Anvil Foundry Equipment Review

Systems, Gear, & DIY
1

With seven batches and nearly two months of use under my belt, I’ve written up my thoughts on the Anvil Foundry. Overall, it’s a pretty great piece of equipment! Hopefully this write-up is helpful for others who are thinking about one…

Blog post here: https://andybrews.com/2020/12/06/equipment-review-anvil-foundry-10-5-gallon-all-in-one-brewing-system/

2

Thanks so much for your review.  I have the 6.5 gallon version on my Christmas list.  Whether Santa brings me one, or I buy myself one after Christmas, I’ll be brewing smaller batches indoors and loving life.

3

Great review!

  • noticed you’re using a brew bag - I ended up doing this as well by reccomendation from @narvin in another thread where my mash got stuck
  • I like your cleaning method for the basket, kettle and pump. I’ve been disassembling my pump after every brew to clean it. Not really a pain, just hard to keep track of the small washers. They are tiny enough that when you drop one, it will always end up in a crack between the wall and flooring
  • agreed on the ease of step mashing. I think it would be nice to have it as a programmable option
  • have also moved the wayward cover gasket into storage. It’s just not necessary and doesn’t stay after while
  • second the motor switch comment and note about tightening the spigot every brew
  • Yep, those chiller hoses are dangerous the way they come. I put compression fittings + hose barbs on my chiller but still a little nervous about the vinyl. It swells around the connection because it’s not ideal for handling boiling water and pressure. I scowl at them every time and should just go buy some hose before something happens
  • I throw a bucket heater in my kettle (on a different GFCI circuit) to get water up to mash temp quicker
4

At what angle do you have your pick up inside? I was thinking about turning it 90 degrees from the spigot to the rightward side to reduce some trub pick up.

5

Not sure if that was a question for me or not. I have mine set about 45 degrees to the bottom. I use a hop spider so trub depth is probably a little less than if I was just pitching hops straight in.

6

I have my Foundry set with the pick up nearly downward; I draw off to the fermenter and it initially has a bit of trub then runs clear until I get near to the bottom of draining off the last of the wort, at which point I stop (I am trying to get to the point just before it sucks up the bulk of the trub).  I leave maybe a cup to a cup and a half of wort and trub behind.  If I miss it and collect more trub than expected, I don’t really sweat it.  My beers are brilliantly clear, but I use Brew Tan B, also, split between the mash strike water and at the end of boil.

7

It’s not something I used to worry about but trying to figure out how to minimize it now that I’m trying this ferment in a corny thing. It’s been nice so far. I used to just put everything in but, going to try and cut back.

8

I never had one before I got my Foundry,  but I assumed that the purpose of a rotating racking arm was to adjust it on the fly? I leave mine pointing a bit past 90 degrees pointing diagonally up, then rotate it down as my wort starts getting low. Once I see it start sucking up schmeg, I close the ball valve. Maybe I worry less about my final volume into the fermenter than others?

9

As long as we’re talking Foundy, is anyone using the recirc pump for whirlpooling hot wort? I thought I read somewhere (dont’ see it in the PDF) it wasn’t intended for use with boiling temp wort but have run across a few articles where people seem to be doing just that.

10

I’ve used it for that, but I just don’t use it for boiling wort. The commonly cited concern is cavitation, or warping internal components. I throw my chiller in, run it for a minute to drop the temperature, and start recirculating.

11

Thanks for the insight. I ended up emailing Anvil this week. That’s about what they said. Fine for boiling temps but beware of cavitation if used during boil.
I don’t know what I’d use it for during the boil but if I wanted to whirlpool at 190F that’s pretty darn close to the same temps so good to know.

12

I think that comes from the old wisdom of “run wort through your chiller for the last 15 minutes to sanitize” blah blah blah. I used to do that. Never had issues (though I have a March), but the last few years I’ve just turned off the heat, and once the major boiling starts, turn on the pump, turn on the chiller unless I’m doing a hopstand or something, and go on about the day.