I'm in the early stages of building a brewstand. Actually, I've spend a ton of time designing, learning and sorting things out and I'm just starting to build it.
I'm a really busy guy. 3 young kids, etc. My brewstand and associated equipment is going to take up a space about 2 feet x 8 feet + dedicated sink and space... quite a bit. We live in a big house, so I have the space, but still...
So I'm accidentally looking at some of the all in one automatic systems. I'd love to having something the size of a trash can that I roll into the kitchen, plug in, dump in ingredients and out pops high quality wort.
But it doesn't seem to be that simple. They (all?) seem to suffer from one or more drawbacks. As far as I can see, they are all basically 2 tier, brew in a bag, no sparge systems, with a pump and a fancy controller.
Issues
- brew in a bag, which I am not fond of, though they do recirculate while mashing
- no sparge, which I am not fond of, though at least some don't use 100% water during the mash. Though some do.
- no chill, which I am not fond of.
- little to no wort concentration during boil
- limited grain capacity
- small batch sizes
- no built in fume/water vapor extraction system
If you are brewing a bigger beer (1.080+) how do you get the wort gravity up if you don't sparge ? I agree that using first runnings will result in a higher gravity, but combined with low(er) efficiency, you'd be using a lot of grain. Combined with limited concentration during the boil, would make it really hard to get gravity up. Combined with a limited grain capacity ????
I don't like no chill. How do you get a good cold break ?
Some of the machines have small batch sizes. I can't be bothered to bottle, other than the occasional bottle to give away or take to a party. I need 6 gallons out of the fermentor to eventually fill a 5 gallon keg after racking and filtering losses.
And some of the machines (Grainfather in particular) don't seem to be very much simpler than running a conventional stand. It seems to perform all the same steps as a stand and needs all the same inputs and actions from the user. So what is one gaining, other than portability ?
Am I missing something ? Is there an all in one that really automates brewing without some or all of these drawbacks ?
To me the current situation is similar to a bread machine. You can make some pretty good bread in a bread machine and its quick and fairly convenient, but it doesn't match making bread from scratch. And if you have a good dough making machine, making it from scratch is fairly convenient.
Having said all that, I'd still love to have a good, automatic all in one machine.
I'm really good at fabrication. I have a pretty decent shop. I'm all ears to ideas on how to modify an existing machine or build one from scratch.
I'm a really busy guy. 3 young kids, etc. My brewstand and associated equipment is going to take up a space about 2 feet x 8 feet + dedicated sink and space... quite a bit. We live in a big house, so I have the space, but still...
So I'm accidentally looking at some of the all in one automatic systems. I'd love to having something the size of a trash can that I roll into the kitchen, plug in, dump in ingredients and out pops high quality wort.
But it doesn't seem to be that simple. They (all?) seem to suffer from one or more drawbacks. As far as I can see, they are all basically 2 tier, brew in a bag, no sparge systems, with a pump and a fancy controller.
Issues
- brew in a bag, which I am not fond of, though they do recirculate while mashing
- no sparge, which I am not fond of, though at least some don't use 100% water during the mash. Though some do.
- no chill, which I am not fond of.
- little to no wort concentration during boil
- limited grain capacity
- small batch sizes
- no built in fume/water vapor extraction system
If you are brewing a bigger beer (1.080+) how do you get the wort gravity up if you don't sparge ? I agree that using first runnings will result in a higher gravity, but combined with low(er) efficiency, you'd be using a lot of grain. Combined with limited concentration during the boil, would make it really hard to get gravity up. Combined with a limited grain capacity ????
I don't like no chill. How do you get a good cold break ?
Some of the machines have small batch sizes. I can't be bothered to bottle, other than the occasional bottle to give away or take to a party. I need 6 gallons out of the fermentor to eventually fill a 5 gallon keg after racking and filtering losses.
And some of the machines (Grainfather in particular) don't seem to be very much simpler than running a conventional stand. It seems to perform all the same steps as a stand and needs all the same inputs and actions from the user. So what is one gaining, other than portability ?
Am I missing something ? Is there an all in one that really automates brewing without some or all of these drawbacks ?
To me the current situation is similar to a bread machine. You can make some pretty good bread in a bread machine and its quick and fairly convenient, but it doesn't match making bread from scratch. And if you have a good dough making machine, making it from scratch is fairly convenient.
Having said all that, I'd still love to have a good, automatic all in one machine.
I'm really good at fabrication. I have a pretty decent shop. I'm all ears to ideas on how to modify an existing machine or build one from scratch.