learning curve.

At the end of the day, there are different solutions that may be right for different people. Some people may want the simplicity of not having to build up their brew kit from cool boxes, etc. Others might quite enjoy that challenge.

What chiller and pump do you have?
One thinng I'm struggling with is temperatrure control during fermentation.

 

[Stu's Brews]

What chiller and pump do you have?
One thinng I'm struggling with is temperatrure control during fermentation.

The standard pump and chiller that comes with a G30 v2. I brew in the garage and have no issues with temperature control. I do use an insulation jacket though so that might be worth investigating if you are struggling.

Do you heat the water to strike temperature (e.g. ~4degC above mash temperature) before adding your grains?

 

[ruskythegreat]

The standard pump and chiller that comes with a G30 v2. I brew in the garage and have no issues with temperature control. I do use an insulation jacket though so that might be worth investigating if you are struggling.

Do you heat the water to strike temperature (e.g. ~4degC above mash temperature) before adding your grains?

Sorry, I quoted the wrong post

Thanks for taking the time to reply though

 

[ruskythegreat]

I have a system like you describe, cool box mash tun, catering boiler etc.
Where I did think it was worth spending a bit more was on the Grainfather conical fermenter, simply due to the temperature control, most importantly the cooling.
I got the cooling pump kit and a chiller unit to provide cold water to keep my fermentation at a good temperature.
I did balk at the idea of a proper glycol chiller though!

What chiller and pump do you have?
One thinng I'm struggling with is temperatrure control during fermentation.

 

[MashBag]

One thinng I'm struggling with is temperatrure control during fermentation.

What is the problem you are having?
What is your setup?