Fair Brewing Setups?

Buying, building and using brewing equipment and apparatus. Product reviews and questions.

Moderator: slothrob

Informer
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2003 3:45 pm

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Post by Informer »

Fancier systems don't allow a homebrewer to make "the same beer every time." Homebrewing will never be an exact science; anyone who says he can brew the exact same recipe at home and produce the exact same beer I suspect of having no taste buds. I don't care if their system cost $3,000 or $30,000.

I also question how "automatic" any homebrewer's rig can be. I have been brewing for years and have accumulated some decent stuff; the brewing process is no more "automatic" with my outdoor, all-grain rig than it was when I was brewing 5 gal partial mash batches on the stove. I have never seen any homebrewing rig, in real life, in stores, or advertised, that would qualify as "automated."

The third item I dispute is that these systems are about ratcheting up the beer quality. For me, all my big ticket items were to reduce WORK, not increase quality. I have a 3-tier because I got tired of lifting kettles and tuns all over the place. I have a sparge coil because I got tired of holding a milk jug with holes poked into it over the mash. I have a conical because I got tired of dealing with carboys and having to rack to secondary. Nothing really improved the beer once I switched to all grain. All these upgrades simply eliminated some labor or inconvenience. If your methods are sound, you're careful about sanitation, and you understand what you're doing, the specifics of your equipment are irrelevant. I scoff at the notion that anybody could outbrew me in a contest based on his equipment. Incidentally, if you're brewing people are going to ask what the hell you're doing regardless of your rig. No homebrewing setup is inconspicuous to the uninformed civilian walking by.

The entire question is unanswerable because of the hazy notion of a "hand-crafted" system, even if it could be enforced, as a previous poster noted it cannot. Does someone have to convert their own keg into a brewpot? What about folks who bought a restaurant-style 14 gal brewpot? What about the guy who crushed his grain manually vs. the one who has a motorized mill? If someone uses a wort chiller, does he have an "unfair" advantage over the guy who plops his brewpot in a snowbank?
brewmaster808
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2004 6:14 pm
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Post by brewmaster808 »

I have had the thought of auto some of my stuff to. Just haven't time to complete. I figured with the controller I made and using the output of the chip I could have it controll solinod valves and free up sometime. Drawings on my site. If you do use and setit up further autowise could you send me the changes to help save me time to.
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