Been following this thread for a while. Seeing the enthusiasm with which owners speak of the Blichmann BE setup, I want to ask some questions.
I am an all-grain brewer, doing mash in a 10-gallon Igloo cooler. Been brewing this way for about 4 years. No recirculation here, just letting it sit for an hour, trusting BeerSmith for making sure I hit mash temps with some degree of certainty. And no ability to precisely adjust my mash temp. Please enlighten me - what are the advantages to a recirculating system? I can easily see the ability to do step-mash, as well as a protein rest, if I decide to attempt that. What else? What advantage is there to the filtration of the wort that will obviously happen during the hour of recirculating?
I am wanting someone to convince me to either cobble together a recirculating system of some kind on my own, or go ahead and spring the $$ to invest in this system. It's just that the BE system is a sizable chunk of cash, and will require not only saving up for it, but strong justification for the expenditure.
I am thinking I will go for an electric setup, though I will have to have another 240v outlet installed in my utility/brew room.