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got about 500 dollars
I have about 500 bucks to spend on some equipment for brewing.....I have a friend buying me a malt grinder but I need some other stuff I have the basics............should I buy a kegging system or should I get some other stuff. I just want to make more and better beer. I only have the stuff right now for extract brews....i wanna go all grain.....which I have done through primative methods before. I want to have a good system.....please let me know.
thanks
J
With that money, you can do a pretty good setup...
60 qt (15 gal) SS pot. $130-$160 online. I got mine for $130 delivered from Cabelas. You can do 10 gallon full boils with this.
Depending on how you want to sparge, either fly or batch. I batch and use the following :
54 qt rectangular cooler with SS braid. I replaced the plastic valve(simply unscrews) with a brass ball valve, fitted nice and tight with a couple washers to the cooler bulkhead. Holds temp well; can do up to 30 LB mashes at 1.25 qt/lb. The parts costs me about $40, and it took about an hour to put together, test and adjust.
You'll need little things like hose lengths, clamps, barbs, etc. No more than $25 for all that with extras for any needed repairs.
A good burner, at least 125000 btus. I just ordered a wicked burner with 210000 btus! That should get 10 gallons rolling in about 10 minutes....$80 shipped
A good wort chiller is also needed. I use a cheapo method. A big trash bucket, and ice water. I put the whole pot right in the bucket. Takes about 15-20 minutes to get pretty close to pitch temps. I think I spent $15 for the bucket, water is free from the hose, and ice was $2 for a 15 lb bag.
A good real chiller can go from $30 to $200, depending on if it's immersion, counterflow, or plate.
A kegging system will also be good to have. Bottling 5 gallon batches is a real PITA, think about doing it with double that, or just more often. Once you go AG, all you want to do is brew. At least that's all I want to do...I don't keg, so I don't how much it costs.
Having a pump would also make things easier. The March 809 is pretty much the standard homebrewer pump, and goes for about $130 at a few places online.
There's a bunch more stuff I'm not remembering, but that should give you a good start. If you have a LHBS near you, check their prices as there's no shipping if you pick it up. If you don't, check out some of the bigger sites like www.morebeer.com, www.northernbrewer.com, www.austinhomebrew, and www.midwestsupplies.com. I know more beer has a free shipping policy on certain items. Things like the cooler you can at Walmart cheaper though.....
Anyone else?....
I think Ricka hit everything there.
I spent about 90-95 dollars on a SS pot and another 30 on a ball valve. You can try to find a keggle but it'll probably run you more money. Another $50-80 for a burner. Buy a cooler at Walmart and either pick up a manifold from a brew shop or build your own. I built my own and it cost about $20.
If you step up to 10 gallon batches I would use a counter flow chiller or at least a 50 ft immersion chiller. Another $190 and $130, respectively. I'm sure you can find some for less somewhere, whether they are used or DIY projects or just a good deal.
A simple draft set up will run you about $225 for a dual regulator, CO2 tank, 5 gallon keg, and lines, valves, picnic tap, etc. You'll need to buy another fridge if you don't already have one. I picked up an Oster 5.0 to convert into a 2 keg kegerator. You'll be able to find a decent standard size fridge on Craigslist for cheap. Extra kegs will run from $30-45 depending on where you shop. And if you buy kegs you'll want real faucets, not picnic taps, eventually if not right from the start. Those will run you $25 a piece, more if you want Perlicks.
And a pump would be nice, though not necessary and you can always get one later on.
Just walked into the other room to check out my brewing stuff to see if I forgot anything..
Pick up an oxygenation system. About $40-50 for the regulator, tubing and aeration stone and another $8 for a disposable O2 tank from Lowe's or Home Depot.
Spend the $20 and get yourself Beersmith or Promash if you don't have one of those softwares already.
You can build yourself a stir plate for pretty cheap. I think I built mine for $25-30 using a piece of maple, a couple pieces of lexan, and random parts from Radio shack and an old computer. My LHBS doesn't stock larger erlenmeyer flasks so I ended up buying a flask and magnetic stir bar from Morebeer.
Another toy that would be nice to have is a dedicated fermentation fridge/chest freezer with a Ranco temp controller. You might find a chest freezer for cheap on craigslist and you can pick up a Ranco for about $100. This would also give you the ability to lager.
Well the basics to start researching are:
Large enough pot for full wort boil
I highly recommend two propane burners, not just one.
A good chiller to chill 5-10 gallons of wort
Look into getting a mash tun. If I had the money I wouldn't mind a minibrewmash tun.
But a nice 10 plus gallon beverage cooler would be fine too, then you wouldn't have to insulate the minibrew system.
If you have money left over I would first invest in some temp control. A cheap fridge is fine, but then get a thermostat set-up.
I would look into kegging, but if you are interested in being able to make great beer, then I would start with temp control and keep bottling. If you can still afford a few kegs then get a second fridge and kegs. You can always draw from kegs with picnic taps until you can afford real taps in the door.
Oh yeah, don't forget you owe me $40...
I would start slow, and work up to all that equipment, don't buy it all at once. Start with a 60 quart (15 gallon pot) and go from there. If you can't get stainless steel, aluminum is fine, I have a 15 gallon aluminum, got it off of ebay for 30 dollars. Drill it, throw a weldless valve system in there, and throw a bazooka tube on the end, there you have a, a great first pot, and you don't have to use hop bags for additions, just throw it in, and the bazooka tube will filter it out. What I'm saying is, if I didn't like doing all grain, or have the time to do it, who cares i'm out 30 bucks. If I was out 150-250 bucks, I would be pretty pissed off. Definately get a plate chiller. with that much wort.(10 gallon batches) your going to need a 50 ft immersion wort chiller especially in the summer months, and it's just one more thing to lug up from the cellar. I've seen the plate chillers online, and they are about 90 bucks. Get an inline thermometer, and you can just drop the wort as it cools right into your fermenter. I've seen these plate chillers in action, they are the bomb. And everything else after that is gravy, make a few batches, see how you like it, everyone brews different. Some like all the bells and whistles, I like things simple. More equipment can turn a long brew day, into a back breaking day, remember you have to clean all of this stuff after you use it. Buy what you need, and work from there as you brew tendencies develop. If you want somthing, you can always get it, but try to return an oxengenator to the LHBS, and see what they say.
OK I also wanna get a little better filtration.......the beer is clear if I pour it right but would love to eliminate the sediment all together..........any ideas.......i am flexible in the budget.
thanks
I'm guessing the sediment you speak of is the bottom of the bottle. You'll never get rid of that in a bottle. When you rack into the bottles, the beer is mixed with priming sugar for the yeast to do their work. That sediment is the yeast. In a keg, you wouldn't get that until the end, and I don't think it's as much of a problem.
jreinders wrote:
OK I also wanna get a little better filtration.......the beer is clear if I pour it right but would love to eliminate the sediment all together..........any ideas.......i am flexible in the budget.
thanks
The kegging process will help with that tremendously...without the need for filtration.
If you decide to keg, you can make a cheap bottle filler and fill bottles straight from the keg. You'll have very little to no sediment in your bottles depending on how long they sit and how long the beer has been in the keg.
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