[Richard]

... You don't have to spend a lot of money on an "all-in-one" system to make great beers.

Spending money on equipment may make your brewing easier or more convenient, but it won't necessarily improve your beers. Spending more money on ingredients is a better way to improve the quality of your beers.

[denny]

... You don't have to spend a lot of money on an "all-in-one" system to make great beers.

Spending money on equipment may make your brewing easier or more convenient, but it won't necessarily improve your beers. Spending more money on ingredients is a better way to improve the quality of your beers.

Indeed. I made great beer for years with my "Cheap'n'Easy" system. An all in one improved my brewing enjoyment, not my beers.

[erockrph]

... You don't have to spend a lot of money on an "all-in-one" system to make great beers.

Spending money on equipment may make your brewing easier or more convenient, but it won't necessarily improve your beers. Spending more money on ingredients is a better way to improve the quality of your beers.

Indeed. I made great beer for years with my "Cheap'n'Easy" system. An all in one improved my brewing enjoyment, not my beers.

Same here. The Foundry brought the entry level price point for small All-in-ones down to my budget, and I really love the simplicity it added to my brew day, but my beers from my old cooler mash tun were just as good as what I'm making in the Foundry.

[BrewBama]

[tommymorris]

I have a very simple system. I have 5.5 gallon induction capable kettle (I do 3 gallon batches).  I mash in a BIAB bag in that kettle. I heat my water with a stand alone 1800W induction burner that cost $38 on Amazon in 2018. I wrap the kettle with a beach towel and walk away during the mash.  About 30 minutes into the mash I start heating my sparge water in a second kettle. When the mash is complete, I pull the bag and hang it with a pulley for a few minutes. I don’t sweat getting every drop of wort out at this point. Just drain until it’s moveable without making a mess. I then place the bag with grains still in it into the kettle with heated sparge water (a dunk sparge). I stir a bit and then leave it for 5 minutes. Meanwhile the main batch is heating to boil. After the 5 minute sparge rest, I hang the bag on a pulley to drain over the sparge kettle. When it’s ready, I pour the sparge batch into the boil kettle manually. Next, I clean my bag and sparge kettle and it’s off to the boil. I use the same induction burner to boil. I get 83% mash efficiency.

My system was cheap to assemble. I like the brewing and cleaning simplicity. There two other things I think are advantages. One, I intentionally don’t have a pump because they take a bit of extra time to rinse and clean (I know it’s only a few minutes). Two, I think the dunk sparge is much easier than the pouring cups of water over a grain basket as is the case for the all-in-ones (I used to have a Grainfather).

[denny]

That list is outdated. They don't list GF G40 or S40 or S70

[kramerog]

A very useful table, but it is missing the 18-gallon Foundry.

[Kevin]

A very useful table, but it is missing the 18-gallon Foundry.

Agreed. Even the Foundry 10.5 has had some new improvements made just within the past few months.

[Lazy Ant Brewing]

absolutely nothing wrong with it. however you need to either stand there and hold a fairly hot bag up high while it drains for ~15-20 minutes or rig some thing to hold it up. i did that for several batches and it definitely works.

There are other solutions. I have used a large colander that fits into the top of the kettle. Lift the bag, slip the colander under it and set the bag back down. Eventually the handles on the colander broke. Now I have two nested buckets, with the bottom of the inner one drilled full of holes. I lift the bag out of the kettle and into the buckets. The bag drains through the holes in the inner bucket and I can pour from the outer bucket back into the kettle.

I position a large stepladder over my BIAB kettle and use a small pulley setup to hoist and hold the bag while it's draining. FWIW, I also squeeze the heck out of the bag to collect more sugar water while wearing brewer's gloves to protect my hands from the hot liquid.

[hoursmoggy]

You don't have to spend a lot of money on an "all-in-one" system to make great beers.

From what I understand you are saying that only the necessary parts of the system should be purchased, right?

redactle

[majorvices]

I love my BrewZilla but didn't love the "BIAB" function as much. I added a second electric kettle (DigiBoil) and use the BZ as a functioning heat-controlled MT and then, leaving the mash-basket in place, lauter into the DigiBoil kettle. For me, it works perfectly.

That said, I used the "DennyBrew" batch sparge method for a good 10-15 years before that. Hard to beat the eased simplicity.

[denny]

You don't have to spend a lot of money on an "all-in-one" system to make great beers.

From what I understand you are saying that only the necessary parts of the system should be purchased, right?

redactle

Take a look at dennybrew.com for an alternative

[Big_Eight]

You don't have to spend a lot of money on an "all-in-one" system to make great beers.

From what I understand you are saying that only the necessary parts of the system should be purchased, right?

redactle

Take a look at dennybrew.com for an alternative

I second the alternative!That's what my mash tun is modeled after. Denny's the man!

Lately though because it's been cold I've been doing half batches in the kitchen with a 5 gallon pot and a brew bag.

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

[Cliffs]

I have a Clawhammer EBIAB and love it. Great customer service and no proprietary parts so replacement parts are easy to get if need be

[chinaski]

I have brewed on a number of systems, from old fashioned 3 vessel to high tech all in ones.  The Grainfather G40 is dead and shoulders above anything else I've ever used.  The build quality and functionality is superb, and cleanup is dead easy. If you don't need connectivity, the S40 is the same great design for 1/3 the price of the G40.

Denny- I've heard you sing the praises of Grainfather many many times- no doubt it's a good system.  I also remember you mentioning on your postcast that Grainfather loaned you systems to evaluate & they sponsor your podcast.  Did they give you a permanent loan?  Just curious- nothing wrong with getting stuff for free in my book.