Average cost of equipment, and supplies

So I'm still new, but I've been doing my budget as I just started a new job. I still am learning, but want to get into homebrewing. How much would you expect me to spend on all the necessary equipment, and what are general prices in all the supplies?

Thanks!

Weeeell, i do mostly partial mash recipes and here is what i use and the costs:

Ale pale, i have three of these with spigots. I use them as primaries, secondaries and bottling. 13 bucks each

Turkey fryer, big aluminum pot and burner. I get about 4 batches per tank of gas; 35 bucks

Propane tank(not included with fryer) 30 bucks full

5 gallon bucket, general use, transporting water, washing utencils etc... 5bucks

Big stainless spoon, bought it at local HBS for 14 bucks

Thats all you need for partial mashing.

Now that gets you to the bottling/kegging phase.

If your bottling i reccomend you go on a bender with a couple of buddies and drink grolsh all weekend. This is expensive and the beer aint great but the got good bottles for homebrewing. And its almost as cheap as the bottles empty if you buy them.

You could also drink alot of recappables. I started on bud american ale. I got about 6 cases now.

I reccomend however that you start kegging. Get you an old fridge and the single tap conversion kit from the beverage factory. this option is about 350 bucks but you wont regret it. Your gonna end up there anyway, i swear to god. I dont know antone that makes more than a few gallons who doesnt.

If you dont though you need a bottle capper(14bucks) caps usually come with the kits(brewers best are my fav).

Lotsa star san(18 bucks for 32 oz)

Racking cane, bottling wand and plenty of tubing(15 bucks

Auto siphon

And the rest is kinda up to you.

I know it seemslike alot but it aint.

People are gonna tell you to get carboys, better bottles and a bunch of other stuff you dont need though. Just use the ale pales for now. I make 10 15 gal a month in them without issue and have for 2 years now. Good luck and welcome to the obsession.:rockin:

ohh yea, a damn hydrometer, get a damn hydrometer, and use it!

I agree. A pair of ale pails (6.5 gallon buckets) with lids is about all you need for fermenting/bottling. I've got quite a bit of 16oz swingtop bottles I'll sell you really cheap. I also have an old wing capper.

You can get by plenty with a cheap 20qt aluminum pot whether you go with extract, extract plus steeping grain or even partial mash.

Edit: woah this was my 11k post!!

I have many friends that want to get started but the inital cost freaks them out. There are 2 recomendations that I have.

1 apfelwien - This will get you started off with the bare min you can build from there

5 gal juice
fermenter
airlock
yeast
sugar if you wanna get more alc.
funnel (depending on fermenter)


2 Extract beer kits. This is what I recomend as a min

5gal pot
spoon
fermenter
airlock
beer kit
funnel (depending on fermenter)
Hydrometer

Like I said this is the min that I recommend to people. There are many things out there that you can add to the list but you can and will make good brew with just this. Plus, it helps to spread out the cost. I still don't have all the equipment for the way I brew (all grain) but I have half and so does a friend of mine, we just split it and it saves us money. I will eventually go out and make a great brew rig and have all the gadgets but thats the future.

Bobby_M said:

I agree. A pair of ale pails (6.5 gallon buckets) with lids is about all you need for fermenting/bottling. I've got quite a bit of 16oz swingtop bottles I'll sell you really cheap. I also have an old wing capper.

You can get by plenty with a cheap 20qt aluminum pot whether you go with extract, extract plus steeping grain or even partial mash.

Edit: woah this was my 11k post!!

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Conghats on the 11k post. How many swing tops? How much?

As someone who just got into brewing, and is getting ready to bottle my first beer tonight, I would tell you to get one of the kits from someone like Midwest Supplies. Their basic kit will get you most of the tools and things you'll need (and would likely be least familiar with).

You can get one of those for ~$60 plus shipping (unless you have a local shop, in which case you get to save shipping, but pay a little more with taxes), I paid for the $90 kit with the auto-siphon and the glass carboy (ore shipping, but more nice things to have eventually), but this is completely up to you and your budget.

You'll also need a pot to brew in, the bigger the better, and stainless is nicer than aluminum, but get what you can afford, I bought one from Wal-mart for $50 that is just over 5 gallons, so you can boil about 3.5-4 gallons in it very well.

Other little things that were not in my kit, but I ended up buying (or wishing I did):
A Thermometer (~$10)
More sanitizer (~$10)
Cleaner (Oxi-Clean ~$7)
A plastic trash can to use for sanitizing tubing and bottles (~$5)


Last but not least, you need something to brew! I would recommend an extract kit for the ease and low initial cost, and that will set you back ~$30 depending on what you get.

If you get a kit it'll give you most of what you need, and you can add to it later with more buckets and bottles, but it's a good way to start!

Welcome to the joy of home brewing!

Just a note on the pot - aluminum is just fine. My 40qt cost me $24 (plus a weld-free bulkhead/ball valve).

+1 on getting a kit to start with. After you brew a few you'll have an idea of what you want to upgrade (if anything) or try out.

Go with a kit. And if you can get one of the wort kits (Brewhouse, Fiesta Brew). No need to boil, so the big pot is not needed. I got a kit, and extra glass carboy, a Brewhouse box, and a few other extras thrown in for just over $100. Had the empty swing tops already, so I'm not counting them in the price. Now I know what the very basics are, I don't think you could possibly mess up a wort kit, I am going to have to expand a bit for the other kind of extract and move on from there. I think it was best to go with the LHBS kits and the wort kit first just to see if I liked it, not to much money or time put out, and you have a starting point to expand from when it is time to move on.

I went with the basic kit from MWS and I'm liking it. It's perfect for me right now since I'm still trying to establish an area of the house that's going to be mine permanently. But I'm already looking at setting up a kegging system. I've talking with my local poison vendor and she's gonna hook me up with a couple of 5gal kegs for $10-15. Schweet!

Good luck and welcome.

You'll probably get a hydrometer and bottle capper in a kit, but I have a couple extras if you don't

On the swingtops, I was offering to JL only because he appears to be a 5-minute's drive to my house. I don't really want to ship bottles.

If cost is a concern (It is for me too) Then the first step is to ask yourself how addictive you think you will find this hobby. If you think you have an obsessive nature, then you will need to read a heck of a lot on this forum about Extract and AG equipment, and try to decide just how crazy you are likely to get.

After you have searched your inner self, then you can formulate a plan that means that you only ever buy a single piece of equipment once, ensuring that all your old equipment will fit into your new, expanded set up.

HillbillyDeluxe said:

ohh yea, a damn hydrometer, get a damn hydrometer, and use it!

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No get 2 hydrometers you will thank me when that first one breaks 10 minutes after the LHBS closed and as you are draining into the fermenter.

Also, calibrate these with distilled water at the proper temp (usually 68*). I haven't found one to be spot on out of the box.

Here's what I've spent so far (bottling my first batch this weekend and brewing batch #2):

• CL Beer kit with ~80 flip top bottles and an extract beer kit -- $100
• 32 qu Al pot -- $20
• Propane burner -- $40
• odd -n-n ends (starsan, hydrometer tube, oxyclean, etc) -- $20

$180 and I'm doing full boils. Planned upgrades are:

• Cube for no chill brewing -- $20
• 60 qu AL pot from Sam's for BIAB -- $50 (shipped)
• DIY Fermentation Chamber -- $100 (starting this weekend)

$350 for AG brewing w/ precise temperature control of fermentation. That's my budget for the way I want to brew, humbly offered as an outline only. YMMV, feel free to change to your own desires/needs/whatever, etc.

BobOscarBob said:

Just a note on the pot - aluminum is just fine. My 40qt cost me $24 (plus a weld-free bulkhead/ball valve).
.

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Where did you find a 40qt for 24?

Are you using the weld-free bulkhead and ball valve they sell for ss pots?

Like laughing Gnome brought up, if you really think you will be getting into this hobby then you should approach it differently. I wrote a blog (in my drop down) detailing what I would suggest for a starter kit.

I wasted a ton of money getting into the hobby because I bought items that were used for a batch or two, then I realized that I needed to upgrade again. I think the list I have made will get you brewing with no waste.

Here it what I spent so far. I started end of Dec

Extract
Brewers Best Kit $100
16q Boil Kettle $40
autosiphon $9
Thermometer $20
Immersion Cooler $60
Acc:Spoon, strainer, etc

You can use the above for 2.5g AG batch

Just bought this month for 5g All Grain

Mini-brew 6.5g conical $160
Stir-plate $45
Flask $30
O2 bottle & Regulator $30
5g mash tun w/false bottom $100
35q Boil Kettle $70

I already had a turkey fryer setup

Keg setup was $300 with 5 corny
Freezer with external thermostat for kegs was $275

It could get expensive but I enjoy making beer. I was bored the other weekend and at 11 at night I decided to brew a batch and didnt go to bed until 4 in the morning but Im just fascinated by making beer.

I started doing AG last month, after doing one extract kit five years ago. I've probably spent about $350 on equipment (SS boil kettle w/valve, Rubbermaid round MLT w/valve, two 20qt pots for heating hot water, four glass carboys, copper for immersion chiller, bench capper, autosiphon, tons of little odds and ends like hydrometers, thermometers, blowoff hoses, diy stir plate, tubing, etc), and about $30 on ingredients per batch.

I'd say I'm about mid-range for a homebrewer... I'm only doing 5 gallon batches, and I don't have a fancy brew stand or HERMS or anything, but I am trying to make the stuff I buy pretty nice stuff, so I don't find myself replacing it in a few months. You can certainly do cheaper than I have, especially if you stick to extract and ferment in plastic. You can also do a hell of a lot more expensive than I have.

Edit to add: And it's totally been worth every penny to be able to sit here on the couch and listen to the beer I brewed yesterday bubbling away in the room next door.

Basic :: Midwest Supplies Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies
+
a SS kettle
+
Bottles
is all the equipment you need to get started.

I would recomend an all extract recipe for your first batch, for simplicity. A starter kit will run you about $25 and have all of the consumables (less cleaners) to make a 5gal batch.

After you have done that once or twice, then think about what you want to add.

My last upgrade was $500, included a 4 keg system with tank and regulators + a 7.2CF chest freezer and temprature controler.

The real question is how much do you want to spend?!?!
You can get a nice homebrew kit with everything except a pot for $175 give or take. Or, you can go stupid-ass wild in complexity like I have and have spent over $6k in the last year!!! Others here have spent more, and some are brewing great comp quality beer for nickels and dimes. It is up to your "wants" and budget capabilities.

bull8042 said:

You can get a nice homebrew kit with everything except a pot for $175

Click to expand...

you mean $75?

Arkador said:

you mean $75?

Click to expand...

Damn! I got worked over by the big rubber pecker when I bought mine apparently. I did get one with 2 glass carboys, hydro, etc. The works...

just throwing my 2 cents in.

i got a generic "kit" from true brew when i started. I REGRET IT

So heres some very easy ways to cut corners

buckets:

-dont buy a fermenting bucket... i repeat dont do it
- go to your local supermarkets bakery and ask if they could save you icingbuckets. i guarantee they will have ALOT to give you, then just take a wood boring bit and drive a hole for a rubber stopper and air lock

so lets add that up fermenting bucket .50 cents for a cork, 2 bucks for an airlock

next up bottles

-go to a LOCALLY owned redemtion center and tell them youll pay them 10cents a bottle for the non screw tops. even if you have to go find them urself thats only 5 bucks a case.
-I have a small local brewery near me that only charges 6.50 a case for bottles, not bad either

all you really need to buy from the homebrew store is the following

hydrometer
thermometer*
plastic tubing that fits over your spigot*
filling tube(for bottling)
rubber stoppers*
airlock
bottling bucket(if you feel adventurous enough to put your own spigot in, they do sell the spigots seperately)
racking cane(not necessary but makes life alot easier)
large cooking pot(your mom may have one she never uses and you can steal)
caps(no way around getting these from your LHBS)
capper(same here)
mash spoon (or other long handled stirring impliment)*
sanitiser (if your store doesnt carry no rinse then just use bleach)*
mashing bags*(if your gonna partail mash)

*these items can be found in a good dollar store if ur lucky

im sure im missing something but in my estimation i could have started brewing for about 35 bucks in equipment and dont buy a kit, just open a kit they have and i can almost guarantee that your LHBS will have the EXACT SAME STUFF on thier shelf at a lower price

my first "kit" was copied from the kit at the store thier price 29.50 my price 22 bucks

If you just keep your eyes and mind open you can find alot of homebrewing supplies just laying around.

i may have THE most ghetto setup youve ever seen but hey it gets the job done and makes some damn nice beer

BTW I recomend an extract wheat beer kit for your first brew, not only is it almost idiot proof (I have proven that) it also can be ready to drink in 10-12 days, not kidding you there my first batch went from extract in cans to my beermug in 11 days