For me the low density burner at half the price and the ability of the Anvil to do 120 or 240 pretty much sold me. Mine arrived yesterday and I plan to do a moch brew today!
Those two features were the biggest selling points for me too. I've had such great luck with my first one, I bought another one and currently run two Anvil Foundry systems side-by-side for experiments. Also learned to get the BHE up considerably since my first few brews with it and most things are basic but lifting the mash basket out once or twice during mashing at 15-minute intervals will kick you numbers up by a point or two.
That's why after much consideration I went with the Brewolution Brewster 40L. It has the tight fitting grain basket, camlock fittings and a sight glass on the side separate from the recirculation pipe. It doesn't have a low spigot but that's because you use its pump to remove the wort to the fermentation vessel. It also has a huge, almost full size filter plate under the grain basket to help prevent clogging. It included a wort chiller and cost around $500 here in Sweden. I thought it was the best value for money amongst the various products on offer.
I've never seen a Brewolution here in the U.S. but for $500 that sounds like a great deal based on what that is in USD. The Anvil does have a bit more space between the grain basket and outer walls which has always been a concern. The Grainfather is a much tighter fit for the grainbasket.
@@BitterRealityBrewing It was interesting researching the different brands. I must have watched thirty or so videos before making a purchase. I think Brewolution are relative newcomers to the market but their equipment seems well put together. At some stage in the future it would be fun to see you do a comparison including the Brewolution. If they ever make it to the US. I'm enjoying your content, keep up the good work 👏
I knew most brewers would get that everything impacts costs so why include things we may not need or want. That is why I am crossing my fingers we can get enough input that when I send the links to the companies or they simply stumble upon this video they will take everyone's comments to heart. If they make the chiller an add-on/optional it would lower the price of the main purchase, most likely increase their profits, and allow them to offer different options. Plus if they decided to upgrade/update an optional add-on they would have to do a major product change to the entire system. Also I know this would allow us to decide if we wanted their name brand add-ons or a 3rd party but most brewers will spend the same or even more if they like a company and feel their products are of quality and reliable.
I also do not like paying for things I do not need. I am wondering if this is due to not wanting more complexity in their ordering system or not. I would also argue that it prevents them from having a new to brewing customer not getting everything they need which could be solved by having a "the works" edition.
@@jasonz1810 I am all for companies making a profit as long as they aren't gouging us but I also don't like paying for stuff I don't want or need. I think the ability to build a great system and offering optional items/upgrades isn't that hard and the pricing shouldn't be outrages.
Thank you and those two systems are great systems with lots of great features with very few (and very minor) cons which I see more as personal presences. From my understanding (unless something changed recently) they are the only two systems on the market with low density burners which was a huge reasoning for me going to the Anvil as the Brewzilla changed from high to low density shortly after I purchased my Anvil. On the Anvil the double walled part is really nice but I liked the idea of having a pump I could easily open, clean, and even use for other things. I'm pretty sure the Brewzilla uses the same (or almost identical) pump but it is inside a bit harder to clean but there is a lot to be said for having everything inside one neat package. Plus the Brewzilla has the camlocks which are really nice and the temp control system has a bit more programmability if you will actually use that feature. As the Brewzilla's grain basket is a lot like the GrainFather I will say it might be a bit awkward to work with compared to the simplicity of the Anvil initially but I would expect slightly higher efficiencies with the Brewzilla over the Anvil without buying and using the Anvil small batch adapter that helps to force the flow of the wort through the entire grain bed helping to recapture those potentially lost efficiency points. The only other big option for the Anvil that I liked was the ability to go between 120/240. I started with 120 and had an electrician upgrade a circuit outside so I could do 240 and with a simply flip of a switch I was on 240v but we will be moving in the near future and I might have to deal with 120v again for a full year before our new house is built where I can go back to 240v so the choice for me is actually going to pay for itself. I will say when I get to my new house I am seriously considering either buying another Anvil to do comparison reviews but in the back of my head I am also considering a Brewzilla (240v version) so that I can do comparisons between products with the same brews but at the end of the day I don't know what will be available to purchase over a year from now so all of that could change by that time and I may have to buy two completely new systems. 😀
Thanks. Efficiency is important to me since I will do quite a bit of wheat beer and saisons (but modest ABV versions in the 6% range) and may go full volume/no sparge on those. Still a close call for me but the unavailability of the Anvil may push me towards the Brewzilla. Either will be a big upgrade from my turkey fryer burner BIAB method!
@@seanreilly9388 Fully understand and I think you will be happy long term with either as they are both great products, if you can do 240v long-term I would consider the Fermzilla 240v version over the 120v as it will save you a lot of time during heating but that is the only major benefit for the higher voltage (My wife is always asking during my brew days..."are you done yet, are you done yet?". Funny you mention Turkey fryer as that was my step up as I got the burner and the big aluminum pot from Walmart on sales for $40 (after the holidays as I think it was on clearance). I still have the big pot and use it mainly for cleaning labels off bottles. I use to do 3 and 4 gallon batches and then split it from that to smaller ones if I was adding hops or just do the whole thing in the big fryer pot and split it into 1 gallon jugs to ferment with different yeasts. I learned a ton and actually miss those days. A little over a year from now I will have a new house and a dedicated brew area (400 to 500 sq ft) so I'm considering another Camp Chef big gas grill with 3 burners as I can boil up to 3 small batches at at time for testing like I use to (or the cheaper version they also sell now).
Just picked up an Anvil Foundry 10.5 a few days ago, didn't get a chance to use it yet. I chose it partially for cost, but also partly because I don't trust things like bluetooth technology to "just work" and I didn't feel that I wanted something that took control away from me but just something that helped me along with the hard parts. I found your comments re: the grainfather and it's controller very interesting....
I liked my GrainFather when it worked but when it didn't there was almost no way to recover beyond either moving to a kettle with a BIAB and boiling in a kettle or sometimes you got lucky and I could slap the old manual controller on and do it manually. Some of my very first videos the Altbier was a GrainFather nightmare as I couldn't even get up to temp for almost anything and the Citrus Rye IPA I wasn't able to ever get to a boil temp. The controllers kept cutting out. I love technology ...when it works and I am right there with you on Bluetooth it has never been reliable for me on too many things to list. Enjoy your Anvil as I am going to a do a video in coming weeks with small batch adapter (I ordered it a few days ago) to see if I can get higher efficiencies as I strongly suspect I will.
Almost forgot, you should check out David Heath Homebrew as he did a few reviews of GrainFather systems and he gets some of the equipment for free or on loan and he still is extremely honest about the systems.
@Mann Handleson I ran somewhat of a test yesterday and here is the video testing my BHE using the adapter. ua-cam.com/video/93QK4LYXe7k/v-deo.html I went from 59 to 70's all the way up to 85% BHE. My PH is usually under 5.6 but this time I watched it like a hawk and pushed it down to 5.42 (close to the middle of the 5.2 to 5.6 range) and with that adapter tightly in place I was extremely impressed. I will run more tests as it cools down outside and I will try it with a large grain bill soon too.
Well said. I would love to have a removable handle in my Anvil. I also use a bag with the malt pipe. A better chiller would be great. I like your idea of not including it and letting the cost a bit so I have more money to put into a better chiller.
I thought about it afterwards and realized you could still get away with a grain bag in a system like the Grainfather but you would simply have to leave the malt pipe out as the whole in the metal screen wouldn't matter due to the mesh bag.
Try the Clawhammer Supply 120 or 240. I love mine. I had done research about 2/3 years ago, and went with that. I have just ordered the Anvil as I've put a 240v outlet in. I'm excited to be able to brew on both. The only caveat I've seen with Anvil is the lighter grain builds. I've done 21lbs in the Clawhammer. Anyways, great video.
I've been keeping up with the Clawhammer and do have a question in regards to it. Does the recirculation sprayer get clogged? It seems pretty tight and I know during the initial mash you can sometimes see bits that have gotten threw the screens. I would agree about the limitation on grains with the Anvil as they really should have made the grain basket just a bit larger as it would have made for a tighter fit (less dead space on the sides) and given a boost to the total grain capacity. I strongly suspect a lot of these companies such as the Clawhammer and many of the all-in-ones will be releasing their newest versions sometime in 2021 and I can only hope most of them have been listening to the brewers who use them. I would love for you to give some insight into a video I did since you would have a different perspective being a Clawhammer user. When you have some time please take a look at this video where basically I am trying to come up with a concept for the perfect all-in-one brewing systems based on the good and bad currently on the market. ua-cam.com/video/P-lDeb4U3QA/v-deo.html
I've never had any issues with the CS. My unit is about 3 years old. I've not had any clogging issues be it for the recirc sprayer or any other aspect of the system. It has one of the longest hop baskets I've seen. I highly recommend 2 of them if using a lot of hops. As far as grains getting through the basket, it doesn't happen. The only time I had issues like that was my own error in not paying attention. I suppose it could be enhanced to use a digital controller and maybe wifi, but that would also increase the cost. Their pump is good as well. Though it definitely needs cleaning. I bought the Riptide from Blichman to see how it performs on my system. Is CS the perfect system? No, but for me it's pretty darn close. My plan is for the 240v 20 gal system next year.
@@tonyc1782 That is really good info to know about the sprayer not having issues which means the basket filter does a great job. As for a perfect system that will never truly exist as we are all have different views but could all of the current systems benefit from a few redesigns or optional enhancements that is something I do think we all could agree on. As my channel grows I would highly consider trying other systems as it is always nice to get a different perspective plus I love home brewing as I am always learning and can experiment with no end in sight which is awesome plus getting to enjoy the rewards after brewing and fermentation is a bonus.
My thoughts on the grainfather after owning it since the start of the year and running about 15 brews through it. Hops - I have been finding the hop filter quite effective, though I was getting the ball check valve clogged with hops. Simple fix, took the ball and spring out and it's worked fine ever since. The factory hop spider did not work for me - waste of money, it fills up with wort and it doesn't drain. As long as you remove the ball and spring, it's fine without a hop spider, I have done a couple of IPA's with around 140-160g pellet hops in the boil, and it handled this without any problems GrainFather Connect - For me, there are 2 key issues - 1. the app is not as good as Beersmith or brewfather, (with properly tweaked profiles), I don't want to use their app to manage my recipes. 2. It's bluetooth (not wifi), so it only has a 15meter range. I've just started using Brewfather app, and apparently this will connect to the grainfather, so I'm going to give this a go - this could be the solution for me. Scorching - Can't say I've had the issue with scorching or the breaker tripping, I did find issues with stuck mashes, which I solved by a coarser mill setting, and adding rice hulls to beers with a lot of rye/wheat. This was the biggest thing for me, moving from a 3-vessel system to a single vessel recirc/grainpipe system - your crush is a lot more critical - and it's very frustrating while you're getting everything tuned in, expecting 1.073 and getting 1.065 (it still tasted good however, rye slightly-less-robust porter...). This was a 7.1kg grain bill, 40% rye/wheat, so I feel like if I was going to get scorching, this would have been the batch. Cleaning - I clean-in-place, so basically circulating 10 litres of PBW through the pump and cooler for half an hour or so at 60C, I don't see a need to dissasseble the pump if you're cleaning with PBW regularly, that stuff is pretty effective. In fact, because of all of the rubber fittings on the pump, I'd much prefer to leave these alone and not touch them.
Hops - I never had the ball and spring clog but I will say I had take it apart to clean it really good after every use. I'm not sure about their hop spider as it shows it is 800 micron so it should clog up but I use a 400 that can but avoid the 300 as I'm told it always clogs unless you use whole hops. GrainFather Connect - I use to use BeerSmith and just export the XMLs and import them into GrainFathers app which use to work really well until they moved to the "Community" app then it was a nightmare but I did run some tests recently and noticed it stayed connected (it always does when I run plain water tests and don't actually brew beer) plus I noticed a lot of major improvements like "Resume" (which actually worked this time all 3 times I tested it). I do subscribe to BrewFather but haven't had time to deep dive into it as I tried using it with my Tilts but my Tilt Pi webserver is so much better tailored for that feature. I also saw you can now skip steps if you had to start over but you still can't move forward by time but I guess you could always skip into a step finish out your time that you missed if you had to resume or start over from another device and then hit skip to get where you left off. It was nice to see they are working to improve the app as it is a great concept and would be awesome as long as they maintain the reliability. As for the 15 meter range, once it was working and if it lost connection it would always work fine and keep working when I got back in range. Scorching - I didn't have any real issues with scorching the first 1.5 years but after about 32 brews it seemed to be anytime I used a decent amount of rye or wheat and even a tiny amount would send the breaking tripping non-stop. I'm currently repairing my first of my two GFs and I've found the thermostat wasn't the problem or the controller but there is actually a wire fuse in the bottom that is hardwired in which appears to be the part that died in it so I've ordered a replacement. I am impressed you didn't get any scorching with 40% rye/wheat as I love both of those grains. Rye for the flavor and wheat for the silky mouth feel or how it can enhanced a flavored beer. I was annoyed when they did a major revision recently but didn't make any noticeable changes to the actual kettle where I felt the low density burners would have been an obvious change to make. Don't get me wrong when you here be get annoyed with GF as I love their techie side and refinement as it is an awesome product I just wish they would come out with a GF 2.0 and make some of the obvious enhancements they are aware of that would put their product really stand out massively. I know in time there will be a company that does it and currently GF is one of those companies that could easily do it. Double walled construction would be a bonus but not a big deal for me in Florida. Cleaning - I did the same but only about 20 minutes (sometimes longer) of PBW and then another 20 minutes with StarSan. As for disassembly the pump I would like it to be a bit easy to take apart so when I do that deep clean about ever 3 to 6 months (based on how much I brew) I could ensure everything was spotless and nothing hiding anywhere. Thank you very much for the detailed comment as this really helps other brewers and I think the better companies look around and read this kind of stuff. Also as I said everyone's mileage may vary (YMMV) as I've heard people having minor to major problems with every brand out there and other people who haven't had a single issue and have tons of brews under their belt. I do wish GF and Anvil would add the notched handle for their grain baskets as I age I can relate better to those brewers unable to lift those without pulley systems and currently there are very few companies that have that notch aka bent piece of metal.
@@BitterRealityBrewing thanks for the reply, I used BrewFather with the grainfather integration for a brew yesterday and it worked ok, it's pretty basic, it lets you upload recipes, control the set temp, press the "set" button and turn the pump & heat on and off, the timers for your mash/boil schedule aren't synchronised with the brewfather timers. It's an MVP. I didn't check on any restart functions or anything. I think easiest way is to have the BrewFather timers going, and control the grainfather manually. I'd really love to be able to get it running the program for the mash, and check on it from inside the house (outside of bluetooth range) The grainfather is not perfect, but it's everything I need and I'm very grateful to have it - I'm churning out great beer, consistently, without tying myself up for the entire day. Also with COVID, I'm working from home full time, and it's quite easy to run a brew on a weekday while I'm working at the same time. My old system was an esky mash tun system, controlling mash temps used to put my anxiety through the roof, and it was much more time consuming, labour intensive and less predictable. So, it's a big win for me, dispite some flaws
@@merlin3671 The BH Efficiencies on the GrainFather are amazing as long as you use a little rice hulls and don't pack the mash down which is pretty standard for any system but the BHE was always high for me on the GrainFather which on the Anvil were really low out of the gate but I've found some a work arounds to get much better BHe which are now comparable to my GF. When GF first came out with the newer community app and it had only 1 star on Apple's app store I recommended that they focus on their hardware and maybe consider working with BrewFather to take over the software part but of course that fell on deaf ears. I do like the GrainFather community app a lot especially as they appear to have gotten most or even all of the bugs out of it now. It isn't as incompassing as BrewFather and doesn't do nearly as much but the little badges (like pats on the back for achievements) and the ability to share recipes within a community of people all using the same system is pretty cool.
@@BitterRealityBrewing what efficiency were you getting with your GF? I was getting 75% BHe fairly consistently with my beersmith profile, using rice hulls in the higher gravity / sticky mash brews, I have my roller gap set on 1.346mm (grainfather recommend 1.27-1.4mm) the default profile in BrewFather has given me only 69%, so I'm currently working out what went on there, my current theory is the difference in water/grain ratio (my beersmith profile was 2.84l/kg vs 2.7l/kg in the brewfather), though I did have a kilo of wheat in that one and no rice hulls, so it could have just been stickier than I expected.
@@merlin3671 Sorry I had to look through my old brew history with my GF but 83% was my average some lower especially if they were big grain bills and a few small grainbills around the 85%. I'd have the gap on my grainmill (Cereal Crusher) and I usually set it to 0.050 to 0.0375 (I prefer the lower one and lots of rice hulls) I would estimate it to be maybe right at 1 mm at 0.0375 as according to @Brulosophy he has an article from 2015 that states 0.039 is inches and is 1 mm. I will say I tried the spraying of your grains with water before crushing and the first time it worked amazingly well with nice BHE and extremely clear wort but the 2nd time I think I sprayed a bit too much water I guess as my grainmill got stuck and it was a nightmare to finish and then clean. (Never wet RYE and crush it as it is a beyond a sticky nightmare). BeerSmith profile for GrainFather has a default profile of 73% BHE but I made a GF2 profile based on someone's recommendation and set it to 75%. Here is a great article / experiment in regards to grain crush by Brulosphy - brulosophy.com/2015/11/23/mind-the-gap-course-vs-fine-crush-exbeeriment-results/ Summary - The better the crush the better the BHE but as we all know it is a double edged sword to avoid stuck sparges, scorching, and keeping the wort clear can be a bit more difficult.
My go to is the Anvil Foundry 10.5 for almost a year now but I had two GrainFathers before that and for the first year it worked really well and then I started having issues with the controller and after having 2 GrainFathers and 4 controllers (I bought 2 more) plus lots of scorching due to the high density burners as I was doing lots of Wheat and Rye which seem to burn easier I gave up and went to the Anvil. Around 6 months before I did this video GrainFather had completely redone their software and it looked really pretty but didn't work at all, at least for me. Around the time of this video they had finally not only fixed their software but made some major advancements like being able to recover due to connection loss and even my favorite feature being the ability to start over 100% and jump through the recipe steps to where you left off so you can resume from another device or the same one if it rebooted or like. On the Grainfather, your IOS or Android device really does a lot the counting and tracking but sends updates and changes to the GrainFather controller and if you have to do it manually you lose all those cool features handled by the app. As for importing, you can easily import recipes into Grainfather from other brewing software as an XML file. If the Grainfather was a bit cheaper and had low density burners I might consider them again some day. I will say all the cool programing of the controller is cool and it can help you set and forget to some degree but manually controlling the temps isn't that big of a deal plus it forces you to keep a good watch on your system assuming you are brewing outside and keep going in the house for things like A/C like I do.
The 120/240 switch is only a useful feature if you have both power sources available. Most people likely do not have an unused 240 outlet available. The feature has very narrow appeal, I don't think it's a significant factor. If I had a 240 outlet available where I want to do my brewing, I'd buy a 240 volt unit, and likely never use the switch.
The feature is more of a convenience for the manufacturer, so they don't have to stock units with two different types of power wiring. For that reason, I am surprised everyone doesn't offer it. Maybe it's an electrical safety approval issue.
I never thought of it from that perspective but that is brilliant assuming they are only selling that device in the U.S. as the rest of the world appears to be on 240 mainly from my understanding although I know there are a few countries that have different settings from what I am told.
I try to look at everything from multiple perspectives but on this one I might have been a little bias but from what I've seen in the Anvil Foundry forums a lot of home brewers will buy it and use it at the 120v for a short while or even as long as a year before upgrading a circuit in their house to 240 allowing them to step up to the 240v to reduce their time to heat things up. I was one of those people who used the 120 for 3 to 4 brews before having an electrician upgrade my available connections so I could use 240v. Plus soon I will be moving while we have a new house built and suspect I will have to step back down to 120 which I'm not happy about but thankful I won't have to buy a new brew system. When I made this video I didn't know I'd be moving many months later. (Electricity isn't my friend so I avoid playing with wires for safety of self and others as my wife says and it seems to go out of its way to nail me. When I was a teenager I was driving a car that got hit by lightning and yes it is rather safe for the person inside but not for the car as it suffered a fair amount of electrical damage but all was repairable (some fuses, lightbulbs, and my radio and eventually my transmission as they missed replacing a fuse that controlled pressure to the trans.)
The voltage switch isn't that big a deal. You can get transformers to do this from as little as £25 up to whatever you want to pay. With exchange rates they must have a start price between 25-30USD over in the US of A
I didn't realize this was that easy. I knew it was all electronics but I figured the hardware such as the heating element and such had to be designed to use either also.
Looking for the hop spider you use for your Anvil Foundry. Unsure of what length to buy. Want to get it to work with my foundry like you use. Thanks buddy.
This is the exact one I use and it is actually on sale right now as I think I paid about $35 originally - www.homebrewing.org/400-Micron-Stainless-Hop-Filter--6-x-14_p_7115.html?AffId=557 Also when I release the 2.5 gallon Saison video you can see how I use the same hop spider but was able to drop it about another 3 inches down without much effort. Technically the trick I used can be used with any decent hop spider to lower them quickly and easily to the bottom of the brew system when doing small batches. Maybe I'll throw the solution into this coming Monday's top 10.
Regarding Grainfather: wouldn't you risk to run the pump dry when your grain basket wouldn't have a malt pipe? I'm thinking of a stuck mash for example. Other than that, I also find that pipe kinda annoying. But I heard that you could do a brew in a bag in your Grainfather when you find a way to close this malt pipe hole on the bottom plate of your grain basket.
Sadly the word "Malt Pipe" seems to mean a couple things from the malt / grain basket to the annoying skinny pipe going down the very center which is the pipe I was referring too as I've never seen a real purpose for it beyond helping to add stability to the overall malt/grain basket but as Anvil did away with it there isn't a good reason that Grainfather and other like systems couldn't get rid of it too. Although I have noticed on the G70 the liquid goes out the very center like a sink drain system to their pump system which has its pros and cons too. Easily get everything being one of the biggest pros and cons to that system.
@@BitterRealityBrewing yes, I meant the skinny pipe in the center, which acts like a drain, but shouldn't be used like a drain - which would result in low efficiency I bet... so actually they could get rid of it?
I think I had heard of this a while back but I've saved it to my tabs / bookmarks so I can spend some real time checking it out as I have 2 Raspberry Pi devices now and neither are currently in use although one will go back to being my Tilt Pi very soon, that will leave me with a free one. Thanks for the heads up.
I was wondering if you have ever had issues with the Anvil Foundry. I have one that I brewed 3 batches with no issues and on brewday for the fourth batch it will not heat up. Contacted Anvil still waiting for response.
Sadly no, I've been using mine for just at about 1 year now without any major issues. If you haven't already reach out to Anvil aka Blichmann and join the Facebook group on Anvil as the owner of Blichmann/Anvil is also a member. Let me know what they figure out as I'm always interested in how things turn out and hopefully they help get you taken care of.
When you say "wireless", do you actually mean "Wi-Fi"? Because Bluetooth is 'wireless' also. I understand the GF's downfall is inconsistent Bluetooth performance.
As an IT guy (my day job) when I say Wi-Fi I almost always mean Network Wi-Fi and I usually refer to Bluetooth as Bluetooth but I usually call any wireless connection a wireless connection. The Grainfather uses Bluetooth which they have actually fixed the connectivity problems as much as possible but the one thing they did do that I had been wanting for years and they appear to have added in sometime in 2020 was multiple ways to recover from a lost connection, power outage, or even dead device (like a phone or tablet, not the Grainfather of course).
Yes, both systems in the video can be and many others. I appreciate the point of view as I failed to miss that this should also be an optional add-on for the "Perfect All in One Brewing System".
I love that perspective as I didn't think from that point of view. My GrainFathers did come with really good manuals that included a nice diagram and a lot of photos but I would agree all should come with that, plus common troubleshooting guide with reference to their website for items not covered. Spare parts manual would be a great place for the companies to upsell add-ons as a lot of people buy add-ons after they buy the main products with many things.
I've looked into the Brew-Boss in the past but wasn't sold but I think it may have been price but I don't remember. Can you tell me what features it brings to the table that would help make the perfect system and there has to be at least one item you can think of that they could improve on? This is all about voicing what us as Home Brewers would like to see in the perfect electric all-in-one system and I could only really report on what I had personal experience with.
Good question as I should test that but I was under the understanding that you want the spigot on full to create pressure buildup in the pump to help prime it but in theory once it is primed you shouldn't need the clamp. I will try that on the next brew. Good insight and the reason we should all question everything.
I tested it today and I opened the spigot to get the pump going and reduced the flow and all was good. I can't believe it was so obvious yet so many of us haven't thought of it. Thanks for the heads up.
@@BitterRealityBrewing restricting the inlet can cause damage to the pump. You always want to restrict the output. It specifies this in the anvil pump's manual- but the principle holds true to pretty much all mag-drive brewing pumps.
@@carola1155 Yep I was told that after the fact but I obviously didn't read that part in the manual. You had reminded me to reply to Thomaz to ensure he was aware. In future videos you will notice I went right back to the restricter and even mentioned why.
After testing it did work but it has been brought to my attention that reducing flow before hitting the pump can actually damage it and it should always be restricted after the pump not before. So we all live and learn a bit but it was a great thought.
For high density imagine a cooking pan and all the heat is in a small spot in the center. It will work but if you don't continually move the food around there is a good chance some will burn in that spot creating a scorched area aka Burnt Food spot. For Low density you still get the same amount of heat/wattage but it is more evenly spread around the entire cooking surface helping to reduce the intensity that one part of the cooking surface may have. You can still burn or scorch things but it is a lot less likely to occur which means no burnt food or scolded wort stuck to the bottom. If you've ever used one of these All-in-one electric systems, most have a reset switch on the bottom to help re-enable the heating element if it gets too hot due to scorching but you must clean the scorched area or the relay will trip off again. It can ruin a good brew day dealing with that especially if the system has no way to resume from where you left off.
For me the low density burner at half the price and the ability of the Anvil to do 120 or 240 pretty much sold me. Mine arrived yesterday and I plan to do a moch brew today!
Those two features were the biggest selling points for me too. I've had such great luck with my first one, I bought another one and currently run two Anvil Foundry systems side-by-side for experiments. Also learned to get the BHE up considerably since my first few brews with it and most things are basic but lifting the mash basket out once or twice during mashing at 15-minute intervals will kick you numbers up by a point or two.
@@BitterRealityBrewing I am going to do brew in a bag inside the malt pipe and see how it goes.
Would be nice with the double wall units is to put the cooling system built in the unit
That's why after much consideration I went with the Brewolution Brewster 40L.
It has the tight fitting grain basket, camlock fittings and a sight glass on the side separate from the recirculation pipe. It doesn't have a low spigot but that's because you use its pump to remove the wort to the fermentation vessel. It also has a huge, almost full size filter plate under the grain basket to help prevent clogging. It included a wort chiller and cost around $500 here in Sweden. I thought it was the best value for money amongst the various products on offer.
I've never seen a Brewolution here in the U.S. but for $500 that sounds like a great deal based on what that is in USD. The Anvil does have a bit more space between the grain basket and outer walls which has always been a concern. The Grainfather is a much tighter fit for the grainbasket.
@@BitterRealityBrewing It was interesting researching the different brands. I must have watched thirty or so videos before making a purchase. I think Brewolution are relative newcomers to the market but their equipment seems well put together. At some stage in the future it would be fun to see you do a comparison including the Brewolution. If they ever make it to the US.
I'm enjoying your content, keep up the good work 👏
I don't have an all-in-one, but every time I look at them I am put off by the forced-buy included chillers, so I am 100% with you on that.
I knew most brewers would get that everything impacts costs so why include things we may not need or want. That is why I am crossing my fingers we can get enough input that when I send the links to the companies or they simply stumble upon this video they will take everyone's comments to heart. If they make the chiller an add-on/optional it would lower the price of the main purchase, most likely increase their profits, and allow them to offer different options. Plus if they decided to upgrade/update an optional add-on they would have to do a major product change to the entire system. Also I know this would allow us to decide if we wanted their name brand add-ons or a 3rd party but most brewers will spend the same or even more if they like a company and feel their products are of quality and reliable.
I also do not like paying for things I do not need. I am wondering if this is due to not wanting more complexity in their ordering system or not. I would also argue that it prevents them from having a new to brewing customer not getting everything they need which could be solved by having a "the works" edition.
@@jasonz1810 I am all for companies making a profit as long as they aren't gouging us but I also don't like paying for stuff I don't want or need. I think the ability to build a great system and offering optional items/upgrades isn't that hard and the pricing shouldn't be outrages.
Get a digiboil
I am deciding between the Anvil Foundry and the Brewzilla and this is by far the most helpful video I have seen. Still have not decided...
Thank you and those two systems are great systems with lots of great features with very few (and very minor) cons which I see more as personal presences. From my understanding (unless something changed recently) they are the only two systems on the market with low density burners which was a huge reasoning for me going to the Anvil as the Brewzilla changed from high to low density shortly after I purchased my Anvil. On the Anvil the double walled part is really nice but I liked the idea of having a pump I could easily open, clean, and even use for other things. I'm pretty sure the Brewzilla uses the same (or almost identical) pump but it is inside a bit harder to clean but there is a lot to be said for having everything inside one neat package. Plus the Brewzilla has the camlocks which are really nice and the temp control system has a bit more programmability if you will actually use that feature. As the Brewzilla's grain basket is a lot like the GrainFather I will say it might be a bit awkward to work with compared to the simplicity of the Anvil initially but I would expect slightly higher efficiencies with the Brewzilla over the Anvil without buying and using the Anvil small batch adapter that helps to force the flow of the wort through the entire grain bed helping to recapture those potentially lost efficiency points. The only other big option for the Anvil that I liked was the ability to go between 120/240. I started with 120 and had an electrician upgrade a circuit outside so I could do 240 and with a simply flip of a switch I was on 240v but we will be moving in the near future and I might have to deal with 120v again for a full year before our new house is built where I can go back to 240v so the choice for me is actually going to pay for itself. I will say when I get to my new house I am seriously considering either buying another Anvil to do comparison reviews but in the back of my head I am also considering a Brewzilla (240v version) so that I can do comparisons between products with the same brews but at the end of the day I don't know what will be available to purchase over a year from now so all of that could change by that time and I may have to buy two completely new systems. 😀
Thanks. Efficiency is important to me since I will do quite a bit of wheat beer and saisons (but modest ABV versions in the 6% range) and may go full volume/no sparge on those. Still a close call for me but the unavailability of the Anvil may push me towards the Brewzilla. Either will be a big upgrade from my turkey fryer burner BIAB method!
@@seanreilly9388 Fully understand and I think you will be happy long term with either as they are both great products, if you can do 240v long-term I would consider the Fermzilla 240v version over the 120v as it will save you a lot of time during heating but that is the only major benefit for the higher voltage (My wife is always asking during my brew days..."are you done yet, are you done yet?". Funny you mention Turkey fryer as that was my step up as I got the burner and the big aluminum pot from Walmart on sales for $40 (after the holidays as I think it was on clearance). I still have the big pot and use it mainly for cleaning labels off bottles. I use to do 3 and 4 gallon batches and then split it from that to smaller ones if I was adding hops or just do the whole thing in the big fryer pot and split it into 1 gallon jugs to ferment with different yeasts. I learned a ton and actually miss those days. A little over a year from now I will have a new house and a dedicated brew area (400 to 500 sq ft) so I'm considering another Camp Chef big gas grill with 3 burners as I can boil up to 3 small batches at at time for testing like I use to (or the cheaper version they also sell now).
Just picked up an Anvil Foundry 10.5 a few days ago, didn't get a chance to use it yet. I chose it partially for cost, but also partly because I don't trust things like bluetooth technology to "just work" and I didn't feel that I wanted something that took control away from me but just something that helped me along with the hard parts. I found your comments re: the grainfather and it's controller very interesting....
I liked my GrainFather when it worked but when it didn't there was almost no way to recover beyond either moving to a kettle with a BIAB and boiling in a kettle or sometimes you got lucky and I could slap the old manual controller on and do it manually. Some of my very first videos the Altbier was a GrainFather nightmare as I couldn't even get up to temp for almost anything and the Citrus Rye IPA I wasn't able to ever get to a boil temp. The controllers kept cutting out. I love technology ...when it works and I am right there with you on Bluetooth it has never been reliable for me on too many things to list. Enjoy your Anvil as I am going to a do a video in coming weeks with small batch adapter (I ordered it a few days ago) to see if I can get higher efficiencies as I strongly suspect I will.
Almost forgot, you should check out David Heath Homebrew as he did a few reviews of GrainFather systems and he gets some of the equipment for free or on loan and he still is extremely honest about the systems.
@Mann Handleson I ran somewhat of a test yesterday and here is the video testing my BHE using the adapter. ua-cam.com/video/93QK4LYXe7k/v-deo.html I went from 59 to 70's all the way up to 85% BHE. My PH is usually under 5.6 but this time I watched it like a hawk and pushed it down to 5.42 (close to the middle of the 5.2 to 5.6 range) and with that adapter tightly in place I was extremely impressed. I will run more tests as it cools down outside and I will try it with a large grain bill soon too.
Well said. I would love to have a removable handle in my Anvil. I also use a bag with the malt pipe. A better chiller would be great. I like your idea of not including it and letting the cost a bit so I have more money to put into a better chiller.
I thought about it afterwards and realized you could still get away with a grain bag in a system like the Grainfather but you would simply have to leave the malt pipe out as the whole in the metal screen wouldn't matter due to the mesh bag.
Great!! Thank you for this!! I subscribed
Awesome and Thank You!
You have 240v for powerful appliances, here in Sweden we have 240v as normal with 380v for cookers etc.
Wow, I did realize you all had anything over 240v for home use. Thanks for the info.
Try the Clawhammer Supply 120 or 240. I love mine. I had done research about 2/3 years ago, and went with that.
I have just ordered the Anvil as I've put a 240v outlet in. I'm excited to be able to brew on both. The only caveat I've seen with Anvil is the lighter grain builds. I've done 21lbs in the Clawhammer.
Anyways, great video.
I've been keeping up with the Clawhammer and do have a question in regards to it. Does the recirculation sprayer get clogged? It seems pretty tight and I know during the initial mash you can sometimes see bits that have gotten threw the screens. I would agree about the limitation on grains with the Anvil as they really should have made the grain basket just a bit larger as it would have made for a tighter fit (less dead space on the sides) and given a boost to the total grain capacity. I strongly suspect a lot of these companies such as the Clawhammer and many of the all-in-ones will be releasing their newest versions sometime in 2021 and I can only hope most of them have been listening to the brewers who use them. I would love for you to give some insight into a video I did since you would have a different perspective being a Clawhammer user. When you have some time please take a look at this video where basically I am trying to come up with a concept for the perfect all-in-one brewing systems based on the good and bad currently on the market. ua-cam.com/video/P-lDeb4U3QA/v-deo.html
I've never had any issues with the CS. My unit is about 3 years old. I've not had any clogging issues be it for the recirc sprayer or any other aspect of the system.
It has one of the longest hop baskets I've seen. I highly recommend 2 of them if using a lot of hops.
As far as grains getting through the basket, it doesn't happen. The only time I had issues like that was my own error in not paying attention.
I suppose it could be enhanced to use a digital controller and maybe wifi, but that would also increase the cost.
Their pump is good as well. Though it definitely needs cleaning. I bought the Riptide from Blichman to see how it performs on my system.
Is CS the perfect system? No, but for me it's pretty darn close. My plan is for the 240v 20 gal system next year.
@@tonyc1782 That is really good info to know about the sprayer not having issues which means the basket filter does a great job. As for a perfect system that will never truly exist as we are all have different views but could all of the current systems benefit from a few redesigns or optional enhancements that is something I do think we all could agree on. As my channel grows I would highly consider trying other systems as it is always nice to get a different perspective plus I love home brewing as I am always learning and can experiment with no end in sight which is awesome plus getting to enjoy the rewards after brewing and fermentation is a bonus.
My thoughts on the grainfather after owning it since the start of the year and running about 15 brews through it.
Hops - I have been finding the hop filter quite effective, though I was getting the ball check valve clogged with hops. Simple fix, took the ball and spring out and it's worked fine ever since. The factory hop spider did not work for me - waste of money, it fills up with wort and it doesn't drain. As long as you remove the ball and spring, it's fine without a hop spider, I have done a couple of IPA's with around 140-160g pellet hops in the boil, and it handled this without any problems
GrainFather Connect - For me, there are 2 key issues - 1. the app is not as good as Beersmith or brewfather, (with properly tweaked profiles), I don't want to use their app to manage my recipes. 2. It's bluetooth (not wifi), so it only has a 15meter range. I've just started using Brewfather app, and apparently this will connect to the grainfather, so I'm going to give this a go - this could be the solution for me.
Scorching - Can't say I've had the issue with scorching or the breaker tripping, I did find issues with stuck mashes, which I solved by a coarser mill setting, and adding rice hulls to beers with a lot of rye/wheat. This was the biggest thing for me, moving from a 3-vessel system to a single vessel recirc/grainpipe system - your crush is a lot more critical - and it's very frustrating while you're getting everything tuned in, expecting 1.073 and getting 1.065 (it still tasted good however, rye slightly-less-robust porter...). This was a 7.1kg grain bill, 40% rye/wheat, so I feel like if I was going to get scorching, this would have been the batch.
Cleaning - I clean-in-place, so basically circulating 10 litres of PBW through the pump and cooler for half an hour or so at 60C, I don't see a need to dissasseble the pump if you're cleaning with PBW regularly, that stuff is pretty effective. In fact, because of all of the rubber fittings on the pump, I'd much prefer to leave these alone and not touch them.
Hops - I never had the ball and spring clog but I will say I had take it apart to clean it really good after every use. I'm not sure about their hop spider as it shows it is 800 micron so it should clog up but I use a 400 that can but avoid the 300 as I'm told it always clogs unless you use whole hops.
GrainFather Connect - I use to use BeerSmith and just export the XMLs and import them into GrainFathers app which use to work really well until they moved to the "Community" app then it was a nightmare but I did run some tests recently and noticed it stayed connected (it always does when I run plain water tests and don't actually brew beer) plus I noticed a lot of major improvements like "Resume" (which actually worked this time all 3 times I tested it). I do subscribe to BrewFather but haven't had time to deep dive into it as I tried using it with my Tilts but my Tilt Pi webserver is so much better tailored for that feature. I also saw you can now skip steps if you had to start over but you still can't move forward by time but I guess you could always skip into a step finish out your time that you missed if you had to resume or start over from another device and then hit skip to get where you left off. It was nice to see they are working to improve the app as it is a great concept and would be awesome as long as they maintain the reliability. As for the 15 meter range, once it was working and if it lost connection it would always work fine and keep working when I got back in range.
Scorching - I didn't have any real issues with scorching the first 1.5 years but after about 32 brews it seemed to be anytime I used a decent amount of rye or wheat and even a tiny amount would send the breaking tripping non-stop. I'm currently repairing my first of my two GFs and I've found the thermostat wasn't the problem or the controller but there is actually a wire fuse in the bottom that is hardwired in which appears to be the part that died in it so I've ordered a replacement. I am impressed you didn't get any scorching with 40% rye/wheat as I love both of those grains. Rye for the flavor and wheat for the silky mouth feel or how it can enhanced a flavored beer. I was annoyed when they did a major revision recently but didn't make any noticeable changes to the actual kettle where I felt the low density burners would have been an obvious change to make. Don't get me wrong when you here be get annoyed with GF as I love their techie side and refinement as it is an awesome product I just wish they would come out with a GF 2.0 and make some of the obvious enhancements they are aware of that would put their product really stand out massively. I know in time there will be a company that does it and currently GF is one of those companies that could easily do it. Double walled construction would be a bonus but not a big deal for me in Florida.
Cleaning - I did the same but only about 20 minutes (sometimes longer) of PBW and then another 20 minutes with StarSan. As for disassembly the pump I would like it to be a bit easy to take apart so when I do that deep clean about ever 3 to 6 months (based on how much I brew) I could ensure everything was spotless and nothing hiding anywhere.
Thank you very much for the detailed comment as this really helps other brewers and I think the better companies look around and read this kind of stuff. Also as I said everyone's mileage may vary (YMMV) as I've heard people having minor to major problems with every brand out there and other people who haven't had a single issue and have tons of brews under their belt. I do wish GF and Anvil would add the notched handle for their grain baskets as I age I can relate better to those brewers unable to lift those without pulley systems and currently there are very few companies that have that notch aka bent piece of metal.
@@BitterRealityBrewing thanks for the reply, I used BrewFather with the grainfather integration for a brew yesterday and it worked ok, it's pretty basic, it lets you upload recipes, control the set temp, press the "set" button and turn the pump & heat on and off, the timers for your mash/boil schedule aren't synchronised with the brewfather timers. It's an MVP. I didn't check on any restart functions or anything. I think easiest way is to have the BrewFather timers going, and control the grainfather manually. I'd really love to be able to get it running the program for the mash, and check on it from inside the house (outside of bluetooth range)
The grainfather is not perfect, but it's everything I need and I'm very grateful to have it - I'm churning out great beer, consistently, without tying myself up for the entire day. Also with COVID, I'm working from home full time, and it's quite easy to run a brew on a weekday while I'm working at the same time. My old system was an esky mash tun system, controlling mash temps used to put my anxiety through the roof, and it was much more time consuming, labour intensive and less predictable. So, it's a big win for me, dispite some flaws
@@merlin3671 The BH Efficiencies on the GrainFather are amazing as long as you use a little rice hulls and don't pack the mash down which is pretty standard for any system but the BHE was always high for me on the GrainFather which on the Anvil were really low out of the gate but I've found some a work arounds to get much better BHe which are now comparable to my GF. When GF first came out with the newer community app and it had only 1 star on Apple's app store I recommended that they focus on their hardware and maybe consider working with BrewFather to take over the software part but of course that fell on deaf ears. I do like the GrainFather community app a lot especially as they appear to have gotten most or even all of the bugs out of it now. It isn't as incompassing as BrewFather and doesn't do nearly as much but the little badges (like pats on the back for achievements) and the ability to share recipes within a community of people all using the same system is pretty cool.
@@BitterRealityBrewing what efficiency were you getting with your GF? I was getting 75% BHe fairly consistently with my beersmith profile, using rice hulls in the higher gravity / sticky mash brews, I have my roller gap set on 1.346mm (grainfather recommend 1.27-1.4mm)
the default profile in BrewFather has given me only 69%, so I'm currently working out what went on there, my current theory is the difference in water/grain ratio (my beersmith profile was 2.84l/kg vs 2.7l/kg in the brewfather), though I did have a kilo of wheat in that one and no rice hulls, so it could have just been stickier than I expected.
@@merlin3671 Sorry I had to look through my old brew history with my GF but 83% was my average some lower especially if they were big grain bills and a few small grainbills around the 85%. I'd have the gap on my grainmill (Cereal Crusher) and I usually set it to 0.050 to 0.0375 (I prefer the lower one and lots of rice hulls) I would estimate it to be maybe right at 1 mm at 0.0375 as according to @Brulosophy he has an article from 2015 that states 0.039 is inches and is 1 mm. I will say I tried the spraying of your grains with water before crushing and the first time it worked amazingly well with nice BHE and extremely clear wort but the 2nd time I think I sprayed a bit too much water I guess as my grainmill got stuck and it was a nightmare to finish and then clean. (Never wet RYE and crush it as it is a beyond a sticky nightmare). BeerSmith profile for GrainFather has a default profile of 73% BHE but I made a GF2 profile based on someone's recommendation and set it to 75%.
Here is a great article / experiment in regards to grain crush by Brulosphy - brulosophy.com/2015/11/23/mind-the-gap-course-vs-fine-crush-exbeeriment-results/
Summary - The better the crush the better the BHE but as we all know it is a double edged sword to avoid stuck sparges, scorching, and keeping the wort clear can be a bit more difficult.
Would have been nice to include the Guten in that review
Sadly I haven't seen those here in the U.S. yet.
Which system is you “Go-to”? I am researching the anvil one but LOVE the smart use ones. Importing recipes would be SO helpful!
My go to is the Anvil Foundry 10.5 for almost a year now but I had two GrainFathers before that and for the first year it worked really well and then I started having issues with the controller and after having 2 GrainFathers and 4 controllers (I bought 2 more) plus lots of scorching due to the high density burners as I was doing lots of Wheat and Rye which seem to burn easier I gave up and went to the Anvil. Around 6 months before I did this video GrainFather had completely redone their software and it looked really pretty but didn't work at all, at least for me. Around the time of this video they had finally not only fixed their software but made some major advancements like being able to recover due to connection loss and even my favorite feature being the ability to start over 100% and jump through the recipe steps to where you left off so you can resume from another device or the same one if it rebooted or like. On the Grainfather, your IOS or Android device really does a lot the counting and tracking but sends updates and changes to the GrainFather controller and if you have to do it manually you lose all those cool features handled by the app. As for importing, you can easily import recipes into Grainfather from other brewing software as an XML file. If the Grainfather was a bit cheaper and had low density burners I might consider them again some day.
I will say all the cool programing of the controller is cool and it can help you set and forget to some degree but manually controlling the temps isn't that big of a deal plus it forces you to keep a good watch on your system assuming you are brewing outside and keep going in the house for things like A/C like I do.
@@BitterRealityBrewing thank you! Wish Anvil had a smart system.
The 120/240 switch is only a useful feature if you have both power sources available. Most people likely do not have an unused 240 outlet available. The feature has very narrow appeal, I don't think it's a significant factor. If I had a 240 outlet available where I want to do my brewing, I'd buy a 240 volt unit, and likely never use the switch.
The feature is more of a convenience for the manufacturer, so they don't have to stock units with two different types of power wiring. For that reason, I am surprised everyone doesn't offer it. Maybe it's an electrical safety approval issue.
I never thought of it from that perspective but that is brilliant assuming they are only selling that device in the U.S. as the rest of the world appears to be on 240 mainly from my understanding although I know there are a few countries that have different settings from what I am told.
I try to look at everything from multiple perspectives but on this one I might have been a little bias but from what I've seen in the Anvil Foundry forums a lot of home brewers will buy it and use it at the 120v for a short while or even as long as a year before upgrading a circuit in their house to 240 allowing them to step up to the 240v to reduce their time to heat things up. I was one of those people who used the 120 for 3 to 4 brews before having an electrician upgrade my available connections so I could use 240v. Plus soon I will be moving while we have a new house built and suspect I will have to step back down to 120 which I'm not happy about but thankful I won't have to buy a new brew system. When I made this video I didn't know I'd be moving many months later.
(Electricity isn't my friend so I avoid playing with wires for safety of self and others as my wife says and it seems to go out of its way to nail me. When I was a teenager I was driving a car that got hit by lightning and yes it is rather safe for the person inside but not for the car as it suffered a fair amount of electrical damage but all was repairable (some fuses, lightbulbs, and my radio and eventually my transmission as they missed replacing a fuse that controlled pressure to the trans.)
The voltage switch isn't that big a deal. You can get transformers to do this from as little as £25 up to whatever you want to pay. With exchange rates they must have a start price between 25-30USD over in the US of A
I didn't realize this was that easy. I knew it was all electronics but I figured the hardware such as the heating element and such had to be designed to use either also.
Looking for the hop spider you use for your Anvil Foundry. Unsure of what length to buy. Want to get it to work with my foundry like you use. Thanks buddy.
This is the exact one I use and it is actually on sale right now as I think I paid about $35 originally - www.homebrewing.org/400-Micron-Stainless-Hop-Filter--6-x-14_p_7115.html?AffId=557
Also when I release the 2.5 gallon Saison video you can see how I use the same hop spider but was able to drop it about another 3 inches down without much effort. Technically the trick I used can be used with any decent hop spider to lower them quickly and easily to the bottom of the brew system when doing small batches. Maybe I'll throw the solution into this coming Monday's top 10.
Regarding Grainfather: wouldn't you risk to run the pump dry when your grain basket wouldn't have a malt pipe? I'm thinking of a stuck mash for example. Other than that, I also find that pipe kinda annoying. But I heard that you could do a brew in a bag in your Grainfather when you find a way to close this malt pipe hole on the bottom plate of your grain basket.
Sadly the word "Malt Pipe" seems to mean a couple things from the malt / grain basket to the annoying skinny pipe going down the very center which is the pipe I was referring too as I've never seen a real purpose for it beyond helping to add stability to the overall malt/grain basket but as Anvil did away with it there isn't a good reason that Grainfather and other like systems couldn't get rid of it too. Although I have noticed on the G70 the liquid goes out the very center like a sink drain system to their pump system which has its pros and cons too. Easily get everything being one of the biggest pros and cons to that system.
@@BitterRealityBrewing yes, I meant the skinny pipe in the center, which acts like a drain, but shouldn't be used like a drain - which would result in low efficiency I bet... so actually they could get rid of it?
@@braufritze8673 Yep...it needs to go but that is only my opinion as I simply can't justify its overall value to the system as a whole.
Have you tried the craft beer Pi?
I think I had heard of this a while back but I've saved it to my tabs / bookmarks so I can spend some real time checking it out as I have 2 Raspberry Pi devices now and neither are currently in use although one will go back to being my Tilt Pi very soon, that will leave me with a free one. Thanks for the heads up.
I was wondering if you have ever had issues with the Anvil Foundry. I have one that I brewed 3 batches with no issues and on brewday for the fourth batch it will not heat up. Contacted Anvil still waiting for response.
Sadly no, I've been using mine for just at about 1 year now without any major issues. If you haven't already reach out to Anvil aka Blichmann and join the Facebook group on Anvil as the owner of Blichmann/Anvil is also a member. Let me know what they figure out as I'm always interested in how things turn out and hopefully they help get you taken care of.
When you say "wireless", do you actually mean "Wi-Fi"? Because Bluetooth is 'wireless' also. I understand the GF's downfall is inconsistent Bluetooth performance.
As an IT guy (my day job) when I say Wi-Fi I almost always mean Network Wi-Fi and I usually refer to Bluetooth as Bluetooth but I usually call any wireless connection a wireless connection. The Grainfather uses Bluetooth which they have actually fixed the connectivity problems as much as possible but the one thing they did do that I had been wanting for years and they appear to have added in sometime in 2020 was multiple ways to recover from a lost connection, power outage, or even dead device (like a phone or tablet, not the Grainfather of course).
Can either be set up to distill?
Yes, both systems in the video can be and many others. I appreciate the point of view as I failed to miss that this should also be an optional add-on for the "Perfect All in One Brewing System".
@@BitterRealityBrewing Are there any reviews that you know of? Thx Rick
Drawings, spare parts catalogue and troubleshooting guide included in the box. All brew system will fail eventually.
I love that perspective as I didn't think from that point of view. My GrainFathers did come with really good manuals that included a nice diagram and a lot of photos but I would agree all should come with that, plus common troubleshooting guide with reference to their website for items not covered. Spare parts manual would be a great place for the companies to upsell add-ons as a lot of people buy add-ons after they buy the main products with many things.
I will stick with my Brew Boss
I've looked into the Brew-Boss in the past but wasn't sold but I think it may have been price but I don't remember. Can you tell me what features it brings to the table that would help make the perfect system and there has to be at least one item you can think of that they could improve on? This is all about voicing what us as Home Brewers would like to see in the perfect electric all-in-one system and I could only really report on what I had personal experience with.
I'm confused... why do you have to use the pinching clamp to control flow? Why can't you just use the lever on the spigot?
Good question as I should test that but I was under the understanding that you want the spigot on full to create pressure buildup in the pump to help prime it but in theory once it is primed you shouldn't need the clamp. I will try that on the next brew. Good insight and the reason we should all question everything.
I tested it today and I opened the spigot to get the pump going and reduced the flow and all was good. I can't believe it was so obvious yet so many of us haven't thought of it. Thanks for the heads up.
@@BitterRealityBrewing restricting the inlet can cause damage to the pump. You always want to restrict the output. It specifies this in the anvil pump's manual- but the principle holds true to pretty much all mag-drive brewing pumps.
@@carola1155 Yep I was told that after the fact but I obviously didn't read that part in the manual. You had reminded me to reply to Thomaz to ensure he was aware. In future videos you will notice I went right back to the restricter and even mentioned why.
After testing it did work but it has been brought to my attention that reducing flow before hitting the pump can actually damage it and it should always be restricted after the pump not before. So we all live and learn a bit but it was a great thought.
Low density burners???
For high density imagine a cooking pan and all the heat is in a small spot in the center. It will work but if you don't continually move the food around there is a good chance some will burn in that spot creating a scorched area aka Burnt Food spot. For Low density you still get the same amount of heat/wattage but it is more evenly spread around the entire cooking surface helping to reduce the intensity that one part of the cooking surface may have. You can still burn or scorch things but it is a lot less likely to occur which means no burnt food or scolded wort stuck to the bottom. If you've ever used one of these All-in-one electric systems, most have a reset switch on the bottom to help re-enable the heating element if it gets too hot due to scorching but you must clean the scorched area or the relay will trip off again. It can ruin a good brew day dealing with that especially if the system has no way to resume from where you left off.