Equipment help

[Blackdirt_cowboy]

I’ve been brewing beer for almost a year now, and my set up is pretty basic. I have a 10 gallon kettle, a cooler mash tun, and a plastic bucket that doubles as a fementer and HLT. I also have my own grain milk. I’ve been pleased with this setup. My conversion efficiency is always near 100% and brewhouse efficiency is around 75%.

I’ve been toying with the idea of upgrading to a three vessel, single tier, automated HERMS setup. But something yesterday gave me pause in that plan. I brewed a spur of the moment BIAB beer using an old grain bag I picked up when I first started this hobby. I did a full volume mash with no sparge. I adjusted my recipe for a lower efficiency, which I fully expected due to the no sparge. However, my efficiency went up. My brewhouse efficiency in this BIAB batch was 85%. Gravitates were checked with a refractometer and verified with a hydrometer. I used brewers friend for the calculations.

So in summary, I shaved an hour or so off my brew day, my efficiency went up 10%, and I didn’t spend thousands on a complicated, difficult to clean system. If these kind of efficiencies are achievable with full volume mashes, without sparging, what’s the point of these more complicated systems?

 

[cubalz]

This hobby can be as complicated/expensive as you want it to be. Case in point, in my brew room, I am running a Kal clone panel driving a 5500w element into a 15 gal custom Spike kettle along with a couple of pumps. I am an engineer and love projects so this is what I built, mostly because I could. Before this set up, I had been making great beer with much more basic equipment for a long time. Years ago, When I first tried full volume/no sparge brewing, I added 20% to the grain bill to account for the lower efficiencies and the beer was fantastic and like you said, much faster. I have never looked back. I have a 3 vessel Brutus system in mothballs to attest to that. If you change to an uber complicated system, it will not help you brew better beer. Brewing often will.

 

[DonGavlar]

Like Cubalz said, brewing can be as complicated and technical as you want it to be. I think most brewers set ups are more of a reflection of themselves rather than one set up being better than another. For example some brewers simply want the brew day to be done with asap with minimal work whilst other enjoy the whole process and like being more involved.

My set up is a simple 3 vessel set up with my mash tun lined with a bag. I like my set up and I have it dialled in well, I get through my brew days with ease and minimal issues. Of course, as I use a bag and have a 15 gal kettle, I could just do a full BIAB mash in the kettle with no sparge but I just don't want to have to haul the bag out whilst still wet, drain the bag etc etc. It would probably make my brew day quicker and simpler if I chose this method but it just isn't want I'm interested in. And then on the other hand you will get people like cubalz who is an engineer and they probably get great sanctification out of building their own systems and tuning them in to do exactly what they want.

Either way though, I'm sure the same beer can be made on any system and come out with the same end product. Its all dependant on what the brewer likes. Of course some systems allow greater versatility etc but that something the brewer needs to consider.

But, if the simple one vessel BIAB system appeals to you now and you find it easier/ quicker and you enjoy that then there is nothing stopping you from adopting that system for all your brews, its not going to make worse beer than a more expensive set up.

My next upgrade to my system (over the next few years) will be going fully electric whilst all liquid is moved by pumps. This set up will be expensive and complicated I'm sure, but I'm not doing it as it will make better beer than my current set up, I'm doing it because it looks super cool to me and I love the idea of doing things with a push of a button.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I'm looking to go electric so that I can brew inside. I want all my equipment, fermentation chamber and brew area all in the same room. I'm really tired of a dozen trips up and down the stairs hauling a cooler MLT, cooler HLT, kettle, burner, pump, immersion chiller,scale, fermenter, mill, drill for the mill, grains, etc from their storage spot to the garage to brew.

In the garage I set up plywood on sawhorses for a table. It's 40 mins to get stuff set up, that long again to put it all away. Plus, my chest freezer fermentation chamber is downstairs so I end up hauling the fermenter full of wort across the house, down the stairs, back across the house and into the freezer. At the end of the day, I'm wiped. My back is toast, my legs are tired, and I just want to sit and do nothing the rest of the day. It shouldn't be that hard.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to bite the bullet and buy a brew boss. I'll build a cart about two kettle widths wide with a bar across the top to winch from. Setup will be to pull the cover off, plug it in, add water and start heating. Putting it away, I'll have less to wash and, when clean, unplug it, put the cover on and roll it into the corner.