Does the Maverick Allow You To Brew Better Beer?

That’s a tough question to answer since there are many things that go into brewing great beers.  And there is probably no factor that is more important than the knowledge and experience of the brewer.  But I can confidently say that a nicely outfitted Maverick Brewing System will provide you with more information in real time than any other system on the market.  

Here is one simple example.  

You’re brewing a big beer, an Imperial Black IPA and you’re expecting a preboil gravity of 1.074 and an original gravity of 1.092.  After the lauter and removing the mash basket, you take a gravity reading and find that your gravity is 1.062.  You see from the tank volume markings that you seem to have a little extra wort.  You were expecting 7.51 gallons but you seem to have a little under 8 gallons.   Assuming you are a bit low so you go to a gravity adjustment calculator and it tells you to add 686 grams of DME to correct the low gravity.  

But is the gravity actually low?  In this example, the answer is no.  There was 7.92 gallons or 29.98 liters.  So if you had just brought the wort to a boil, by the time you reached a volume of 7.51 you would be at both your target preboil volume and your target preboil gravity.  But with the Maverick system, the controller would have known the precise volume and with your specific gravity reading of 1.062 the BrewMaster  controller would have simply adjusted the boil time to allow you to reach both your targeted Original Gravity and your target boil volume of 21 liters or 5.5 gallons.  

The opposite situation also commonly comes up.  You take a preboil gravity and find it to be right on the money.  But your volume is about one liter lower than expected.  It’s hard to notice a volume difference of one liter using the etched markings inside a kettle.  So it is easy to miss the fact that your preboil gravity is actually low. But the Maverick ‘s BrewMaster Control System would recognize this and would ask if you wanted to correct the low pre-boil gravity.  And if you answer Yes it will direct you how much of your preferred fermentable to add.  

Let’s look at another common situation.  You bring the wort to an aggressive rolling boil.  After 10 minutes the Controller let’s you know that at the current boil intensity, you will reach your target volume in 43 minutes, not the 50 minutes on your countdown timer.  If you had boiled the full 60 minutes at that boil intensity, your volume would have been lower than the target and your SG higher than expected.  But with the BrewMaster controller, it will show you when you will reach your target volume and when you will reach your target gravity.  And if it is possible to align those values, the Brewmaster will help you do so, 

In each case, the Brewmaster provides the brewer with far more relevant information in real time, which allows the brewer to make adjustments that are needed or to avoid adjustments that only appear to be needed.  

So will the Maverick system allow you to brew better beer?  

Well it will allow you to brew more accurately and to repeat brews more exactly.  But a bad recipe is still a bad recipe.  But most of the common challenges of all grain brewing, can be addressed with having access to the right information when you need it.