ibrew - new home brewing system from Muntons...

[Manx Guy]

Hi!

Anyone seen this?

http://www.ibrew.co.uk/about-ibrew-home-brewing

Looks quite interesting for newcomers and people wanting a complete brewing and dispensing 'system'...

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has seen one in a HBS or even bought one...

The dispenser idea looks quite good as it saves faffing with bottles/pressure kegs/cornies etc.

Don't be shy, share your thoughts!


Slainte!

[pauljmuk]

Erm... what can I say? Each to their own I suppose.

In my view, brewing is really not very difficult, and from a kit - a breeze.

My main concern with these is the cost -

You can get all you need from Wilkos for about 30 quid, plus another tenner for a 40 pint kit.

refills suggest 50p a pint, which isn't bad I suppose though.

[Manx Guy]

Hi,

I quite agree... it isn't difficult... I think the idea of this is purely as a 'marketing tool' to get people to 'enjoy' making homebrew, who otherwise might find it all too much 'hassle'...

It is pricey but large parts of it appear to be re-usable (as is the stuff from wilko's/LHBS) and the dispening system looks quite novel-assuming it works...

I suspect it will be sucessful in attracting new people to home brewing (from kits initially) and in the process learning about beer...
You could take this (in theory) a step further- the more joe public learns about beer the more discerning he/she may become- meaning that they may use their hard earned £££ to buy 'craft brewed' products in stead of the 'fizzy piss' served in most retail pub/off-licence/resturants...


You never know...

Slainte!

[mysterio]

Looks similar to the tap-a-draft system: http://www.leylandhomebrew.com/cat162_1.htm

Although it's hard to tell without pictures.

My only concern for a newcomer is the small range of proprietary kits on offer, only 3. They are 20 pint kits, most normal kits are for 40 pints. So you could only use the 3 'ibrew' kits. It is basically a novelty product which the manufacturer, presumably, expects the customer to use 3 times maximum. How quickly will the novelty of those stupid posters wear off.

It does, however, get over the dispensing problem which could put off newcomers. Bottling and kegging both have their drawbacks. Barrels don't fit in the fridge, bottling is a PITA, cornie kegs require a bit of investment.

I would rather point a newcomer towards a basic kit for brewing and maybe the tap-a-draft system if they want something that fits in the fridge.

[chopperswookie]

i entered the prize draw to win one. might give a full review if i'm "lucky" enuff to win one!

[johnston]

I've only done 1 kit but when I was buying my gear again I wouldn't have got 1 of them!

for £70 inc postage I got 40 pints of coopers euro plus alot more kit (hydrometer, bottle capper etc etc )

So for me Unless its only to be used once or twice its not really worth the money!

[pauljmuk]

Totally agree - to put this in perspective (as sad as I am) I keep all my recipes and ingredients (with prices) on an excel spreadsheet for cost analysis.

When I started this year, my first beer (a kit beer adaption) worked out at £1.01 per pint for 40 pints. This was mainly due to the cost of the kit (FV, capper, hydro etc) included fairly in the costings.

Second beer factored in a second FV, and couple more ingredients, but far less outlay on kit - down to £0.66 per pint.

Now whilst some extract brews have pushed price up due to nice nice ingredients (Sarah Hughes Ruby at £0.95 per pint, with no equipment cost - all ingredients, 40 pints of) - others have been supremely cheap such as TC's.

The important things being

1. The re-use of equipment
2. The variety (I can go ANYWHERE with the kit I own, and can have 2 on at once)

These refills from Muntons work out at 50p a pint, and you only ever get a choice of three, and can't really do much else with the gear.

Having reflected on it - I'm not convinced. If I was advising a newbie - get some basic gear from Wilkos, start simple, work up.


My overall stats for the year show 350 pints brewed at an average of £0.67 a pint. Had I just brewed kits, I'd have got that down to below £0.50p, but I like to have fun, buy ingredietnts etc.

[scottmoss]

I also use the iBrew system for my lagers (I have X5 10 pint PET bottles so I can do all the 40 pint kits) and its really good to have a nice cold lager!

[mysterio]

Looking forward to testing the kit - hopefully it will put my earlier scepticism at bay

[scottmoss]

Looking forward to testing the kit - hopefully it will put my earlier scepticism at bay

Have you been selected to test the kit then? Hope you all get to keep it because it's really easy to use and excellent for lager.

[mysterio]

Yes I was one of the lucky few!

I do like the general idea of the bottles that you can fit in the fridge and inject with CO2.

The biggest drawback for newbies is bottling = a pain, kegging = expensive and you need a dedicated fridge.

[mysterio]

Ten quid is roughly the market price for a one can kit isn't it ? £3 for the yeast, OK that's overpriced. But there is nothing stopping you from buying a pack of Nottingham, or indeed a completely different beer kit. And how much does the tap-a-draft set up cost, 30 - 40 quid maybe?

We'll see if there is anything about chlorine in the instructions.

Buy a bucket some siphon tubing and a good beer kit and save yourself a lot of money

And 40 bottles and/or a kegging system?

[Jerry Cornelius]

The problem with homebrewing is not that there aren't enough gimmicks or gadgets, it's that it still has a reputation for producing substandard beer and this doesn't address that.

Hopefully, with the evaluation about to take place, now is the time to address those shortcomings. If those that are carrying out the tests, remark on the poor instructions (if indeed they are poor) this is the opportunity for the suppliers to correct anything that should be addressed, and try to get away from the idea that you can brew beer in 7 days.

They need to push the concept of making good beer at home - not in churning out beer quickly. Don't let the marketing people push how quickly it can be done, but instead promote the fact that with care and attention, YOU TOO, can make great beer.

[scottmoss]

I'm quite sure that the bottles are expensive because they are imported?!? The lager kit that's comes with it granted is not the best but the equipment is seconded to none, once you have paid for the 4 PET bottles required to make other 40 pint kits.

As a owner and user of the iBrew equipment I think it's brill.

[196osh]

I'll be part of the reveiw team. Looks a good idea as long as the dispensing tap a draft system works.