Anvil Foundry Brewing System with Recirculation Pump Kit - 10.5 Gallon

Fast shipping and everything arrived in good condition.

The brewing system worked great! I only have 110V outlets in my brew area but even then it came up to temp in a reasonable time frame. And kept the temp within a few degrees of my target mash temp easily. It did notice that it overshot the mash temp at times by a couple degrees. (Still better then manually maintaining temps!) I plan on running a 220 outlet soon so it should work even faster. My only issue with the system so far is the pump. The pump head and it's guts are all plastic. Because of this, instructions explicitly state not to use it for pumping boiling wort. Some of the wort will therefore stay in the lines unless you remove the pump after the mash and drain it. I did that, then pumped some starsan through the tubing and pump head to sanitize it so I could pump the wort into my fermentor after it had been cooled down. A tedious and messy set of steps I would not have to do if I had a pump that could handle the boiling wort temps. The hose restricter is a joke. A ball valve would work much better. (And not be yet another small part I have to keep track of.) The pump works well, it could just be better with some tweaks. Cleanup was relatively easy, but complicated by the systems height and the fact that you have to be careful of the electronics around the sink. Overall I like the system. I would recommend the base system to a friend with the thought that they buy a better pump system.

Only brewed once and it was my very first attempt at all-grain. Great build quality and worked as it should. I used a premilled kit, I did get a lot of grain particles that went through the basket into my wort. I will attempt my next batch with a mesh bag to minimize that. I would definitely recommend this unit!

I've had my eye on all in one systems for brewing both extract and all grain recipes for some time now. Until recently, I've used a decked out 10 gallon Spike Brewing Kettle on a propane burner, which works just fine. However, on cold days, it's nice to have the option to take operations indoors. I'm glad that I waited until now, because Blichmann was able to survey what other manufacturers have done and are offering, and to be honest, made some nice improvements on what's out there. The 10.5 gallon Anvil Foundry is larger than what competitors offers. It is made solid enough that it does not need any type of insulating jacket (like many other units do). It has an external circulation pump (get one, you won't regret it), so, it doesn't have any clogging issues that could almost wreck a brew day. The controller is simple, easy to use, and you can do multi-step mashes, you just have to manually enter your desired temps. The unit heats up rather quickly, holds temps within a degree, and is a breeze to set up, take down, and clean. Ah, and you may want to pick up a 6"x14" 300 Micron Mesh Hop Spider to use as a grain and hop basket for extract batches, and then as a hop basket when making an all grain recipe. The value and enjoyment of use that you get, with such a small footprint, really can't be beat, especially at this price point. This unit can also be used on both 120v and 240v wiring (1600w on the former, and 2800w for the latter). Imo, this is the unit to buy, and it'll make brew days that much easier, as well as enjoyable. Hear me now, believe me later ...