Aeration Equipment
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steve_flack
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Seveneer
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jasonaustin
I guess this discussion goes to show what a great hobby/past-time/obsession homebrewing is, ie, there are so many different aspects to it, each with it's own level of appeal to each of us. What a boring world it would be if we all did it the same way and for the same reasons.
Personally, I do it (in descending order of importance):-
1. To be able to drink and serve to guests a selection of top quality beers that (even if I do say so myself) rival what is commercially available.
2. To be able to invent/amend recipes to produce a beer that appeals to me.
3. To have something (ie, all the kit) to build, tinker with, improve, just change for change's sake. It amuses me and I get immense satisfaction out of making a change that reduces my brew day by 15 mins or that reduces the mess created etc etc
Things that don't appeal to me, but probably do to others:-
1. Cost per pint. I guess that most of us probably started the hobby with this as the top priority, and is probably the top priority for the majority of homebrewers (I'm guessing majority because most homebrew shops still seem to stock - and presumably sell - a whole load of cheap 'add a tonne of sugar' kits). Probably why homebrew still has a negative image to most people (unless they know one of us and have experienced our results!). But if cost is the only thing that's important to someone, through choice or necessity, then that's ok with me.
2. The actual brewing process. I enjoy it much more than I used to, but that's because it's less hands-on and takes less time (due to No. 3 above). Personally, if I could tip grain, water, hops in one end, hit a button and come back x hours later to a fermenter full of wort I'd love it! Why? Because it would leave more time for Nos 1 and 2 above, which I do enjoy. I remember having to set a whole day aside for brewing many years ago. Now, I can finish work at 5pm, wander out to the garage, where the 'brewery' is permanently set up, kick things off, pop out there every so often, make the missus her supper, and be finished and cleaned up by 9pm. Joy!
Does anybody have any other reasons for doing it?
Personally, I do it (in descending order of importance):-
1. To be able to drink and serve to guests a selection of top quality beers that (even if I do say so myself) rival what is commercially available.
2. To be able to invent/amend recipes to produce a beer that appeals to me.
3. To have something (ie, all the kit) to build, tinker with, improve, just change for change's sake. It amuses me and I get immense satisfaction out of making a change that reduces my brew day by 15 mins or that reduces the mess created etc etc
Things that don't appeal to me, but probably do to others:-
1. Cost per pint. I guess that most of us probably started the hobby with this as the top priority, and is probably the top priority for the majority of homebrewers (I'm guessing majority because most homebrew shops still seem to stock - and presumably sell - a whole load of cheap 'add a tonne of sugar' kits). Probably why homebrew still has a negative image to most people (unless they know one of us and have experienced our results!). But if cost is the only thing that's important to someone, through choice or necessity, then that's ok with me.
2. The actual brewing process. I enjoy it much more than I used to, but that's because it's less hands-on and takes less time (due to No. 3 above). Personally, if I could tip grain, water, hops in one end, hit a button and come back x hours later to a fermenter full of wort I'd love it! Why? Because it would leave more time for Nos 1 and 2 above, which I do enjoy. I remember having to set a whole day aside for brewing many years ago. Now, I can finish work at 5pm, wander out to the garage, where the 'brewery' is permanently set up, kick things off, pop out there every so often, make the missus her supper, and be finished and cleaned up by 9pm. Joy!
Does anybody have any other reasons for doing it?
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Seveneer
Actually, the automation is minimal. I use pumps rather than having to lift stuff but I still decide when to turn them on and what to connect them to. I use a controller to maintain the mash temp but I still take regular temperature checks with a normal, "manual" thermometer and can interrupt the recirculation if I see the need. Other than that it's just the same process as the one you use.DaaB wrote:
I'd love to have you setup in some ways Seven, especialy the automation side of it but then it starts to get a little too much like owning a brewery, I quite enjoy the hands on brewing approach and not the technical stuff like recipe formulation etc.
It's misleading to think that a HERMS brewery takes all the fun/work out of the brewing process. Unless you have the whole thing CPU controlled including valves, pumps and heating elements it still needs a brewer to do the thinking. For example, to turn the pumps on, to decide on the mash temp, to monitor the mash temp, to decide when to start recirculating to avoid stuck mashes, to dough in, to set the valves and to move the pipes to divert the liquor or wort to the right vessel.
I think, sometimes the tendancy is to think that these "new fangled" HERMS breweries are straying from the craft brewing roots that we all have. Actually, my opinion is that it allows me to concentrate on brewing without worrying if the equipment is going to let me down as I had happen on more than one occaision with my plastic stuff.
And, of course, plastic isn't all that shiny
/Phil.
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eskimobob
Blimey did someone mention something controversial 
Sorry guys, just interested to know if I was missing something with this oxygen malarky. It appears that it's probably not really needed but is more of a bells and whistles thing.
I too like shiny things and part of my brewing enjoyment is derived from making gadgets but I think this one (and for that matter a HERMS system) is stretching my enthusiasm; having said that I'm very much looking forward to looking at the pictures of other peoples hard work
Sorry guys, just interested to know if I was missing something with this oxygen malarky. It appears that it's probably not really needed but is more of a bells and whistles thing.
I too like shiny things and part of my brewing enjoyment is derived from making gadgets but I think this one (and for that matter a HERMS system) is stretching my enthusiasm; having said that I'm very much looking forward to looking at the pictures of other peoples hard work
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NzDan1
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Seveneer