Kegland are knowingly selling faulty equipment!
(Wording in quotations is copy/paste from email received from Braidy, Kegland, 410 Princes Highway, Noble Park, VIC 3174 on Jun 25th, 2024.)
Since I bought my Brewzilla 35 Gen 3.1.1, I have had issues with the temperature control.
The boiler can’t raise the temperature between mash steps, without me having to set a much higher temperature than my recipe setpoint. I must also measure the actual temperature manually, standing by to drop the temperature setting as soon as my setpoint is reached.
So, I decided to contact Kegland for advice and a solution, even though I had read online, that others who had the same issue had been told Kegland had never heard of this issue. I even wrote in my first email, I would give Kegland the full rundown of the issue, if they would not waste my time with a we have never heard of that issue reply.
Therefore, I was surprised Braidy from Kegland Australia got back to me requesting more information.
I sent the info requested, told Braidy in detail about the issue and all the fixes I have tried myself without any success. This time I was not surprised by the answer, it matched my initial expectation quite well, sadly!
Braidy told me he knew exactly what I was talking about, and that “the issue is one that plagues almost all boilers”.
Braidy went on to say that the only solution is “to manually increase the temp above the desired mashout temp until the grainbed hits the target.”.
From here Braidy went on to pitch the Brewzilla Gen 4 BZ, telling me Kegland had solved the issue with a “second probe in the mash bed itself and a programmable temperature differential.”.
And that was it. No solution was offered whatsoever.
So basically, what you can take from this is Kegland are selling the Brewzilla 3.1.1, knowing very well it is unable to automatically control the temperature, leaving you with a very expensive tea kettle with the addition of a recirculation pump.
Kegland even have the nerve to sell their customers the Brewzilla 3.1.1 Upgrade Kit, increasing your total volume by 12 litres (2.5 gal.), knowing this will only make matters worse. Like Braidy wrote me “Many factors come into play when determining how much to manually increase the temp above the desired mashout temp” one of them being “mash bed volume”. I can attest to this, I bought the Upgrade Kit, stupid me! But the fact remains, Kegland are still selling the Kit even though they know about all the issues it will cause.
This also means the whole idea of “Auto Mode” on the 3.1.1 is a scam. I know this, doesn’t work when the boiler is unable to reach the set temperature automatically! The Brewzilla just increases the temperature on the display, and when it thinks the setpoint is reached, the step timer is started. In fact, the temperature will never reach the setpoint when measured inside the mash tun before the Brewzilla goes to the next step in the sequence.
So, want to do a multi-step mash? Forget it, or rather go out and get yourself a manual thermometer (I would suggest NOT from Kegland), a garden chair and find a lot of patience!!!
And another thing, remember you have no idea what the actual temperature in the bottom of the boiler is. Like Braidy wrote, you must “manually increase the temp above the desired mashout temp until the grainbed hits the target”. I have had to set the temperature 20 degrees c (68*F) higher than the mash temperature I was aiming for, just to be able to reach my setpoint. You might be boiling your wort under the false bottom without knowing it, before of course you measure your OG and realise it is way off.
My final thoughts, DO NOT BUY the Brewzilla 3.1.1!
In fact, I would advise you to not buy any products from Kegland. Given they are clearly aware of the issues with the Brewzilla but choose not to inform their customers or give them a way to fix the issue when contacted directly, I have to say the company is not trustworthy.
25. Juni 2024
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