Grain mill and bulk grain or kegging system?

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RayInUT

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Draper, UT
I've been planning on buying some bulk grain and a mill for a while and I'm ready to make the purchase. However, on Monday I bottled ten gallons of beer and started thinking about how nice kegging would be. I've been looking at the Brew Logic 2 keg with dual air manifolds and I'm really tempted to buy that instead of the grain and mill. I'm now thinking that I can only brew as much as I can bottle and having bulk grain wouldn't do much good if I didn't have a place to put the beer. What would you guys do?
 
Christmas brought me both of these things (the same keg kit too :O ).

Both are very useful, but the kegging system is BY FAR the best. Controlling your crush and saving money is nice, but nothing beats the kegs for me. If you brew enough to bother buying in bulk you really should keg at least some of it.

Keep in mind that you'll need a fridge or keezer (duh).
 
If you don't have any form of controlling your ferment temps, I would spend the dough on that first.

However, I went with kegging first. I didn't have the money to spend on getting a mill, nor the ability at the time to coordinate purchasing any grain in bulk. If I had to do it over again I would probably still go with kegging. The crush from my LHBS has been giving me a consistent 85% efficiency, and grain isn't expensive enough to warrant a mill.
 
My house is at the top of a mountain at 6,300 ft elevation. Right now my basement stays about 54 degrees and my cold storage room is about 41 degrees. I'm thinking that I'll keep the kegs in there for now and just bring pitchers up when I want beer. I brew down there too since it's a walk out basement on the side of a hill with a sliding glass door. It beats the garage, has plenty of big windows and a door to open and has CO detector. I'm really leaning towards the keg system. It's my Christmas present. My wife and I are celebrating Christmas this week since we only had money to spend on the kids in December. She gets a new Ipod and I get a grain mill or kegs. Any other advice?
 
Kegging system - no doubt. Not only can you keg and serve draft instead of ****ing with bottles you can control your ferment temps much better with the same setup.
 
Kegging system - no doubt. Not only can you keg and serve draft instead of ****ing with bottles you can control your ferment temps much better with the same setup.
How would it help my ferment temps? Right now I'm doing my primary in pails and better bottles for 2ndary. My next two batches I was thinking about putting the pails in tubs of water in my basement to keep the temperature stable in the low fifties. What would kegging have to do with that?
 
$220 will get me the Brew Logig two keg dual manifold system from Midway delivered to my door by next week. I'd have two batches ready by then. OR $220 will get me some bulk hops (a pound of cascade, a pound of Amarillo), a bag of Maris Otter, and a Crankandstein grain mill. That's roughly twenty five gallons of Pale ale and hops for several more batches.
 
This is a no brainer... get a keg system. You'll only spend a couple extra bucks a batch using the poor crush from your HBS.
 
Kegging is pretty nice and probably what kept me brewing as much as I do this past year. You will likely need a refrigerator in the future though.
 
Truth be told I have a keg sitting on my deck right now with an IPA in it. Lol... I hit it with gas every once in a while and have been drinking off a cobra tap. Its not real carbonated but it still tastes good.
 
If you have a room that sits at 41 degrees then I say go for the kegging set up. I agree with sirsloop that the savings of a few dollars per batch of grain isn't enough to offset the ability to keg.

Don't be surprised if going downstairs for a pitcher of beer gets old quickly though. I use to have a kegger next to my bed, and next to the couch. For the sake of productivity I had to move them, but it was fun for awhile.
 
It stays pretty cold. Up until last week I had five feet of snow in my yard. Last year at this time we had about ten. It covered the street signs and a few of the trees in our yard. That is DEEP snow. This years not bad but we have had a lot more wildlife. We had a lion in the back yard Sunday night and my wife saw a guy run into an elk on her way home from work Monday night. This morning she saw a herd of about sixty cross the road in the same spot. Keep in mind, we are only 25 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City. I'm really leaning towards the keg. What good is the ability to brew so much beer if I have to sit and bottle it all? There is a HB shop here locally that selld used cornies for only twenty five bucks. I could have a dozen of them aging in my cold storage room at a time EASILY!
 
I went for the Kegerator first myself, 5 gal batches and the LHBS has a grain mill you can use if you buy the grain there... (good deal... I don't know.. I do extract/grain kits)

I can't immagine bottling 5 gal... it takes long enough to Rack to keg and clean the CarBoy and ail pails! I can't imagine cleaning 50 or so bottles and caps and all that... One or two 22 Oz flip tops for taking to friends... maybe.. but even that would be a stretch.

Way to go on the keg decision, I think you will be pleasantly happy. Remember though the CO2 tank comes empty. I got mine (5#) filled at PRAXAIR for about 12 (Has Mat tax included).

Cheers
 
So, do you guys recommend the single or double set up? If I got the single for $150 would it be hard to upgrade later on? I'm nervous about spending money in this economy since my job is straight commission and things can change quick!
 
I got a dual for 199 (2kegs and twin regs) Midwest, there is a shipping charge though which pushed it over 220 total. Nice set up though.

If moneys tight, I have a splitter I got that I don't need, if you want it PM me.

Cheers:mug:
 
It's not hard to keep adding kegs to your system. I find my 5 lb canister lasts me several months with two kegs. I'd only recommend getting a large canister if you think that it will get so addictive that you'll want like 5 kegs going at one time! ;):D

It'll get more expensive when you want to build that kegerator and say yes to a double or triple tower!

So my 2 cents about getting single or double system now: only get double if you think you'll have two styles of beer ready at a time. Though because you might eventually add more kegs....see if any have manifolds for more kegs. My impulse tells me that getting a double system isn't that much cheaper then going with a single now and then getting extra manafolds/kegs off e-bay. Just an idea.
 
You can switch out the manifold later and add gas lines to your setup, but it's REALLY nice to be able to have more flavors on tap. I got a 3 tap system a while back. Having 3 flavors to choose from really makes my night!

Look at your budget, and what works for you, but you will definately enjoy kegging.
 
Congrats on making the jump to kegging. I just finished my 3 Tap Keezer. Just need to brew more to fill it. I have a MO/Galena SMaSH and an Oaked MO/Galena Smash about ready to go in. but the third will be empty.

*WARNING* Beer dissapears must fast when there are no bottles to count. With bottles I would see it disapearing and slow down, With kegs, i tend to think, I wonder how fast I can drink this one!, or once it gets half empty, I need to finish this to get the next one in (before I had multiple taps)
 
In retrospect yes I can add on more, and I have added 2 more taps, but I always regret not gettin the dual regulator. That's a very good price for the 2keg and dual reg.
 
I got a dual for 199 (2kegs and twin regs) Midwest, there is a shipping charge though which pushed it over 220 total. Nice set up though.

If moneys tight, I have a splitter I got that I don't need, if you want it PM me.

Cheers:mug:
Dumb question time...what's a splitter?
 
Nylon Tee Fitting for 3/8" Tubing |Specialtech.co.uk -

also available in stainless for more $$$. You just add this to your gas line and presto another keg is gassed. Also available as a cross fitting allowing two more kegs to be gassed. This is kind of a fast and dirty method as opposed to having a manifold whereby each keg can be valved on or off. In short all kegs are gassed on or off at the same time and pressure. Kind of low budget, but common practice to add additional kegs.

ps. good choice on kegging first. IMO cutting labor makes the hobby more enjoyable.
 
Quote:
Dumb question time...what's a splitter?

Splitter, I.E. Line splitter. Your outgoing line from the regulator into a Manifold with 2 or more valves to route the given pressure to more than one Keg at a time. Each can be turned off as need be.
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How would it help my ferment temps? Right now I'm doing my primary in pails and better bottles for 2ndary. My next two batches I was thinking about putting the pails in tubs of water in my basement to keep the temperature stable in the low fifties. What would kegging have to do with that?

Because if you build your kegerator out of a deep freeze or a refridgerator, you'll have room for a pail or two in there in addition to your kegs. I guess that might not matter to you if you have stable 50s in the basement, but a lot of people aren't that lucky.

You can lager in your kegerator if you want to as well.
 
My order has shipped! I got the two keg system with double dual guage regulators so I can carb one keg while drinking from the other. $219.00 including shipping to Utah! That is a great deal and Midwest was excellent to work with. Locally, a single keg system would have cost me over $250 and I would have had to pay sales tax. I might have to brew a dunkel this weekend so I can fill a keg in a few weeks. I bottled 10 gallons the other day and in hindsight I wish I would have left it in carboys.
 
I went for the Kegerator first myself, 5 gal batches and the LHBS has a grain mill you can use if you buy the grain there... (good deal... I don't know.. I do extract/grain kits)

I can't immagine bottling 5 gal... it takes long enough to Rack to keg and clean the CarBoy and ail pails! I can't imagine cleaning 50 or so bottles and caps and all that... One or two 22 Oz flip tops for taking to friends... maybe.. but even that would be a stretch.

Way to go on the keg decision, I think you will be pleasantly happy. Remember though the CO2 tank comes empty. I got mine (5#) filled at PRAXAIR for about 12 (Has Mat tax included).

Cheers

Bottled a five gallon batch last night in about an hour and a half...not that bad once you get your procedures dialed in; plus IMO there are more benefits to having your beer in bottles than kegs.

That being said....I really want to start kegging some of my beer.:confused:
 
Bottled a five gallon batch last night in about an hour and a half...not that bad once you get your procedures dialed in; plus IMO there are more benefits to having your beer in bottles than kegs.

That being said....I really want to start kegging some of my beer.:confused:
Trust me, I've got my bottling procedures dialed in. I did ten gallons in less than two hours on Monday. It still sucks. I can't wait for my kegs!
 
Ray,

Congrats!!!!!! Hope you enjoy the kegging system.

Don't forget, you can also bottle/growler your beer from a keg any time you want and can even cellar some if you want to. The nice thing about kegging is you don't HAVE to bottle those if you don't want to.
 
How could so many people be so wrong? :D
Buying in bulk (with today's prices) saves me about $30 per month. In 3 - 4 months, the savings pay for the mill, and by the end of the year you would have saved enough to get the kegging system as well.
Of course, this depends on being able to get bulk grain at a reasonable price.

-a.
 
How could so many people be so wrong? :D
Buying in bulk (with today's prices) saves me about $30 per month. In 3 - 4 months, the savings pay for the mill, and by the end of the year you would have saved enough to get the kegging system as well.
Of course, this depends on being able to get bulk grain at a reasonable price.

-a.
I am going to buy my hops in bulk. I already harvest my own yeast. Those are the two biggest costs in my brewing. Bulk grain is no good if I have to bottle it all IMO.
 
I did both. Did the kegorator first then I bought a knock off corona style mill for about $25 and hand crank about 8 pounds of grain in about 10 minutes. Can't beat the price on bulk grain and plus now I can brew whenever I feel like.
 
Fed Ex has my tracking all screwed up. Did anyone in Topeka, Kansas get an unexpected delivery of a kegging system yesterday? If you did, please send it to me!
 
Nope, sorry haven't seen it.

*hides the UPS label that has 'Draper, UT' scratched out on it further into the trash*
 
I'm getting some beer ready for those kegs when they get here! I've got a hefeweizen mashing right now and then I'm going to do an overnight mash on a maibock after that. I don't want to be staring at empty kegs for too long!
 
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