From brewing equipment authorities Blichmann comes the BrewEasy, which promises homebrewers an efficient and economical solution that handles a number of different tasks. With its compact design and extensive features, this single piece of equipment will serve as an integral component in your home brewing set up.
This all-grain brewing system from Blichmann can even handle recirculation jobs with ease. Despite its lengthy feature set, it remains very easy to use, and you should be able to get up and running with little effort.
Read the rest of this Blichmann BrewEasy review to find out why you absolutely need this essential piece of brewing technology.
Blichmann BrewEasy’s Highlights & Benefits
Central to the effectiveness of the BrewEasy is a patent-pending system that utilizes a two-kettle recirculation method. An infusion mash system known as the Kettle-RIMS provides you with an elegant solution that will take you from extract brewing to all-grain brewing. The learning curve is extremely manageable, and you save a great deal of time and effort by doing away with the need for sparging.
In actual use, the BrewEasy is as simple and as straightforward as your typical brew-in-a-bag (BIAB) system. Even so, Blichmann reveals its sophistication by providing you with the option to employ traditional RIMS methods as well.
This spares you from the messy and potentially risky process of having to lift out hot grains from the vessel. Better still, your wort will come out much clearer as compared to a standard BIAB system. Brewing 5 or 10 gallons of beer (even 20) would be easy-peasy once you have this homebrew equipment from Blichmann.
Here’s a nice treat: if you already own the Blichmann BoilerMaker, you can simply purchase the components of the BrewEasy that you need in order to upgrade your current system’s capabilities. It is modular in design, so it works seamlessly with the company’s gas and electric-powered systems.
The Kettle-RIMS or K-RIMS is a marvel of design ingenuity. With this two-kettle system, you no longer have to deal with the hot liquor tank commonly used in standard three-tier brewing systems when brewing all-grain beer. And as mentioned previously, you won’t have to go through the sparging process either, which speeds up the process considerably.
Of course, three-tier brewing systems are still considered the standard when it comes to efficiency and versatility. However, the BrewEasy offers a number of significant advantages over no-rinse BIAB systems.
Putting the Blichmann BrewEasy to use is as easy as it gets. You simply set the mash kettle right on top of the boil kettle with the provided adapter.
After adding water to the kettles and turning on the pump, the water recirculates from the bottom kettle to the top of the mash kettle.
It includes a drain tube which lets the wort flow from the mash kettle into the boil kettle via gravity.
The electric coil responsible for heating the entire system is located in the boil kettle. Temperature adjustments are done via a control system that sets the heating element as needed in order to get the mash to the right temperature.
Although it is entirely possible to get from mash to beer using only the BrewEasy. There are a number of optional add-ons from Blichmann that will make brewing even easier and more efficient.
One of these is the KettleKart, which makes moving the pot assembly a lot easier. You could also purchase a Thrumometer inline thermometer. This lets you measure the output temperature right from the Therminator plate chiller, which is another cool add-on that you might want to look into.
Pros
- Simple and easy to use
- Compact design
- Modular connectivity enhances versatility
- Better wort clarity as compared to typical BIAB systems
Cons
- Some heat may be lost between the sensor and the mash tun
You can also watch this video which shows a detailed walkthrough on how to use this electric all-grain brewing system.
Blichmann BrewEasy Review: Our Final Verdict
As a two kettle RIMS system, the Blichmann BrewEasy Electric System is as good as it gets. The use of the boil kettle as the primary source of heat is both efficient and practical. The RIMS system is designed to make the brewing process simple and straightforward.
In order for you to get the most out of the BrewEasy, some additional purchases may be necessary. The Therminator plate chiller in particular will add a great deal of functionality to your system.
In any case, the BrewEasy performs impressively right out of the box. But for the price tag of a unit like this, we think that all of the components should be included with a system and not requiring additional addons to make it work.
Recommendation: Checkout the full review of The Grainfather System here.