Brewmation: An amazing turnkey brewery (not a Brew-Magic vs B3, but with comparisons)

Lonnie Mac said:

No actually. I have never to this day had a problem with my pilots. So sure, I can deny that. On a real windy day, maybe (and of course) they will blow out, (who cares) but you actually gotta go to an outside phun-brew-in to be one my friend and I go to many brew-outs... You won't be bringing your rig anywhere...

So it seems that a statement or two has presumed that you will push a plastic led button, do a bit of laundry and out pops a brand new AHA Gold medal award winning beer from this end-all-be-all system, that you otherwise could not accomplish. Yea, though I have a few Golds myself, there are PLENTY of fellas out there kicking my arse at comps all day using two plastic brewing buckets.

Just wanted to make sure that you know you will be making consistently bad beers as well as consistently good beers just as we all do on any system. And I want the noobs whom this thread seems to be geared for to know that as well. Personally, I like to see everyone start out with two plastic buckets but thats me...

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Yeah, it's less portable than a propane rig. That made it on my list of minuses. I did get the GFCI on an extension cord, so I could take it to anyone's garage who has a dryer in it, if you want to count that.

None of my statements have said that the brewmation will brew better beer than a cooler. I tried hard to make that evident in the review and I guess I didn't do a good enough job. My apologies. I am well aware of that fact.

I do think, though, that I have a great many variables of the brewing process that I've paid someone else to work out for me and that to me is a very good value- especially for crazy newbs who want to go ballz to the wall like me- but into the brewing and recipes and not gear tinkering. If brewing is half consistent process/half art, then I think I've got a head start with one quarter of the equation, more so than buckets. I'd rather be fermenting 15 gallons at a time in my climate controlled conical. Maybe it's because I had some real production experience, but I never would have gotten into the 'see if I like brewing first and only spending $120' phase. Just my personality, I guess.

If there's one thing that I'm guilty of, it's enthusiasm.:fro:

Some of my 'statements' or 'presumptions' are jokes. And let me tell you... I kill myself! Just a little bit more every day.

John Beere said:

When I started 'brewing' back in '91, we were using one plastic bucket.. And water from a garden hose.. Heh. My how far this 'hobby' has come..

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You were lucky to have a hose! I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.

OK. Let me just say that I do really like my Brewmation. It does exactly what I want it to do.

I have been brewing for 10 years and started out with a Mr. Beer, moved to extract after one batch, then went all-grain about 6 months later with a cooler system. Bought a used 3-tier that was sort of raggedy and brewed on that for a while. After winning a gold medal in the 2006 National Homebrew Competition, I rewarded myself with a 3-tier tower from MoreBeer and used my existing keggles.

I was tired of propane and the excess heat it generated in the garage. After passing out in the garage from heat exhaustion while brewing one day, I decided something had to change or I would no longer be able to brew in the NC summer heat. I researched and researched and researched and decided that the Brewmation was what I was looking for.

For all you guys with negative opinions about the Brewmation, so be it. It works for ME and that's what is important.

Cheers!



Cheers!

halucin8 said:

OK. Let me just say that I do really like my Brewmation. It does exactly what I want it to do.

I have been brewing for 10 years.

And now I am going to quit this forum. Too many empty opinions.

Cheers!

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Nice! I like your style.

Ha. Wildwest caught my post before the edit!

I'm gonna hang around for a little while longer.

Cheers!

BTW Sankey, I drive an Element also. Actually my second one.

halucin8 said:

For all you guys with negative opinions about the Brewmation, so be it. It works for ME and that's what is important.
Cheers!

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Cheers to you! People need to keep their negative opinions to themselves. This hobby has such a wide variety of equipment and approaches to brewing that nobody should really criticize what works for someone else.

JonW said:

Cheers to you! People need to keep their negative opinions to themselves. This hobby has such a wide variety of equipment and approaches to brewing that nobody should really criticize what works for someone else.

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Amen! It's easy to knock something you have not tried or owned. I don't want to sound like a hypocrite so I confess there are some things I will knock and I have not tried only because I feel they are not safe.

I'm just waiting for the owners of brewmation to post pic or videos before I buy one for myself. Yes, it looks like a sink and doesn't look pleasing with the eyes but I'm not gonna have sex with it or something...or maybe i will

noobster101 said:

I'm just waiting for the owners of brewmation to post pic or videos before I buy one for myself. Yes, it looks like a sink and doesn't look pleasing with the eyes but I'm not gonna have sex with it or something...or maybe i will

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Well if I were going to do that I'd have to go with the 2" tri-clamp option.

It will be a little time for me at least. I should start brewing on it by next weekend. But I'll wait to post till I have several batches. Still amassing all the bits and pieces. I had to wait to get the rig to know what to get as my final orders from folks (parts wise).

Lets see some pics of your systems already!

noobster101 said:

I'm just waiting for the owners of brewmation to post pic or videos before I buy one for myself. Yes, it looks like a sink and doesn't look pleasing with the eyes but I'm not gonna have sex with it or something...or maybe i will

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Ooh, I just had a genuine LOL. I fake them all the time, but that one was a screamer.

I am just finishing setting mine up and plan to brew on Saturday and will take some pics and video. The videos on brewmation.com are very short.

ummm...don't wanna be a nut buster here but where are the vids?

Yeah, this is silly. Will someone please posts some pics of YOUR rig, in your home, garage, shed, driveway, etc.

Pics or it didn't happen!

I could not, would not, in a house.
I would not, could not, with a mouse.
I would not brew there in a shed.
I would not brew there in my bed.
I would not brew an extract batch.
I would not throw it down the hatch.
I would not like green eggs and ham.
I do not like them, SPanky-I-am.

Who was being silly again?:cross:

(i.e. we are working on it... and unless you want to pay my credit card bill..... I am happy you're interested, anyways.)

(Besides, my brewmation looks virtually identical to the one on the website. I'm assuming then that you want to see all the other stuff along with the brewmation in our setups. I'm almost there but not just yet.)

I guess my brewery design is a little complex, but in my case I have been sent wrong products from about 80% of the vendors I have dealt with in this endeavor. My patience is thin and I'm brewing a lot later than I thought I would be. Not super happy about that. Seriously, why do you have to beg people to take your money sometimes?

Sorry for ranting.

You bought a commercially made brewery. What are you waiting for? Are you telling us the Brewmation doesn't some complete?

Everything else. Like I mentioned earlier, I had to wait to get the brewmation to know how I wanted to make the drains, my water in, my chiller, etc. everything else to get me going. Don't forget I'm doing this all for the very first time. I had absolutely nothing for brew gear immediately preceding this effort. Now that is very different, but I also have a job to do (and a new one in which I'm being watched from above).

I should be brewing by this weekend. I'm still waiting on 2 deliveries.

And my first brew will be Yooper's Dead Guy Clone scaled up to 15 gal (well, 13) via Brewmasterswarehouse. Wanted to do something to test my blow-off/top cropping system as well as something that ferments below ambient temp. I still have yet to install a heating device for my LOVE TSS2

(case anyone was interested...)

Haven't multiple people in this thread purchase them (group buy)? I don't feel like looking back through all these pages of TEXT to find out. If anyone wants to see my new setup I'm working on there are pics of it on New Belgium's website.

where??????????????

New Belgium Brewery, it was a pathetic attempt at sarcasm.

I fail.... I thought you meant like a pilot or something. I are slow this morning.

I have posted a quick video on youtube of my brewmation in action (see link below or just search for brewmation on youtube).



I didn't have the time to do an all grain batch so I did an extract with some steeping grains. But I do film the other parts of the system. I do plan on doing a longer video with an all grain brew.

drmark50 said:

I have posted a quick video on youtube of my brewmation in action (see link below or just search for brewmation on youtube).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=domH55ImgD0&feature=youtube_gdata

I didn't have the time to do an all grain batch so I did an extract with some steeping grains. But I do film the other parts of the system. I do plan on doing a longer video with an all grain brew.

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Thanks for posting that video. Looks lke a lot of bells and whistles there. In fact it looks like a lot of fun. The floating mash "lid" is interesting.

It does have a lot of "bells and whistles". What is great is the level of automation with the option to be completely manual. All grain brew days can be long and I have found in the past that if I don't have to time to dedicate at least 6 hrs of time with minimal interuptions - then I can't brew.

I did an all grain starter (brewed about 7 gallons) about a week ago and I was able to "multi-task". The sparging system works fantastic with the heated false bottom. Can dough in, and literally walk away for a few hours (I kept checking on it, and did other brew related things!).

This does not mean I am guaranteed to make great beer. But it is a system that suits my needs and allows me to brew more often and with consistency - and that hopefully will lead to good brews!

I agree that it does not guarranty good beer but automation and precision allows you to concentrate on the recipe and be more consistent and repeatable. Once you formulate a good recipe it will allow you to repeat your results time after time. What more could you ask from a brewery. I don't have a brewmation but I am adding automation to my brewery. Some criticize those who automate saying it takes the fun out of brewing but I disagree. It allows me to concentrate on the recipe and limit the variables encountered during the brew. After all the goal is to make great beer.

Sawdustguy said:

I agree that it does not guarranty good beer but automation and precision allows you to concentrate on the recipe and be more consistent and repeatable. Once you formulate a good recipe it will allow you to repeat your results time after time. What more could you ask from a brewery. I don't have a brewmation but I am adding automation to my brewery. Some criticize those who automate saying it takes the fun out of brewing but I disagree. It allows me to concentrate on the recipe and limit the variables encountered during the brew. After all the goal is to make great beer.

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Damn. That took me 10 paragraphs to say much less eloquently. This is exactly why I bought mine.

Thanks Mark for posting the vid. Can't wait till I can contribute.

Thats what I'm talking about! Now we can see this thing up close and it appears to be well built. It also has alot of cool features. I thought it would be made from a 3 basin continuous sink though. Not that it matters, just what I had pictured in my mind.

the sinks just rest on the base. The hlt is in the middle with the control box in front cause you don't need to remove it to clean, but the others just slide out.

I don't care what the snob asses say, that's a cool setup. A lot of thought went into that. Is it perfect, no, but very cool.


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Here are some pics of my Brewmation. Sorry it took so long, but my computer was dead for a week.

I am busy now working on the best way to incorporate my plate chiller into the system.

Cheers.

halucin8 said:

Here are some pics of my Brewmation. Sorry it took so long, but my computer was dead for a week.

I am busy now working on the best way to incorporate my plate chiller into the system.

Cheers.

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Why isn't that couch pointed at the brewmation? Should that not be the focal point of the pure awesomeness.

now that's what i'm talking about:rockin:

Damn good idea. Call it the brew throne!

Yea but you'll turn into a rauch potato..

Sorry bout that