Guten / Beer Torrent / Hopcat / Brew Devil / Ace microbrewery review and overview

[@bernardwilson]

Klarkstein now selling on eBay for the bargain price of around £260 after a voucher deal. Thanks for your very valued review.

[@cheshirehomebrew]

That's a great review of a decent looking system. Most people are on some sort of budget so I bet this video will be really popular. Cheers Sarah. thumbs up too.

[@DaftCatBrewing]

Thanks a lot :) I'm really liking it despite the niggles I mention in the video. Cheers

[@donaldsheppard7489]

Thank you for this excellent and fair review, Sarah. It seems to me from your review that the advantages of the Ace/Klarstein far outweigh the disadvantages. Combined with the review of the inbuilt pump by Magic Pancake I conclude that this is definitely the one vessel system to go for, unless you are very well off and can't do without bluetooth! Thanks for all your hard work, I'm sure I speak for all your subscribers when I say that all your videos are very much appreciated.

[@DaftCatBrewing]

Thanks a lot. :) I definitely like the Ace system and yes I agree, this is a great little system. It has a few little niggles, but it's nothing you can't live with or work around and for the money it has great features. Yes, if you have the money then other systems offer more features, and I really enjoyed brewing with the GrainFather at the Malt Miller, but they are not without their own little niggles. I'd let your budget guide you. All the best

[@beanhamhomebrew1808]

Nice look round the ace . Good bit of kit for the money

[@JustMyFish]

Good review. Straight to the point no pun intended 🤣👍🏻💞

[@nostratosphere]

Nice indeed! Mine is called Brewmonk actually. Very happy with it, tested it today to the fullest with only water. Needs some calibration and your tips help a very lot also, so thanks alot. Keep brewing !

[@tube4waldek]

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with it! Very helpful !

[@CreweWolfCraft]

Great show and tell Sarah great bit of kit for the money even if i do shout and swear at it somedays lol

[@FraserBreweries]

I think in Australia its under the name Robobrew, looks very similar to that, would love one of these systems just for the ease of use over BIAB, but i do find BIAB a fairly simple and easy way of brewing. But the step mashing would be something i'd love to try. Nice review Sarah :)

[@DaftCatBrewing]

Thanks a lot :) I think the Robobrew is a different system, but it is one I did consider before buying the Ace.

[@DullahanBrewing]

Excellent review Sarah many thanks,i am more convinced now than ever this is the way i need to go when i can afford it.Your point about the pump being built in is what puts me off the Bulldog Brewer,that and the fact the pump on the BB is basically a cheapo solar pump most end up upgrading anyway.Maybe Santa will be kind to me this year lol.Cheers.

[@DaftCatBrewing]

Cheers Greg :) Totally agree, the pump on the BB just seems to be a bodge job rather than a proper system solution

[@mimaka8343]

Just got on of these units. My controller stops after s1 and you need to push auto to confirm and continue, does the same after mashing , you need to confirm to start the boil.

[@Unclejona]

Cheers Sarah, good review

[@DaftCatBrewing]

Thanks :)

[@martindaly1896]

Very helpful review

[@99ulysses99]

Nice review.

[@DaftCatBrewing]

Thanks :) I hope it's helpful

[@spinaway]

Mine came yesterday, its got the uprated controller which does 9 steps.

[@darenmullis9216]

stupid question, but how do you clean past the base with the small hole?

[@diablothe2nd]

Seems like a great system, but lacks a decent controller. Sounds like this machine could do with an STC1000 A400_P flashed with the OVBSC software. It beeps at you when it needs you to do something like pull the bucket or add hops. And if you don't do it within the set cutoff period (you can set yourself) the whole system shuts down.

[@DaftCatBrewing]

This one does beep between stages as well, but unlike the flashed STC it just beeps and carries on. I actually think the controller is better than the 1000 as that gives you no control over element wattage, or at least I don't recall it having any, but I could be wrong and the setting procedure for the flashed stc is a bit of a faff by nature of being a reverse engineered solution rather than a custom designed step controller. That said, the controller isn't nearly as good as the Grainfather connect one.

[@diablothe2nd]

There's a setting on the flashed OVBSC software menu for power control. You can select a setting for it to pulse the element for seconds (or fractions of a second if you bypass the relay like mine and send the signal to an SSR, the source code is freely available) and basically turn into a pulse width modulator. Mine goes full throttle then backs off as it approaches target temperature. Haven't used the connect GF but have seen and played with the more inferior STC version. Btw I'm Stew on FB. Great vids.. have a sub :D

[@DaftCatBrewing]

Cool didn't know it had that :) I;ve got a spare ssr, I may have to check my STCs and see if any of them are the right version sometime as I want to upgrade the brupaks boiler in one of mu other videos. Once the warranty is out on the ACE it's getting replaced with a pi controlled custom controller with network connections

[@diablothe2nd]

Definitely give either the STC1000+ ferment or OVBS software a go if you have the right version. it's like a free upgrade and you only need a knockoff chinese £3 arduino nano and a soldering iron to make it happen. my next controller project will likely be an arduino with a character LCD and a few buttons for menu navigation :D

[@wisconsinlife3971]

I'm expecting my system to be delivered today (30l US system) I'm converting from a 3 vessel system.. Couple questions.. What are your water to grain ratio for mashing? I typically used 1.5 quarts of water per lb of grain.. I'm sure this will not be correct. Ive also heard the markings on the system are not correct to collect the proper boil volume during sparge.. Is there a way to calculate sparge volume? Maybe a site glass would be a wise install.. Any. Apps out there like beersmith for this system? Thank you for your review.. Great job

[@mateusloureiro3384]

following

[@DaftCatBrewing]

Hi there, Sorry just seen this comment now as KZbin decided to hide it as possibly spam. Yes there are equipment profiles available in the files section of our FB group for Beersmith and BrewFather for both the 50l and 30l systems facebook.com/groups/1324257024320596/

[@steamedbeech967]

Nice one Sarah, me getting one is on hold for the moment and I see they've sold out now anyway, but in time it'll happen as you rightly say family first.

[@DaftCatBrewing]

They certainly seem popular as they sell out frequently. They are bringing a 50 litre version over now as well so that may be something to consider in future :) Cheers

[@donaldsheppard7489]

I see the 50 litre version in now out. It is called the Hopcat 50L Micro Brewery 3000W, Pump, 6 Step Mash, 15kg Grain and it's available on E-bay. A bit pricey though at 640 quid.

[@DaftCatBrewing]

Yea, the price on that would put it well out of the range of what I was able to justify, I'm probably about £250 all in on my 50L kit over the years, the bulk of that being spent on the RIMs, however if the price works for you, it's a great system so I can only imagine the 50L one will be more of the same just bigger. I wouldn't like the idea of lifting the malt tube out of that by hand though as the 30l one is bad enough when it is full of malt and wort

[@spinaway]

Anyone who owns one of these brewers and wants a pid controller then there is a kit available from smart pid, it comes with everthing you need to convert your brewer to a smart pid, i believe its virtually plug and play, they cost around €129, i just tried to order one but they told me they are out of stock until the end of september, they said they would email me when available so i wil post on here when i hear anything. Thanks for the info sarah.

[@SteveT__001]

You didn't hear anything then

[@spinaway]

Ive just ordered one of these but its called royal catering.

[@theimpatientbrewer]

How are you doing with this system now?

[@DaftCatBrewing]

I'm no longer using it as I upgraded to the G40 last year but did have 3 different versions of this system over the years which I got on fine with and I brewed my beer that won the UK national on one of them.

[@mickstanger164]

thanks. really useful review

[@jessedekker4767]

Where did you buy this setup? Is this the 'Hopcat' from Hopcat.eu?

[@DaftCatBrewing]

I got it on ebay. this is the ACE which is more or less the same as the new Hopcats. The Hopcat is a 50 litre system with a 3kw element in it, the Ace / Klarstein is a 30l one with a 2.5kw element. Other than that, all the features, programming etc are the same.

[@汪洋-n5f]

I cannot find it in ebay. Could you show us the seller? Thank you! I know it is made in China, but you have to pay 750 USD to get it in CHN.......

[@andreograndedotatuape7447]

Sarah tks for the review....You know the difference between ace and robobrew ? Thay are the same ? if not, which one you think its better ? tks a lot...andre from Brasil

[@DaftCatBrewing]

I believe they are different, but I have never used a robobrew so I couldn't say which was better sorry.

[@korayuslu]

it's name is JET30 in Turkiye

[@ferrangrau8392]

Sarah, may I ask how does it perform in keeping the temperature during mashing? Does it use a pid system?

[@DaftCatBrewing]

It could benefit from an insulation jacket if you are brewing in cold ambient temperatures but otherwise it is not bad. It seems more like a dumb temperature controller rather than a PID, it doesn't seem to vary the duty cycle as the set temp gets closer.

[@LeandroVictorTech]

Does anyone know what is the grain capacity of the grain basket? Some say it's only 8Kg for the 50L model.

[@DaftCatBrewing]

Whilst I haven't used a 50L version, I've been told by James from Hopcat.eu that the 50L holds up to 15KG of grain. Hope that helps

[@LeandroVictorTech]

Daft Cat Brewing Thanks!

[@nostratosphere]

It's 12 for the 50L

[@spectratos]

Can you skip the pre-programming and just run the steps manually as the old Grainfather? I mean an ordinary 3 step recipe for mash --> mash out --> boil is simple enough to do manually. Ofcourse more steps would benefit greatly from programming.

[@DaftCatBrewing]

You can, but it is not something I have ever done