Most brewers when starting to think about all grain brewing, review a three vessel system. Others look at BIAB. Some decide that they want something smaller and simpler in the hopes that they would brew more often and more variety. Here are the reasons to justify the downsize from three vessels to a single brewing vessel.
1. Preparation
If you don’t have the benefit of your own dedicated brewing space, then brew day with a three vessels setup starts with a lot of organisation to get everything into place and ready to go before you can even start brewing. This always added an hour or two to the brew day — others generally get started the day before so it was ready to go first thing in the morning . With the Keg River Brewer, it’s as simple as putting the unit into place, filling with water and switching on.
2. Brew day stress
With three vessels my brew days were all about playing catch-up. Those hours waiting between steps were generally spent getting ready for the next step. Most do not have much automation of the three vessels brewery so everything was manual and so brew days are a lot of running around, and juggling a lot of different thoughts. It can be having a brew day that is mentally and physically exhausting. The Keg River Brewer leaves you with just one thing to think about. The time between steps can actually be used productively for other endeavours. One checks in periodically but by and large leave it to do its thing until the timer tells you it’s time for the next step.
3. Cleaning
Cleaning a three vessels system involved cleaning not just the equipment but the surrounds. One never manages to brew without springing a leak somewhere, spilling sticky wort that would later need hosing down. Cleaning the Keg River Brewer can be as simple as filling the vessel with your preferred cleaning solution. PBW is the normal pick and leaving it to soak until it’s sparkling again. Be stingy with the PBW so rarely do you need to fill it beyond about 25%, and simply scrub the sides with a PBW soaked rag. There’s no great system to disassemble, no pumps to run to recirculate cleaning solution throughout the system and a whole lot less water used.
4. Cost
Maintaining a single piece of equipment makes things cost effective. Most three vessels setup are pieced together with Kiji and eBay acquisitions (translation: junk) and yet still added up to a pretty penny when factoring in some of the costly components required to assemble a dedicated hot liquor tun, mash tun and brew kettle.
5. Portability
Brewers love the fact that they can take the Keg River Brewer over to a friends place for an afternoon of brewing and drinking. Some have even joked on taking the brewer on holidays for a communal brew.
6. Great for Small Residents
Make Big Beers even if you live in small places, like an apartment or a smaller home.