Returning to the fold after 20 years, at which time I was a partial mash guy with some pretty basic equipment. Further, back 20 years ago, I wanted to get into all grain brewing and cumulative advise at that time was-- sure you can do that if you want to dedicate half you garage to the process, and by the way break out your checkbook as it is not a cheap date.
Fast forward to today. money not an issue, and while not preferable, if necessary I am ok with dedicating half my garage to the process, if that is what is required to be able to meet the goal of producing the best beer that is possible from a home brewing perspective.
So far I am liking the Grainfather on a "buy" basis. However, kind of figuring the best way to judge quality of output is by how many competitions are won. On this basis, feedback I have been receiving is that people not aware of many if any competitions have been won by users of a Grainfather. Ok, so this begs the question I want to ask -- why is that. Is it because other setups are needed to produce better quality "wort" for fermentation, or is it more that those who have reached the level of expert or master, necessary to win these competitions, tend to be dedicated "purists", who have gotten there over time using other systems and prefer to be more "hands on" at each step of process, and view automation or semi-automation assistance to get them to the same quality output, as somehow being immoral? Kind of tittering on this as being a possible assessment and interested in feedback. thanks