if you build it, we will brew...

Has anyone else here took the time and money to build and buy everything you need to do large AG brews before even doing a small AG brew?
I have two burners, a 30gt pot for my HLT, bought and built an 80qt MLT, bought a SS 60qt pot to brew in, and last night I started to build my 3 tier brew tower.

I know that I can do an AG brew without half that stuff and stuff that big. But I know that I want to do big beers and larger then 5gl batches some day. So I figured, what the hell, lets go big.

Nope, but don't tempt me

I went from 5 gallon partial mash with just a couple pots and a turkey cooker to a full blown 25 gallon AG system.

The 30 gallon pots were cheap and I couldn't pass up the chance to upgrade and go AG.

in my next house I plan a better setup. but my 'starter' home sure is easy on the wallet

My system grew as I learned, but I have a friend that wants to brew, and he is building a 3-tier stand with three burners, a kegging setup, the whole shebang. He has been building this thing for about a year and a half, and hasn't brewed a single batch! Not even extract batches! With him, it's more the building than anything.

Get a kettle this big.



Jester has one.

I actually did this exact thing... except I hadn't even brewed extracts before jumping into a large all-grain batch. I had my curiosity piqued by a friend who was also curious about homebrewing and I researched it for about 6 months off and on. I figured I would have this hobby for a long time, so I might as well go all out (at least as far as making up the $ difference in buying commercial beer!) I built a 3-tier keg system w/ 3 burners and added a chest freezer with temp. control. I got 4 Better Bottles (two 6's and two 5's) and all of the other brewing/fermenting bric-a-brac. During my research stage, I took more of an interest in German-style lagers for some reason. I concocted my own recipe for a Munich Helles and when I finally got everything built, I didn't really know how to make an ale without doing more research. So, I brewed a lager for my first batch and haven't even drank it yet because it's still lagering. So far it seems to be going very well (gravity samples taste great!). I'm brewing a bitter this weekend and it should be ready about the same time as the lager. I can relate with what Bernie said about his friend. When I was nearly completing my set-up, I was worrying if I was going to consider the actual brewing part to be fun because I was having so much fun building everything. Then, on brew day it all came together!