Beerbelly Complete 55 Litre Esky Mashtun

[Dazza_devil]

Don't get me wrong, I admire someone who has a bit of inginuity and can fiddle away then come up with a backyard masterpiece. I'm not sayin I couldn't do it but it would take me a lot of time that I don't have, not to mention brainspace.
Making better beers wouldn't be my prime motivation for spending the big bills and I understand that is down to the brewer. I'm happy with my extract brews and constantly brewing as I have been since I began. I also understand that the big bills and beautiful apparatus could possibly make worse beers than I am making now, until I got the hang of using it. I may not be a MacGyver but I'm not one to give up on something. If things don't work out it makes me more determined. I do genuinely thank you all for the inputs and concerns though.
As for the fishing analogy, I happen to be an avid trout fisherman. I'll never own a boat, they scare the fish away. I catch more trout than people with boats and can get into places on foot that they never knew existed. Trout like to feed along river banks. Boats have their limits, there's not many places my legs can't take me though. As for fishing gear, I have numerous lures, most that never get used. In fact a homemade lure can catch more fish than a $30 dollar one. A ten gram silver twisty from the Kmart has landed me my best trout. I catch more fish on my $16 worm rod from the Kmart than I do on my Sage 3 piece travel rod that was custom made for me by Ian Miller with a Shimano Stella 1000 on it. But man is it a pleasure to use. Sometimes it's not all about catching the fish, just an appreciation for a fine piece of equipment designed to do the specific task, immaculately. I'de like to get into fly tying one day, now there is an art but I'll stick to spinners and baits for now.

Anyway I do understand that it(AG) can be done very cheeply and very well . In fact I would like to attempt to brew a beer in the same fashion and method as the Ancient Egyptians, using only the utensils and ingredients that they had available just for the hell of it. Now there's a challenging way to make a good AG beer.

 

[jonocarroll]

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've never done an AG before, could someone just give me a simple run down on what's involved in the process of using this specific piece of equipment?

Geez, man. Sh!t or get off the pot already.

Seems to me that you've decided what you want. So go buy it already. You've asked for comments, and a bunch of people have told you their opinions - that you are probably better off learning the basics on a basic setup. We're not going to hold your hand though or stop you from spending your money. If you're waiting for someone to change their mind and say "oh, wait, you're right, the complicated equipment is the easiest way to learn a complicated process" then you had better be patient.

You're gonna need to find someone else who's got one of those setups themselves though to teach you how to use it, since judging by the above statements you don't know the relevance of a thermometer on a mashtun, so I'm guessing the configuration of the adjustable liquor return dish from the HERMS is a little over your head. You're not going to find a good one-paragraph run down on all-grain brewing. There are entire books that only cover the basics of doing this properly, and they probably describe a basic three-vessel system. There are heaps of shortcuts you can take with a basic system and still get good/great beer out. Understanding where the faults in the process are though is an very important step. I don't know where you'd find info on how to use a specific HERMS rig, or how to correct issues in process if you find them.

A complete out-of-the-box setup is no guarantee whatsoever that you will make even a passable beer. There's plenty of stuff that lack of understanding will ruin. I can keep telling you this till the cows come home, but it's your money - spend it how you want.

 

[glaab]

Geez, man. Sh!t or get off the pot already.

+1

 

[Steve]

Boagsy - your analogies with super duper hum dinger gold plated guitars are getting boring...and thats from someone who also plays.

Have a look at this site, follow the pics at the bottom, AG is a piece of piss:

http://cruisenews.net/brewing/infusion/

Have a goody

Cheers
Steve

 

[jlm]

Thought I'd add to this. If your after a complete brewery, it doesn't mean you have to go all out on the brew boy. You could get the complete mashtun, a 36L kettle (I've got one of the Beerbelly units this size), burner, and if your brewing extract, I assume you've got a pot of about 15L volume? Heat water in pot to strike temp, add to mashtun, drain to kettle. Add a few milk crates (Which feature in many home brewer's setups) to help gravity do its thing and you've got a single (20-23L) batch, batch sparge brewery. Much cheaper than the brewboy, made to the same quality by the same guy (or the hobbit who works there).Thats the way I did things for a long time. Read up on how to brew and you're away.

From a purely selfish point of view, I'd like to see you get the brewboy so when I'm next down in Launceston (I'm assuming you're from around there as you're boagsy, not cascadey) visiting family I'll come round, check out your brewery and play your guitars.

 

[Dazza_devil]

Edited to mention this in reply to Quantum Brewer,

Nah mate, you've missed the point and rehashed the same stuff over again.
I never asked for a complete rundown on how to do AG, just the specific piece of equipment. What's the point of having all the connections on the mashtun if you don't have anything to connect to them. How can you deduct that I don't know the relevance of a thermometer on a mashtun? Just because you don't have a dial thermometer attached doesn't mean you can't monitor the temperature. Your just pickin **** for the sake of it.
Is it really that complicated a process? I don't think the apparatus is that complicated, just really well made and does the job really well. I'm not waiting for anyone to say anything or justify spending my money, I can easily justify it.
As I've said, I haven't bought anything yet and presuming I'm an idiot and wouldn't research the process fully beforehand is foolish. I'm in no hurry. So I can assume you speak for everyone when you say, go ahead and buy it, none of us are gonna help you with it, your on your own.
The initial question was about the mashtun, then realising I was gonna be up for quite a bit for all the other bits and pieces, thought why not just get get it all in one, all setup to work together on a frame etc, instead of shipping individual components from SA or elsewhere to TAS seperately. Seems logical to me.
So there you go, I've explained myself to you, happy? Is that what you wanted to hear?
Or perhaps for me to say, Oh right, bugger it then, you've talked me out of it, I'll learn how to do AG on the cheap without ever being able to get constant results and struggle to gain control over mash temps before I throw it all in. I'd rather stick with extracts, there probably gonna be better beers. I believe a job worth doing is a job worth doing properly, but what would I know. I don't even know how to brew, can't even read a book, just a bloody pothead, lol.

 

[Mantis]

I got the complete falsey from Beerbelly and today I set it up in my esky. Took me, lets see, 5mins



So, tommorow will be my first go with a mash tun :icon_chickcheers:

 

[joecast]

would love to see one in action boagsy. i've been dreaming of one of those set ups for ages. let me know when if you get it :icon_cheers:
joe

 

[clean brewer]

Then why don't you??

I will when I move there...

 

[nickel]

I got the complete falsey from Beerbelly and today I set it up in my esky. Took me, lets see, 5mins

View attachment 33256

So, tommorow will be my first go with a mash tun :icon_chickcheers:

Mantis

how did ya BB falise go?