Thursday, October 20, 2016

All in one brewing systems

This entry is meant to collect information about all in one brewing systems. I'm in the market to purchase one and if I could find a system that is completely self contained (one piece solid construction), easy cleaning, and easy to setup and use, that would be ideal system.

Here is what I found so far (in no particular order):

Breakdown


Name Price Volume Personal Rating Notes
Homebrewery BIAC $3,114 (small, base) / $5,895 (medium, decked out) 3-5 / 5-15 gallons 8/10 Kinda big but still small? Automation, easy to clean (according to their website), conical design, and lots of documentation. Good for mashing, boiling, and fermenting. Very high price point.
The Grainfather $899 8 gallon 6/10 Cylinder design. Total brew and cleanup time (according to a review): 6 hours. This due to the 120v electric heating system taking 70 minutes to get from 168 to boil.
Brew Boss $1,299 10 gallon 5/10 According to their website, 3.5 hours for a 10 gallon batch including clean-up! However, I believe this is for the 240v version and not the 120v. Couldn't find any brew times for the 120v version.
Picobrew Zymatic $1,999 < 5 gallons 3/10 Batch sizes ~2.5 gallons. Fairly easy clean-up. Very high price for such a small batch yield.
Speidel Braumeister V2 $1,800+ 5.2 gallons Uses European electrical system. Small batches.
Unibräu Pro 45L 120V Brew System $2,399 11.89 gallons 8/10 Website says you can brew in as little as 4 hours but doesn't give details on the setup for this duration.
Blichmann BrewEasy $1,785.91 10 gallons x/10 2-Vessel system configuration with 10 gallon capacity. For price point and footprint (compared to Homebrewery BIAC), this seems like a decent deal. Although, I'd like to view a few videos of setup, cleanup, and the system in use before making any final considerations. Con: needs a 240v outlet.
Other resources to consider: http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24918

I may want to also consider a 10 gallon electric HERMS system.