Best all-in-one brewing system

I've found myself falling out of love of brewing somewhat this year. I've brewed much less than I expected, and had gotten very lazy.

I want to start 2024 with a renewed interest in brewing, and so I feel like a revamp of my brewing equipment is a good place to start. Currently, I rely on BIAB with a peco boiler into a standard plastic ferm bucket. Then I keg into cornys.

I've been looking at different all-in-one brewing system, and there seems to be a lot of choice at the moment. However, many of them are quite large offering 40L batches. I want to just stick with my 20L batches as that fits a corny perfectly. I only have 3, with space for 2 in the kegerator.

Can anybody recommend one?

Grainfather G30. Expensive, but for a 30L batch size it seems to be the best in class.

What budget?

Best is the one that suits your needs.

Throwing in another option. AIO and BIAB are essentially the same process. You could replace your bag with a grain basket, add a pump for recirculation and even a PID controller for step mashing in your peco.

If you were 3 vessel brewing, I could see the attraction of an AIO. Other than lifting out a basket rather than a bag, the 'upgrade' doesn't really save much work on BIAB.

Is kit the route to getting your mojo back or is it a temporary fix? What are you brewing? What isn't inspiring about it?

I fell out of love with picnic cooler mash tuns, boilers made with kettle elements and all the faff of the setup and dismantling time; so much so that I stopped brewing for about 10 years. My interest was piqued by a colleague (who has a mutual love of good beer but has no brewing experience) who sent me a link to a Grainfather S40 as just an interesting diversion - I think he thought it might be just a beer machine where you insert grain, water and hops in the top and beer runs out of the bottom.

I must admit, at that time I had no idea AIO brewing systems even existed and I immediately started researching non-stop. I eventually settled on a G30 and I have zero regrets. It totally re-kindled my love of brewing which, two years later, is so far showing no sign of fading. It's not like I expect or require a hassle-free brewing day, but it feels to me like the G30 makes the process far less effort than it used to be with far fewer uncontrolled variables and a brew day can now be a brew half-day if I get my act together. If I had a permanent brewing environment that I didn't have to set-up and collapse for every brew day, I might be tempted to go to three-vessel, but it'd still be hard to justify given how much I enjoy the G30. I think I'd probably be likely just to change the G30 for a G40 and buy some more kegs to fill the space

Sadfield said:

Best is the one that suits your needs.

Throwing in another option. AIO and BIAB are essentially the same process. You could replace your bag with a grain basket, add a pump for recirculation and even a PID controller for step mashing in your peco.

If you were 3 vessel brewing, I could see the attraction of an AIO. Other than lifting out a basket rather than a bag, the 'upgrade' doesn't really save much work on BIAB.

Is kit the route to getting your mojo back or is it a temporary fix? What are you brewing? What isn't inspiring about it?

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Maybe this is the solution. My old brew bag has torn a bit, and so I had to throw it away, and so I can't brew until I get something new anyway. What's the pump for? Is that for recirculation during the mash and boil? Would that just involve setting up a pump from the bottom outlet through a pipe in through the lid?

Leard said:

Is that for recirculation during the mash and boil? Would that just involve setting up a pump from the bottom outlet through a pipe in through the lid?

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The pump can be used for a number of reasons. Keeping the wort moving when step mashing, filtering through the grain after mashing or for circulation when cooling.

Basically turning your Peco into an AIO like this.

cushyno said:

Here's a pic of my peco with its ball valve tap and jacket on. Wort recirculation to avoid scorching and to help cooling by way of a 12v solar pump which seems to work fine even with boiling wort!
View attachment 43779

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Not a recommendation through experience but I've got a brewilla G4 sitting in its box in the brew shed waiting for Santa to deliver it.

Reasons for getting an AIO ? I'd had a few BIAB bag issues recently, falling back into the boiler splashing wort everywhere, robin crapping on it are recent examples. Plus I wanted to control mash temperature better, even wrapping the boiler in multiple wraps of curtains, towels, blankets it still loses a couple of degrees during a half hour mash. I also thought that after all this time I should have some kit that was actually designed to make beer rather than home made or re-purposed.

I chose the BZ G4 as it seemed to have matured with problems being designed out.

So not a recommendation based on experience of using it, just seems to fit my needs.

Twostage said:

robin crapping on it

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You should have a word with Batman!

Im a returnee to the fold and when I reintroduced myself Mashbag said

"Righto ladies and gents are we going to open a book.
I reckon Frisp will last 3 kits.
Any takers?

Well the first kit aint even in the fermenter and Im already drooling over shiny things.. Im being drawn to the GF G30v3 but the price puts me off and I cant help think that Id manage just as well with a 35L BZ gen 4 which is a much lower pricepoint..

Im following this thread with interest.

Frisp said:

Im a returnee to the fold and when I reintroduced myself Mashbag said

"Righto ladies and gents are we going to open a book.
I reckon Frisp will last 3 kits.
Any takers?

Well the first kit aint even in the fermenter and Im already drooling over shiny things.. Im being drawn to the GF G30v3 but the price puts me off and I cant help think that Id manage just as well with a 35L BZ gen 4 which is a much lower pricepoint..

Im following this thread with interest.

Click to expand...

My next installment will hopefully be between Christmas and New Year.

As said above, deciding on your budget will help a lot.

Getting tools that you enjoy working with, rather than just put up with, really will reignite your interest. My advice would be to try to get something that you would positively like to own.

I've got a Klarstein as it was a bargain in the Jan sale. It has made some amazing beer.

If I was buying now, I would go for the BZ Gen 4. It has all the features of the GF but at a lower price point and some of the combined accessories such as RAPT BT temp may be of use if you like Gagets.

Jiffy176 said:

I've got a Klarstein as it was a bargain in the Jan sale. It has made some amazing beer.

If I was buying now, I would go for the BZ Gen 4. It has all the features of the GF but at a lower price point and some of the combined accessories such as RAPT BT temp may be of use if you like Gagets.

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I was starting to zero in on a Klarstein as its priced lower, but what would make you start with a BZ over the Klarstein?

All the SVB's are pretty much alike. The Braumeister is an exception. At the end of the day, it all comes down to how well it is taken care of to protect the elements, not going stupid with the wattage used. Think! and plan your brew day it is the operator who determines how good a unit is, not all the puffery seen in the promotions of the units. The biggest problem with social media is the power of social media advertising. Gull, in old English, means swallow, gullibility is what the retailers/manufacturers rely on to sell a product.

I’ve had 3 plus a 3V set up

The lower end stuff (they’re all the same)
Braumiester 50L plus
Brewtools.

The Braumiester is the winner out of the AIO’s.

I had a Brewzilla Gen 3 for a couple of years which was great but very frustrating at times.
I’ve since upgraded to a Dark Farm Brew Tank which is very versatile but double the cost. Do I brew better beer with it ? I’m not sure but I enjoy using it far more than my old Brewzilla as it’s very hands on. I suppose it’s really what you are looking for and how much you are prepared to pay,but as others have said they are all very similar. If I was starting out I’m sure I’d opt for the BZ Gen 4 as it has apparently gone a long way to iron out a lot of the niggles that I found with the old model . Also the new RAPT interface with the RAPT controllers, hydrometers and thermometer’s seem to be good products.
Good luck I’m sure whatever you choose will make great beer

Leard said:

I've found myself falling out of love of brewing somewhat this year. I've brewed much less than I expected, and had gotten very lazy.

I want to start 2024 with a renewed interest in brewing, and so I feel like a revamp of my brewing equipment is a good place to start. Currently, I rely on BIAB with a peco boiler into a standard plastic ferm bucket. Then I keg into cornys.

I've been looking at different all-in-one brewing system, and there seems to be a lot of choice at the moment. However, many of them are quite large offering 40L batches. I want to just stick with my 20L batches as that fits a corny perfectly. I only have 3, with space for 2 in the kegerator.

Can anybody recommend one?

Click to expand...

I started with the same set up as you,, burco, BIAB, and a DIY circulating pump and was making good beer. Found a good deal on a 2nd hand grainfather G30 on EBay.. Best thing I bought !, a great bit of kit,, less mess, faster brew days and the grainfather app as 1000s of recipes that Bluetooth straight to the system.. I use my old Burco for sparging now.

I have G30 and Sparge kettle i my attic doing nothing. I use a g40

So for the reasons mentioned I would go with the BZ G4. Only because it has the latest malt pipe, the rapt and loads are spares are available from Ali.
I think the Brauneister is not in the league for most hoke brewers.

Does it brew better beer. Who knows.