I have the Vevor. It's not as bells & whistles, perhaps; that said, it has the recirc pump & arm, auto & manual mode, adjustable power (500-1800 watts), all the stuff the bigger boys have. It works, works just fine. I'm happy I spent under $300 for this machine, that does exactly what Brewzilla and grainfather do at a much higher price point.
The VEVOR system is simply a rebranded Hopcat, Brew Monk, Brew Devil. I own one here in Kenya and it's pretty much the equivalent of a Brewzilla, though I'd say the Brewzilla is a bit more intuitive. So yeah, it works just fine, and $300 is the going rate for those types of systems. If I was in the US though I wouldn't buy one, but overseas it is about the only thing you can find affordably.
Long-time listener, first time caller. CH, started brewing again about 2 months ago after a 7 or 8 year hiatus. Upgraded from partial mash to biab, and from 5-gallon batches in the kitchen to 10-gallon batches in the garage. I’ve been re-energized to get back into it mostly due to your videos (and a couple others, Trent’s channel is great too). You keep it light and fun, and like you, I’m DIYing everything I can. Much appreciated sir. And thanks for turning me on to Kveik - it’s a game-changer. I’m up here in Nova Scotia, just built a little hot fermentation chamber with an Inkbird with scrap lumber for under $100, and I just finished fermenting a pseudo-lager at 98f in 40 hours. I’ve made 4 batches so far, and it’s fcking dynamite with no off-flavours that I can discern! Keep the videos coming bud.
Bought the Vevor system 2 weeks ago. 2 brews in and I have no complaints. Easy to use built in pump and recirculating arm. For a 110 system it gets my 65 degree tap water to mash temps in 20-25 minutes. After sparge it gets to a light rolling boil in 25-30 minutes. All for $269.99 plus shipping.
I've had mine over a year and is the only system I've used. It's easy enough for me to use so anyone could use it. My beer keeps coming out with lower OG and FG but I'm thinking that's on me...
I have the Vevor system and love the ease, the control (at an affordable price), and consistently good tasting beer. Great introductory 20 Liter system.
Solid Vid! Not sure how much a Brewzilla is in the US but its by far one of the most popular electric systems in Australia, its relatively cheap and is aweseome.
DDDDDUUUUUDDDDEEEE YOU are fCkN hilarious from the get go of this video, I was laughing my ass off. I am down to have a beer with you or work with you on you next brewery system !!!
That panda smashing shit and having a wife point a gun at Lioatta (RIP) nailed IT HAHA. I was planning to turn my garage into a home brewery , so if you got pointers or sites/vids I can check out , please let me know or how can holla/reach you ? cheers bro
I will say that I really enjoy brewing 2.5 gallon batches BIAB on my stovetop. No pumps, no re-circulation, no plate chillers to clean, no electronics, nothing heavy to carry...just basically a 5 gallon pot, bag and an immersion chiller. (Okay, I do have a ferm chamber and kegerator and other equipment around.) I also brew 5 and 10 gallon batches, and those feel more like work...but do produce 2x to 4x the beer. The Clawhammer seems like a decent budget level modular system, but if I went electric I would likely spend half the money and get an Anvil Foundry that can be used on both 120V and 240V. Clawhammer does not have that flexibility, and the 240V Clawhammer is $1,600. But there are a lot of great systems out there these days, for a variety of needs and budgets. Keep brewing!
VEVOR system is simply a rebranded Hopcat, Brew Monk, Brew Devil ,Guten, i have had one 8 years , it makes good beer , insulate it and when unto mash temperature turn down to 500 or it will over shoot
CH I found your channel a few weeks ago, watched a ton of videos since, learned a brajton and am going to have my first ever brew day up here in NH in the next week or so... still sorting out how I'm going to keep my ale yeast happy in this already cold weather (NH) since I'm still in the $150 braj category just wanted to say you're still reaching the noobs like me and i've found your channel both entertaining and inspiring... so thank you!!!
Of all the single vessel system I have brewed on and/or owned, nothing comes close to my Brewtools B80. It will last all of my brewing career, every part is exchangeable, it’s modular, premium quality and just works every time. It does not make me a better brewer, but it makes me a happier brewer:)
Great video. I got a Vevor system because, money. I spent all my extra cash on building my keggle system. I watched a couple of dozen videos on the expensive ones and they are nice and shiny. The Vevor does everything I need it to do. Does it heat the water to mash in temperature? Check. Does it keep it at that temperature? Check. Does it recirculate the wort? Check. Does it boil the wort? Check. Can you use the built in pump to transfer to the fermentation vessel? Check. Haven't tried programing it to automatically brew yet. Why? Because there's no fun in that. Did spend the money I saved on grains, hops, and yeast though.
Went to a stout fest and they had some wacky gimicky things. Nothing impressed, except French Onion Soup stout 8% and divine. Perfect balance of onion, umami, roast and mouthfeel.
I have the Vevor...well it's the Zyborg. It's rebranded a lot. Especially over in Europe. It's definitely a step up from what I was doing before, but my Brewzilla is a much nicer system.
I have the vevor its great, makes 6 gallon batches with ease, heating coil is interior, pump built in but easy to clean, ithink the grain limit is 17 pounds or maybe 19, I forget I had to move after I got it, the voltage is adjustable also, all you gotta do is find out how many amps the circuit breaker has. 30 amps means you can run it at 1800 watts
I have the vevor system one problem whit it if you use the grain basket you need make ad least 15 liter end you need to buy some hozes. but works great end get good sg out of it. (Mostly make belgain stile beer) Not to forget ezy clining
I myself moved from LA to Ohio ( i got friends here tho cuz im from here). I feel your pain on not wanting to brew in the cold. i cant stand the cold haha.. I make the best of it as you can cool your wort down pretty quickly, and its great for lagering beer although i prefer IPAs. idk where u are but i'd rage some beers with yah.
Good to see you back brewing again. I have the Anvil 240v 10.5 gal system and its a great value.Perfect for brewing 5 gallon batches.New one has a removable bottom on the grain basket which makes cleaning a breeze.Get the pump and chiller addition if you buy this system If I had the $$$$ I would have gotten the Clawhammer system,also excellent.
I have the Vevor system and it is actually just fine. As with any single bottom thermometer system keep an eye on your temps. I use a 2nd thermometer towards the top of the wort and adjust accordingly. But really for the money I think it's a pretty great system.
I have a system that seems similar to the Vevor one. The main recurring issue I have with it is that the pump can get clogged by hop gunk or similar during the boil. Makes it a bit harder to transfer to the fermentation vessel. Luckily there is the faucet on it as a backup.
The main advantage to the Grainfather system is the ability to create a recipe and just brew it without needing to set timers or mess with valves, start pumps, create a brew-day checklist or hit buttons to change the temperature manually. The app also allows you to monitor temperatures and timers from another room if you need to step out. The brew delay/pre-heat timer is nice too. None of these things are somthing you can't really live without, but it definitely makes for a seamless, convent process/ brew-day. Honestly, I'm not sure why more brew hardware manufacturers don't integrate a similar concept/structure. It seems like an obvious next step in the evolution of homebrewing.
I've been doing 1 gallon BIAB batches in a Gigawort for the last few months and love brewing that way. I'm considering the smaller Anvil Foundry so I can scale up a bit, but you can't beat small batches for experimentation and increasing frequency of brewing. Thanks for the video!
I did the same with the Gigawort for a while, but small batches go so fast and I couldn’t get the hop rate because I didn’t want partial packets left. In hindsight I should have just gotten a vacuum sealer.
@@abela6925 Yep, vacuum sealer is helpful, and I've started tracking my inventory in Brewfather so I can see what bits of stuff I have laying around. Definitely helps cut down on the potential waste from doing small batches.
I’m with you man, I burnt out my Grainfather twice. I really wanted to buy a Clawhammer since I love those guys but I couldn’t justify spending 3X the price. Love my Anvil now
I just recently downsized to 2.5 gallon batches myself. I seem to be the only one drinking it anymore and I can brew more often and keep the styles changing more often with smaller batches. I went with the Anvil Foundry 6.5.
I've been using the Anvil Foundry with Recirc pump and Arm. I've made a few modifications like have it on a dolly and ditched the top grate in lieu of a plastic sparge nozzle. I'm also running it at 220v and use a Brew Bag for the grist. Having done No-Sparge for years, the jump to an All-In-One was pretty much seamless. I almost always double -batch and have at least 45 batches through it since 2021. For the price point and simplicity, the Anvil exceeds the value IMHO
What's that game playing in the background behind , with the cars . I used to have it but cant think of the name it was a cool game. Great vid keep a brewin .
I bought a used 20L Braumeister. Model before the current one, I think. Paid about a grand. It works fine, but I wouldn't buy another one. They cost around $3000 new, which is insane. You can get a washing machine for $350, and it's much bigger and more complex. Even if Speidel is too small to make things as cheaply as Whirlpool, they ought to be able to sell a machine for $600 and make money. The firmware was buggy, so it had to be updated in order to work in Fahrenheit. To do this, you need a cable they don't always have in stock, and because it's proprietary, it's needlessly expensive. It's useless for anything but flashing the firmware. Can't connect to a PC, which is ridiculous. They sell a $400 module to connect the machine to the web, but you can't use it to connect to your computer directly. Bizarre. You have to become dependent on Speidel's cloud. What happens when Speidel goes out of business? If this thing craps out, I'll buy from Clawhammer. I nearly did that when I was having trouble with my firmware. Or I'll move to BIAB, which I already have the technology to do.
@@HOMEBREW4LIFE Exactly hahaha great videos man. I'm new to homebrew this year and have learned a lot from you. just jealousy from not being able to afford a $1,000 clawhammer system... what up anvil! Hope you're doing well my braj, don't let the channel die.
Noooo on the Kveik overpitch. For a 5 gal batch at 90 deg pitch, 2 grams, ta da. I just saved you 32 dollars. One packet for 5 brews! Brulusophy did it and said it worked. I've done it 10 times now. Love it in summer yolo freewill temp ctrl.
I basically came to the same conclusions - killed a Grainfather, Digiboils & Brewzillas too cheap. Three v system to much a pain in the arse! I use a very similar system to your Clawhammer ( in Australia Cheekypeak 36 litre), for all the reasons you said only two differences 1 my control panel is home built based on a Smartpid & 2 I also use gas to speed up boil so mine is hybrid Cheers
Neither. Seen many all in ones, including GFs, get defects just outside of warranty. So I opted for a 35ltr triclamped elec element system, and separate pump ect.. Will cost 30% more in total, but I can upgrade over time, and replace singular parts with ease if they break.
Awesome video man, I brew on an anvil system and I think its awesome. Definitely a step up from the cooler brew days on my old propane system. XUL makes some good beer! Funny I'm watching this while wearing one of their shirts, can't wait to get back down there to get more of their beer when we go on another lake trip next year!
Summer of 1970 I didn't buy any brew equipment other than a nice bottle capper I had gotten for 16 dollars.It was top of the line. At 14 I was always trying to think a head. I used all mom's stuff from the kitchen. She didn't mind she drank all the beer. If it makes you happy but it. 7,000 system to a 100 dollar one.
If my Anvil ever breaks ill fork the cash for the clawhammer. WTBS Having the option to conveniently switch back to 120v is clutch if you move around a lot.
So entertaining. The insert at 2:41 had me laughing and giggling. ha ha. Back to the show. So funny. Thank also, because I have watched a lot of channels on beermaking and you guys bring it together like BOOM! Super insightful video, and due to the comment stream you initiated about VEVOR I am going with that. Thanks so much!
I've already sunk a ton into my 3-vessel keggle system, so I'll be sticking with it for a while, but man I do covet the Clawhammer system. I do like pretending I'm a professional brewer, though.
I have the Anvil 10.5 and its a little clunky cause the grain basket kinda sucks so seeing that Clawhammer steel mesh basket makes me jealous. I don't have too many friends that drink, but I run two 3-gal kegs in the like $100 tiny chest freezer i converted to a keezer and one of those kegs will last me about a month or two. Beer or two a day-ish + the occasional friend/wife pint.
I use the vevor system and it seems to work fairly well. You do have to check on your temps though its about 6-8 degrees off. But everything else is fairly straight forward.
I have a big 3 vessel system and its been ok to me. Refitted maple syrup drums as kettles. But I also have the Grainfather S40. No Bluetooth or bells and whistles. But costed me all of 440 dollars, taxes included. Canadian. If it blows up in a year or two, ill see again. So far,so good.
Man, ive never felt so indy as i do right now, getting into biab about 8 years before it was cool. I get about 83% mash efficiency (milling my own grain) - i have NEVER understood the mashtun recerc hassle just to save $1.02 in grain and bragging rights that you hit 90%+ eff. You can keep that title im good. Grwat vid going through all the various systems, i enjoyed it.
I'm still completely manual. Mash in a homemade cooler with a bazooka, manual vorlauf. Boil in a 30L kettle with a Lauter Helix. Cooling with an immersion chiller or "no chill". The only fancy stuff I have is a Fermzilla All Rounder so I can spund. That was a great investion and also allows me to easily make oxygen free transfers to a keg.
Great channel! I appreciate your style of videos, sharing some knowledge, and having fun. I like all the pros of your claw hammer system but CH, Hans, Bubbe, do us a solid and show everyone how to replicate a clawhammer system on the cheap. I have to imagine a $1K system is not in the price range for most of your viewers. Think Chrisfix, show the cool stuff but then fix the car in the driveway with basic tools. Break out the knockout punch and go over no weld bulkheads for tri-clamps. Show the different heating element options, especially 120V options, and run multiple 120V elements on separate circuits to get a faster boil. They make heating elements with tri-clamp fittings and twist locks making it super simple to clean the pot. Make an SCR to control the temp with a dimmer switch or an inkbird controller. Show people how to reuse what they have and add a few minor things to level up. I love the no-chill video, add in a cut to that so people see they don’t need a chill plate, let it cool and ferment in your corny keg. Do you really need a pump? How much efficiency do you gain? Is it worth the cost? Show the sexy blonde supermodel but don't forget fat bottomed girls make the rock’n world go round.
I do like the concept of the clawhammer systems! $999 is a little out of my league, though. I use my $400 brewzilla or sometimes the old school home depot mash tun and propane Burner. Electric is nice but more of a pain in the ass to clean
I came back to homebrewing after a few year break, dusted off the clawhammer 120v, everything still worked and all I had to replace was an O ring on the element.
Dope video, bro! I've been using the Claw Hammer systems for years and absolutely love them! So easy to use and clean. the 240V big one is a freaking game changer!
I noticed you didn't mention the Brewzilla. I'm taking a hard look at that one as well. I love the clawhammer, too, though. Tough call for me on which to get.
