Ethanfox
Well-Known Member
You're right. The information provided was far too specific and helpful to have come from the Brewie Team!
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You're right. The information provided was far too specific and helpful to have come from the Brewie Team!
BTW, I don't believe all the IGG backers / Indemand preorderers will get the machine this year as Brewie has promised!
"Shipping" started 2 weeks ago, and first 30 machines are delivered by the end of the next week... so it takes 3-3,5 weeks from factory to Europe customers.
"Shipping" started 2 weeks ago, and first 30 machines are delivered by the end of the next week... so it takes 3-3,5 weeks from factory to Europe customers.
Ethanfox
Well-Known Member
Safe bet. Certainly not the first broken promise.
AlpacaBrew
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Keep the faith. Brewie will be much better than the Z.
sniperd
Well-Known Member
I'm really excited to see somebody on HBT to get one and post a video of any kind of real use. I'm on the pre-order from last year (maybe 14 months?) and in USA. Fingers crossed!
jtt
Active Member
Been lurking on this thread for quite a while, and just bit the bullet during their black Friday promo.
Gabriella has been quite responsive over email, and I suggested they do an AmA some time soon. We shall see.
Gabriella has been quite responsive over email, and I suggested they do an AmA some time soon. We shall see.
There is an unboxing video on Facebook. Looks good. I am not crazy about the repackaged hops in the Brewie Pad though - I will assume they are not flushed of oxygen. Also it seems odd more time is spent on the unboxing then the actual brew process, but they built a nice machine!
Video looks good. I can't wait to have a video from some that has it hooked up to water and explains how the machine calculates mash and sparge volumes. I was so close to pre order but decided to wait. I just couldn't get clear answers from them. Until I see it running and making mid to high gravity beers at the 5 gallon volume, I will continue to use the grainfather.
Ethanfox
Well-Known Member
Eager to hear actual efficiencies users are able to achieve as well!
jtt
Active Member
Watched the video. It was pretty cool watching the guy go through opening and actually starting up a brewie. I think he was in Brewie's delivery vid, and this may have been his first ever brew. I'd want to see the mash heat up and the hop additions. But the machine itself looks as promised, at least in theory.
BurntOrngeLonghorn84
Well-Known Member
There's no way the mesh on those hop cages is fine enough for pellet hops, those holes are huge! It had to be 1000 micron or more.
My bet is there is a large mesh as the structure, then a smaller mesh inside. The video shows pellet hops being sent in the recipe (all nice and oxidized I'll bet - yuck).
jtt
Active Member
Whirlfloc I think.
I will also say the book looked pretty good, but the level was lower than I expected.
How is sparge done? Is the water cross circulated from the boil tank, or is fresh water brought in via the water hookup (assuming its installed)?
How is sparge done? Is the water cross circulated from the boil tank, or is fresh water brought in via the water hookup (assuming its installed)?
Ethanfox
Well-Known Member
I asked that question a free months back and never got an answer. It'd be great if that was one of the adjustable options (water to grist ratio in the mash / sparge volume).
But if you're using bottled water, you'd probably have to do a full volume mash. Or, at a minimum, sparge with a combination of fresh water from the boil tank and wort from the mash tank.
But if you're using bottled water, you'd probably have to do a full volume mash. Or, at a minimum, sparge with a combination of fresh water from the boil tank and wort from the mash tank.
According to this video:
https://youtu.be/jq3GY2ZswdY
the sparge water is heated at the boil side and then cross circulated to sparge the grain.
If that's what you asked?
Weight sensors to measure water? Interesting... I hope they let everyone know that and make sure the tubes provided are soft and pliable. Also what if the machine is not on a flat surface? Obviously it can measure the total weight, but measuring the fluid in one tank will be affected.
Not trying to hate here - I think this machine is a quantum leap and I love automation, but if I were to tackle doing this I am not sure I would have considered this route. Good on them for getting it working if so!
I know this was discussed, but I still wonder how boilovers are prevented. This video shows a gentle boil, but still, some malts generate a lot of proteins.
Not trying to hate here - I think this machine is a quantum leap and I love automation, but if I were to tackle doing this I am not sure I would have considered this route. Good on them for getting it working if so!
I know this was discussed, but I still wonder how boilovers are prevented. This video shows a gentle boil, but still, some malts generate a lot of proteins.
Give them credit for production work!
If only they'd put the time & money into responding to backers' unanswered questions, they'd have a lot more happy people instead of this commercial. I really wanted the Brewie, looks good on paper, but the fact they can't answer specific technical questions that many have asked over the past 2 years scared me off. I can't even imagine dealing with their tech support down the line.
Other way of looking at it is that if they didn't continue to focus on marketing, you'd get lots of answers right up to the point they go out of business. I'd like more communication, but what I've seen isn't far from my expectations of a start up.
Ethanfox
Well-Known Member
I don't get it. There's no mention of the Brewie at all. If I didn't already know exactly what it was, I probably wouldn't even have noticed the Brewie in the background at the end of the spot.
Guess their marketing department is about as effective as their communication department.
Just looked at the Facebook video of the unboxing. I would not even consider a recipe kit from them with zip lock bags of hops.... Then I looked at the size of the hop containers. It seems to me this would limit you to very little hop utilization. I have done bittering additions that would pack one of those containers solid. The others are also way too small. I use a 5 gallon paint strainer bag clipped to the lip of my boil kettle and have sometimes had close to 2.5 gallons worth of wet hops when done. The 4 containers look like they would total 4 pints!!!! Not to mention that, if you wanted to use leaf hops you could not use the automatic function at all....
If you are not looking to a full range of possible beer styles this might be a good piece of equipment. If you want full range you will probably be disappointed.
I will never be looking at a system like this one but it will be interesting to see something from an actual homebrewer.
If you are not looking to a full range of possible beer styles this might be a good piece of equipment. If you want full range you will probably be disappointed.
I will never be looking at a system like this one but it will be interesting to see something from an actual homebrewer.
Ethanfox
Well-Known Member
The American West Coast IPA, where we try to pack as much hops into a beer as physics will allow, is a relatively recent trend. And while it's gaining popularity in other countries, it's still not globally common.
I imagine, for bittering hops, you don't have to use the cages. You could have a ridiculously large hop bag in the kettle for first wort hops (which might get recirculated in the Brewie to also be mash hops?) and leave the four containers available for flavor and aroma additions.
You may be right that this setup could limit extreme automated hopping, but if you have 2.5 gallons of wet hops when making a 5 gallon batch, I think you're about as extreme as it gets. I haven't tried your beers, but you might be able to obtain a similar, if not the same, flavor profile if you dialed it back a notch ... and save some cash.
You could also add any additional hops you want at any point in during the boil. You're certainly not limited by the mesh screens... That only limits you if you want to be completely hands off throughout the entire process.
I imagine, for bittering hops, you don't have to use the cages. You could have a ridiculously large hop bag in the kettle for first wort hops (which might get recirculated in the Brewie to also be mash hops?) and leave the four containers available for flavor and aroma additions.
You may be right that this setup could limit extreme automated hopping, but if you have 2.5 gallons of wet hops when making a 5 gallon batch, I think you're about as extreme as it gets. I haven't tried your beers, but you might be able to obtain a similar, if not the same, flavor profile if you dialed it back a notch ... and save some cash.
You could also add any additional hops you want at any point in during the boil. You're certainly not limited by the mesh screens... That only limits you if you want to be completely hands off throughout the entire process.
Yeah I do t see why you couldn't try putting in a bag or hops into the boil at any point. tailor a few smaller BIAB and use those to amp it up. I suppose we'll see what kind of hacks we can do in the near future
It doesn't cost much to send out a weekly email answering pretty critical info about a machine that people are interested in buying. Marketing is a necessity of course, but so is sustaining a dialogue with your prospective customers. The most important element in this equation is customers, make them happy and you're business has a much better chance of succeeding.
Agree, except that I don't think it is a cost issue. More of a capacity issue.
Ethanfox
Well-Known Member
Yeah, they're too busy trying to come up with stupid beer-related facts to post on Facebook
badgerfan79
Well-Known Member
I just went and watched this too. The first thing that hit me was why didn't they send this to someone who does a bunch of homebrew videos. This video was this persons first video(I now know how to say eh after watching it). I think having a well known homebrew YouTuber do this video would make it more credible.
I think I will stick with my plans of my DIY Biab build. After all, I'm not brewing beer to just dump it in and walk away. I enjoy all the steps along the way, except maybe the cleaning.
Lucky!
I agree with you. For me it is that I enjoy brewing beer and don't want to give it up. I have two kids that don't allow the time to brew for six hours.
I may have exaggerated a bit. But IMO any more than one ounce of wet hops is going to pack those little cages SOLID. I guess you could use 2 of them for the same timing??? Maybe.
If you are adding hops without using the bins?? Kind of defeats the purpose of the machine..... So you could save thousands of $$
Exactly same situation here with time! 3 kids! Otherwise would have bought Grainfather long time ago!
If it was my first introduction to the product that extremely amateurish video would scare me away, not excite me to buy one. I am surprised (not really considering the company's past history) that the company would put that on their Facebook page .
Received a mail a week ago saying: Tracking ID next week. Week is over. No Tracking ID. Love them.
Ethanfox
Well-Known Member
When did you order?
thunderwagn
Well-Known Member
Whether the Brewie is for me or not, I actually thought the video was well done. I think for the most part it will resonate well with the target "novice" audience. It demonstrated that someone with little experience could in fact remove the machine from the box and be brewing beer in very short fashion. In my mind, those with more experience will be all the better and capable of making decisions to make even better beer.
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