Hey All, Decided to take the plunge and get the Speidel Braumeister. Anyone have any experience brewing with one? I've been reading the HBT thread on it but other than that one thread, I haven't many other discussions on it. In fact, a bit surprised it never came up on this forum. Anyway, if anyone's got experience with it, looking for any tips or tricks using it. Mines being delivered next week so I'm trying to consume as much info as I can before I do my first batch on it.
It looks like an interesting system. I have to admit that the all-electric aspect of it is appealing. I'd be interested to hear back about how it works out for you.
I think there are a couple reason there arent many (any?) posts about the speidel on BA 1 - BA doesnt have that much in depth equipment discussion, homebrewtalk is much much better for that 2 - most hb'ers i know and have met, myself included, are very DIY. In fact thats part of the appeal. Personally I have gone all electric, the conversion cost ~1400-1500, and I have the capability of 12gal batches, and can heat my mashtun/hlt and boil a separate kettle at the same time. That price tag isnt much less than yours, but I enjoyed designing and putting the system together just as much as using it to brew
I'm very much into the DIY aspect. I only really had two main reasons of going this route. First, I don't have a hell of a lot of room to brew so a three vessel system was presenting a problem. Second is that even though I am very much a DIYer, I sometimes suck at it and can end up spending double what I usually would spend because I'm fixing my mess ups. I was trying to avoid both of these in one fell swoop. We'll see how it goes.
3 - (which applies to me) Some of us belong to the no-frills crowd; we aren't all that great with DIY, but we're more miserly than Ebeneezer Scrooge. I use several cheap pots to boil wort on a stovetop. I ferment in plastic buckets. I hid behind the trees at the local picnic grounds, hunting for the perfect (i.e., least costly) mashtun. A Braumeister costs more than the rusty hunk of metal that manages to get me to and fro (sometimes a few more feet fro than I intend - damn those faulty brakes). For folks like me, Braumeister probably is never gonna make it from the wishful thinking list to the high priority list.
I've brewed with one, what I like is that I can get consistent batches very easily. It's very straightforward brewing, just set your temperatures and timers and you're pretty much set. Can't think of any good tips for it since a monkey could brew on this thing, but if you have any specific questions let me know.
