I am going to go brew with the guy on Friday, so I'll get back to you about seeing it in action.
But, let me first say that I am a first time brewer and hope (as many do) to some day to turn it into a business. I have however been in quality commercial alcohol production (wine,port,hard ciders, and I ran a distillery, and high end distributor sales) for about 8 years, so not technically a newbie, but to beer I am (other than I drink good beer). Also, I have been known to be excessively wordy (see below)
and opinionated (despite my sub-100 count posts on this forum...hehe). The b3's are definitely awesome though- great kettles and design. I had really chosen a 1550 B3 and was very close to putting the plastic down before I discovered the brewmation. Some people would say that the automation takes the fun out of it, but I feel very differently about it.
I am a fan of buying quality instruments for the job at hand. I am a musician, decent cook, etc. and I am always amazed at how (how does the adage go) "using the right tool for the right job" give the best results. Not that you can't jerry-rig a masterpiece, but why p@ssyfoot around if you don't have to? Especially since I got such a ridiculous quote on a stainless stand from a local welder ($1500) for a brutus clone. --By the way, if you do end up going with a stand, I'd have one custom made by the synergymetalworks.com guys. I have their fermenter and it is abs. top notch welding. From my research, they run a hard bargain for stainless metal work (even with shipping).
Anyhoo, the other thing that struck me about the automation of the brewmation is that since it's so plug and play, you could literally brew every day and it wouldn't be that bad. That's the idea I am going for. I would rather spend more $ for fitting brewing into my life than go b@lls to the wall as a DIY wizard (basically just to get away from SWMBO!)...:cross: (just kidding) I really do hope to spend my time after my gear is assembled simply brewing and caring about recipes, technique, and such and not caring at all about gear (like my saxophone and playing music). In my opinion, the brewmation would be even more repeatable/reliable/easy to use than a B3 or a BM. The whole brewing with electric thing has been pretty much settled regarding scorching of wort, as long as you use the right element (low density, or ultra low density) its not an issue. Besides, if you are doing RIMS like a BM, you'll be using an element anyways, maybe not as much (just raising temps during mash recirc), but still... The only problem I can see for me re: electric is power outages. I know that at one point I will suffer a problem because of a power outage, but I think that's the price to pay for not having to fill propane and the price (electricity is far less $$ per brew).
The other thing is the sparging with his peristaltic pumps. It looks like the best thing since gravity sparging (except for the plastic housing mentioned before, I'll let you know how that looks when I see it in person). And, there is simply no brewhouse I have seen with such a small footprint, and this one is even bigger at 17.5 gal capacity.
There are no reviews really. The guy used to make brewmations out of food grade plastic (like his electric HLT on his site) but no one would buy them because of that, so he went with stainless at a higher price... good move. They have only been made that way starting in 09. He has made several for brewpubs, etc. that are bigger and that is why you see on his site that he will custom make a 1.5 or 2 bbl.
Anyhoo, if you have more questions, PM me and I'll send you the file he sent me of the 20 questions I asked him with his detailed responses. From his descriptions, the thing is a Ferrari. No boil overs (important for me to brew inside), no foaming (due to the floating sparging), just effortless.. seems to me anyways.
I'll get back to you after Friday.
