Home Beer Brewing Revolutionised at a Cost

Johnboy

Stumbled across this cool man toy, does anyone own one or have any experience etc with them???

The WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery

$30 ish a week from Harvey Norman on 60months interest free

Johnboy

More stainless steel toys, i now understand why my wife loses her mind when Mimco releases a new hand bag.

grim

Takes all the fun out of it. If I really want convenience, I'll just pick up a 6 pack at the corner store.

grim

Holy christ almighty did you see the price on that? Wow, not only will I pick up a beer at the corner store, I'll buy a car to drive up to the corner store to pick it up, and still spend less money.

Johnboy

i said at a cost! I liked the in bench unit to build into the ultimate outdoor kitchen.

grim

I'm not a big home brew guy, but can't you pick up a whole stack of trick Blichman gear for that price? This isn't far off from the price of a Sabco BrewMagic, is it?

Johnboy

Ive got close to that in my stilling gear by the time i factor in Barrels, filters, extra bits and bobs, etc.

Johnboy

I liked the fact that it was a compact all in one unit sure i can build a Herms system and all that but this is cheaper than building a new shed to house the hobby

Johnboy

@grim said: Takes all the fun out of it. If I really want convenience, I'll just pick up a 6 pack at the corner store.

It just regulates the temp correctly and allows racking off and clarifying without swapping fermenters. Then drink from unit or bottle or keg as you desire and repeat. Not really about convenience more space saving and ease of use. And a drinkable product every time.

yurgle

they've got that minimalist look - very sleek

Moonshine

@grim said: Takes all the fun out of it. If I really want convenience, I'll just pick up a 6 pack at the corner store.

+1

@grim said: Holy christ almighty did you see the price on that? Wow, not only will I pick up a beer at the corner store, I'll buy a car to drive up to the corner store to pick it up, and still spend less money.

++1

punkin

They are really pricey for what you get. There are limitations on batch size and the whole shebang is tied up while its fermenting. In the end you are paying a fortune to drink kit beer. It's not really home brew.

Much better off with a braumeister i reckon if you want to go down the automation road.
Personally i like my 3v with punkin powered bucket pump.

grim

Can't you just buy extract kits and do them on your kitchen stove? This thing doesn't do all grain at all. Isn't the discussion about rims/herms irrelevant?

rossco

@punkin said: Much better off with a braumeister i reckon if you want to go down the automation road.

This has been out for a while, ahb boys really panned it here the only really appealing thing is that fermentation is done under pressure. It is a similar situation to the turbo 500 where you buy everything from them. There are other options now @punkin, the grainfather is slightly less complex in its controls than the braumeister but comes in under 1k complete, and KK has a 35litre basic model out for under $500 here. Word is they will have a 50-60litre version out shortly under 1k.

Unsensibel

Didn't know about the grainfather or the robobrew but my first reaction was that for this amount of money you can get a braumeister plus SS fermenter, heck prolly even a kegerator! Looks interesting but way overpriced!

rossco

@Unsensibel the problem for mine is that you only brew one keg at a time, which can be a good Friday arvo at my place with my mates. Then you have to wait a couple of weeks. Also I make pilsners and they need 6months in the keg before they are finished. There are the additives that are needed...

Johnboy

That AHB thread goes on for a while, some good stirring!! So other than the cost and ability to only brew one batch at a time people seem to be impressed with the unit. The OP loves his and has arrived at ownership after several decades of traditional Home brewing. His only addition has been a Grainfather for all grain mashing. He admits that it isn't cheap but performs perfectly as promised whilst being compact and neat looking. I see the point about one beer at a time but surely once you get several brews ahead of your consumption rate it would be a non issue, no diff to us making spirit and the battle between ageing and drinking. As an up front spend its a lot of outlay but as a $30p/w interest free plus ingredients its still cheaper than buying boxes of beer. And as an impatient novice the attraction of good beer every time is a large drawcard. Plus its a lifetime purchase just like our stills. Or is there something I am missing here?? Why such a love or hate audience??

Unsensibel

I don't think it's a hate thing. It's a nifty little device.

The major issue remains though - cost.

I'm not sure how the pricing level is in AUS but for brewing extract, all you need is a pot, a bucket, and some ice to bring everything back to pitching temp. Let's call the total cost <$100.

$30/W equals to roughly $130/M and that means you can buy a new set of pot and bucket every month and still have money for an extract set for 6 years and break even.

In the end it's a hobby and this is going to be a very expensive toy.

Oh, and of course I want one! ;-)

Unsensibel

Actually, I want this!!!

The next house I'm building will have one of those built in the kitchen!

The wife can have her fancy fridge as long as I'm getting my SS integrated brewery...

@Moonshine - in the emoticon list, there's a drooling one missing. one thing to add especially when SD is making more announcements...

Johnboy

Yeah I want the built in in the outdoor kitchen another thing to consider is co2 bottle hire usage as this unit uses co2 from fermenter so it makes environmentally friendly beer

Johnboy

Plus easy to put SS fridge next to it for additional keg storage with line of taps on bench above to showcase additional brews once stock is built up

punkin

It's still kit beer in the end. Have you priced the ingredients from them 8-X

Johnboy

With a grain father you can use your own wort. Can use any brand kit beer in it.

Johnboy

Depends if your home brewing cos your a tightarse or because you like doing it yourself ?? I tend to buy good quality ingredients which isn't cheap but nicer finished product. Each to their own. My $5-$6k invested in my stilling gear would have bought me a shit load of great spirit but I'm love the creative side of the hobby.

FloridaCracker

@Johnboy said: Depends if your home brewing cos your a tightarse or because you like doing it yourself ?? I tend to buy good quality ingredients which isn't cheap but nicer finished product. Each to their own. My $5-$6k invested in my stilling gear would have bought me a shit load of great spirit but I'm love the creative side of the hobby.

That's the way I look at it too. Although I don't have that much coin wrapped up in my rig it is coming close to paying itself off through $$ saved buying hooch at the store. I also look at it as a cheap (relatively speaking) hobby. I know guys who dump insane amounts into cars, boats, 4X4s, etc.

I just wish congress would hurry up already and make this shit legal because my only concern is losing my shit through confiscation.

Thread derailment over.

punkin

I agree Johnboy. I brew ~1100 litres of good beer a year for my consumption in 170l batches, all grain with stacks of the best hops, Amarillo is one of my favourites and it don't come cheap.

I do it for 2 reasons, i can make better beer than i can afford to buy and i can afford to drink the amount of beer i want because it's relatively cheap to make. So i'm not dissing your choices just pointing out some of the cons.
Seems like you have your mind made up anyway as to the benefits for your situation, i just see a lot of problems to overcome and no benefits but i'm looking with my eyes and my situation and views, it's gunna be different to yours.
Buy it, enjoy it and post some pictures once you have it bricked in. I love a good outdoor kitchen and use mine at least two or three times a week.

rossco

Going with Punkin on this, I make about 300litres per year. I buy about 75kg grain and grow the hops in the back yard. I just want to know exactly what is in my drinks. The hate factor on AHB comes from their understanding of the commercialisation of the process. The situation is similar to the StillSpirits/turbo/carbon clear/carbon filter/carbon essence (flavoured vodka) situation that suckered many of us in our earlier days. From memory I think there is an ownership link SS/grainfather maybe.

BTW Punkin's beer is superb. It is not possible to make anything approaching it with a kit.

punkin

Thanks it's nice of you to say that @rossco . I was just thinking last week that i'll have to give you a cube of the new house ale. A great version of Nevs Kelvinator Kleanout i have been refining for a while now.

Or you can brew it your self;

Smaug

@punkin said: Thanks it's nice of you to say that rossco . I was just thinking last week that i'll have to give you a cube of the new house ale. A great version of Nevs Kelvinator Kleanout i have been refining for a while now.

Or you can brew it your self;

I don't truly know first hand how good punkin's beer is? But I seen the dude coping with shit beer in China, and as a result do understand that the beer is an important part of the man's circulatory well being.

I will assume (based on my limited knowledge) Lord Punkin makes good beer.

punkin

Yep, you even saw me forcing down a PBR for breakfast one morning :))

FloridaCracker

@punkin said: Yep, you even saw me forcing down a PBR for breakfast one morning :))

:-O