Bill Huelsman
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I just bought a 10.5 gallon unit. Did one brew last Sunday. 5.5 gallons of a Peppermint Stout. Getting ready to do Fretboard beer featured in Zymrgy last month.
Anvil Foundry users: Any here?
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Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
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If you search the forums you will find this one: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/anvil-foundry-all-grain-brewing-system.666090/
Soon to be[emoji106][emoji482]. Ordered mine 2 weeks ago but they're on back order. Hoping to get it the end of the month. How have you liked yours, any user tips you've learned?
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Check the link I referenced above. There is also a Anvil Users group on Facebook and John Blichmann frequents there for product advice and updates.
Bent-Brewer
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The user group on Facebook is really helpful. Shane and John are on there all the time, as well as Brian (short circuited).
Just ran my first batch the other week on 120V and looking at swapping to 240. It was super easy to use, but the recipe (from zymurgy) was pretty lackluster. Shane has shared an equipment profile to use within BrewFather that seems pretty spot-on.
Just ran my first batch the other week on 120V and looking at swapping to 240. It was super easy to use, but the recipe (from zymurgy) was pretty lackluster. Shane has shared an equipment profile to use within BrewFather that seems pretty spot-on.
Bill Huelsman
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There has been a redesign of the unit since I’ve bought mine. They’ve moved the controller to a more user friendly spot closer to the top. Same controller as before. Be sure to do a good cleaning with PBW or Barkeepers friend. Doesn’t hurt to do a water test either. One with the circulation pump and one without. Gives you a idea on time needed to heat the mash water, and to raise to boil. I love the simplicity and easy cleanup of the unit for sure!
Just purchased this system on Sunday ...waiting for its arrival. I've planned a Kolsch and an Alt as the first two brew sessions. Looking forward to learning a new systems since I haven't really changed any of by brewhouse practices in 10+ years.
No way that I've found.
goodolarchie
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I did my first 10.5 brew on one, a witbier, which I knew would be a good challenge for it. The unit is actually a gift for a friend, bought on sale, but I won't see him for another few months due to COVID, so I figured I'd learn its quirks and get it nice and clean for him.
I did my usual new-stainless-SOP - a hot PBW and TSP soak, heated up to 160 at full volume just to get a sense of the unit. What I did not do that I regret is bring it to a full boil, and give it a good scrub, because my brew day definitely turned up some factory oil/grease that turned the wort purple-gray after the mash and getting it up to 170-180 degrees.
Other notes: The brew day wasn't too terribly long (4.5 hours) for producing 6.5 gallons of wort.
This was a witbier I started with a Ferulic Acid rest, the ramp from 113 --> 152 only registered as 27 minutes, not bad for 110V. However, I quickly realized this was because the mash started getting sticky and the basket-recirc was actually running over, back around the sides of the basket, back toward the element, effectively bypassing the grain in the mash. So I slowed the recirculation way down, set the temp to 160 and used my long thermometer probe into the body of the mash to get a sense of the true temperature. After a ~45 minute total ramp to 152 (measured, actual), I held it here for ~40 minutes. I was able to get the basket up and proceed without issues. Normally I would do a mash out of 168-170 but that didn't seem possible with this grist. Boil went fine, another 27-ish minutes to reach boiling for 7 gallons. I wouldn't call it rolling for most of the time, it seemed to fluctuate quite a bit.
My take aways and recommendations:
1. Hook up to 240V if at all possible, the 120V boil at full power is kinda meh.
2. Don't do anything but a single infusion mash for a cereal-heavy grist (e.g. heat it up to 160 and then mash in)
3. Install a better valve for the wort return, after the pump, if you bought the recirc kit.
4. Unit is great for doing step mashes if you're just using barley.
I did my usual new-stainless-SOP - a hot PBW and TSP soak, heated up to 160 at full volume just to get a sense of the unit. What I did not do that I regret is bring it to a full boil, and give it a good scrub, because my brew day definitely turned up some factory oil/grease that turned the wort purple-gray after the mash and getting it up to 170-180 degrees.
Other notes: The brew day wasn't too terribly long (4.5 hours) for producing 6.5 gallons of wort.
This was a witbier I started with a Ferulic Acid rest, the ramp from 113 --> 152 only registered as 27 minutes, not bad for 110V. However, I quickly realized this was because the mash started getting sticky and the basket-recirc was actually running over, back around the sides of the basket, back toward the element, effectively bypassing the grain in the mash. So I slowed the recirculation way down, set the temp to 160 and used my long thermometer probe into the body of the mash to get a sense of the true temperature. After a ~45 minute total ramp to 152 (measured, actual), I held it here for ~40 minutes. I was able to get the basket up and proceed without issues. Normally I would do a mash out of 168-170 but that didn't seem possible with this grist. Boil went fine, another 27-ish minutes to reach boiling for 7 gallons. I wouldn't call it rolling for most of the time, it seemed to fluctuate quite a bit.
My take aways and recommendations:
1. Hook up to 240V if at all possible, the 120V boil at full power is kinda meh.
2. Don't do anything but a single infusion mash for a cereal-heavy grist (e.g. heat it up to 160 and then mash in)
3. Install a better valve for the wort return, after the pump, if you bought the recirc kit.
4. Unit is great for doing step mashes if you're just using barley.
Anyone use a Steam Slayer with the Anvil Foundry yet? Sounds like a good option to keep your room/house from steaming up, and from what I’m reading it sounds like it will boil more vigorously with the lid on and Steam Slayer attached. The latter could solve the weak boil issue that some people don’t like about 120v.
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