I have been giving some advice to some novices who want to start in to brewing, and have been going over the prices at the LHBS closest to them. I've come up with a list of the basic items which, IMHO, are most crucial for a new brewer to own, as well as making some notes about what they might be looking at when (and if) they make the jump to all-grain brewing.
I was looking to get some advice, corrections, and critiques on this, and see if anyone could point out anything I'd overlooked. I am aware that some of these things reflect personal biases, especially regarding sanitizers, so please take this into account in case you disagree with me on it. Also, I was posting this in the General Brewing forum mainly because, while this is mostly of interest to beginners, I was looking for feedback from homebrewers at all levels of experience; if this is inappropriate for here, please feel free to move it to the Beginners forum.
Without further ado, here is what I intend to send to my associates:
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My list of the basic equipment needed for either extract or all-grain brewing, as priced at Brew Depot:
The total for all of this is between $265 and $340. This is just the very basic equipment, which you would need to do any brewing at all; there are a few things you might be able to skip at first - the scale, the hydrometer, and the funnel, for example - but experience tells me that you'll eventually want all of these things, and it is better to get them up front if you can.
One more thing I'd highly recommend getting ASAP, even if you never do any all-grain brewing, is a wort chiller (between $70 and $200, depending on the type and model). This is optional with extract brewing, but it is pretty much a necessity with all-grain. The wort chiller is a heat exchanger that let's you cool the wort (unfermented beer) down from boiling to fermentation temperatures very quickly (usually in less than half an hour, and some plate chillers can be as fast as 1 gallon per minute). This is important, as the longer the warm wort is sitting around, exposed to the air, the greater the risk of it getting infected and spoiled. Bringing the temperature down fast also causes a 'cold break', which helps the beer's clarity and causes a lot of trub the (extra proteins, hop residues, and solid particles that collect at the bottom of the fermenter) to settle out faster.
For all-grain brewing, you'll need some additional things, and here things get a bit complicated because there are some different ways of doing things. The main things you need are a larger boiler (at least 32 qts, preferably 40 qts or more), a mash tun, and a lauter tun. The mash tun is a large vessel, again at least 32qt capacity, which can hold the mash (water and grain mixture) at the temperatures needed to convert the starches into fermentable sugar. The lauter tun is yet another large vessel, at least as larger or larger than the mash tun, that you use to strain the free liquid off of the mash. Now, as it happens, two of the better options combine the mash and lauter tuns into a single vessel. The choice is between a mash kettle fitted with a false bottom and a ball valve, which generally costs around $300-$350; or an insulated cooler of at least 10 gallon capacity, with a false bottom or a filter manifold of some kind, and a ball valve, which usually costs around $140. The former is a little better, in that you can heat it directly and don't need a separate boiler for the mash water; but the latter is less than half the price, and can hold the heat for the required rests without having to keep heating it. I personally use a 10 gallon Igloo circular water cooler, which IMAO is one of the best choices for an inexpensive mash/lauter tun.
There are a lot of optional tools you may want to use, especially with all-grain brewing. A refractometer, for example, is similar to a hydrometer, in that it let's you judge the density of the wort; it doesn't work after the beer is fermented, as the alcohol's low density interferes with it, but it can help by letting you take quick readings while mashing and boiling, to see how close you are to the target gravity. This is useful for making adjustments as you go. A pH meter, or pH strips, are useful for keeping track of the acidity of the mash, which needs to stay in the range between 5.2 and 5.5 for the enzyme reactions to work; a pH stabilizer (a powdered additive) is also useful for keeping the pH on track, but it is better to measure the pH as well if you can. A grinder or mill can be used to grind your own malt, which in turn makes it feasible to buy malt in bulk and store it for several months at a time. A good malt mill will cost anywhere from $150 to $450, depending on the quality and size (and brand name) you are willing to pay for.
Generally, the cost per batch for 5 gallons of extract beer is between $30 and $45, depending on the recipe or kit you are using. All-grain brewing tends to be about $25-$40, again, depending on your recipe. Broadly speaking, the most expensive ingredients are the hops and the yeast, but the majority of the cost is in the base malt, because it makes up the majority of the beer (aside from the water, of course). If you are able to buy your base malt in bulk, the price of a batch can drop by as much as $10.
What you save in money, however, is made up for in equipment costs, time, effort and the experience necessary to make good on your planned brewing. Whereas an extract brewing session may be as little as two hours (three being more typical in my experience, factoring in time for cooling the wort and proper sanitation), it is typical for an all-grain brewing session to take eight hours or more. This isn't even taking into account the time it takes to plan out an all-grain batch, which even with software such as BeerSmith can take a good deal longer than for an extract batch. It also takes much more work in that time, as you need to balance several aspects of the process over the course of the mash and the boil. The experience you gain in extract brewing will contribute to your all-grain brewing success, as well, so it is important to have several successful extract beers under your belt, and at least a few partial-mash brews, before considering all-grain brewing. Many brewers have had good results with extract and partial mash beers, and many homebrewers stick with that indefintely; but the advantages of all-grain brewing are definitely a temptation, one does need to take things one step at a time.
I was looking to get some advice, corrections, and critiques on this, and see if anyone could point out anything I'd overlooked. I am aware that some of these things reflect personal biases, especially regarding sanitizers, so please take this into account in case you disagree with me on it. Also, I was posting this in the General Brewing forum mainly because, while this is mostly of interest to beginners, I was looking for feedback from homebrewers at all levels of experience; if this is inappropriate for here, please feel free to move it to the Beginners forum.
Without further ado, here is what I intend to send to my associates:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My list of the basic equipment needed for either extract or all-grain brewing, as priced at Brew Depot:
- 20 qt. stainless steel boiler, $32
- 7.8 Gal. plastic primary Fermenter, $18
- 6 gal. carboy (glass or PET), secondary fermenter, $36
- Carboy bung, $1
- Carboy brush, $7
- Carboy handle, $6
- 2 fermentation locks, $3
- Auto-siphon, $12
- 3/8" tubing, 4 ft., $2
- Lever capper, $18, or bench capper, $40 - the bench capper is preferred
- bottle filler, $3
- 2 cases of bottles (each case either 12oz x 24 or 22oz x 12) - $28
- bottle caps, pack of 144 - $3
- StarSan sanitizer, 16oz, $17, or 32oz. $25
- PBW cleanser, 1 lb., $10, or 3 lbs., $20, or 8 lbs., $45
- Thermometer, floating glass bulb, $8, or bi-metal probe, $16
- Funnel w/ strainer, $6
- Hydrometer (beer density and alcohol content measuring device) w/ grading tube, $12
- Digital scale, $30-$40
- Long handled spoon, 28", $5
The total for all of this is between $265 and $340. This is just the very basic equipment, which you would need to do any brewing at all; there are a few things you might be able to skip at first - the scale, the hydrometer, and the funnel, for example - but experience tells me that you'll eventually want all of these things, and it is better to get them up front if you can.
One more thing I'd highly recommend getting ASAP, even if you never do any all-grain brewing, is a wort chiller (between $70 and $200, depending on the type and model). This is optional with extract brewing, but it is pretty much a necessity with all-grain. The wort chiller is a heat exchanger that let's you cool the wort (unfermented beer) down from boiling to fermentation temperatures very quickly (usually in less than half an hour, and some plate chillers can be as fast as 1 gallon per minute). This is important, as the longer the warm wort is sitting around, exposed to the air, the greater the risk of it getting infected and spoiled. Bringing the temperature down fast also causes a 'cold break', which helps the beer's clarity and causes a lot of trub the (extra proteins, hop residues, and solid particles that collect at the bottom of the fermenter) to settle out faster.
For all-grain brewing, you'll need some additional things, and here things get a bit complicated because there are some different ways of doing things. The main things you need are a larger boiler (at least 32 qts, preferably 40 qts or more), a mash tun, and a lauter tun. The mash tun is a large vessel, again at least 32qt capacity, which can hold the mash (water and grain mixture) at the temperatures needed to convert the starches into fermentable sugar. The lauter tun is yet another large vessel, at least as larger or larger than the mash tun, that you use to strain the free liquid off of the mash. Now, as it happens, two of the better options combine the mash and lauter tuns into a single vessel. The choice is between a mash kettle fitted with a false bottom and a ball valve, which generally costs around $300-$350; or an insulated cooler of at least 10 gallon capacity, with a false bottom or a filter manifold of some kind, and a ball valve, which usually costs around $140. The former is a little better, in that you can heat it directly and don't need a separate boiler for the mash water; but the latter is less than half the price, and can hold the heat for the required rests without having to keep heating it. I personally use a 10 gallon Igloo circular water cooler, which IMAO is one of the best choices for an inexpensive mash/lauter tun.
There are a lot of optional tools you may want to use, especially with all-grain brewing. A refractometer, for example, is similar to a hydrometer, in that it let's you judge the density of the wort; it doesn't work after the beer is fermented, as the alcohol's low density interferes with it, but it can help by letting you take quick readings while mashing and boiling, to see how close you are to the target gravity. This is useful for making adjustments as you go. A pH meter, or pH strips, are useful for keeping track of the acidity of the mash, which needs to stay in the range between 5.2 and 5.5 for the enzyme reactions to work; a pH stabilizer (a powdered additive) is also useful for keeping the pH on track, but it is better to measure the pH as well if you can. A grinder or mill can be used to grind your own malt, which in turn makes it feasible to buy malt in bulk and store it for several months at a time. A good malt mill will cost anywhere from $150 to $450, depending on the quality and size (and brand name) you are willing to pay for.
Generally, the cost per batch for 5 gallons of extract beer is between $30 and $45, depending on the recipe or kit you are using. All-grain brewing tends to be about $25-$40, again, depending on your recipe. Broadly speaking, the most expensive ingredients are the hops and the yeast, but the majority of the cost is in the base malt, because it makes up the majority of the beer (aside from the water, of course). If you are able to buy your base malt in bulk, the price of a batch can drop by as much as $10.
What you save in money, however, is made up for in equipment costs, time, effort and the experience necessary to make good on your planned brewing. Whereas an extract brewing session may be as little as two hours (three being more typical in my experience, factoring in time for cooling the wort and proper sanitation), it is typical for an all-grain brewing session to take eight hours or more. This isn't even taking into account the time it takes to plan out an all-grain batch, which even with software such as BeerSmith can take a good deal longer than for an extract batch. It also takes much more work in that time, as you need to balance several aspects of the process over the course of the mash and the boil. The experience you gain in extract brewing will contribute to your all-grain brewing success, as well, so it is important to have several successful extract beers under your belt, and at least a few partial-mash brews, before considering all-grain brewing. Many brewers have had good results with extract and partial mash beers, and many homebrewers stick with that indefintely; but the advantages of all-grain brewing are definitely a temptation, one does need to take things one step at a time.
). A burner and stand to go with it would be around $60.
