OnTap Magazine

T he leaves are slowly turning red (at the point of writing this), from the heart of the winelands. For the oak trees, threatened by invading polyphagous shot hole borer beetles, this might very well be their last shedding of leaves. By the time you read this, winter will likely be in full swing across the country. With this in mind, I leapt at the chance to to test the Dema-Craft 60 Litre brewing machine and in the process, brew myself something a little darker–albeit not yet a porter or a stout. The first thing I noticed, when taking this beautiful system from its box, is the solid, yet lightweight of the machine. It has a sixty-litre capacity, but it is fairly easy to handle. That is a big positive because homebrewing should not be hard work, especially when using an all-in-one system. With those first impressions noted, it was time to assemble. To fit the draining tap, you do not need any tools. The tap has a seal which means you hand tighten it to be watertight. There is a small filter tube that needs a flat-tip screwdriver to tighten around the inside of the tap, which is a 20-second job. There is a “small tube,” which fits into the pump inlet on the base of the machine, designed to elevate the suction point away from the bottom of the pot. This aids in pulling out clearer wort during recirculation. The assembly of the grain basket is also so self-explanatory, it is almost not worth mentioning: tighten the overflow tube around the bottom sparge plate, slip it in and then you are nearly set to brew. The top of the overflow tube comes with a white cap that conveniently screws onto the tube in order to prevent grains from escaping the grain basket when adding the malt to the mash water. This is a small but time-saving component. The circulation tube fits onto the pump by camlock, which is fast and yet again devoid of the need for tools. You are now ready to go–it’s on to the brew. The programmable controller allows for a huge amount of complex brewing, but it is not overly complicated to use. You essentially have a “manual” and an “auto” mode. When you use the manual mode, you set the temperature of each step and the machine makes a little chime to let you knowwhen it reaches temperature. You can essentially get brewing without any delay on simple recipes like one-step mash and boil brew days. On the auto mode, you get to program in various steps for step mashing. You can then leave your machine to go through the various temperature rests and only take any physical action during the sparge. And during the sparge, your machine is already on its way to boiling, without you having to intervene with the controller, or set temperatures. You can even set the strength of the element during the boil to avoid boil-over. That is pretty nifty. Importantly, you can save this brewing recipe, thus relinquishing the need for a fresh set-up every time you brew. In addition to all of this, one of the coolest convenience features of the whole device is the bendable rotation tube. It allows you to bend it into position when lifting the lid, making it easy to manage on a solo brew day and minimising the chances of burning yourself on warm liquid along the way. There are two switches beside the controller: one for the system, switching on the controller unit and elements, and one to run the pump. This removes the pump controls from the controller unit. This actually works very well because it means you can leave the controller alone during the auto mode and just recirculate as needed. You are the brewer, after all. My suggestedadditional purchasewould be a hop spider, because that would allow you to transfer your wort to the fermenter more efficiently with the pump, rather than the tap. The machine doesn’t always come with a cooler, so this is also a must-purchase if you do not already have one. All in all, this was a seamless brew day: no efficiency issues, no stuck sparges, no injuries and the clean-up is quick due to the machine being quite light and easy to handle. This is a very good product for both newbies and experienced brewers. See more about the dematech Products and services Dema-Craft 60 Litre Brewing Machine ontapmag.co.za | Winter 2023 | 41