All grain brewing is the only way to have the best beer.
With the advent of the Automasher, large all grain
batches can now be produced
quickly and easily on your stovetop.
All grain homebrews are as good as the best commercial brews from around the world,
but they can be made for less than 35 cents per pint.
Click here to see the savings!
Detailed Overview:
1. What is All-Grain Brewing?
2. What are the benefits of All-Grain Brewing?
3. Why is the Automasher Important?
4. How Does the Automasher Work?
5. What Ranges, Equipment, and People are the Automasher Compatible With?
What is All-Grain Brewing?
All grain brewing is the only way to make the best beer. One common method of brewing involves the use of malt extract. Malt extract is created in a factory by extracting the sugars from grains. The all-grain brewing method does not involve the use of extracts. Instead, the brewer extracts the sugars from the grain himself with the mashing process. This process involves cooking the grain in water at an appropriate temperature(s) for the extraction/conversion to take place. Due to complex physics, all grain brewing provides a superior result. In all-grain brewing, the effectiveness in extracting more flavor and sugars from grain is referred to as "mash efficiency". The Automasher provides a high mash efficiency.
What are the Benefits of All-Grain Brewing?
The most important benefit of all-grain brewing is the flavor. When commercial facilities create malt extract, much of the flavor from the grain is lost. Compare fresh ground and brewed coffee to instant coffee. Consider the difference between fresh vegetables and canned. It is this flavor that provides the most important attribute to a beer's profile. If the homebrewer performs an all-grain mash in his brewing process, it becomes possible to create craft beer of the highest quality. Only with all-grain can one expect to reproduce the flavor of the best beers in the world. Another benefit of all-grain brewing is in the storage requirements of the ingredients. Extracts generally expire a short time after purchase. Grain can be stored for over a year in average conditions, and it can be stored even longer when proper precautions are taken. As homebrewer supply shops are not very numerous, much time and effort is saved by single large purchases of grain in comparsion to repeated purchases of extract. Another important benefit of all-grain brewing is the cost. Grain is significantly cheaper than extracts. On average, brewing with the all-grain method will save the brewer about %35-%55 in comparison to extracts. These savings can be enough to pay for an Automasher within a few batches.
Why is the Automasher Important?
The crux of full grain brewing is the keeping of grain and water at certain temperatures for various intervals, and due to the recent legalization of homebrewing, the Automasher is the only low cost electronic and automated means for doing this without limiting volume. There are two methods that existed before the Automasher was produced. Both were low tech, and caused brewers to avoid brewing due to the time required to use them.
The first involved the use of a large cooler. With this method, the grain bill and water content must be used in equations such that one can guess what water temperature and volume to use with a certain amount of grain to attempt to achieve the proper mash temperature. The water and grain are then to be combined in a large cooler such that the cooler will attempt to prevent too much heat loss. Obviously, other than requiring the storage and maintenance of a large cooler, this method makes it difficult to start at and maintain a precise temperature. Attempting to achieve the right temperature with this method often results in a watered down mash or a compromised mash temperature. Also, as time goes by, even the best of coolers will lose heat. A heat variation of several degrees can exist between the top and the bottom of the cooler, resulting in an inefficient mash (a smaller yield or a watered down beer). Mash temperature variation of even a few degrees can make a noticable difference in the wort composition and in turn result in a variation in % of yeast attenuation. This method also does not allow for step mashing, where the temperatures need to be changed at certain intervals. Finally, this method is not conducive to stirring, which is strongly recommended for quality mashing.
The second method involves heating the mash kettle on a burner or stove, with the constant measuring of temperature and adjustment of the heat setting. This method is much more effective than the previous method, but it is very tedious. This is where the Automasher comes in. The Automasher automatically adjusts the stove's heating control to maintain a mash temperature within 1 degree Celsius. This means that the Automasher is the ONLY available universal low-cost method for accurate mash temperature control. This device can also be used to automatically achieve and maintain the temperature of strike and sparge water, and it can be set slightly lower than boil temperature to automatically prepare for boiling while preventing boilover. Those two steps are responsible for a great deal of the homebrewer's time and effort.
Unlike the other available methods, the Automasher is easy and provides the highest consistency.
How does the Automasher Work?
The Automasher is designed to turn a rotary dial such that a heating unit can be activated. For instance, most kitchen ranges have a knob for each of the elements. Each knob is generally removable, and under the knob is a spindle. The Automasher's main assembly attaches to and turns this spindle with the use of a coupling. It also has a removable temperature probe which is to be submerged into the brew pot for temperature montoring.
What Ranges, Equipment, and People are the Automasher Compatible With?
The Automasher is extremely flexible: it is designed to work with 99% of kitchen ranges and all burners. The Automasher can be attached to any heating mechanism that has a spindle that can be exposed. Regarding compatibility with people, most amateur brewers simply want a good quantity of beer without too much work or equipment. These types should use the Automasher on their stovetop. Engineers, however, will desire to create large quantities of highly optimized beer using machinery. These types should use Automashers to control valves or burners on their RIMS, HERMS, SMART, or custom engineered systems.
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The standard Automasher turns dials about 180 degrees. If your dial
needs a different amount of rotation, you may contact us for a custom model.
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