Robobrew.

[Bex Brew]

Hi everyone. I'm new here, been brewing for a number of years. Started out as a kit brewer and slowly improved with adaptations, hop additions etc. I had a break from brewing for a couple of years, during which I contemplated whether to go all grain and which step to take, an all in one brewing system or to purchase separate pieces of equipment. Looking at numerous helpful comments on here and some YouTube reviews, I decided to take the plunge and go for an all in one system. I've been struggling with which system to go for and narrowed my thoughts down to the grainfather, hopcat and the robobrew. I've opted for the robobrew, the money I've saved from the grainfather, I may invest in a better chiller, but will see how it performs first. It will be arriving on Monday and I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas. Haha. So excited to be able to play around with ingredients, try different recipes etc. I do hope I have gone for a decent all in one system and won't regret not getting the grainfather. I am slightly worried with a few of the comments regarding certification of the robobrew 3.1. I purchased it new from an authorised seller, so I do have peace of mind there. What do you guys think?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

What do you guys think?

Welcome to the forum.

Dave is a member here and here are his thoughts -

 

[Bex Brew]

Welcome to the forum.

Dave is a member here and here are his thoughts -

Thank you Chippy

 

[kelper]

I am slightly worried with a few of the comments regarding certification of the robobrew 3.1. I purchased it new from an authorised seller, so I do have piece of mind there. What do you guys think?

I'm sure you'll be OK. Who did you buy it from? Did it come with any documentation beyond the basic instructions?

 

[Bex Brew]

Brewkegtap. It arrives Monday, so I don't know what documentation is with it

 

[Slid]

Very interesting review from David "the man" Heath, whose videos are really great!

As regards the actual question, here is my 2p worth, as someone who has done 87 brews on a MK2 GF.

The Controller is an irrelevance in the real world. I am very happy to just tell the thing what to do, when I am finally ready for it to do so.
Worse than that, the real world of the GF brewer involves over-fine grain crushes, knocked off filters and centre tubes and heater cut-outs due to crap on the boil plate, which add time and inconvenience, to which the Controller is not going to contribute in any positive sense. Out of 87 brews, I expect that I have ended up having to bale out the contents of the much hallowed GF on around 30-40 of them. Sometimes twice.

The counter-flow wort chiller is the saving grace for this (GF) over-priced article. There are no useful features over and above this that could possibly justify its price.

The crushed base malt grain available in the UK contains too much dust to make this describable as a user friendly system, unless you crush your own grain.

So - you decide!

 

[Bex Brew]

Very interesting review from David "the man" Heath, whose videos are really great!

As regards the actual question, here is my 2p worth, as someone who has done 87 brews on a MK2 GF.

The Controller is an irrelevance in the real world. I am very happy to just tell the thing what to do, when I am finally ready for it to do so.
Worse than that, the real world of the GF brewer involves over-fine grain crushes, knocked off filters and centre tubes and heater cut-outs due to crap on the boil plate, which add time and inconvenience, to which the Controller is not going to contribute in any positive sense. Out of 87 brews, I expect that I have ended up having to bale out the contents of the much hallowed GF on around 30-40 of them. Sometimes twice.

The counter-flow wort chiller is the saving grace for this (GF) over-priced article. There are no useful features over and above this that could possibly justify its price.

The crushed base malt grain available in the UK contains too much dust to make this describable as a user friendly system, unless you crush your own grain.

So - you decide!

Thank you for your input Slid

 

[kelper]

Brewkegtap. It arrives Monday, so I don't know what documentation is with it

They are the authorised distributor for UK. You will be fine. They are well-established and have a good reputation on eBay where you can see their address and phone number. https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/brewkegtap

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Very interesting review from David "the man" Heath, whose videos are really great!
As regards the actual question, here is my 2p worth, as someone who has done 87 brews on a MK2 GF.

Interesting reading Slid, If you were choosing between the two systems today (knowing what you now know) would you still choose the Grainfather?

.

 

[samale]

Very interesting review from David "the man" Heath, whose videos are really great!

As regards the actual question, here is my 2p worth, as someone who has done 87 brews on a MK2 GF.

The Controller is an irrelevance in the real world. I am very happy to just tell the thing what to do, when I am finally ready for it to do so.orld. I am very happy to just tell the thing what to do, when I am finally ready for it to do so.

That's a very honest review

 

[Slid]

Interesting reading Slid, If you were choosing between the two systems today (knowing what you now know) would you still choose the Grainfather?

.

Probably not. The competition was less well known when I got my GF and I don't recall giving the choice of system any thought at all. I would do some serious research on chillers, though, as the copper coil chiller that came with the HBC Peco Boiler based kit was a step too far for my DIY efforts. If I could find a chiller as effective as the GF, that might be the clincher.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Thanks Slid looks like the GF now has some serious (and cheaper) competition.

.

 

[chrissyr63]

On my klarstein there is no filter on the pump so the instructions (what there is of them) say not to use after the boil - are the robobrew etc the same ?
I think if you use hop spider or hop bags it is ok.

Agree the GF counterflow chiller does look the best chiller on the various systems.

 

[arcain]

I've just got my Robobrew and now awaiting some ingredients for making the first brew. There are no instructions with the kit but Brewkegtap will email you with them (pdfs). The instructions are pretty light - more how you put it together rather than use it. There are a lot of youtube vids which most people seem to use but I can't find any print material/books on using all-in-one systems. I'm particularly interested in what volumes to use and some info on what is the kettle loss/evaporation when boiling. Surely it would be about the same for all similar systems.

 

[Victor2112]

On my klarstein there is no filter on the pump so the instructions (what there is of them) say not to use after the boil - are the robobrew etc the same ?
I think if you use hop spider or hop bags it is ok.

Agree the GF counterflow chiller does look the best chiller on the various systems.

￡31.07 | CHILLER WORT HEAT EXCHANGER - COUNTERFLOW
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/cml4XG2G

£60 delivered for something that looks the same?

 

[kelper]

￡31.07 | CHILLER WORT HEAT EXCHANGER - COUNTERFLOW
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/cml4XG2G

£60 delivered for something that looks the same?

You would have to add customs duties and then 20% VAT on the total........................

 

[Chippy_Tea]

If you are any good at D.I.Y -

 

[Ghillie]

The Robobrew is excellent and Johnny at BrewKegTap is a star.

Gash Slugg's Youtube videos are the best and most informative of the lot. His Beersmith profiles are also bang on and I'd advise using them.

For a 23L batch, it can be as simple as mashing with 18-20L (mash thickness is virtually negligible in these systems) and sparge to 28L pre-boil volume. That will give you 23L into the fermenter give or take 0.5L either side depending on your evaporation rate.

 

[cheeseyfeet]

Weirdly I found the boil off rates in Gash's profile to be way too high, I only lose about 2l in 60 mins on mine.