Fully Automated Brewing System

[Brewme]

Hi,

I have been reading, with great interest, the input from all about the Speidel Braumeister system.

I have been brewing the basic K&K for nearly 2 years with the odd Extract brew and a BIAB and now want a change.

When I first saw the 3V system, I knew I had to have one. After a while, the thought of having jet engine burners around the house, turned me off.

Then along came an overpriced urn with all the bells and whistles to start making a real beer. No need to have it on a big trolley to wheel it around the yard. Won't raise the temp in your garage from 40c to 60C in the summer. Just set and forget. No need to sit around and watch while the jets are burning as with the gas system. If you want to, you can and observe the processes it goes through. Go do the lawns. Go to bed. Come back in a couple of hours and it's all done for you.

This fully automated (except the cooling process) computerised system is a beauty. It's on my shopping list for early 2011.

HOW TO JUSTIFY BUYING ONE:

I'm sure a lot of you have brewed more than me. I've just kegged/bottled my 52nd batch at 23 litres each. That's 60 stubbies per batch. That's 2 1/2 cartons per batch. A carton of cheap commercial swill is about $32/carton. To buy 2 1/2 cartons = $80. So, $80 X 52 = $4160 to buy from a bottlo. Cost me less then $20 per batch to make = less then $1040.

$4160.00
$1040.00-
________
$3120.00............My savings so far.

I also make my own spirits. So I can easily justify getting one of these little beauties.

Any excuse will do.

Cheers

 

[np1962]

I can understand brewers/beerdrinkers that like to do it this way but for myself I wouldn't bother brewing if this was how it was always done.
I just have to be involved hands on in the whole process otherwise it's just not brewing to me.
As I said good luck to those that do it this way but I won't be one of them.
Cheers
Nige

 

[sama]

Are you trying to justify its cost to us and in turn,yourself......seems you need convincing. :huh: Looks a cool bit of gear tho.I love brewing and the cost of it dosent really bother me as to me its a hobbie.Tho fark me thats a lot of coin.

 

[MHB]

I realise they aren't going to be the right choice for everyone but if you haven't brewed on one I suspect you don't know what you're missing out on
I brought mine because having a reasonably well automated brewhouse was the only way I could fit any brewing into my life.
When I got it the $AU was in the toilet and I wasn't an agent for Braumeister so it cost me about $5000, they are actually $1k cheaper now 5,000 Litres later I don't regret it for one minute.

MHB

 

[Brewme]

Are you trying to justify its cost to us and in turn,yourself......seems you need convincing. :huh: Looks a cool bit of gear tho.I love brewing and the cost of it dosent really bother me as to me its a hobbie.Tho fark me thats a lot of coin.

I don't need any convincing or justification to get one. It's a hobby to me also. If I can see an item to make my hobby more pleasurable, I'll get it.

I'm not a rocket scientist trying to understand all the mumbo jumbo about all there is to know about brewing beer. Some of the words used by university chemists in these forums leave me ?????

I'm sure that home most brewers have progressed a little since they started brewing. I'm just going all the way.

Cheers

 

[proudscum]

I can understand brewers/beerdrinkers that like to do it this way but for myself I wouldn't bother brewing if this was how it was always done.
I just have to be involved hands on in the whole process otherwise it's just not brewing to me.
As I said good luck to those that do it this way but I won't be one of them.
Cheers
Nige

Dont understand.you add malt do water treatment ,mash, recirculate,sparge,boil add hops,and force chill run off into fermenter in my book =making sweet wort.

As a chef i can whip 2l of cream by hand or i can use a Hobart mixer with the same result but be able to get a lot more done in the mean time.

 

[earle]

but for myself I wouldn't bother brewing if this was how it was always done.

Not really have a go at you but I find this statement difficult to beleive. If we take cost out of the mix, are you really saying you would prefer to drink only commercial beer rather than create your own brews using an automated AG brewing system (if that was the only AG option available)?

I realise they aren't going to be the right choice for everyone but if you haven't brewed on one I suspect you don't know what you're missing out on
I brought mine because having a reasonably well automated brewhouse was the only way I could fit any brewing into my life.
When I got it the $AU was in the toilet and I wasn't an agent for Braumeister so it cost me about $5000, they are actually $1k cheaper now 5,000 Litres later I don't regret it for one minute.

MHB

For the same reasons as MHB, if I had the $$$ this is the way I would go.

 

[ekul]

Even if i could justify it (which i can... easily) i couldn't afford it. But good on you for getting one. You should post a video of its operation. The ones i;ve seen on youtube are in german and i don't understand what they are saying

 

[Guysmiley54]

Even if i could justify it (which i can... easily) i couldn't afford it. But good on you for getting one. You should post a video of its operation. The ones i;ve seen on youtube are in german and i don't understand what they are saying

Please do some in depth youtube demos. It would have to help with sales too surely

 

[MHB]

If youre really interested in one come and brew on mine, lots of people have. Thats the best way to really get to know what Braumeister can do and I think it will sell itself.

MHB

 

[schooey]

come and brew on mine, lots of people have...

Brauslut... <_<

 

[sama]

If you need it then so be it, i can understand that lifestyle (time,space etc) can be an issue,and if its making brewing possible/more pleasurable for some then thats a good thing. There just something i like about standing at the kettle with my big spoon, tossing in hops ,stiring,the roar of the burner,the smells,the vision, adding a pinch of this and that..like a mad warlock..heck,i like the romance of brewing.

 

[schooey]

If you need it then so be it, i can understand that lifestyle (time,space etc) can be an issue. There just something i like about standing at the kettle with my big spoon, tossing in hops ,stiring,the roar of the burner,the smells,the vision, adding a pinch of this and that..like a mad scientist/warlock..heck,i like the romance of brewing.

Apart from the "roar of the burner", nothing is different...and being that I brew directly under our bedroom, my wife doesn't miss it at all at 11pm on a Friday night...nor do I miss the heat the Rambo threw out on days like today

 

[Guysmiley54]

If youre really interested in one come and brew on mine, lots of people have. Thats the best way to really get to know what Braumeister can do and I think it will sell itself.

MHB

Live in Tassie Although if I'm in the area I'll pm you for sure!!

 

[np1962]

Dont understand.you add malt do water treatment ,mash, recirculate,sparge,boil add hops,and force chill run off into fermenter in my book =making sweet wort.

As a chef i can whip 2l of cream by hand or i can use a Hobart mixer with the same result but be able to get a lot more done in the mean time.

If I was brewing beer as part of my employment I too would look for a more efficient, less time consuming way of doing things. Brewing is my hobby.
The way I read the OP is that EVERYTHING apart from chillin is done for you, are you saying this is much more hands on than that?
A brew day for me is a brew day, not something I squeeze between other things. Maybe I'm lucky I can do this but that's the way it is at the moment. If it changes I'm sure my thoughts on this matter may also change.

Not really have a go at you but I find this statement difficult to beleive. If we take cost out of the mix, are you really saying you would prefer to drink only commercial beer rather than create your own brews using an automated AG brewing system (if that was the only AG option available)?


For the same reasons as MHB, if I had the $$$ this is the way I would go.

For the amount I actually drink myself I could easily drink GOOD commercial beer, mostly imports I would suggest, we have The Wheaty here!
Brewing is a pleasure for me doing it my way.
I don't criticise anyone for brewing using one of these system, as I don't criticise K&K, extract or BIAB brewers. The beauty of homebrewing is we all do it our own way.

I was not having a go at anyone for doing it their way, be it automated or whatever. Didn't expect this kind of reaction.
Cheers
Nige

 

[schooey]

The way I read the OP is that EVERYTHING apart from chillin is done for you, are you saying this is much more hands on than that?
A brew day for me is a brew day, not something I squeeze between other things. Maybe I'm lucky I can do this but that's the way it is at the moment. If it changes I'm sure my thoughts on this matter may also change.

Nige, I know where you are coming from, but there are some mis-conceptions here...

Not everything is done for you... Like everyone else, you still crack the grain, you still develop a mash profile, you still run off from the grain, you still sparge (if you choose to) and you still make hop additions, whirlpool and run off. The process is the same...

You heat your water and get it to strike temp, at whatever grain:water ratio you choose, in your tun; I put nearly all the water in the machine and it heats it to strike temp.

You dough in when you have your water at strike temp; The machine beeps me to add the grain when it gets to strike temp

Your mash sits in your tun and mashes for the length of the mash, you pull the wings off flys or whatever until your timer goes off or you remember it; the machine continually circulates the wort through the mash at the set temp or steps up through any of the 5 temp/time step mash profile and beeps me when it's time to remove the grain.

You run off you wort from the grain; I pull the malt pipe out and let it drain in a bucket

You batch or fly sparge; I flood sparge the grain in the malt pipe into the bucket

You start your burner and begin the boil; I let the machine ramp up to boil temp

Then its the same for both of us... we both add our hops, whirlpool, chill or cube or spill on the floor... it's still a hands on process, but the machine controls everything from mash in to mash out and boil, and all in the one vessel.

Then it takes me ten minutes to disassemble the pumps, clean the whole thing and put it all back together and tuck it away on the shelf...

 

[goomboogo]

There has been too many threads about these machines lately. I'm finding harder and harder to resist the temptation to purchase. I am seriously considering the 20 litre version.

Schooey, I'm surprised you bought one of these. I thought you would have got Bandito to make a fully automated system for you.

 

[schooey]

Buy the 50, boogs, unless you really only brew smaller volumes.. it's not really that much more and you can buy a smaller malt pipe to give you small batch flexibility.... it made the 50L much more versatile for me, but each to their own...

and I gave up waiting on Bandanarama boy, I think he's toast somewhere...

 

[proudscum]

Nige, I know where you are coming from, but there are some mis-conceptions here...

Not everything is done for you... Like everyone else, you still crack the grain, you still develop a mash profile, you still run off from the grain, you still sparge (if you choose to) and you still make hop additions, whirlpool and run off. The process is the same...

You heat your water and get it to strike temp, at whatever grain:water ratio you choose, in your tun; I put nearly all the water in the machine and it heats it to strike temp.

You dough in when you have your water at strike temp; The machine beeps me to add the grain when it gets to strike temp

Your mash sits in your tun and mashes for the length of the mash, you pull the wings off flys or whatever until your timer goes off or you remember it; the machine continually circulates the wort through the mash at the set temp or steps up through any of the 5 temp/time step mash profile and beeps me when it's time to remove the grain.

You run off you wort from the grain; I pull the malt pipe out and let it drain in a bucket

You batch or fly sparge; I flood sparge the grain in the malt pipe into the bucket

You start your burner and begin the boil; I let the machine ramp up to boil temp

Then its the same for both of us... we both add our hops, whirlpool, chill or cube or spill on the floor... it's still a hands on process, but the machine controls everything from mash in to mash out and boil, and all in the one vessel.

Then it takes me ten minutes to disassemble the pumps, clean the whole thing and put it all back together and tuck it away on the shelf...

+1
maybe some people are pissed that they cant have this KIND OF BREWERY......am time poor but still want to brew consistent beer recipes that can be reproduced time and again.
could almost call for a brew off.
Am a little more interested in playing in the lab with my little yeasty friends than in the shed with the carbon monoxide.

 

[Zizzle]

Nige, I know where you are coming from, but there are some mis-conceptions here...

Not everything is done for you... Like everyone else, you still crack the grain, you still develop a mash profile, you still run off from the grain, you still sparge (if you choose to) and you still make hop additions, whirlpool and run off. The process is the same...

You heat your water and get it to strike temp, at whatever grain:water ratio you choose, in your tun; I put nearly all the water in the machine and it heats it to strike temp.

You dough in when you have your water at strike temp; The machine beeps me to add the grain when it gets to strike temp

Your mash sits in your tun and mashes for the length of the mash, you pull the wings off flys or whatever until your timer goes off or you remember it; the machine continually circulates the wort through the mash at the set temp or steps up through any of the 5 temp/time step mash profile and beeps me when it's time to remove the grain.

You run off you wort from the grain; I pull the malt pipe out and let it drain in a bucket

You batch or fly sparge; I flood sparge the grain in the malt pipe into the bucket

You start your burner and begin the boil; I let the machine ramp up to boil temp

Then its the same for both of us... we both add our hops, whirlpool, chill or cube or spill on the floor... it's still a hands on process, but the machine controls everything from mash in to mash out and boil, and all in the one vessel.

Then it takes me ten minutes to disassemble the pumps, clean the whole thing and put it all back together and tuck it away on the shelf...

That doesn't sound "fully automated" to me!?!

Bandito's machine will measure and crush the grain, mash, sparge, ferment the wort and do all the cleanup for you at at the push of a button! Just look at the 3D drawing man!

Oh wait....