All Grain Brewing Systems

[Lotobear]

I imagine like many I started all grain brewing during lockdown and have made some great beers; a couple of west coats IPA's, a NEIPA and a rather nice vanilla porter.

I've been using a borrowed Klarstein mash kettle and a converted cool box for mashing and a cooling coil made out of 10mm copper pipe. However the hassle of using so many different bits of kit has got to me so I am poised to buy an all grain system.

I've set a maximum budget of £500 and am looking at the Brew Monk (available for circa £350) and the new Grainfather S40 which can be obtained for around £450.

As far as I can see the Brew Monk looks better quality and has a few more features but has a lower capacity (which I am fine with) but the Grainfather is double wall insulated, though I think the Monk comes with a jacket.

Does anyone have experience of either machine or is there anything better I'm missing at similar price points?

Cheers

[Lotobear]

Quick bump on this, as I know there are some brewers on here?

[matt666]

Can't help with your question, but I used to use this forum when I was home brewing - they could probably give you some advice - https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/

[Sunnyone]

I have a Grainfather g30, not sure many people will have the s40 yet as they have only just been launched.

I’m very happy with it, I was doing biab before outside with a similar chiller as you op. The Grainfather is nicer to brew on, I now brew inside and it’s easy to clean.

I chose the Grainfather as they seem to have been around for a while so hopefully if I ever need spares in the future it won’t be a problem.

I also got a sparge water heater so I could start treating the water, I think this has lead to a big increase in quality.

[Zumbruk]

Jesus. I've got 2 Baby Burco's bought at jumble sales for pennies and half a dozen plastic tubs, plus assorted funnels, pipery, thermometers and so on and a modified tropical fishtank heater. The whole lot cost < £25 and makes very good beer. Why on Earth do you need to spend hundreds of pounds on an "All Grain Brewing System"????

[ETA; I'm not being argumentative, I really want to know. Are they like the brewing equivalent of a breadmaker?]

Edited by Zumbruk on Friday 8th October 20:35

Edited by Zumbruk on Friday 8th October 20:35

[SwanJack]

I started out with a boiler built using a mango barrel and kettle elements, mash tun was a converted cooler box after initially doing BIAB. A mate started out the same way and bought one of the first grainfathers, I was the same as others here and thought why the expense? He sold me on its benefits, but he didn't think it was worth it when there was now cheaper options. So I bought a 45l Hopcat. I found it speeds up the brew day considerably, makes the whole process much much easier and the efficiency of my brews is considerably better. There are good deals to be had with Hopcat, but some have had delays in receiving the unit as they usually are on pre order. But he might have some in stock. In short the whole process is much more streamlined with an all in one as opposed to lots of kit, and you can also do step mashes easily for Belgian beers (although some say you don't need to with today's grain). I can do much bigger batches more easily on it due to the higher capacity compared to my self built kit (I do 30l batches into ecokegs for my session beers). I thought I'd miss the more hands on approach using my own built and scrounged kit, but i'd not go back to it.

Edited by SwanJack on Saturday 9th October 10:33

Edited by SwanJack on Saturday 9th October 10:38

[Lotobear]

Thanks for all the comments - I've decided on a Brewzilla 35L model which seems to do everything I want and comes as a very good bundle offer.

To Zumbruck - that's sounds all very quaint! However I am more into drinking beer than I am the process so an all grain system will make brewing quicker and enable me to increase yield and brew frequency. I'll be honest the prospect of doing it as I have been doing is putting me off due to the length of time, the clean up and messing around with separate vessels, temperature control of the mash etc.

For less that the price of a decent coffee machine I don't see a lot of hardship in parting with £380 to keep me in tasty beer!

[Zumbruk]

Lotobear said:

To Zumbruk - that's sounds all very quaint! However I am more into drinking beer than I am the process so an all grain system will make brewing quicker and enable me to increase yield and brew frequency. I'll be honest the prospect of doing it as I have been doing is putting me off due to the length of time, the clean up and messing around with separate vessels, temperature control of the mash etc.

For less that the price of a decent coffee machine I don't see a lot of hardship in parting with £380 to keep me in tasty beer!

Thanks, sounds perfectly reasonable!

[Lotobear]

My Brewzilla has arrived and I must say I am very impressed with the quality and bundle content for the price (it's Chinese of course but what isn't these days)

Can't wait to try my first brew with it. One major advantage is mash recirculation, something that cant' be done with a converted cool box

[Lotobear]

I've done a few brews with the Brewzilla now, my latest is a single hop IPA with Mozaic hops and the grain bill cut 70:30 Maris Otter and Vienna malt - be interesting to see how it turns out. After a very slow start it's now bubbling away happily after I put a heater mat under it for a few hours and some lovley smells are exiting the fermentation lock!

Things I've noticed with the Brewzilla:

It works very well and the circulation system during mashing results in excellent efficiency

Whilst you can brew to 35 litres it works much better at 25 - I had problems with the volume of grain in the 35 litre batch I did and also some issues with the pump blocking

The boil control is very very good - it will sit on a lovely rolling boil without any intervention required and this results in minimal loss of liquor (Iid on).

The whirlpool device works really well and also helps drop the mash temperature at the end in addition to using the cooling coil

I will post some feedback when the brew is ready to drink - next up I plan to do an Imperial stout.

PS:no issues with brewing indoors, which is nice in the current weather.

[SwanJack]

Brewing with a fermentation chamber will produce better beer regardless of how you produce your wort