The Braumeister electric brewing system.

MoreBeer! was pushing this thing on facebook, so I watched the video.

Is it me or is this thing an overprice($2K for a 5 gallon batch) liquid bread machine?

I'm sure it makes a fantastic beer, but isn't the fun of this lifestyle/hobby actually brewing the beer yourself?

Why do you think it makes fantastic beer?

It sounds a lot like a mini-macrobrewery to me. They specifically market it for lager production. If you like macrobrew lager, you can buy a lot of commercial pilsener for $2k. I'm sure it could make a technically correct beer, but I doubt it could make "great" or "fantastic" beer. Those macrobrewers with the automated systems still have experts run the machine.

They also spend a lot of money on yeast labs to make sure the yeast is healthy and ferments properly. IMO yeast is the most important part of beer production.

My problem with it is the set and forget interface. It reminds me of a bread or coffee maker(kind of looks like one).
You throw the ingredents in, press a button or two and let it do it's thing.

I do agree that the yeast is where the magic happens.

I think the coffee maker analogy is a good one. I've had a ton of good coffee from automatic makers. My french press makes great coffee, with a little bit more work. You're paying $2k to slightly reduce your workload.

I was reminded of a coffee urn the first time I saw it. The price also seemed excessive, until I looked into any other path to controlled electric brewing. You're going to be lucky to DIY a controlled electric brewing setup (with full controls, remember, not just some heatstick) for under a couple of thousand.

The thing's actually pretty ingenious, and there's an extensive thread on this forum about it, including people in this country that are buying and using it.It seems to be well established in Europe, and there are Australian users who have written about it. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/speidel-braumeister-brewmaster-229225/

Hard to justify for me right now, given the amount that I brew.....

If you lived in an apartment and were tired of mild boil extracts on a stove top, I assure you that you would be less disparaging of the Braumeister. I love brewing, but I can really only brew when I fly back to PA and visit my father who is of the landed class. Plus, the price point is perfect. Three tier Blickman with the tower would cost this much and I would have to explain to my building manager why I am building a stove mountain with propane tanks by the pool. Kids live there man.

I lived in an apartment and did all-grain on the stovetop. You just need two pots and a cooler mlt (or just a bag if you're doing BIAB). I think Blickmann systems are also needlessly overpriced. Brewing doesn't have to be complicated or expensive, but some people insist on making it so.

Fair enough. But I think it depends on the apartment. I live in LA and for two and a half years all I could do were ciders made from store bought juice because my apartment was one 10'x12' room with a tiny bathroom. My electric stove couldn't cook mac and cheese! Let alone grain.

I will concede that if an apartment has a nice enough stove you could probably do it. My stove now is nice, but it would take hours just to get enough sparge water. That said I could probably do it. However, I may move to NYC in which case I will be back to 10'x12' living. A Braumeister seems to be a reasonable compromise between time & space for a brewer in a city.

BIAB interests me a lot and will probably be what I do until I can get one of these. Plus I want the whole transformer thing tested before I jump in. As a computer guy I cannot resist the allure of plug n play brewing. I don't think this is less genuine than say a Brew Magic setup - which is five times the size, three times the cost and requires outdoor space. Again though, I hear what you are saying and there are other options. Most notably BIAB.