Short timeline switch to AG apartment electric-DIY or ready-built?

[2bluewagons]

Hi all,

I'll keep this brief and looking for more opinion than technical advice. I am moving to Taichung, Taiwan in less than 2 months and I intend to take whatever I need to keep brewing over there. Obtaining ingredients is a separate issue, but from what I've read so far I think I'll be able to get something and it is legal as far as I can tell from the internetz.

What I need to figure out before I move is my setup. I've been brewing AG with a pretty simple but effective cooler MLT and a number of pots and propane burners. I have scrapped together or DIY'ed what I think is a nice set from Clist and I have a lot of stuff, as I have a garage and basement for storage. I will likely be moving to an apartment and need to both downsize as well as electrify as storage and outdoor space will be limited and/or non-existent.

I would be pretty confident in my electrical know-how that I could DIY my own system and while that would be great fun, I don't have the time to do so before my personal belongings ship date. So the opinion I am looking for is, should I gather up all the supplies I think I will need (using whatever I can from my current setup) and assemble over there, or go for a ready-built system from Blichmann or similar? Obviously a ready-built system would be more expensive, but how much more are we talking?

My preferred specs are:

All-grain (duh)
5 gallon minimum (I plan to bring cornies)
Ideally separate MLT from BK, not BIAB - I like to parti-gyle brew
Decent performance with 110V, but with option to go 220V coil(s) if possible (not sure if 220V will be available in my apartment)
Compact, ideally easily storable in a closet or similar
Gravity-fed if possible
Scrapped together setup is fine-I don't need complicated controls, I like to be hands-on

Thanks for any help!

 

[TexasWine]

My preferred specs are:

All-grain (duh)
5 gallon minimum (I plan to bring cornies)
Ideally separate MLT from BK, not BIAB - I like to parti-gyle brew
Decent performance with 110V, but with option to go 220V coil(s) if possible (not sure if 220V will be available in my apartment)
Compact, ideally easily storable in a closet or similar
Gravity-fed if possible
Scrapped together setup is fine-I don't need complicated controls, I like to be hands-on

Thanks for any help!

Who says you can't partigyle with BIAB? Use a full volume mash, take the bag out and drop it in another kettle with hot water in it. Boom! Partigyle!

You don't even have to use a full volume mash if you don't want.

If you're considering a ready made system and still like a hands on approach, I'd recommend this system.

http://brausupply.com/collections/b...mall-batch-countertop-electric-brewery-biab-1

I got the 9 gallon kettle, 2x1500 watt elements, and pump. All in it's $649 + shipping. And to boot, Steven, the owner, has been a delight to work with.

It's still a manual brew day. The PID will hold whatever temp you dial in, but it's up to you to make all the necessary temp changes, add/remove the grains and hops, etc. There is an alarm in the controller that will notify you when a certain amount of time has elapsed, but that's about a fancy as this thing gets.

I've done a couple of brew days on it. Starting from room temp, it will heat water to strike temp faster than I can get my grains weighed out/milled and add salts to the water. Going from mash temps to boil was really quick as well.

One of the best things about it, it all fits in the 9 gallon kettle for easy storage and transport. I've take it to a friend's house for a brew day and the only additional equipment I needed was extension cords.

 

[doug293cz]

You may want to review this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=277352 where they talk about power requirements for boiling. The net is that if you only have a 120V, 15A circuit to work with, you will have a tough (but not impossible time) boiling ~6.5 gal of wort for a 5 gal net batch. You will need to insulate you BK. If you have a 20A circuit, life will be easier, but still not ideal. If you have two separate (different breakers) 15A circuits in the brew area, then you should be good to go, but will need two heating elements in the BK, and maybe the HLT as well (depends on how patient you are.) You won't be able to boil and heat the HLT simultaneously.

Another thing that you didn't mention, is the need to have ventilation to remove ~1 gal per hr worth of steam from the brew room. This can be a challenge in an apartment.

Brew on

 

[iijakii]

http://www.cobrewingsystems.com/ also have some good-looking priced systems.

I bought pretty much everything off eBay from China for my DIY build, so you could easily do the same there.

You need to decide what you want first. I have a dual 1500W HERMS system and enjoy it, but I also would be very happy with a nice eBIAB setup.

 

[2bluewagons]

Thanks much! That minibrau system looks pretty close, although now the annoying tinkering homebrewer tendencies are building up and telling me that I could slap together that controller for way less...

Doug, although I didn't really take away your conclusion from the thread you linked, I do think the physics is stacked against me if I want a full 5 gallons in the keg and limiting myself to 15A 120V. If I plan to bring in a different circuit and it has to travel a ways, I should be good with a 25' 14 ga extension cord, yeah? If it's a 20A circuit would I need to go to a 12 ga cord? I know what NEC says for residential wiring, curious more as to personal experience...

Thanks!

 

[TexasWine]

Thanks much! That minibrau system looks pretty close, although now the annoying tinkering homebrewer tendencies are building up and telling me that I could slap together that controller for way less...

You might be interested in seeing the cost breakdown for building this controller linked here...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=6740954