Christmas Ideas...?

So I just received ~350 for Christmas and I was thinking about getting a kegging system...

What I have (or have access too)
- 7 gal fermentation bucket
- bottling bucket
- 6 gal carboy
- bottling equipment
- Enough bottles for a 5 gal batch
- hydrometer, auto-syphen
- 4 gallon pot
- 3 gallon pot
I am interested in brewing cider, cizer, Meade, apfelwine, and possibly wine.

What would be the best use of my money or can I afford to just get a kegging setup at this point.

I think I spend around $300 for my kegging setup.

I bought a chest freezer on craigslist for about $60. Painted it with chalkboard paint and build a wooden collar for maybe $30 (paint, varnish, wood, screws, sealant). I also had to buy a thermostat (to regulate the freezer temperature) which was about $60. Then I bought my keg equipment from KegConnection, they were very helpful in getting exactly what I needed.

I think it was about $300 in total.

theres a local home brew store I would like to get my stuff from unless it's cheaper elsewhere

American Brewmaster - American Brewmaster

You need some kegs to start with. Then a regulator and CO2 tank, lines and fittings...then a kegerator...

If you want the cheapest starting point, and have room in a fridge. You can buy a CO2 tank, CO2 lines, Keg, Beer line, and a picnic tap and use it that way out of a standard fridge for a while. I then built my own kegerator after using that setup for a while. A good way to get your feet wet.

I was pricing out a keg system for myself awhile back and 350 should be enough for a nice two keg system using hoses. You can find chest freezers on CL cheap and large enough that you might be able to use it to lager as well.

I figure get the kegs going then upgrade to a tower at your leisure.

If you like having only 1 or two kinds of beer to drink at a time, your kegerator may be the thing for you. Personally I prefer variety and wouldn't be happy tied to a keg system with less than 6 kegs and taps, serious money in kegerator, kegs, and taps, so I'd put the money into more fermenters, bottles, and ingredients. I'd also probably get a propane burner and a bigger pot to make full boil batches and then I'd go all grain using BIAB to cut down the costs while allowing more choices of beers.

Oh wait, that's what I did. I have 7 different beers in bottles, one batch ready to bottle and 3 more batches in the planning stage.

I guess it depends on if you like to bottle. Personally I think your making a smart move. I hate bottling and would rather clean one keg than 54 bottles. I think if your smart you can get a decent setup for under $350. I got a small freezer for virtually nothing and built a collar for it. It could fit 4 kegs and I just used picnic taps until I could afford taps.

One other benefit is you can keg your beer, chill it, carb it to the appropriate level and then bottle it. You minimize the sediment and there's no fear of your beer not carbonating.

For a CO2 tank, check your local supplier. A local store rents me a 20lb tank for $3 a month and it lasts me a year+. Not having the up front cost of a tank allowed me to buy a few additional kegs.

how about a conical fermenter...?