A Crisis

It may seem a little flip but I actually have been worrying about the following (great) problem:

The wife and I came into a little unexpected money and after paying down the important bills, contributing to college funds and all that horrible responsible grown-up stuff we have enough to do one of the dream projects we have been talking about since buying the house.

We can either convert the living room (which has the woodstove and best windows) to a wet bar with a nice kegerator system or we can turn the spare bedroom into a brewing closet and upgrade to all grain brewing (I am thinking basically this whole system personalized http://store.homebrewheaven.com/toptier-modular-brewing-system-c71.aspx so I can still have most of the open flame easily transportable to the driveway).

I know its a great problem to have but knowing that hasn't helped me decide what to do. Any opinions arguments or suggestions?

dylan.

I vote for the livingroom bar option. There's nothing better than having an incredible place to entertain your close friends and show off your brewing skills. It's fun making others jealous...

I say the living room since it is shared by you and your wife who should also beniofit from your newly aquired bundle of joy.

I'd also go for the bar. Draft beer in your house is a joy for all. AG is not a significant upgrade.

But perhaps with some clever budgeting you can do both. You don't need a top tier stand to brew AG. A cooler is really all you need. Depending on what you already have it could be less then 100.00 to get going AG.

I don't really understand why having a brew closet will help you to do all-grain...just so you have the storage room? I vote the wet bar/kegerator, as its more "entertainment worthy". You can always make your way into all-grain, as Maida suggested, the cooler is the main thing you'll need, and a turkey fryer so you can do full boils. Whether you are doing extract or all-grain brews, the ability to serve them up from your kegerator at your wetbar is something that will never get old

Living room and be sure to invite me over when you're finished. I'm in Eldo.

maida7 said:

Depending on what you already have it could be less then 100.00 to get going AG.

Click to expand...

Do the bar and save $2.48 for a Home Despot 5 gallon paint strainer and do a search on BIAB.

I vote bar. A room for a brew closet is pretty much useless unless you can convert it into an all electric indoor home BREWERY. Hood vent, cleanup sinks, fermentation chambers, walk in cooler etc.