Looking for advice on an electric system, Anvil 6.5?

[Flyingpond]

I’m new to the group and kind of new to brewing after taking more than a 20-year break being a dad. Lots of things have changed. I’m starting to build a brew system and I’m loving the all-in-one electric systems I see. I’m thinking about the Anvil Foundry 6.5. I will mostly do 2.5 - 3 gallon batches. I’m looking for advice from anyone who uses the Anvil 6.5. Do you like it? Happy that you purchased it? Upsides… downsides? Would you recommend it, or a different all-in-one? I hope I’m posting this in the correct place. Still figuring this site out, but I’m loving it. Thanks

 

[kevin58]

The Foundry is a decent system and many people love them. I had the Foundry 10.5 for nearly three years and it worked great for my purpose (extending my brew season into the winter months).


On the negative side I did not like how the unit would shut off with an error code if grain bits, hops etc. scorched the bottom of the kettle. Moisture is prone to getting behind the display screen fogging it up. And people complain that the recirculation pump is under powered but I found that it works just fine.

One of the biggest complaints most users had/have is an inherent design issue where the water between the malt pipe and the kettle wall was not being pulled into the recirculation flow when using the recirculation system. This will cause lower mash efficiency but can be easily fixed by lifting the basket a couple times during the mash. A newer mash basket design has been rolled out since I owned mine so this might not be an issue any longer.

On the positive side it gives you good value for the money. It is not complicated to use, it is compact in size, clean up is pretty easy and it stores almost anywhere. One of its biggest selling points is that you can use either 110 or 220 power. However in switching from the default 110 plug to 220 meant you either had to cut the 110 plug off the cord or build some kind of adapter pigtail... but Anvil/Blichmann may be offering a factory option now to eliminate that problem.

One of my favorite features was the delay start option on the control panel. You can fill the Foundry with strike water the night before and program it to begin heating water the next morning. Then when you are ready to start your brew day the water is already at strike temp.

All of the AiO systems from the major manufacturers are on par with one another. There will be differences in design or options and each will have its pro's and con's. You really can't go wrong with any of them.

 

[Flyingpond]

The Foundry is a decent system and many people love them. I had the Foundry 10.5 for nearly three years and it worked great for my purpose (extending my brew season into the winter months).


On the negative side I did not like how the unit would shut off with an error code if grain bits, hops etc. scorched the bottom of the kettle. Moisture is prone to getting behind the display screen fogging it up. And people complain that the recirculation pump is under powered but I found that it works just fine.

One of the biggest complaints most users had/have is an inherent design issue where the water between the malt pipe and the kettle wall was not being pulled into the recirculation flow when using the recirculation system. This will cause lower mash efficiency but can be easily fixed by lifting the basket a couple times during the mash. A newer mash basket design has been rolled out since I owned mine so this might not be an issue any longer.

On the positive side it gives you good value for the money. It is not complicated to use, it is compact in size, clean up is pretty easy and it stores almost anywhere. One of its biggest selling points is that you can use either 110 or 220 power. However in switching from the default 110 plug to 220 meant you either had to cut the 110 plug off the cord or build some kind of adapter pigtail... but Anvil/Blichmann may be offering a factory option now to eliminate that problem.

One of my favorite features was the delay start option on the control panel. You can fill the Foundry with strike water the night before and program it to begin heating water the next morning. Then when you are ready to start your brew day the water is already at strike temp.

All of the AiO systems from the major manufacturers are on par with one another. There will be differences in design or options and each will have its pro's and con's. You really can't go wrong with any of them.

That's a lot of info. Thank you, truly appreciate it.

 

[stealthfixr]

I’m new to the group and kind of new to brewing after taking more than a 20-year break being a dad. Lots of things have changed. I’m starting to build a brew system and I’m loving the all-in-one electric systems I see. I’m thinking about the Anvil Foundry 6.5. I will mostly do 2.5 - 3 gallon batches. I’m looking for advice from anyone who uses the Anvil 6.5. Do you like it? Happy that you purchased it? Upsides… downsides? Would you recommend it, or a different all-in-one? I hope I’m posting this in the correct place. Still figuring this site out, but I’m loving it. Thanks

I am loving my Brewzilla Gen4. The 35L size version uses common 120V power and can do batch sizes down to 1 or up to 5 gallons. The new Brewzilla Gen4 controller is fantastic, and the OTA updates very Tesla-like (in a good way). The Gen4 bluetooth capability, remote thermometer and future RAPT tools will add many options in the future. The Gen4 conical bottom makes clean up very easy and also ensures no wort is left behind. I am seeing 80+% efficiency from my Gen4 using a common 3-roller mill and coarsely double crushing; no other mods or process changes to get there.

Probably more expensive than the Anvil 6.5, but gives you more options and capability.

 

[BrewersVocation]

I have a Anvil 6.5 system with the recirculation kit I'm trying to sell! If your interested PM me. I have it setup for 240v, so you may have to switch out the plug to a 120v. I also have a few 1 gallon jugs I could give you.

I love the 120/240 double option. It's also the only system I know of that's insulated. I switch to the 65l Brewzilla 4th gen. I really wanted bottom drawing and scaling up.

 

[Neldog0]

I’m new to the group and kind of new to brewing after taking more than a 20-year break being a dad. Lots of things have changed. I’m starting to build a brew system and I’m loving the all-in-one electric systems I see. I’m thinking about the Anvil Foundry 6.5. I will mostly do 2.5 - 3 gallon batches. I’m looking for advice from anyone who uses the Anvil 6.5. Do you like it? Happy that you purchased it? Upsides… downsides? Would you recommend it, or a different all-in-one? I hope I’m posting this in the correct place. Still figuring this site out, but I’m loving it. Thanks

I looked at many all in one systems because I needed to reduce my space profile for doing all grain. I settled on the Brewzilla Gen4 because it offers more options than other for the price. All these systems have problems. There is a learning curve for everyone & all batches you brew are different & you have to pay attention to how each brew works on a system. With the Brewzilla, if you get the heat exchanger & the Bluetooth thermometer you can very easily dial in mash in temps & hold your temp with very minimal over shoots.

 

[tracer bullet]

I bought a 6.5 for the small batch days, and yep it's convenient as heck. A few quirks mentioned, primarily the dead space around the basket, but lifting and lowering that basket a few times during the mash solves it. I'd buy it again for sure.

 

[AlbertaBeer]

I’m just starting in the hobby and bought an anvil 10.5

Overall seems to be good enough quality for the price point. The recirc pump seemed more than powerful enough

One thing I found is that running it on 110v for my test batch, it barely was able to boil 24L and recovery time was horribly slow after adding ingredients. But, I had purchased it with the intention of running it on 220v which should work fine I imagine

 

[doug293cz]

I’m just starting in the hobby and bought an anvil 10.5

Overall seems to be good enough quality for the price point. The recirc pump seemed more than powerful enough

One thing I found is that running it on 110v for my test batch, it barely was able to boil 24L and recovery time was horribly slow after adding ingredients. But, I had purchased it with the intention of running it on 220v which should work fine I imagine

Any 5 gal, or larger, system running on 120V is going to have anemic heat-up rates, and low boil vigor. You just can't get enough power from 15A@120V circuits to do better. So, this is not Anvil specific.

But, you don't need a vigorous boil for any reason, unless you just like to have a large amount of boil off. Boiling harder does not speed up DMS elimination or improve hop utilization.

Brew on

 

[AlbertaBeer]

No I get it, like I said I had no intention of using it in 110v, just wanted to put it out there that if someone does purchase one with the intention of doing so, they know what to expect

I believe the element is the same between the 6.5 and 10.5 so it should be enough to get a good rolling boil in the 6.5 gal version