Mash and boil questions

[swenocha]

So, my old electric turkey fryer officially died a few months ago, and i'm finally looking for a replacement. Looking at mash and boil units and wondering about brands, sizes, features.

- weighing Brewer's Edge and Klarstein. Thoughts on either? Or should i consider other brands?

- what size is sufficient for a 5 gal batch for a regular or imperial batch? 30l?

- the recirc pump is worth it, correct?

Thx in advance...

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[bpgreen]

I have the Brewer's Edge, so I Googled the Klarstein to see how it differs.

I noticed a couple of things right off the bat.

One is that it's 1800 watts vs 1600 for the BE. That should help it come to a boil faster and also to boil more vigorously. I don't have any problems with the boil, but I'm at an elevation, so water boils at a lower temperature here. I've seen some people complain about not getting a vigorous boil, but it shouldn't really matter, since boiling is boiling.

Another is that there's no delayed start for the Klarstein. I like using the delayed start sometimes so it's ready to start the mash when I wake up, but I don't think very many use it. I'll also sometimes do an overnight mash so I can just start bringing it to a boil right away.

It looks like there are two versions of the Klarstein. One is 25 liters and the other is 30. I think the BE is 26.5 liters. If you make big beers, the larger size would be handy. I sometimes find the BE a little constraining at times, but I could also do things to get around it if I really want to make big beers.

When I bought mine, the built-in recirculation pump wasn't available. I bought an inexpensive external pump, but only used it a couple of times because I didn't really think it made much of a difference.

[swenocha]

Looking at the 30l on the klarstein with pump if i go with that brand. Not sure i need that capacity but i am enticed by the pump. But that is what i was curious about... if it was worth the rather steep price difference.

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[mashani]

I'll throw another option at you just because it exists.

https://www.morebeer.com/products/digib ... -110v.html

There is also a 220v/2500 watt version of those for I think just $10 more, and also a 220v/3500 watt 17 gallon monster version of it for about $100 more then that.

Those don't have as good insulation as the mash & boil, but have more then an extra gallon of capacity, IE 9.25 gallons/35L, or an even larger extra 9.5 gallons for the big one (that's like 64 liters). Otherwise they are basically the same thing.

I have a mash & boil without a pump. I can't say if a pump would increase my efficiency, but I get 80% mash efficiencies and 70% brewhouse efficiencies without it, so I don't see the point of another thing to have to clean, mess with, fail, etc.

If my mash & boil fries, I might go for the 220v/2500 watt small version of this myself as a replacement, since I have a 220 where I brew.

[berryman]

I think that any of us on here that has one can say the M&B does very good for what it is but I think there are better units out there now in the same price range. An internal pump wasn't a option when I bought mine and did look into the grainfather for that fact. I'm glad I went with what I did, I bought 2 pumps, hoses and camlock fittings plus a SsBrewtec fermenter and a electric sparge water heater and came in about the same moneywise as the grainfather. I like using the pump for mashing in, recirculation about 4 times during the mash and to pump into the fermentor.

[berryman]

I have 2 pumps but have never used one of them, a backup. I don’t think it’s hard to clean the pump and lines. When done with a batch I run some PBW though it all and rinse the next day.



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[swenocha]

When you say there are better units in the same price range, which are you referring to? Want to make sure I look at all of the options...

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[berryman]

The one you are considering looks good to me. I am sure you done your research. https://www.beercollections.com/electri ... g-systems/ Yes I do like the time delay on mine. I don't always use it, but if I mill the grain the night before I am ready when I roll out of bed in the morning...

[swenocha]

Thx for the feedback. I ended up grabbing the higher end Klarstein (30L with recirc) at half price on a cyber monday sale. Was in the middle of spreadsheeting out prices, deals, features, etc. (being that this is my normal OCD pattern), but this was too hard to pass up that discount ($209 instead of $400) and thus a snap decision was made. So... I'll let you all know if this unit works out...

[bpgreen]

Sounds limme a good deal. Keep us posted.

[FrozenInTime]

Enjoy! I'm late to the party as normal but I picked up a GrainFather and love it. I use the pump every batch and love how I can create and run the brew session from my phone. One of the reasons I went with the GF was you can buy some accessories for it and make a small batch of hard stuff. I'm going to do a batch of blonde ale and make it into a jalapeno beer today or tomorrow. I still have my elec. turkey fryer set-up posted years back, still works like a champ but I have not used it in a couple years, I should probably sell it sometime.
Have fun with your new brew equipment!

[Beer-lord]

Too late maybe but I literally just got this:
https://highgravitybrew.emailsp.com/f/r ... =oxyozNCLM

[mashani]

Thx for the feedback. I ended up grabbing the higher end Klarstein (30L with recirc) at half price on a cyber monday sale. Was in the middle of spreadsheeting out prices, deals, features, etc. (being that this is my normal OCD pattern), but this was too hard to pass up that discount ($209 instead of $400) and thus a snap decision was made. So... I'll let you all know if this unit works out...

When I looked at those a few days ago, I saw that the 30l was 1500/3000 watt unit. Do you have 220v where you brew? Because those are 220v wattages (at least the 3000 would require it).

But maybe I was looking at the wrong one, I don't know if I was looking at a 30l base unit or a recirc. unit.

Just want to make sure this doesn't bite you by accident if you weren't expecting that.

[swenocha]

Yeah, i noted that oddity in the title of the non-recirc one. Some ppl asked about that on both listings. This is the reply listed several times from the seller, so I'm hoping for the best (because the actual write-up for the recirc one I ultimately purchased didn't actually specify either way):

We can confirm this article has a power consumption of 1800 W and a power supply for 110 V…

Berlin Brands Group

 Seller · 10 months ago

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