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Soaked in Star San....
Rick, don't buy a tank!
Go over to AGA gas on Plank Street in Billerica. Just get into their exchange program.
It'll be like 30-40 buck to get started then the fills are around $11.
There are places that do fills around but I find AGA in billerica to be the easiest location wise for us in this area.
email me if you need more details.
No one in Billerica has ever been helpful to me in anyway.
I'll check out AGA when I can. I think for now, I'm going to have to keep bottling. I just can't afford everything else. I've spent way too much on brew equipment this year, and looking back I see why I have no money to pay my cell phone bill......bottling sucks, but it works just as well....
Soon, I'll be kegging. This year for sure, but I have ti put that project on hold until I get caught up....
I can certainly sympathize with brewing expenses. You don't need to go whole hog with taps and stuff though. You can certainly just use picnic taps to get yourself started if you want. You still need a tank, regulator and connectors.
But hey, if you don't start kegging you can still kick up your game and use that chest freezer to help out with temp controlled fermentation. That would actually be a better thing to put into practice than kegging. Who cares how you serve the beer if you are making better beer.
FWIW, I find kegging cheaper and less time consuming. Cornelius kegs can be a little at $15 apiece. You can find really inexpensive gas locally (I got mine on ebay from a place in Jamaica Plain or West Roxbury or something like that) and the only expensive bit was the regulator (but even that on ebay wasn't bad.)
What I like about kegging is that I am basically just racking from primary to secondary (the cornies) and then serving right out of the secondaries. (I tend to allow for a long primary, so not much sediment in the 2ndary - and really only the first glass has any noticeable sediment anyway because the key draws from the bottom.) The corny is readily transportable, too, and you can have a half a beer or a beer and a half without cracking a whole bottle or two.
Cleanup is a breeze, too.
So, when you get a corny you are also getting a secondary fermenter. It can serve as the basis for transferring into bottles, too, if you want. They make excellent paper weights, too, so you save money there. They can be turned into lamps or melted down for the stainless. They can be overpressurized and thrown into the maw of a great white that might be chasing you. They also have excellent resale value.
Of course, there is something really satisfying about opening a bottle...
I do like being able to keep my beer at 35-40 degrees steadily.....the chest freezer is something that was a huge plus for sure. Although, I can only keep one 5 gallon bucket in it. I could put one on the shelf, but I'd still have to figure out the airlock situation. The lid would close down on it, so just one at a time for now. Once I get that collar in, I'll be able to have a keg or two to serve from, and a bucket fermenting......
I'll probably start using the kegs for a secondary after a while.....If things go well, I'll have an extra few hundred dollars coming my way at the end of the month....
If things go well, I'll have an extra few hundred dollars coming my way at the end of the month....
Why, are those high school musical royalties finaly kicking in?
Ha ha
Uhh no royalties here.....I was planning on going to the Bonnaroo festival in TN, but I can't make it so I'm selling the tix. I won't have them until the end of the month though, and then I'l meet the guy who's buying them. I just got an email today from him to confirm he wants them, and he'll pay cash. I'm going to have to eat a portion of the full price, but it's better then losing all of it. The festival isn't sold out, so the only incentive I can offer is a lower price.....
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