Are all Tabletop Electric Brewing Systems BIAB?

Systems, Gear, & DIY
1

I’m curious… are all tablestop electric brewing such as Grainfather, BrewZilla, Anvil Foundry, Braumeister, Brewtools, DigiMash, (have I missed anyone?) all BIAB?

I ask as I’m looking for a nice, easy to use, value vs cost, test/pilot equipment as I already have a 10 gallon electric brewery.

Also, what is the minimum brew amount of the tabletop electric systems? I’d really enjoy experimenting with 1 gallon batches, 2 gallon batches (in other words less than 5 gallon batches).

Hmm… didn’t Denny write a book, that’s on my bookshelf, about experimental brewing :wink:

2

Yes, the all-in-one units are just souped up, electric BIAB systems.

3

I use an induction burner, a 5.5 gallon kettle, a bag, and a second pot for heating sparge water, and a grain bag for a 3 gallon brewery. It’s a very simple batch sparge system where instead of moving the water I move the grains (in a bag) between batches.

In other words, I do the following.

  1. heat mash water to strike temp
  2. add grains to mash and stir
  3. Wait 60 minutes
  4. Heat sparge water while mashing
  5. Pull bag and drain for a few minutes hanging on pulley. Start heating to boil.
  6. Add bag of grains to sparge water, stir, then wait 5 minutes.
  7. Pull bag and drain by hanging on pulley
  8. Periodically pour sparge wort into main wort
  9. Boil and proceed as normal.

My system is cheap and easy as they say.  I like it. Very easy to use, clean, and put away. As far as I know there is no minimum batch size since I don’t use a pump.

4

Yes, they are all electronic BIAB systems.

I don’t own one but they seem like they would work suitably for 1-2 gallon batches. The tall and narrow geometry works better than repurposing larger vessels where you get wide and shallow grain beds and kettle volumes.

FWIW if you are not after a BIAB brewhouse, you could build a typical cooler setup for smaller batches that works the same as your larger system. I built out a smaller mash tun out of a two gallon igloo cooler for 1-2 gallon batches. You could refit a small cooler and pick up a 2-3 gallon stock pot for less than an eBIAB system and brew stovetop.

5

I have an Anvil Foundry 6.5 gallon (the smaller one) and it is just the right size for my typical batch size (final batch fills a 2.5 gallon keg). You could certainly go smaller, but there is a limit because the inner mash sleeve has legs that keep it off the bottom element. I would guess you could go as low as 2.5 or 3 gallons for a preboil volume, but much lower and you may not have enough room for your grist. Of course, you could probably rig up something using a BIAB bag and skip the mash sleeve to make use the full inner space of the Foundry for even smaller batches. The nice thing is that the power setting will let you adjust the boil strength to control your boiloff rate.