So, I have a Brewart...

[HomeBrew 82]

Hi Guys' date='

 

I have just purchased a Brewart and am awaiting delivery. Im looking forward to getting back into brewing. I used to brew a lot in years gone by with a couple of FV's. But these days I am somewhat time poor and also space poor and this looked like a great solution for both problems. I will start out with a couple of Brewprints to get a feel for it, but I am looking forward to creating a few custom brews.

 

Hopefully we can share experiences and a few custom brew ideas and experiments and such?

 

Thanks Guys

[/quote']

 

Download the smartphone app for either iphone or android as it gives you more control over it.

 

 

 

 

[Ibbo]

Hi Guys' date='

 

I have just purchased a Brewart and am awaiting delivery. Im looking forward to getting back into brewing. I used to brew a lot in years gone by with a couple of FV's. But these days I am somewhat time poor and also space poor and this looked like a great solution for both problems. I will start out with a couple of Brewprints to get a feel for it, but I am looking forward to creating a few custom brews.

 

Hopefully we can share experiences and a few custom brew ideas and experiments and such?

 

Thanks Guys

[/quote']

 

Download the smartphone app for either iphone or android as it gives you more control over it.

 

I certainly plan on doing that. The other big advantage for me living in north queensland will be the ability to brew all year round with this unit being temperature controlled.

 

 

 

[HomeBrew 82]

Got a non brewart print recipe on the go at the moment to see how it will turn out, Morgans Golden Saaz Pilsner 1.7kg goo can, body booster, dextrose, 2X Morgans European lager yeast and 12 grams of saaz finshing hops.

 

Scaled down though to suit 10 litres.

 

Fermenting at 11-12C

 

Be interesting to see how this turns out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BeachBanjo]

Got a non brewart print recipe on the go at the moment to see how it will turn out' date=' Morgans Golden Saaz Pilsner 1.7kg goo can, body booster, dextrose, 2X Morgans European lager yeast and 12 grams of saaz finshing hops.

 

Scaled down though to suit 10 litres.

 

Fermenting at 11-12C [img']happy[/img]

 

Be interesting to see how this turns out

 

 

 

Let us know how it turns out .

 

I did the craft recipe for the Turncoat IPL scaled up to 10L in mine and it worked a treat ! It was over-carbonated coming out of the keg, which is my fault (first attempt at bulk priming ) but other than that it was a great beer, and my first brew using lager yeast.

 

I am currently 8 days into fermenting the California Steam brewprint, which on the brewart site says to use the Ale program, but when I started the brew using my app and selecting the California Steam brewprint, it set the fermentation temp to 12C. I was a bit worried but I checked the yeast description and it says it can handle it.

[BeachBanjo]

Also, If anyone else has the BrewFlow keg dispenser: I was recently sent this from customer service when I emailed about the interchangeable font taps on the dispenser.

 

BrewFlo Interchangeable Font Top

 

You can use these to change your tap art. Their return email also mentioned that they were investigating exciting options for these, including software which allows you to create your own artwork for customised brews. Would be great to have that in the app maybe.

 

[HomeBrew 82]

Got a non brewart print recipe on the go at the moment to see how it will turn out' date=' Morgans Golden Saaz Pilsner 1.7kg goo can, body booster, dextrose, 2X Morgans European lager yeast and 12 grams of saaz finshing hops.

 

Scaled down though to suit 10 litres.

 

Fermenting at 11-12C [img']happy[/img]

 

Be interesting to see how this turns out

 

 

 

Let us know how it turns out .

 

I did the craft recipe for the Turncoat IPL scaled up to 10L in mine and it worked a treat ! It was over-carbonated coming out of the keg, which is my fault (first attempt at bulk priming ) but other than that it was a great beer, and my first brew using lager yeast.

 

I am currently 8 days into fermenting the California Steam brewprint, which on the brewart site says to use the Ale program, but when I started the brew using my app and selecting the California Steam brewprint, it set the fermentation temp to 12C. I was a bit worried but I checked the yeast description and it says it can handle it.

 

Sure thing Banjo

 

The American Pale Ale brewprint i did earlier on should be ready to try sometime this weekend as it was bottled about 2 weeks ago now.

 

 

[Beaver1525229473]

Hi All the Brewart owners,

 

Due to lack of available space I am looking into the purchase of the Brewart Brewflo as an alternate to a full kegerator.

 

I brew in the standard 25/30l fermenters but was thinking of purchasing the Brewflo along with a few of the minikegs for dispensing/storing my home brew instead of bottles.

 

One of the sticking points for me though is what appears to be the need for the disposable bladders for the minikegs.

 

Could someone confirm for me if the disposable bladder is a nice to have convenience thing or a is it a necessity ie the minikeg won't work without bladder?

 

Thanks and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

Beaver.

[Mark D Pirate]

Hi All the Brewart owners' date='

 

Due to lack of available space I am looking into the purchase of the Brewart Brewflo as an alternate to a full kegerator.

 

I brew in the standard 25/30l fermenters but was thinking of purchasing the Brewflo along with a few of the minikegs for dispensing/storing my home brew instead of bottles.

 

One of the sticking points for me though is what appears to be the need for the disposable bladders for the minikegs.

 

Could someone confirm for me if the disposable bladder is a nice to have convenience thing or a is it a necessity ie the minikeg won't work without bladder?

 

Thanks and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

Beaver.[/quote']

Have a look at the" tap a draft" setup , much cheaper but does require CO2 bulbs and lives in the fridge .

I mostly use mine for mobility , got 2 taps and 7 kegs and some cooler bags for taking beer somewhere without bottles

[BeachBanjo]

Hi All the Brewart owners' date='

 

Due to lack of available space I am looking into the purchase of the Brewart Brewflo as an alternate to a full kegerator.

 

I brew in the standard 25/30l fermenters but was thinking of purchasing the Brewflo along with a few of the minikegs for dispensing/storing my home brew instead of bottles.

 

One of the sticking points for me though is what appears to be the need for the disposable bladders for the minikegs.

 

Could someone confirm for me if the disposable bladder is a nice to have convenience thing or a is it a necessity ie the minikeg won't work without bladder?

 

Thanks and any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

Beaver.[/quote']

 

Hi Beaver,

 

The liners are required, the way that the dispenser works is it pumps air between the keg and the liner which squeezes the bag and dispenses the beer. Without that, it would just be a 5L bottle of beer that would need to be poured by hand.

 

Don't tell PB2, but I managed to reuse one of my keg liners without any issue . I think that I will probably try and get at least 2 more uses from that liner before swapping it out for a new one. To reuse, I treated it the same way as a bottle. When empty, I filled partially with water, shake, empty, fill again, shake, empty until the water running out is clear. Then on kegging day pour some starsan solution into the liner, shake, let sit for a couple of minutes and empty but don't rinse, then fold the keg liner back up into the keg and fill.

 

[Beaver1525229473]

Hi Beaver,

 

The liners are required, the way that the dispenser works is it pumps air between the keg and the liner which squeezes the bag and dispenses the beer. Without that, it would just be a 5L bottle of beer that would need to be poured by hand.

 

Don't tell PB2, but I managed to reuse one of my keg liners without any issue . I think that I will probably try and get at least 2 more uses from that liner before swapping it out for a new one. To reuse, I treated it the same way as a bottle. When empty, I filled partially with water, shake, empty, fill again, shake, empty until the water running out is clear. Then on kegging day pour some starsan solution into the liner, shake, let sit for a couple of minutes and empty but don't rinse, then fold the keg liner back up into the keg and fill.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks Banjo,

Could you advise what would stop you using the liners more (in addition to your next couple of brews) if you cleaned them well enough between uses.

Do the liners degrade?

I guess if you divide the cost of the liners by multiple uses ie 3 uses, then they start to get a bit more reasonable.

Just a bit of hassle to remember to order them in time each time etc.

 

Cheers,

 

Beaver.

 

[BeachBanjo]

I am not sure how much they degrade. I have had a couple of beers out of a reused liner and they seem fine so I am happy with how I cleaned and sanitised it. I just figure that if you get a few uses out of one, then they are quite cheap, so a fresh one now and then might be nice. Plus I am not sure if the sanitiser will actually damage the liner over time, in which case I will play it safe for my beers sake.

 

I had a good look around at other small keg dispensing systems, there is some pretty cool stuff out there! Most will use the tiny co2 bulbs, I think they are about $2.50 per bulb and 1 bulb per keg per use, so for this size of dispenser you have a trade off to consider, bulbs or liners. If you go gas, then I would probably look into one that can use a soda stream gas bottle which should still fit nicely in the fridge.

[Beaver1525229473]

Thanks for your insight Banjo,

Much appreciated.

Certainly has given me a little more food for thought.

The reuse-ability (if not recommended but possible) puts it back in to my calculations.

Thanks again and happy brewing.

Cheers,

 

Beaver

[porschemad911]

Have a look at the" tap a draft" setup ' date=' much cheaper but does require CO2 bulbs and lives in the fridge .

I mostly use mine for mobility , got 2 taps and 7 kegs and some cooler bags for taking beer somewhere without bottles [/quote']

I can second the Tap-a-Draft recommendation. I've got one of these too and it works well. With a priming rate for each bottle of 6 x Coopers carb drops it pours perfectly. In fact I just packaged my Coopers ESVA 2016 into 3 x Tap-a-Draft bottles on the weekend, so looking forward to having that on tap in the fridge!

 

Cheers,

 

John

[Otto Von Blotto]

Seems to be one disadvantage of all these fancy automated systems - having to fork out money all the time for all the shit needed to actually use the things... probably works out more expensive than buying beer from the bottle shop in reality. Granted, I shelled out a fair bit for my kegging set up but at least it's re-usable.. I don't have to buy new kegs or new beer line for every batch.

[Alpaca Brew]

Use the BeerDroid to make the perfect beer every time. Keg it into a normal kegging set up and you have the best of both. If you want to take some beer to drink with friends just fill up a Growlerwerks growler and you will be the hit of the party.

 

Peggy

[Beerlust]

I've been following this thread with interest as it runs along & evolves.

 

What the Brewart system does offer is simplicity above everything else. For that ingenuity, hats off.

 

Aside from that, it offers only restriction & conformity. That I personally am not a fan of.

 

That said, I'd happily buy my father the Brewart system as he loves home brewing on a simple scale with minimal effort required, so this new system would enable him to produce a fantastic array of beer styles under a controlled environment that would maximize the quality of the beer he would produce.

 

It's not for everyone, & it's not for me right now either as I prefer more control over the construction of my brews, but credit where credit is due. The most advanced system available on the market for the simplistic production of high quality home brewed beer from go-to-woah.

 

As much as I would like to, I can't knock it.

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

[HomeBrew 82]

I've been following this thread with interest as it runs along & evolves.

 

What the Brewart system does offer is simplicity above everything else. For that ingenuity' date=' hats off.

 

Aside from that, it offers only restriction & conformity. That I personally am not a fan of. [img']pouty[/img]

 

That said, I'd happily buy my father the Brewart system as he loves home brewing on a simple scale with minimal effort required, so this new system would enable him to produce a fantastic array or beer styles under a controlled environment that would maximize the quality of the beer he would produce.

 

It's not for everyone, & it's not for me right now either as I prefer more control over the construction of my brews, but credit where credit is due. The most advanced system available on the market for the simplistic production of high quality home brewed beer from go-to-woah.

 

As much as I would like to, I can't knock it.

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

 

 

Yes its not for everyone....more like a niche market thing towards people who don't have the space for normal brewing gear or just time poor.

 

 

 

 

[porschemad911]

The Brewart looks great as an extremely compact, temperature controlled fermenter for small batches of beer. If I were lucky enough to get my hands on one, I would just make up 10 litres of any kit, extract, partial mash or all-grain wort I liked, ferment it in the Brewart and package as I do now. So I don't see the system as being a limitation, rather as a good fermentation tool with an optional recipe / ingredients / packaging / serving ecosystem around it that I would choose not to use.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Yeah, basically a really expensive version of a temperature controlled fridge...

[porschemad911]

I don't think you can compare the Brewart with a temp controlled fridge at all in terms of the space they take up!

[BeachBanjo]

I took the dogs for a walk last night and got back to this!

 

 

This is a good sign of a robust and healthy fermentation! And a messy bench, some of it was like liquid malt extract in thickness and stickiness. It takes a while to clean it up too!

[prof_grainbrain]

Wow. Was this with one of their recipes/packs Banjo, or were you doing your own?

[BeachBanjo]

Wow. Was this with one of their recipes/packs Banjo' date=' or were you doing your own?[/quote']

 

It was one of theirs actually. The Midlands Pale Ale. 3 days 2 hours in and temperature set to 16.

[WP's]

Wow, that's a surprise, particularly as there is a LOT of head room if your only making a 10 litre batch.

 

I regularly top up my Brewprint ingredients with some DME and add another 2 or 3 litres of water plus some additional hops if I want to up the hop levels. Never got even close to overflowing from the look of the krausen collar scum line after bottling.

 

One thing I don't like about the brewprints is that you don't know what hops you are putting in the brew. So if you want to add some more, you don't know the base that you are working with. If Coopers wont tell us (I haven't asked but I intend to) then I just might chuck out the included (and somewhat artificial looking) hop additive and add my own. As I said this is the only part I don't like about it, everything else has been perfect.

 

Otto, you are going to hate this mate, but the hop additive is a clear liquid, without aroma - very strange indeed and I'm not a fan, but I cant argue with the results, the beer tastes great. Obviously a lot of R&D went into this thing.

[WP's]

Another thing that I like about the Beerdroid is that it takes care of itself.

 

Here's what I'm talking about;

I set a batch going one Friday night a little while back and flew off overseas on business the next morning. I got text messages from the machine telling me that it had finished propagating the yeast (at 24c), then it told me it was fermenting at 12c and each day I could check the temp on my phone. It then finished fermentation after 11 days and just went into storage 18c. I then arrived back in Oz but didn't have time to do any bottling and the next thing I know it had gone into keg mode and the beer was at 4c. It was a cold crash I didn't even set up. I bottled the beer and it was once again a crystal clear brew. That's now bottled (I don't have the keg thing) I just bottle into swing tops, its as easy as!

 

Best,

Phil