Opinions on MoreBeer 1550 Brewsculptures

[kevBrew]

Hello,

For those of you who own a MoreBeer 1550 Sculpture... What do you think of it?

Does it make the brew day easier?

Is it flexible(as far as different brewing techniques)

I have a line on a used Version 1.0 1550 Sculpture and wanted to get some opinions before I took the plunge and bought the system.

thanks

[bikefoolery]

A 1550 will make you a pro. Just ask Chad and Jamil!

In all seriousness it depends on your preferred brewing techniques. For me, I'm a BIAB brewer or extract with grains for time constraints, so it would not be a good choice, but if I had time for 3 vessel brewing...

The Fool

[TastyMcD]

I would definitely get the 26 gallon boil kettle. If you're like me and want to rack 10 gallons from the fermentor, you'll need to make 12 gallons of wort so that you can leave some in the kettle but still fill the fermentor with enough so you can leave some behind there. The pre-boil volume on 12 gallons is often over 15 gallons. The 26 gallon kettle doesn't work that well for 5 gallons batches where the 15 gallon kettle does. The 26 gallon kettle allows you to make 15 gallon batches of lighter beers (under 1.058 OG). It looks like the 26 would be an additional $70. I've got one of their 26 gallon kettles and I love it.

Tasty

[kevBrew]

Tasty,

Do you have a MoreBeer Sculpture?

Kevin

[TastyMcD]

Tasty,

Do you have a MoreBeer Sculpture?

Kevin

A sculpture has never been a dream of mine even though I see them every week when I'm in the MoreBeer showroom. I just prefer my direct fired mashtun and the wort it makes.

Tasty

[disasterbrew]

A sculpture has never been a dream of mine even though I see them every week when I'm in the MoreBeer showroom. I just prefer my direct fired mashtun and the wort it makes.

Tasty

so Tasty, what's your setup? Do you have 2 burners? A stand of some sort? I'd like to move up to a rims (?) system at some point, but don't have room for a stand.

[TastyMcD]

A sculpture has never been a dream of mine even though I see them every week when I'm in the MoreBeer showroom. I just prefer my direct fired mashtun and the wort it makes.

Tasty

so Tasty, what's your setup? Do you have 2 burners? A stand of some sort? I'd like to move up to a rims (?) system at some point, but don't have room for a stand.

I've got a single level three vessel, three pump system. My 26 gallon HLT sits on a 60,000 BTU Campchef and my 26 gallon boil kettle sits on a 55,000 BTU Bayou Classic. My direct fired mashtun, which is made from a 50 liter Heinekin keg with a bottom drain, sits on a Campchef burner that I've dialed down to about 10,000 BTU. The burner has an automatic valve so the flame comes on when the mash falls below the setpoint on my Ranco. I recirculate for the entire duration of the mash.

Tasty

[digr]

Tasty, thanks for the info on your setup. Love to know what you do for the screen / filter on your boil kettle?
I just got a B3 26 gallon kettle, and I am looking to add either a side diverter / pickup tube or something of that nature.
I'd very much like to whirlpool so I would prefer to have the pickup near the side and NOT use a central tube style kettle screen.
I know some people who use a SS mesh made into a sort of "tent" around the pickup to keep it form getting clogged.
I've been using hop bags for years after I got tired of clogged siphons etc, but I'd like to be able to use both pellets and whole hops if possible.

Thanks in advance for any details.

And thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge!

Cheers!