I have brewed about 10 beers with this system and you can't beat the value. Keeps temperatures well. When mashing-Cover with lid and possible wrap with insulation to ensure lower heat loss. This will make it stay within your mash temp easier.

I would recommend you fill the kettle with strike & sparge water and set the temperature the night before. Give it a 2-3 hour head start to get water up to temperature before you plan on starting your brew. I have an Igloo I use to store hot sparge water so I just set the temperature hot enough to account for heat loss during the mash. This way I only have to heat one vessel. I use cool water to adjust the remaining hot water in the kettle down to my strike temp and then I'm ready to mash in.

It can handle 15-16 lbs of grain barely but if you want to do a really big beer I would recommend a batch less than 5 gallons or use extract in the boil to bump up your OG. Also would recommend using rice hulls or similar to prevent a stuck mash. Average efficiency has been about 70%. The website recommends a short stand (14" roughly) of sorts to put the brewer on so when you sparge the top of the mash basket isn't too high to see into. Easy to clean the inside of the kettle and mash basket with Barkeeper's Friend. To ensure I didn't miss any hard to clean spots, after the 8th brew I soaked the inside of the kettle and mash basket with PBW overnight and it cleaned up any remaining organic material, then I washed with hot water to get the PBW out.

The boil is not a strong rolling boil. It is a soft boil, but it is one I would feel comfortable stepping away from for a few minutes and not be scared of it boiling over. Do so at your own risk, however. Loses about a 1/2 gallon of water per hour from boiling. Recommend keeping lid on to get up to temperature faster but obviously take the lid off when it's getting close to boiling temperature to prevent a boil over. Usually takes 45-60 minutes to bring to a boil. An insulated jacket would help prevent heat loss.

It's a sturdy piece of equipment and I clean mine well after every brew so the stainless steel inside stays as clean and shiny as the day I bought it. Haven't had any scorching issues that have come through in the beer. There has been some caramelization directly over the burner but nothing noticeable. Usually don't have any issues. I've loved using this system, it keeps temperatures relatively well and I don't have to constantly adjust burners and worry about scorching. It has lasted at least 10 brews and performs as well now as it did the first time I used it. Would highly recommend it.

Whether your a beginner or someone who's brewed a few times, this Brewers Edge Mash and Boil is so easy to use. Whether your brewing from a kit or lucky enough to have a local business who sells all grain, this kettle is unbelievable. I love it. I've had it for two months now and I'm making my seventh batch tomorrow. I'm not as picky as the brewers who make beer for a living and have to have the temperatures not fluctuate or they'd go out of business. The temperatures don't fluctuate much for us home brewers. I love the fact that I can put water in the kettle and program it to start heating my water a few hours beforehand so I don't have to wait for it to heat up, I can just get into it. I'm telling you this, it's easy. You'll become a brewer for life. With the cost of beer rising all the time, we need to make our own beer. I'm not close to a grain dealer so I order my kits on Amazon. They are cheap and it comes with grains and or your liquid and dry malts and your hops and hop bags, you're yeast, and priming sugars. Also comes with bottle caps if you bottle your beer. All your ingredients and easy instructions you need to brew a great beer. I have a kegerator so I brew 5 gallons at a time. Tomorrow I'm brewing a Russian Imperial Stout. My first time using this kettle was a little intimidating, but the second batch was easier, and after that, I feel I'm now an official brewer. I do 4 batches a month. 2 five gallon kegs for me and 2 five gallon kegs for my wife. Buy this Brewers Edge Mash and boil. I bought mine from Amazon for $299, came in just 3 days. If you don't like it Amazon will take it back. What do yo have to loose. Brew on everyone.

This is my brew system. I left go of brew in the bag because I moved into a new apartment and I couldn't brew outside anymore. It works well for the price! But I've noticed a few problems. A couple of them I read in the comments - uneven temperature. That's fine, but the false bottom on this is tricky to work with. Even with my pump, clearing out the wort before boiling, I get a lot of grain matter into the kettle. It's a problem. also, the bucket that you take out could be a lot better. It could be of a steel mesh material, like a hop spider. But instead it drains really slowly. Lastly, the screen on mine has become foggy, and I keep it well kept and clean. I'm in school so I couldn't afford a better machine, but if I had money, I'd go with something better or if I had space I'd keep brewing outside.

The Mash & Boil is a real game changer in the automated brew system market. It is VERY nice, well automated, and an incredible value for the money. The M&B is not so complex that a modestly experienced brewer could not handle making an all grain batch in the M&B.

Had my first brew day with the M&B this past weekend (Aug 12, 2018). The system is easy to use. I set it for a normal length brew session with a delay of 12 hours. The start delay worked well. Most everything went well. Most things that did not go well were my fault. However, the one thing I really want to report on is Brewer's Edge's recommended grain to strike water ratio and volume of sparge water. I had 5lbs + 2 oz grain bill. I used the suggested 2 gallons of strike water but used an equal amount of water for sparging. The boil went fairly well. Measured a Brix of 12.4. More to come...
The mash was too thick! I tried manual recirculating with a small pitcher with little result. I did not have enough strike water. When it was time for the sparge water, it was still too thick. I added an extra 1/2 gallon of sparge water yhat was on hand and it was still too thick. The mash did not clarify satisfactorily. I will use Palmer's recommendations from "How To Brew" for qty of strike & sparge water for next batch.

I've done one brew of a pumpkin beer so far, the system works well and has the maximum 1600 watts allowed for a conventional household outlet. My mash water and wort took about an hour for each, to be expected, and it gets the wort up to a nice rolling boil. The basket is a good idea and it stays in place well but the only area for the wort to drain is on the bottom and unless you stir your mash to drain it, I can see the mash taking forever to drain, it was a trickle at times. Another con is the mash can pretty much only handle a 13 pound grain bill so no double IPAs for this system.

Overall I give this system 4 stars because of its convenience, ease of use and price, it'll boil the batch well and the basket is a good idea if it drained better and accomodated a bigger grain bill, also no room for a bazooka screen with the basket, I'm sticking with my converted mash tun and a mesh bag, drains much better, holds more grain being 10 gallons and accommodates a bazooka screen. If you don't plan on doing more than 13 pound of grain, this system will be just right for you, just plan on stirring the mash in the basket to get it all drained.