I've been brewing beer for about 6 years.
I started out using the cooler method with batch sparging. I liked the simplicity, but my mash temps were always way off and I always lost a lot of heat.
Then I started doing BIAB in a keggle. Again, easy, but mash temps were all over the place. I manually turned on the gas when the temps got too low, stirred, repeated. Lots of work and again, mash temps were all over the place and my efficiency sucked.
After that I added a low pressure propane solenoid powered by a temperature controller. It works, kind of, except my march pump always gets air bubbles in it and causes constant headaches for me. The biggest downside though is the whole thing is a bit of a mess, with tons of parts to clean and connect and nothing quite works perfectly. It's like every time I brew there's a new issue.
I realise I actually do not like the tinkering part of the hobby anymore. I like building, sure, but once it's built, I'm friggin tired of constantly having to address problems and issues and having to get this part and that part.
I want to be able to focus on the recipies and less on the process. I spend 90% of my brewing time on the process and not on the actual beer recipes or getting to know what makes a beer taste good or bad so I still mainly use AG kits. I also have 4, yes, FOUR, kids and I simply can't spend an entire day poking around in the garage anymore.
There's simply so many newcomers on the market today I need some help finding the right system for me.
So I might have to save my money for a bit, I don't think the wife would appreciate me pulling the trigger on a turnkey rig just yet, but here's what I am looking for:
Must haves:
1) Quality made
2) Doesn't need constant supervision- I am a busy person and when its mashing etc I want to be able to step away and do other things
3) Reliable, repeatable, results.
2) 4 hour brew day (5 max), from start to finish. Minimal cleaning is a necessity.
3) 240v electric
Want to have:
1) Programmable step mashing, mashout, etc.
2) Nice fittings
3) All in one better than multi-vessel, again, less fiddling
4) Automatic hop feeder
5) Some kind of iphone bluetooth or wifi interface with logging data
I started out using the cooler method with batch sparging. I liked the simplicity, but my mash temps were always way off and I always lost a lot of heat.
Then I started doing BIAB in a keggle. Again, easy, but mash temps were all over the place. I manually turned on the gas when the temps got too low, stirred, repeated. Lots of work and again, mash temps were all over the place and my efficiency sucked.
After that I added a low pressure propane solenoid powered by a temperature controller. It works, kind of, except my march pump always gets air bubbles in it and causes constant headaches for me. The biggest downside though is the whole thing is a bit of a mess, with tons of parts to clean and connect and nothing quite works perfectly. It's like every time I brew there's a new issue.
I realise I actually do not like the tinkering part of the hobby anymore. I like building, sure, but once it's built, I'm friggin tired of constantly having to address problems and issues and having to get this part and that part.
I want to be able to focus on the recipies and less on the process. I spend 90% of my brewing time on the process and not on the actual beer recipes or getting to know what makes a beer taste good or bad so I still mainly use AG kits. I also have 4, yes, FOUR, kids and I simply can't spend an entire day poking around in the garage anymore.
There's simply so many newcomers on the market today I need some help finding the right system for me.
So I might have to save my money for a bit, I don't think the wife would appreciate me pulling the trigger on a turnkey rig just yet, but here's what I am looking for:
Must haves:
1) Quality made
2) Doesn't need constant supervision- I am a busy person and when its mashing etc I want to be able to step away and do other things
3) Reliable, repeatable, results.
2) 4 hour brew day (5 max), from start to finish. Minimal cleaning is a necessity.
3) 240v electric
Want to have:
1) Programmable step mashing, mashout, etc.
2) Nice fittings
3) All in one better than multi-vessel, again, less fiddling
4) Automatic hop feeder
5) Some kind of iphone bluetooth or wifi interface with logging data