Thoughts on All-in-one-Brewing systems

griz

Member
Trial Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2015
Messages
41
Reaction score
1
Points
8
Greetings. Any members out there own, or have used, any brand/model of an all-in-one brewing system? I love making all-grain beer but the idea of stream lining the process would be great. Thanks as always.
 
Grainfather, picobrew, robobrew, brewie and speidles brumeister. all these are automated brewing machines I haven't used any google them to find out more :) and good luck .
 
@griz
Hi. I've been using the Grainfather(GF) a few months now and love it. I still have my old eBIAB system, but have been using the GF exclusively since I bought it. It took a little while to work out the numbers so I can get consistency in determining the mash & sparge amounts, and what to enter as equipment defaults in Brewer's Friend. I'm still working through my recipes to convert them from a BIAB system into the GF, but I'm in no rush. If you'd like to know more about the GF, have a look at this thread on HomeBrewTalk (HBT.) There's lot's of reading catch up on, but it'll give you a good feel for what it's all about. You're welcome to ask me anything you'd like as well. Ed
 
I recently bought a robobrew (with pump) and love using it. But i have only done 2 brews in it so far. So I am still getting a feel for it to. But I have just started drinking the first brew made in it and i am happy with the results.
 
I recently bought a robobrew (with pump) and love using it. But i have only done 2 brews in it so far. So I am still getting a feel for it to. But I have just started drinking the first brew made in it and i am happy with the results.
What sort of efficiency you getting with this bevis mash efficiency and brew house. I know your dialling it in ?

I recon if I were going to go the electric system it would be this.

How long till mash temp?
Boil is good?
How do you go about sparging?

Sorry about all the questions mate just interested :)
 
Good question I don't know if I have my equipment profile is right yet and until last month my idea of record keeping was OG and FG readings written on a scrap of paper. but this is what I hit the first time I used the all in one:
Conversion: 135.5%
Pre-Boil: 123% 46.3 ppg
Ending Kettle: 71% 26.8 ppg
Brew House: 64% 24.3 ppg
I'm not too confident on how accurate I was at recording it all.
as for getting to mash temp about 10 to 15 min running the 1900w and 500w at the same time.
The boil is great, easy to switch between from a heavy simmer all they way to boiling its guts out and everything in between just by switching elements and setting temp.
Sparging is quite simple the grain bed is sealed in a "grain tube" with fine mesh top and bottom. you lift the grain tube straight up and it sits on its own inbuilt stand on the top of the main vessel. because of the top mesh there is no risk of disturbing the grain bed so I just jug it from the HTL.
And with the pump imo makes this an awesome RIMS set up I found little to no drop in mash temp since the pump draws from the bottom passing between the heating elements. The pump makes it easy to transfer to fermenter leaving next to no wort after boil.
and the bit I like the most it takes about 15 min to clean its all up once all done.
 
Yea them numbers are off the chart bevis but like I said your dialling her in but it must be giving you some pretty good ppg anyway.

Mate that brew rig sounds like the bees knees.
Mash temp reached in 20 min is tops and a nice over vigorous boil sounds like plenty of whatts to cover this units size.
If I were going an all grain unit again I think itsgoing to be hard to beat this robobrew with an recirculation pump.

That's how I sparge ATM I usually near full volume mash about 6lt/kg and sparge with about 5 liters and just use measuring cup to decant sparge water over grain bag.

Happy brewing bevis looking forward to hearing your beer reviews. Cheers:p
 
cheers mate.. When I first saw them figures I'm like what the f have I entered wrong. I was talking to the sales rep at kegking (who make the robobrew) when I was picking up my one last month. And he said the 3rd gen Robobrew is launching in march this year. So I'm curious to what changes they have made.
 
Well,will be interesting to see what they have in stall for us Brewers. It's half the price of the rest of the brewing systems online that I know of. I,checked out that picobrew and I think it is crazy expensive over 2grand probably marketed to some rich dude who would like to try his hand at brewing without getting dirty lol.
 
lol I was the same. I went to my local brew store and he was trying to sell me a gainfather for nearly twice as much as the robobrew I could not justify shelling out big bickies on a all-in-one unit. (when you can make a 3 keg system. Well with 3 kegs a steady hand and a plasma cutter for around the same price.)
 
Yep making the raw wort is only part of the brewing process as we all know then you have to chill it ferment it and package it. Good call bevis save your money to spend elsewhere. I think Kegging is a huge improvement not only in beer quality and presentation but on labour involved in cleaning and sterilising all them bottles.

Sounds like your Pretty handy it's even cheaper if you build your own kegerator:)
 
lol I have to admit I brought an off the shelf kegerator. But my god the time and money I have saved since then justifies it.

Yea I've gotta keg King kegerator that is luckily for me in my possession on loan from my brother who has forgone Homebrewing for the time being YES!:p. But yea the day he wants it back I'll convert my chest freezer into a kegerator using John guest push fittings they seem like the go.

But yea Kegging is tops anyone that is looking to do Homebrewing long term should make the jump to Kegging easier all round.
 
I have the same unit and have to admit the only gripe I have is the door seal is worn out. But I did get mine when kegking first released them. Other then that its a really good set up.
 
I know this post is a little old, just wondering if you got you efficiency worked out? I bought a Robobrew and completed my first brew this weekend. I knew it was when I tasted some the spent grain, I could tell there was a lot of sugar left in it.

I did very well calculating the volumes, however my efficiency was well below what I was expecting.
Efficiency
Conversion: 59.5%
Pre-Boil: 56% 20.5 ppg
Ending Kettle: 56% 20.7 ppg
Brew House: 53% 19.4 ppg

Have you found any tips or tricks to improve your efficiency?

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Dalex, I'm on the verge of buying a robo brew here myself. Have you managed to improve your efficiency? I'm currently running a partial mash BIAB system. I'm getting about 70% from that. But this seems like a very space efficient method of moving to all grain.
How does it deal with kettle trub? Is there any filtration? If so are they easy to clean?
How have you found it for speed of heating? do you think its sped up your brew days?
Thanks!
 
It's half the fee of the relaxation of the brewing systems on-line that I do know of.
 
I was about to order a robobrew with a pump. But before I pull the trigger, for the $130 premium between the models with and without, would it make more sense to get the robobrew without the pump and add a chugger. The chugger is $150, so for $20 more you'd get a better pump (I assume). I'm not looking to unnecessarily complicate things. And also I don't really mind if the pump is mounted below the counter in lieu internal to the kettle. Your thoughts? Thanks.
 

Back
Top