So, are the oxidation concerns with Zymatic put to rest? Sounds like that NHC gold is a good answer to my question.
Keith, how have the beers been?
I have been wanting a Zymatic and I am about to get a year older...
I made some awesome pilsners for this past YHB flight club. I'm not going to tell you I think it is worth the price because it is crazy expensive for 2.5 gallons of beer but you can do some really interesting things with it. For instance, you can design just about any step mash you want. And you can design some insane hop stands. You could do a 12 hour hops stand at 175 degrees if you wanted (or longer). I did one beer that I started at 185 hop stand for one hour, then 175 for one hour then 165 for one hour. It's pretty insane.
Some of the drawback: I really don't like the amount of HSA, though I have to admit that I had no problems with off flavors in the beers. You could also put a dip tube on the "IN" post to negate the splashing, though it isn't really recommended (though some people are apparently doing it).
Supposedly they only want you using 1 oz of hops per hop/adjunct container (there are 4 hop/adjucnt containers, though you can "pause" the program, remove used hops and add more ad infinitum.
I really like it and it makes brewing side batches and comparing malts and one off eperiments very easy but for $2,000 you could really design one hell of an automated brewhouse. OTOH you could easily have something like this installed in your kitchen and basically run a brew overnight.