need help deciding what to buy

Christmas left me with a couple hundred bucks to spend on homebrew stuff, I have narrowed the field down to three items and was going to if any of you guys could shed some light. I'm torn...

1) blichmann beer gun, I have been bottling off the keg using a racking cane and stopper and find it to be a loathesome, messy, cumbersome process.

2)grain mill-i have had no issues with crush at my lhbs, but would like to start buying grain in bulk. Also would like the freedom to adjust crush if I decide I need to

3)ferm fridge- I currently have a keezer with a two stage ranco that doubles as a fermentation fridge. This is a pain...and I think I can get a craiglist fridge, use my ranco on it and buy a less sophisticated controller for my keezer (probably a johnson). This would help to streamline my pipeline immensly.

Ps- I plan on doing all three eventually, but cant decide what to do first..thanks in advance...wnc

#2 should save enough money pretty quickly on bulk purchases to help fund the other purchases. Every time you brew, stick the money saved into your equipment fund for the next purchase.

#3 next to make life easy

#1 I've found that I hate bottling from all vantage points. From the keg or direct from fermenter so that would be last on my list. The BBG seems like just another complexity to deal with and clean, and besides I'm not a fan of Blichmann stuff. btw - some people seem to be able to bottle with the stopper and cane pretty easily - I never mastered the technique and routinely gave myself and ceiling beer showers.

i think the grain mill is your best bet.

I have used a benchmen beer gun to bottle. unless your a pro at not getting foamy beer out of a keg your better off using a bottling bucket and corn sugar.

Thanks...grain mill has two votes so far. Makes sense to use the savings from grain to buy the other stuff...

Keep the suggestions coming

It probably depends on how much you are actually bottling from your kegs. If you find yourself doing several six-packs out of each keg and hate the BMBF, the beer gun might be a good idea. I only find myself filling up a few liter bottles every now and then, so I'd leave that til last.

If I were you, here's what I'd try to do. Since you've already got some of the stuff for your fermentation chamber, look around for a fairly cheap fridge/freezer on craigslist or at after-Christmas sales. I generally only have one actively fermenting carboy going at a time, so I was able to get a minifridge and wood to extend it slightly for about a total of $100, then throw in a simpler controller for your keezer and you've got a fermentation chamber for about $100-150. Then you can use whatever money you've got left over on the mill and any money you save on bulk grain can go towards a future beer gun purchase.

erikpete18 said:

It probably depends on how much you are actually bottling from your kegs. If you find yourself doing several six-packs out of each keg and hate the BMBF, the beer gun might be a good idea. I only find myself filling up a few liter bottles every now and then, so I'd leave that til last.

If I were you, here's what I'd try to do. Since you've already got some of the stuff for your fermentation chamber, look around for a fairly cheap fridge/freezer on craigslist or at after-Christmas sales. I generally only have one actively fermenting carboy going at a time, so I was able to get a minifridge and wood to extend it slightly for about a total of $100, then throw in a simpler controller for your keezer and you've got a fermentation chamber for about $100-150. Then you can use whatever money you've got left over on the mill and any money you save on bulk grain can go towards a future beer gun purchase.

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This is kind of what I'm leaning towards at the moment, having the ranco on the keezer has improved my beer more than anything else by far, but it is really tough to have a pipeline using it as both keezer and ferm chamber. Doable, but it requires careful planning.

And also, I usually only bottle about a sixer or so out of a keg. And usually only do so if I want to enter a competition or cellar part of a batch. (Don't mean to sound artificially ritzy here, my cellar is my laundry room). Therin lies my problem with the BMBF, huge hassle for a six pack. So....the beergun is out of the running for now...thanks a ton for the input

I am in your situation (besides having extra brew money ) as far as using a single freezer for fermentation and serving 4 kegs.

If it was me and I have space, I would definitely go for another fridge/freezer. I have to brew and ferment 4 batches, then keg them. I usually will kick them and then start the next set of batches, or bottle the remains of the the kegs once one or two kick.

All said and done, I usually will have beer on tap for 2-3 months, then no beer on tap for 1-2 months.

I hate bottling from the kegs as well, I end up with beer on the floor and in my freezer.

If it were me and those were the only options, I'd go:

1) spare fridge/freezer
2) beer gun
3) grain mill

Grain, even by the pound, is pretty cheap. I would (and did) buy lots of hops in bulk before I invest in a grain mill and storing bulk grain to save a couple bucks a batch. Also, my LHBS sells grain by the sack and allows you to bring in your stuff and grind on their mill. Some people at the homebrew club buy base malt in bulk, and bring it in to grind when they pick up their specialty malts.

Thanks for the input...oh if only money was not a consideration.

I guess I am lucky in the sense that my brother/roomate and girlfriend are both fans of having free beer (to them) on draft at home and don't mind a bunch or mismatched refrigeration appliances scattered through the house. I am leaning towards this still, but always up for more input...wnc

Yea, Definitely ferm chamber #1. When you look at it, it's the only thing of those three that will make your BEER better.

daksin said:

Yea, Definitely ferm chamber #1. When you look at it, it's the only thing of those three that will make your BEER better.

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Without a doubt, this.

Thanks all,

As I mentioned before, I saw a remarkable improvement in my beer when I built the keezer and began fermenting in it as well as serving from it. That being said, I can only do one or the other at a time currently and it is a huge PITA. Having a dedicated fridge for fermentation would be huge. My birthday is in february, at which time I plan on getting whichever items get deferred