Grain mill and bulk grain or kegging system?

RayInUT · 01-22-2009, 04:02 AM

I've been planning on buying some bulk grain and a mill for a while and I'm ready to make the purchase. However, on Monday I bottled ten gallons of beer and started thinking about how nice kegging would be. I've been looking at the Brew Logic 2 keg with dual air manifolds and I'm really tempted to buy that instead of the grain and mill. I'm now thinking that I can only brew as much as I can bottle and having bulk grain wouldn't do much good if I didn't have a place to put the beer. What would you guys do?

Kilgore_Trout · 01-22-2009, 04:11 AM

Christmas brought me both of these things (the same keg kit too :O ).

Both are very useful, but the kegging system is BY FAR the best. Controlling your crush and saving money is nice, but nothing beats the kegs for me. If you brew enough to bother buying in bulk you really should keg at least some of it.

Keep in mind that you'll need a fridge or keezer (duh).

heinz57 · 01-22-2009, 04:14 AM

If you don't have any form of controlling your ferment temps, I would spend the dough on that first.

However, I went with kegging first. I didn't have the money to spend on getting a mill, nor the ability at the time to coordinate purchasing any grain in bulk. If I had to do it over again I would probably still go with kegging. The crush from my LHBS has been giving me a consistent 85% efficiency, and grain isn't expensive enough to warrant a mill.

RayInUT · 01-22-2009, 04:23 AM

My house is at the top of a mountain at 6,300 ft elevation. Right now my basement stays about 54 degrees and my cold storage room is about 41 degrees. I'm thinking that I'll keep the kegs in there for now and just bring pitchers up when I want beer. I brew down there too since it's a walk out basement on the side of a hill with a sliding glass door. It beats the garage, has plenty of big windows and a door to open and has CO detector. I'm really leaning towards the keg system. It's my Christmas present. My wife and I are celebrating Christmas this week since we only had money to spend on the kids in December. She gets a new Ipod and I get a grain mill or kegs. Any other advice?

**Mutilated1** · 01-22-2009, 04:57 AM

Kegging system - no doubt. Not only can you keg and serve draft instead of ****ing with bottles you can control your ferment temps much better with the same setup.

RayInUT · 01-22-2009, 05:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mutilated1

Kegging system - no doubt. Not only can you keg and serve draft instead of ****ing with bottles you can control your ferment temps much better with the same setup.

How would it help my ferment temps? Right now I'm doing my primary in pails and better bottles for 2ndary. My next two batches I was thinking about putting the pails in tubs of water in my basement to keep the temperature stable in the low fifties. What would kegging have to do with that?

RayInUT · 01-22-2009, 05:20 AM

$220 will get me the Brew Logig two keg dual manifold system from Midway delivered to my door by next week. I'd have two batches ready by then. OR $220 will get me some bulk hops (a pound of cascade, a pound of Amarillo), a bag of Maris Otter, and a Crankandstein grain mill. That's roughly twenty five gallons of Pale ale and hops for several more batches.

sirsloop · 01-22-2009, 05:24 AM

This is a no brainer... get a keg system. You'll only spend a couple extra bucks a batch using the poor crush from your HBS.

Blender · 01-22-2009, 05:29 AM

Kegging is pretty nice and probably what kept me brewing as much as I do this past year. You will likely need a refrigerator in the future though.

sirsloop · 01-22-2009, 05:30 AM

Truth be told I have a keg sitting on my deck right now with an IPA in it. Lol... I hit it with gas every once in a while and have been drinking off a cobra tap. Its not real carbonated but it still tastes good.