KegLand Questions and Answers

[elmoMakesBeer]

@KegLand-com-au are you planning on updating the DigiBoil with a centre-draining base and ultra-low watt density elements, similar to the G4 Brewzilla? With a false bottom, jacket, and recirculating pump I'm thinking it could make a decent MLT in a 3V system.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

It would be great to be able to tie different mashing steps and brewing processes directly to the resulting changes in gravity. It would give homebrewers even more data to argue over.

You are too funny. Yes it would give us more to argue over but hopefully it leads to a more efficient process too. We already know that we often mash for too long but the issue is we have no good live data on if the process is done or not so it's hard to optimize the process. Maybe this type of feature would help.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

@KegLand-com-au are you planning on updating the DigiBoil with a centre-draining base and ultra-low watt density elements, similar to the G4 Brewzilla? With a false bottom, jacket, and recirculating pump I'm thinking it could make a decent MLT in a 3V system.

The DigiBoil has been targeted at a lower price point and the center-draining base is quite a bit more expensive to manufacture at the moment. With that said as we manufacture many thousands more of the BrewZilla Gen 4 I think the production cost of the elements will come down and then once this happens I think we will start to adopt the centre-draining base into the Digiboil in the long term future. As the element casting is larger and the watt density is lower it's always going to be a more expensive element to manufacture but really as volumes increase the price gap will be small enough for us to implement this across the board.

 

[BAA]

Hi. I understand that you post discount codes and special offers to your facebook site - had you considered also posting codes and offers on AHB or other focused home brewing platforms? There are many of us who don’t use facebook and other mass social media platforms due to privacy and other concerns but support you and would love to see things like this too.

 

[vornoaussie]

As the Gen 4 Brewzillas do not have switches for each of their heating elements how will power draw be able to managed in the 65L? I am aware it has heating percentage but will you also be able to set maximum amperage in the setup menu similar to how Brewtools works?

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Hi. I understand that you post discount codes and special offers to your facebook site - had you considered also posting codes and offers on AHB or other focused home brewing platforms? There are many of us who don’t use facebook and other mass social media platforms due to privacy and other concerns but support you and would love to see things like this too.

When we first started the KegLand Homebrew Community Group on Facebook group we told customers that this is where we would post discount codes and special offer so we made. In some respects we would be breaking this promise to our customers if we then started to post these codes publicly on forums. If privacy is your main concern you do not have to put any personal details into Facebook. You could make a fake email and make a new account with no information, photos or anything in the account of meaning and then join the group if you wanted to. Do you think that would solve the privacy issue?

I mean we want to give all our customers equal access to our products generally speaking but at the same time we want to do something a little special for our group members too especially as many of our group members go out of their way to help other group members and we really like and want to encourage this where possible.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

As the Gen 4 Brewzillas do not have switches for each of their heating elements how will power draw be able to managed in the 65L? I am aware it has heating percentage but will you also be able to set maximum amperage in the setup menu similar to how Brewtools works?

It would be possible to set a maximum amps in the software so we could include this if customers really want this but in what application would you like to limit the number of amps?

From an Australian electrical compliance point of view this would not pass and we would not be able to get people to plug a 65L BrewZilla into a 10amp socket with a software setting override to limit the amps to 10amps rather than 15amps. So we would still have to fit the BrewZilla 65L with a 15amp plug and you would still have to use a 15amp socket in order to be electrically compliant in Australia.

 

[vornoaussie]

It would be possible to set a maximum amps in the software so we could include this if customers really want this but in what application would you like to limit the number of amps?

From an Australian electrical compliance point of view this would not pass and we would not be able to get people to plug a 65L BrewZilla into a 10amp socket with a software setting override to limit the amps to 10amps rather than 15amps. So we would still have to fit the BrewZilla 65L with a 15amp plug and you would still have to use a 15amp socket in order to be electrically compliant in Australia.

An example would be a 20Amp circuit with one 15 Amp socket and another 10 Amp socket running to a brew area/garage/laundry which also has a separate 16 Amp circuit. On a day running a 23l brew on the 65l Gen 4 if the Gen 4 was limited to 10 Amps then the 10 Amp socket could be used for a Brewzilla 35l as a HLT and the 16 Amp circuit kept free for laundry etc.

It would be interesting then to understand if and how Brewtools has this functionality approved for Australia where, for the B80 system each of its two power (heating) inputs can be set to either 10, 13, 15 or 16 Amps.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

An example would be a 20Amp circuit with one 15 Amp socket and another 10 Amp socket running to a brew area/garage/laundry which also has a separate 16 Amp circuit. On a day running a 23l brew on the 65l Gen 4 if the Gen 4 was limited to 10 Amps then the 10 Amp socket could be used for a Brewzilla 35l as a HLT and the 16 Amp circuit kept free for laundry etc.

It would be interesting then to understand if and how Brewtools has this functionality approved for Australia where, for the B80 system each of its two power (heating) inputs can be set to either 10, 13, 15 or 16 Amps.

I would not be surprised if the BrewTools unit doesn't actually meet the electrical safety requirements in Australia as you can't just have software where the consumer can just switch between 10amp and 15amp for instance and then put a 10amp socket on the device. The simple reason for this is that someone can plug the 10amp plug into the wall socket then if they are to accidentally just change the setting in the software it will draw more than the rated amps through the cable and wall socket. If the customer can set the device to run on 15amps then the device will need to be fitted with 15amp plug.

Do any of you guys have a Brewtools brewery? Do you know what the electrical approval number is? I am happy to look into this but can't see any way that this is compliant. Just because someone imports and sells the product in Australia doesn't mean it's approved. Possibly if they hardly sell any the importer might be trying to fly under the radar without any electrical approvals. You rarely see Brewtools breweries being used in Australia. I don't think they are particularly good value in my opinion.

 

[pauly]

@KegLand-com-au have you considered adding a quiet fan option for the kegerators? I put one of the "silent" 16Db computer fans in my old series 4 and I can hardly hear it compared to the 39Db it shipped with. It has a bit less airflow than the original, but my wife kept turning the old fan off as it was too noisy so it works out better in the end.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

@KegLand-com-au have you considered adding a quiet fan option for the kegerators? I put one of the "silent" 16Db computer fans in my old series 4 and I can hardly hear it compared to the 39Db it shipped with. It has a bit less airflow than the original, but my wife kept turning the old fan off as it was too noisy so it works out better in the end.

It's fair to say that many different silent fans work but we had the same issue as you that it reduces airflow and we wanted to use a fan that has high airflow so the kegs cool down fast and the fridge operates at maximum efficiency.

Pretty much any 12v 150mm fan will swap into that same spot but we just have not found a silent one that meets our airflow requirements.

 

[RRising]

The simple reason for this is that someone can plug the 10amp plug into the wall socket then if they are to accidentally just change the setting in the software it will draw more than the rated amps through the cable and wall socket. If the customer can set the device to run on 15amps then the device will need to be fitted with 15amp plug.

My Grainfather G40 has the option for 10A or 15A but there is absolutely no way that it can be accidentally activated, iirc you have to highlight an option in the settings menu and press a button for 15 seconds and then it'll ask you to confirm your choice.

 

[ozdevil]

@KegLand-com-au have you considered adding a quiet fan option for the kegerators? I put one of the "silent" 16Db computer fans in my old series 4 and I can hardly hear it compared to the 39Db it shipped with. It has a bit less airflow than the original, but my wife kept turning the old fan off as it was too noisy so it works out better in the end.

my mrs's doesn't turn my fan off , it hypnotizes her and when i say i would like another beer she automatically gets up and pours me a beer.....

if i got a quieter fan that would mean i have to start pouring my own beer

 

[ozdevil]

My Grainfather G40 has the option for 10A or 15A but there is absolutely no way that it can be accidentally activated, iirc you have to highlight an option in the settings menu and press a button for 15 seconds and then it'll ask you to confirm your choice.

you also have to buy the 15amp plug in order to use the 15amp setting
but you can use 10 amp to run the g40

thats what i understand

 

[dkril]

you also have to buy the 15amp plug in order to use the 15amp setting
but you can use 10 amp to run the g40

thats what i understand

How does it know which plug is fitted?

 

[RRising]

you also have to buy the 15amp plug in order to use the 15amp setting
but you can use 10 amp to run the g40

thats what i understand

Yes. You can use 15A mode with a 10A plug and outlet, it shouldn't trip the breaker but it'll be seriously bad for the wiring.

It'll happily run in 10A mode with a standard 10A IEC cable.

How does it know which plug is fitted?

It doesn't know, you have to manually enable 15A mode and its in such a way that no one will ever enable it accidentally.

 

[BAA]

When we first started the KegLand Homebrew Community Group on Facebook group we told customers that this is where we would post discount codes and special offer so we made. In some respects we would be breaking this promise to our customers if we then started to post these codes publicly on forums. If privacy is your main concern you do not have to put any personal details into Facebook. You could make a fake email and make a new account with no information, photos or anything in the account of meaning and then join the group if you wanted to. Do you think that would solve the privacy issue?

I mean we want to give all our customers equal access to our products generally speaking but at the same time we want to do something a little special for our group members too especially as many of our group members go out of their way to help other group members and we really like and want to encourage this where possible.

Thanks for the reply. I am not sure I see it as breaking a promise - as it doesn’t come across as a unique location those codes would be shared. As far as the idea of using a spoofed email goes that doesn’t get close to solving the issues with FB. Their behaviour, attitude to privacy and lack of moral compass are all pretty well trodden routes these days so don’t need re-iterating, however email is one of the least useful metics for a them in tracking you. As email is a metric you control and as you suggest can easily be spoofed and if unique for facebook provides no cross site tracking capabilities. As a result they rely on all of the trackers within websites to track you round the net - just install a tracking protector to see how many of those there are. These give FB a true picture of who you are, what your interests are and where you are by following you round the net and reporting back to them.
As a result many organisations including mine have blanket blocks on any traffic flowing to these malicons actors to protect us from that traffic - so even if I wanted to sell my soul to the devil and get a facebook account - i couldn’t.
I think you do an awesome job in the way you reach out to customers and potential home brewers to bring them into the fold and from a marketing perspective I am sure you return on investment is many times that of most - I am just suggesting that widening the net to recognise not everyone will be on this forum, twitter, YouTube etc may be of value.

 

[KegLand-com-au]

Yes. You can use 15A mode with a 10A plug and outlet, it shouldn't trip the breaker but it'll be seriously bad for the wiring.

It'll happily run in 10A mode with a standard 10A IEC cable.



It doesn't know, you have to manually enable 15A mode and its in such a way that no one will ever enable it accidentally.

I will have to talk more with the electrical certifiers but from all our conversations to date I can't understand how this meets the current Australian electrical safety requirements. If someone can use a 10amp plug there should be no way that the customer can change the settings to draw 15amps through the 10amp plug. To my understanding this is a breach of the electrical safety requirements as this should not be possible.

 

[DU99]

Some can cut off the 10 amp top and replace it with a 15 amp one

 

[RRising]

Some can cut off the 10 amp top and replace it with a 15 amp one

Or file the earth pin down to make it fit, I have seen that before.

It might have met compliancy because you have to make the conscious effort to put it 15A mode and they made it to be impossible to switch accidentally.

To be honest I didn't even initially know the G40 could do 15A.