Starter Guide...

[tssgery]

Beware.... stupid questions are coming...

I've only been brewing for about 6 months now but am really tired of dragging all of my gear out of my basement to my carport every time I want to brew, and then dragging it back down to my basement to clean and store.

The idea of going electric instead of propane sounds very appealing to me for a couple of reasons:

• no more dragging supplies/gear around
• I'd like to progress from partial mash/extract to full mash
• getting a repeatable brew woudl be great as people are asking me to brew kegs for them

I've seen offering from Sabco and others that are complete, out of the box, solutions for propane brewing but I've seen nothing similar for electric. I have visited a few online electric brewing stores but they usually offer a zillion options which would be great if I knew what I was doing/wanted.

Is there anything like the Sabco systems but electric, that is... pre-built, one tier electric controlled systems?

If not, is there a starter guide to electric brewing that people generally refer to as the 'source' for answering all kinds of stupid questions I am likely to ask?

 

[LovesIPA]

Google for "the electric brewery". An HBT user named Kal designed it. His is a commercial level build but you can certainly borrow a lot of his ideas. His website (I think it's www.theelectricbrewery.com) covers how to build it in detail.

 

[BadNewsBrewery]

There are a lot of commercially available options. TheElectricBrewery, eBrewSupply, and others... There are also plenty of write-ups. LovesIPA is right - check out www.theelectricbrewery.com if you have any plans to try and DIY. It's basically the how-to bible, and the place where almost everyone starts. It is not a commercial level build by any means - he brews in 15gal keggles like the rest of us normal folk do.

So my opinion - 1: Read the whole ElectricBrewery website. 2: Come up with a ton of questions. 3: SEARCH this forum for your question - chances are it's been answered more times thank you'd think. 4: Determine that you've got a question that you can't find an answer for, and ask - we'll help you out.

If you decide you want to go with an OTS option, you'll get plenty of opinions on who makes the sexiest option. If you decide you want to DIY, we'll help you spend your money and do it safely.

Good luck on the journey. I did it not that long ago and haven't looked back!

-Kevin

 

[DrHops]

This one is an electric brew in a bag which is all grain, only simplified.

https://www.highgravitybrew.com/productcart/pc/BIAB-Electric-Brewing-System-269p3987.htm

I've only seen a few reviews on this so far. The company is a great company to deal with and makes quality products.

 

[tssgery]

I'm reading the electric brewery site now, really good stuff.

 

[tssgery]

Thanks again everyone. I think I'll follow the electric brewing examples, they seem really good.

I'll start slow, probably replacing my current aluminium boil kettle with a blichmann and the modifications suggested to make it electric. That should allow me to gradually switch from propane to electric and spread the costs out over a time period.

 

[BadNewsBrewery]

While there's no harm in going with a Blichmann (Blingmann...), you could find all kinds of kettles for significantly less money. If cost is an issue, there's no need to go with the premium, highest-cost options out there. But, like I said - there's no harm in them, and they make high quality equipment, so if that's what you want - go for it!