Beerbelly Complete 55 Litre Esky Mashtun

[Dazza_devil]

maybe learning the basics would be a good idea before investing in a Brewboy....

Basics of what and why?

 

[Effect]

Evenin Brewers,
I'll be needing a mashtun after Christmas and just lookin at the Beerbelly Complete 55 litre Esky Mashtun. Has anyone got one and how do they perform? Is it worthwhile paying the extra for the dial thermometer?
Cheers.

I bought all the parts myself to build the exact same mashtun that he sells, worked out to be like $5 cheaper or something small. If you were to get anything, I would recommend the beer belly false bottom. Never had a stuck sparge and its quality.

So I would recommend his mashtun, been brewing for a year now and it has never caused a problem one bit...except the 55 litre willow esky isn't exactly 55 litres...found that out the hard way...but it is more than enough to do double batches.

Cheers
Phil

 

[skippy]

Must come from some other state ! LOL
Hows it going Skip ? See you soon for a drink ? :icon_drunk:
GB

going well Nev, moving back to Perth in Febuary, so we'll definately catch up for a beer!

 

[Dazza_devil]

I don't see how fiddle arsing about building a frankenstein brewery is gonna teach me the basics of AG better than a professionally constructed and setup brewery. I don't have the time, the tools or the experience. It's just more money. Why buy all the stuff twice.
Similarly, I play guitars not build them, I leave that to profesional luthiers. Building instruments is something that's been passed down from generation to generation, there's no way I'm gonna match that and have the time to perfect my art as well.

 

[glaab]

maybe learning the basics would be a good idea before investing in a Brewboy....

looks like a sensible comment to me, why all the hostility?

 

[Dazza_devil]

looks like a sensible comment to me, why all the hostility?

Hostility?
I never labeled the comment simply requested elaboration and expressed my logic.

 

[MaestroMatt]

I don't see how fiddle arsing about building a frankenstein brewery is gonna teach me the basics of AG better than a professionally constructed and setup brewery. I don't have the time, the tools or the experience. It's just more money. Why buy all the stuff twice.
Similarly, I play guitars not build them, I leave that to profesional luthiers. Building instruments is something that's been passed down from generation to generation, there's no way I'm gonna match that and have the time to perfect my art as well.

If money is not a problem for you, then go for it! Simple answer. For some of us, we may indeed need to purchase our 'breweries' twice over the course of our brewing lives....but initially, we can't afford/justify that kind of outlay. If you can, then more power to your elbow! (my music teacher used to say that, I have no idea what it means though...)

Personally, I don't think there is much difference whether you start on a simple, home-made system or a professional-bling system. You will still need to learn how to use that system to produce beer. A professionally made system will just make some of the finer points smoother to handle.

Whatever system you go with, the trick I have been told to make good beer is simple....

..."Brew lots, and brew often"....

It's the only way to truly learn how to make good beer, regardless of the equipment you have.

 

[Mantis]

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

Read and learn then decide what equipment you want/need

 

[Dazza_devil]

Thanks Maestro,
I have had many people ask if I can teach their child the art of playing the guitar. My first response is most often, 'yes, but have they got a guitar' and 99% of them say no. Well that's the first thing you are gonna need I tell them.
I'll be looking forward to learning the basics of AG when I have something to do it with.
I'm sorry if I've offended anyone, that wasn't my intention, and I hope one day you can all afford to buy a Brewbow 2, lol.


Edit; P.S. I haven't bought it yet

 

[RetsamHsam]

I'm with Darren.. Might not work out much cheaper if you go with all the fancy fittings (Bulkhead etc...)

But all you really need is a rubber bung, a short length of copper, and a manifold (you can use the BB falsie, a SS braided hose, or a slotted copper manifold).

IMO you should be able to do this for under $200 with the BB falsie and much cheaper if you go with a braided hose.

 

[muckey]

hey boagsy, you dont need a brewboy to brew. Buying 1 will not produce the best AG beer you can produce. You need to understand a little about mash techniques to get the best out of any mash brewing system to brew the best beer. you would be well serve to see if there is another AG brewer nearby and join a brewday to see what is really involved.

I think that if you can afford a brewboy, then you will buy what is just about the best brew system of it's size available on the market but it wont teach you how to brew, just as a guitar doesnt teach you how to play.

I dont want to criticise your approach. just dont want you to be disappointed with the outcome when you dont have to be.

 

[Scruffy]

BB2 looks great, versatile too! Go for it - like someone said earlier, only one way to learn, and like you nearly said, if you're going to learn the guitar and you like the blues, you'd buy yourself a '57 strat... or an ES-355, no?

For the record, i got out of that dodgy profession a while back - i'm behind a desk now. Usually Front of House, occasionally Monitors

 

[Dazza_devil]

If a cheep dodgy guitar wont tune or you can drive a truck under the action then chances are you just aren't gonna pick it up. I see your point Scruffy, maybe not a '57 strat needed (100K?), hardly a daily workhorse axe, and I agree it is a dodgy profession.
But I see that this principle doesn't neccessarily apply to setting up an AG brewery and it's possible to make good, even great beers on a bitsa cheapo brewery. I'm making them now with just extracts, I understand that the most expensive AG brewery wont neccessarly make the best beers but surely they are a pleasure to use.

 

[captaincleanoff]

Basics of what and why?

umm...... of brewing??

 

[muckey]

.......but surely they are a pleasure to use.

those brewboys are a dream system and I wish I could afford 1 - absolute ducks nuts.

pity you aren't in Adelaide so you could drop into beerbelly for one of their brewday demos

(no affiliation, just a happy customer)

 

[jonocarroll]

I understand that the most expensive AG brewery wont neccessarly make the best beers but surely they are a pleasure to use.

Just remember that the more sophisticated the brewery, the less you need to do. That's not as much of a good thing as it seems. If you don't understand how to mash, then letting a machine do it for you won't teach you, and in all likelihood the result will end up poorer than it would if you had done it the 'hard way' yourself. Automation is only useful if you know what it's doing, and how to make sure it's going to do what you want. Having a temperature controlled mash is useless if you don't understand the role that temperature plays. There's also a good feeling of connection to the brew you're making if you understand the minor changes you make, and implement them yourself. Pushing the 'make beer' button is less satisfying IMHO, but I would have to figure that the majority of sophisticated brewery owners have already learned their craft, and know how to make the adjustments on their equipment themselves.

The guitar analogy is apt. You wouldn't give a great guitar to a beginner student and expect that to help them learn - a simple setup is sufficient. To carry the analogy back to brewing, imagine giving a beginner student a guitar that automatically plays a C note whenever it's needed. This will only make things harder for the student, who then has to learn how to play without the C note.

I doubt that people don't want you to have a great brewery, just that they don't want to see you disappointed when it's tricky to use. There's a lot more reading to do in order to get a sophisticated brewery working okay than there is to get a 3V setup, or better yet a BIAB setup working great. You could always sell the easy setup once you reckon you've perfected your brewing style, but I would be surprised to find anyone that can actually master all of the aspects of brewing on a 3V setup enough that they feel they can do no more tweaking.

Good luck with it, there's a tonne of information that you can get to improve your brewing. Thankfully, not all of it is needed to make an okay batch, if you understand how the basics work. The crucial part is though, if you don't get these basics right, it will stuff the brew.

HTH.

 

[Dazza_devil]

Pushing the 'make beer' button is less satisfying IMHO, but I would have to figure that the majority of sophisticated brewery owners have already learned their craft, and know how to make the adjustments on their equipment themselves.

I was of the impression there was a little more than pushing a button involved in using the Brewboy 2. If so, I see your point and would rather get more hands on

You wouldn't give a great guitar to a beginner student and expect that to help them learn - a simple setup is sufficient.

I would expect it to help them learn and if that's what they wanted I would encourage them to get the best instrument they can afford if they are serious about learning, otherwise don't waste my time. And would you expect them to know how to do the setup, have the tools to do it and know that it needs doing in the first place.

To carry the analogy back to brewing, imagine giving a beginner student a guitar that automatically plays a C note whenever it's needed. This will only make things harder for the student, who then has to learn how to play without the C note.

There is as much of an art in playing open tunings as any other tunings but I see your point

I doubt that people don't want you to have a great brewery, just that they don't want to see you disappointed when it's tricky to use.

I thought I only had to press a button.

Good luck with it, there's a tonne of information that you can get to improve your brewing. Thankfully, not all of it is needed to make an okay batch, if you understand how the basics work. The crucial part is though, if you don't get these basics right, it will stuff the brew.

Thanks mate, I'll be reading everything I can just as I did to make my extract brews.

HTH.

 

[Scruffy]

Dude, you're making extract brews - you're almost there - treat yourself!!

...assuming they're any good ...!!

 

[~MikE]

i pieced my mash tun together myself, it was quite easy. the copper manifold had to be hacksawed as the angle grinder couldn't do a fine enough job to filter the grain, my arm was SORE. I'm thinking of getting a BB bulkhead and dial thermometer as my setup is leaking into the insulation and not having real time accurate temp readings is proving very bloody annoying.

 

[bowie in space]

Make mine a mosrite

I mean beerbelly.

Beerbelly looks great. Go for it, it'll be worth the money and fart-arsing around building the rig. I BIAB at the moment, learning the basics and buying bits and pieces as I go. Like playing a Mosrite guitar, you can pick one up real cheap, won't be real sexy, but it'll give you great tones. On the other hand you could spend the money on a strat and a twin amp with a hotcake pedal and be playing real sexy tones from a sexy rig! You get it??

Just do whatever is easier for you and makes you happy. You're the one that's gonna be drinking your beers, not other forum posters.

I didn't know what a ball valve and hose barb was until I researched on this site and asked questions at my LHBS. After boiling the wort for an hour with hops, I needed to get the hot wort out of the urn and into a cube for no-chill ( h34r: ). The ball valve replaced the native tap that came with the urn and attached to that was a spigot/hose barb. You slide your silicone tubing onto your hose barb so it doesn't come loose and spray hot wort everywhere. You then release the valve to start draining the wort, carefully so you don't splash. My valve has a lock on it so if you bump the tap it won't start releasing. You have to unlock it first. I took the original urn tap into my LHBS and the guy measured everything up for me. Yes, I could have got all the parts myself and saved a bit but I found it easier to get someone else who knows better to do it for me.

my 2c

Bowie