Brewie+ Advanced Home Beer Brewing Machine B20+

What follows is a Brewie + ( newer model referred to through this review) review and comparison.I thought this may help people make more informed decisions about whether a brewing assistant is for them or not.I recently purchased the Brewie from Amazon $1749, and only disappointment is that the price dropped $50 immediately after I purchased it. Apparently I triggered the magic number for a price drop on all the remaining units.The Brewie arrived very well packed. I had researched the Brewie a bit prior to purchase and everything was as expected, in fact, better than expected as I was impressed with the packaging.The Brewie is a sleek professional stainless steel brewing appliance. Well engineered and very well thought out. To put things in simple prospective, the Brewie replaces multiple brew pots and burners and vastly reduces the space requirements. Using its two chambers it heats water to the desired step temperature in the left chamber, then transfers it to mash the grains in the brew bag in the right side chamber. The wort temperatures are stepped up for each desired mash step. Sparge water is added in the left boil chamber then sucked down into the bottom while the wort is transferred to the left side boil tank. The sparge water then steeps the remaining grains in the right chamber. The wort is then combined and boiled in the left tank. Hops are added at desired boil times using 4 hop cages/slots that can be programmed to be added at your desired times. Since you can access either chamber at any time, you could add additional ingredients at your desired times. Dry malt for example can be added in the last part of your boil.The Brewie can be hooked up to your water mains and fill the tanks with the designated water amounts automagically. This requires you keep the unit calibrated regularly using premeasured water amounts. Finally your wort can be cooled if hooked to the water mains and drain port. Using your water mains ambient temp it passes the water through and cools the wort. Wort can then be drained to your primary fermenting vessel. When the vessel is at correct temp then the yeast can be pitched. I use the Tilt Bluetooth Hydrometer that keeps track of gravity and temperature during fermentation.Cleanup is a bit of work as you clean it manually with a sponge and brush as the cleaning cycle runs. Two dishwasher tabs are used in the hops chambers to help facilitate this process, Brewie warms the water and helps loosen caked wort and hops. At the latter end one simply lets the rest of the cycle run and comes back to drain and touch up and dry the Brewie in a few hours.The overall brewing experience is the same as traditional brewing in so far as selecting or creating a recipe, collecting the ingredients and then entering them into the color touchscreen interface. The after boil experience is the same as well from dumping your wort into a fermentation vessel. The amount of labor between these two phases is greatly reduced and automated.As compared to the PicoBrew Pro which uses prepaid PicoPacks and a drawer concept, Brewie is an open system where as the Picobrew is a more closed system. One has to move up to the old Zymatic or new Z series to gain a level of open brewing concept to forum your own recipes Picobrew Freestyle will allow a limited ability to craft recipes using picobrew ingredients that are then assembled into a Picopack and sold to you at a premium price.Brewie also sells a limited number of brewpads similar to picopacks. Cost are similar with BrewiePads creating a 5Gl batch as applied to the Picobrew 1.5gl batch.The Z series will also use a drawer approach. As to whether it can be open mid cycle to manually add ingredients is unknown but likely doubtful in my opinion. This limits you to the initial grains and hops you add to the machine. You will be able to create your own recipe using your own ingredients, same as the older Zymatic.PicoPacks are for 1.5 gallon batches. This is for the Picobrew series of appliances. The Z1 will brew 2.5 gallons and the the additional units for the Z2-4 will add increments of 2.5 gallons. The Brewie will make 2.5 to 5.2 gallon batches in a single unit.Pico systems require you to clean the drawer and various parts as well as run cleaning cycles. Pico uses a keg to facilitate brewing and finishes with your wort to cool and pitch at temp in the single keg.Brewie if hooked to a water mains and drain can cool your wort and transfer to your fermenting vessel of choice, including a keg if one so chooses. Brewie takes a little longer to clean. Brew times are similar depending on the number of steps and boil time associated with a given recipe. Both have app like access as well as built interfaces. Brewie costs anywhere from $1700 to $2400, the Pico Z series will run $2000-$6000 depending on capacity. Assuming 5 gallons as apples to appease then the Picobrew Z2 would run $3000. For 10 gallons your roughly looking at $3400-$4800 on the Brewie and $6000 on the Pico Z4. One would manage ingredients for two Brewie’s verses 4 Pico Z’s. Four 5 gallon kegs minimum for the Z series verses whatever fermenting vessel you choose. My point for elaborating on this is there are challenges either way depending on the capacity you desire. The Brewie has a 13lb grain limit. The Z will have a 9lb limit. These limits are more relevant than they appear for all grain brewing. For example, my latest wheat could not be brewed all grain and I needed DME to add in the latter part of the boil.I think the automation is a bit over hyped for all these appliances, but that’s just me. I think of these as assistants. I have a Picobrew Pro and PicoStill as well as the Picoferm unit in addition to my Brewie and Tilts.Bottom line for me is the Brewie is well built and a more open platform honoring more of the traditional experience. I cancelled my Z1 order and am happily brewing now with my Brewie +.Why buy one? Ability to run full grain batches, move from a plan and stage paradigms as opposed to all the hard labour and constant monitoring. Space savings. Easier to clean.Why not to buy one? 70-75 percent efficiency, 13lb grain limit.

When my Brewie+ arrived i was excited. During setup, I did everything required until calibration. This is when things started to go wrong. I found first that my scale did not weigh to a fine enough measurement 7000 Grams-10000 Grams (246.918 ounces- 352.740 ounces) then 2000 grams (70.548 oz.). So i returned the scale and bought a new scale. the new scale could measure to 0.1 grams or 0.001 ounces. Then I tried to power down and wait for the new scale and found the unit would not power down (waiting up to 3 minutes holding the power button), so i unplugged it.while waiting for the new scale, looking at menus and fearing the worst i ran into more problems it would lose my WiFi credentials. at least once it unexpectedly went dark like the power plug was pulled, but wasn't. I couldn't do anything except pull the plug, wait then re plug it in. The new scale arrived and tried to calibrate i would get stuck in a menu loop. I would go to settings then calibrate. it would require a drain all, i did that and after it completed it went went back to lets brew. I tried a few times and then unplugged it (power button doesn't work).I tried multiple times to calibrate using both grams and ounces and it failed every time. i followed all the recommended ways to calibrate like do not touch the machine, use a spirit level to level the machine, get every drop out of the bucket, etc.... STILL DID NOT WORK!!!I tried to contact Brewie USA through the amazon website but was having a problem getting it to work. I chatted with a helpful amazon customer service person online. Due to the problems with the machine i have to send it back. I have spent another $550 USD in equipment and ingredients that i now cant use.I don't have the kind of money to reorder a different brewie until my credit card is refunded. then i will have to pray that my experience is not the same as the first time and that i can get the same price as before $1599.00 USD, or i am S.O.L.if i am able to reorder and have a better experience i will update my rating and comments.*****Update*****December 3, 2018I received the replacement that I ordered. Everything seems to work like it should now! The power button works, no menu loops, no WiFi problems. Calibration was successful first time.I brewed my first beer with it and it is now in the fermenter. I was somewhat disappointed at brewing efficiency. I did some reading and found that my first batch was outside the optimum grain weight, so this can not be held against them.so as promised i have updated my review. With such a highly complex machine sometimes problems happen and it seems it was my turn. I have also updated my rating but have held back one star because of my problems with the first machine.******UPDATE JULY 14,2019******I went to brew today, only my 4th with the brewie+. The brew tank filled and started to heat and never reached mash in temperature. Then temperature started to drop. stopping it and rebooting it did not help. I tried a sanitizing clean and water did not heat. I hooked it up yesterday to start prepping and ran a sanitizing clean (had not been used in a little bit) worked fine. I have not found any contact phone numbers for Brewie USA, so i have placed a problem ticket with Brewie.org. I'm guessing its the element is no good and I don't know if I will come up with the money to ship it for repairs. that is an expensive paper weight and will probably end my ability to brew for some time!****** Update August 4,2019******Brewie responded on July 15 to the ticket I filed. "it sounds like the heater wires came loose". "This tends to happen on first generation brewie+". "The manufacturer used below spec cables to the heating element". They asked me if I would replace the cables myself and I agreed. I sent them my shipping address on the same day. I have not heard back from them yet (20 days). In addition I have sent 3 more emails without a response. I have seen on a message board that the mash tank is having the same problems only at a slower rate. I hope brewie responds, but the photos on the message board are not encouraging. in addition some people on the message board claim to have other damage due to the below spec cables coming loose. I don't have equipment to diagnose problems like some of these people have had to do. I just don't know how this product has not been recalled. This machine is a fire hazard! The manufacturer used epoxy to keep the substandard wires from coming loose, and the epoxy is burning off and burning the below spec wires. It is starting to seem that I have spent nearly $1700 including tax to brew 3 beers not to mention all the other stuff I bought for it(now useless). I am going to place another ticket through the web site detailing the problem again. I will include the original ticket number and the lack of communication from brewie. They should fix it, swap it for a new machine or refund my money.*******Update August 22, 2019 ********* RIP BrewieEven though there is no official word it appears that Brewie is out of business! The website is gone! There are reports on Brewie Users Group on Facebook that Brewie is refusing to receive units that have been shipped for repair! I never received my repair kit and probably won't at this point. I will either have to fix it myself and hope nothing else goes wrong, or accept the bad purchase and my nearly $1700 (including taxes) paperweight.

Yes the company went under, but there is a great fan base out there who are vary helpful! I hope you come back someday Brewie!