Look at them, don’t they look tempting?

May the good Lord have mercy upon my wallet…I’m thinking of buying a Speidel Braumeister.

What is one of those, Jon?  I hear you cry.  Well I’ll tell you: it’s a German-made, full volume, all-in-one, single vessel, computer-controlled brewing system.

Computer-controlled and stainless steel mean that it’s borderline brew porn; Unfortunately with all good things, especially German engineered brew porn, it don’t come cheap…being an absolute non-snip at £1300 or so for the twenty litre version and £1900 or so for the fifty litre version.

But from what I can see the benefits kind of outweigh the cost:

• One vessel means much less clean-up to do
• One vessel means it’ll take up way less space than my current three vessel set up and temperature controllers, buckets and other random supporting tat
• With computer control it’s possible to perform stepped mashes without having to heat a mash tun or fiddle about with decoctions
• I can mash in and leave it to get on with it, no more intervention ’til a quick manual sparge and starting of the boil
• The Braumeister produces crystal clear wort due to the recirculation pump and filtering screens
• Less buggering about means I stand much more of a chance of actually getting an evening brew complete and done before 2am – which is what happens normally
• My wife thinks it’s a good idea (Unbelievably, but I suspect this may require me to buy her something suitably expensive to even things up)
• Easier automated brewing means more time to concentrate on creating recipes and focusing on making great beer, rather than spending lots of time “making beer”
• I have tasted beer made in a BM (https://yeastismybitch.com/2013/06/20/hedgedog-epa/) and it was lovely.  And also probably a lot to do with Gary’s recipe too
• It’s German engineered, so not likely to fall apart any time soon
• It’s shiney.  My crikey it’s sooo shiney

–

On the negative side:

• Will there be as much satisfaction as I currently get while piddling about with my current three vessel set-up? (most of which I built myself)
• I understand that there’s a limit to the grain capacity – which could limit me to non-mental strength beers i.e. sub 7%
• It’s a bit pricey
• It’s a bit pricey
• It’s actually more than a bit pricey

I’ve been thinking about the financials part of it.  Forget about the fact that I actually really enjoy brewing and just focus on the economics:

You can buy 3x bottles of decent beer from the supermarket on a three for a fiver deal, meaning 500ml of beer costs you about £1.67.

When I brew I estimate that it costs me about 45p for 500ml (note to self: must buy 25Kg sacks of malt in future) so minus that 45p from the £1.67 meaning that I’m reckoning that I need to cover £1.22 per 500ml.

Let’s assume that I’m going to buy a 20L BM for £1,275, I would need to brew 1045x 500ml bottles (or 522L) of beer to offset the cost.

Divide that by a standard 23L brew length and it appears that I only have to brew 24 full brews and either drink them myself or take them to parties, etc. and I’ve covered the outlay.

I reckon to drink/give away on average 5L of beer a week (light-weight, I know…think of the savings if you were a massive pisshead!)

So it’s safe to say that it’d only take a 100 weeks (circa. 2 years) in total to have paid off my “investment”

I am currently talking to a vendor about this product and will let you know if and when it all comes off and I buy one…did I mention that I’d pretty much sold it to myself after bullet point no. 5 of the benefits?

See here to watch the videos of how it works.  Prepare to want one:  http://www.speidels-braumeister.de