So, which one; BM or GF?

[fego]

I'm now pondering my next brewery and am moving away from the idea of the three pot set up in favour of the simplicity the all in ones seem to offer. Question is, which one should I go for?

I like the wifi update on the Brewmeister - presumably this means I can 'send it' a recipe after perfecting it on the computer? Not sure if the GF has this feature.

I doubt many people with have both kits and therefore able to definitively say, but I'd be interested in views...

[barneey]

https://youtu.be/Nr2Qlh5YKwo

[Hairybiker]

Depends on a couple of simple factors:
a)How much money you have spare
b)If you want automated brewing.

If a<£700 or b=no then Grainfather otherwise your choice, the BM is "fully automatic" switch it on, set the parameters, and feed it when requested.
The GF is MANUAL. You set the temp, do step, change the temp, do step, change temp etc. Just like a normal brew day, but with the BIAB and a recirculating pump.

You CAN automate a GF, using the STC1000+ or the Ardbir, then it will do automatic step mashes etc.

Personally I cant afford a BM and am not that bothered about automation for automations sake. Craft brewing is MEANT to be hands on, not press a button and let the kit brew it for you like the big breweries.

Just about to place an order for a GF from Geterbrewed today, SHMBO has agreed to let me have an extravagant early birthday present.
Then I need to sell my current SS kit and pump, to try and get some money for actually brewing

[vacant]

Depends on a couple of simple factors:
a)How much money you have spare
b)If you want automated brewing.

If a<£700 or b=no then Grainfather

Or a second-hand BM, looks like the older models can be had for a bargain price.

Someone picked up a barely-used Braumeister, wort cooler and thermocollar for £770 i.e. 50% of the new prices.

[Aleman]

I saw the Grainfather in action during The Home Brew Festival, and was quite impressed, then I went and bought a Braumeister. (The exchange rate is exceptionally favorable at the moment)

The thing that swung it for me was the automation, despite what you read the BM is not a press the button and it brews beer for you. There is still a lot of manual intervention with a BM, and it makes a good wort, not beer! While it is possible to upgrade the controller on the Grainfather to a hacked STC, a LAEL controller or an Ardbir, that adds to the cost, and the whole point (or one of them for me) was no more bodging or getting the soldering iron out, I've spent 30 years bodging and building brewing hardware, and just about got that bug out of my system (I think ).

Both are fine pieces of kit and capable of producing good quality wort, one requires slightly more manual intervention if you want to do step mashing. It really depends on what you want from your kit, and how much you are willing to pay for it.

[Wezzel]

So "craft brewing is MEANT to be hands on". Interesting. When was that rule passed?

If you could simply press a button and make beer on a Braumeister there would be vending machines in every shopping centre

The BM removes most of the drudgery of brewing such as setting up, cleaning and waiting around for thing to happen. It doesn't remove the skill of brewing.

[Hairybiker]

So "craft brewing is MEANT to be hands on". Interesting. When was that rule passed?

What you missed the memo, I though everyone had seen it

I meant that with craft brewing it is not about pressing a few buttons and the machinery takes care of the process for you, from grinding to chilling. Its about getting your hands dirty with playing with the ingredients and knowing your system, not just what the manual says. If there was one.
Maybe you don't feel that way.

As to fiddle factors, I still enjoy doing it, I have a version of the Ardbir working on a breadboard here, so if I want to I can build an automated controller for my new Grainfater, which I have just ordered.

I though about it long and hard, to me the GF is the top of my price range, no way could I afford a BM. It will have to last for many years and be trouble free, the support I have seen from GF for uses has been excellent so that decided it for me.

I have NEVER in 30 years of brewing done a stepped mash, so that factor wasn't a player for me, the closest was a oatmeal rest for a stout, but that only involved a small amount of mash.

I upgraded to a thermopot last year so that and my 50L SS boiler will be up for sale when the GF arrives. I am seriously thinking about dropping from 25/7L to 20/2L and using the 2 cornies I have had for many years but not used, with the excess as bottles. So several beerspheres could be up for sale as well.

[Waffty]

I did a brew last Saturday with my 50L BM with a 25L malt tube. This was my second brew and whilst the first one wasn't a disaster, I was off on my numbers by a considerable margin, as I under estimated my evaporation rates, dead space etc. So based on my learning, I rejigged Beersmith and set off on what turned out to be a very good brew day.

So the beauty of the BM is, I set it up in the kitchen, by the sink and window, gave it a quick clean out by filling with 15L of already warm water from the tap, added some cleaning PWP type stuff, set temp (40c) and pump on manual and let it run for 10 mins, then drained and wiped clean. As my brew needed 35L of water, I filled to the 30L mark on the central shaft/column and then topped up the 5L via a 1L stainless jug. Added my water treatments from Murphy and Sons recommendations and then set up my brewing profile.

The profile I used was a guess/experiment, so I set my dough in temperature at 40c, then 52c for 10 mins, 67 for 50 mins, 73 for 15 mins and 78c for 10mins. So the only involvement I had during this whole process was filling, doughing in for a few minutes and fitting the top screen and leaving the BM, do it's thing. So that's 85 mins of doing nothing, safe in the knowledge that the BM had everything in hand. Ok, so I didn't actually do nothing, I still had stuff to clean, a yeast starter to attend too, hops to weigh etc etc. After 85 minutes, the BM beeped to removed the malt tube. I lifted it out and left it drain for a few minutes, before placing it (the malt tube) on the dome lid, to act as funnel, then into a clean pot underneath, to collect the remaining runnings. I guess you could always sparge again from here (the dome lid is also useful for malt filling, as it's basically a big funnel). I then kicked off the boil phase, in my case 90 mins at 101C and left it get up to temp, another beep said were up to temp, so in went the hops, into the hop filter, which I'd already fitted. Kept an eye out for the protein break, then on with the dome lid and 4inch 3M long silicone hose, out of the window. After 20 mins, I popped back in and added the remaining wort which I'd collected from the malt pipe and checked on the boil, all good. So cleaned out the malt pipe by putting it into a black plastic bin bag and turned it upside down, a quick shake and it was empty. A quick blast with a garden hose and the malt tube and plates were clean. Another time to chill before 15 mins from the end of the boil, where the last hops and Irish moss was added. Removed hops via the hop filter, drained and emptied straight into the bin bag, installed cooling coil, removed domed lid and refitted flat lid and kicked off the cooling cycle. Cleaned dome lid, hop filter and 4 inch hose via garden hose and waited for temp to drop to 19C.

Filled fermenter, pitched yeast, cleaned out BM, ran another cleaning cycle with PWP, throw all the smaller stuff into the dish washer on a quick wash and was done and dusted before the missus came back, to which she looked surprised and said, "owww, you're finished already" ......

So yes, brewing with BM is still very hands on/manual by the same token, there are large periods of the brewing day, where you can leave it get on with things. It's certainly isn't a fully automated system, far from it.

My brew is going like a train, with the yeast I manage to blag from a local brewer and having had a crafty sample today, it's deffo on the money and that's 3 days in, god only knows how good it will be when it's had time to age.

I like my BM and after only 2 brews, I can't see me ever going back to a 3 pot system, well unless I every go commercial

[Anavrin]

Hi Waffty

I've been away from my grain brewing for a little while now, been busy fermenting before boiling and looking to get back to basics

I'm thinking of building my own BIAB system, similar to the Braumeister, I want to use the BM 50lt Shortend Malt Tube as a starting point to build a 20lt-25lt system, any chance you could measure the Shortend malt tube and let me know the Diameter and Height Please!

[IPA]

I did a brew last Saturday with my 50L BM with a 25L malt tube. This was my second brew and whilst the first one wasn't a disaster, I was off on my numbers by a considerable margin, as I under estimated my evaporation rates, dead space etc. So based on my learning, I rejigged Beersmith and set off on what turned out to be a very good brew day.

So the beauty of the BM is, I set it up in the kitchen, by the sink and window, gave it a quick clean out by filling with 15L of already warm water from the tap, added some cleaning PWP type stuff, set temp (40c) and pump on manual and let it run for 10 mins, then drained and wiped clean. As my brew needed 35L of water, I filled to the 30L mark on the central shaft/column and then topped up the 5L via a 1L stainless jug. Added my water treatments from Murphy and Sons recommendations and then set up my brewing profile.

The profile I used was a guess/experiment, so I set my dough in temperature at 40c, then 52c for 10 mins, 67 for 50 mins, 73 for 15 mins and 78c for 10mins. So the only involvement I had during this whole process was filling, doughing in for a few minutes and fitting the top screen and leaving the BM, do it's thing. So that's 85 mins of doing nothing, safe in the knowledge that the BM had everything in hand. Ok, so I didn't actually do nothing, I still had stuff to clean, a yeast starter to attend too, hops to weigh etc etc. After 85 minutes, the BM beeped to removed the malt tube. I lifted it out and left it drain for a few minutes, before placing it (the malt tube) on the dome lid, to act as funnel, then into a clean pot underneath, to collect the remaining runnings. I guess you could always sparge again from here (the dome lid is also useful for malt filling, as it's basically a big funnel). I then kicked off the boil phase, in my case 90 mins at 101C and left it get up to temp, another beep said were up to temp, so in went the hops, into the hop filter, which I'd already fitted. Kept an eye out for the protein break, then on with the dome lid and 4inch 3M long silicone hose, out of the window. After 20 mins, I popped back in and added the remaining wort which I'd collected from the malt pipe and checked on the boil, all good. So cleaned out the malt pipe by putting it into a black plastic bin bag and turned it upside down, a quick shake and it was empty. A quick blast with a garden hose and the malt tube and plates were clean. Another time to chill before 15 mins from the end of the boil, where the last hops and Irish moss was added. Removed hops via the hop filter, drained and emptied straight into the bin bag, installed cooling coil, removed domed lid and refitted flat lid and kicked off the cooling cycle. Cleaned dome lid, hop filter and 4 inch hose via garden hose and waited for temp to drop to 19C.

Filled fermenter, pitched yeast, cleaned out BM, ran another cleaning cycle with PWP, throw all the smaller stuff into the dish washer on a quick wash and was done and dusted before the missus came back, to which she looked surprised and said, "owww, you're finished already" ......

So yes, brewing with BM is still very hands on/manual by the same token, there are large periods of the brewing day, where you can leave it get on with things. It's certainly isn't a fully automated system, far from it.

My brew is going like a train, with the yeast I manage to blag from a local brewer and having had a crafty sample today, it's deffo on the money and that's 3 days in, god only knows how good it will be when it's had time to age.

I like my BM and after only 2 brews, I can't see me ever going back to a 3 pot system, well unless I every go commercial

Why did you need 35 litres of liquor?
Why did you not sparge?
These are not silly questions. I have been brewing with a BM for five years. One more question. What is your achieved efficiency.

[Matt12398]

If you want to see one in the flesh and possibly in action you're welcome to pop round now you're full time local.

[Nolan]

I too am split about which to go for, though I am edging towards the braumeister if it's the V2 that is now shipping. The pump seems to work better than the GF from the videos I've watched on YouTube. Then unsure of going for the 20l model or 50l model. Are there any other one pots that should be considered at the moment? The two main things I'm looking to do at the moment is improve my time taken on a brew day and also reduce components I have around the house to consolidate for SWMBO.

[Technotrucker]

It's the old adage "one mans meat and all that", it's hard to quantify which is best. As posted earlier it can all come down to how deep your pockets are .

I did go with the BM, I've only had it a month or so and have done 3 brews to date, all have turned out (IMHO) great, far better than I expected.

I though about it long and hard, to me the GF is the top of my price range, no way could I afford a BM.
I have NEVER in 30 years of brewing done a stepped mash, so that factor wasn't a player for me

I agree 100% with the first part, I had a hard job to justify the cost, it took me well over a year, until my good lady just said "buy the bloody thing"

On the 2nd part I love Belgium/Trappist beers which call for a stepped mash, although I tried with my 3v setup I just wasn't happy with the end results, for me this was the deciding factor to buy the BM.

Fego asked his question back in July, I wonder which road he went down??

[Hairybiker]

Well I now have a flashable stc1000 so will be putting the stc1000+ f/w on it, and then I could do auto step mashes if I want to. With hop addition beeps etc.

[Buckie Brewer]

I am a Grainfather owner and I love it, it allowed me to go from kits to all grain in one package as the chiller is included. However I would be lying if I said I wouldn't swap it for a Braumeister as they are better, but they cost more so they should be.
Whatever you buy you won't regret, I have yet to read an BAD review on either.