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left field brewer

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Location
Lansing, MI
Unemployment is up and economy sucks yet every time I come to this forum, someone has new mad new shiny expensive gear thats all f'n automated.

Sure.....I'll just drop a couple grand that I got layin around and design or build some wicked sytem to produce 10G at a time(jealous/laughing). That's beside the amount of time needed to do it.

I can't even get my system back to basic brewability cause I keep hitting walls and running out of money.Sh***y welder, broken tools, and no beer being produced means kegs emptying fast.

This is probably wrong forum but everytime I browse, I get jealous.
Just wanting people to appreciate your gear/system from someone so frustrated that they can't brew. Can't even get any of the few brewing friends I have to make time to split a 10G batch with me. Arghhhhhhhh....
 
Most of us have been piecing these together for awhile -- since last october for me. And it's not that much -- maybe $400 over 6 months ? ok, so it is more than I thought:)

You'll be ok once you get that stimulus money ;)
 
You'll be ok once you get that stimulus money ;)

Sorry to say, there is NO stimulus money coming.

Anyways, I feel your pain. If its any help, I traded for most of my stuff. I started with a bike rack and an old fridge and traded my way up from there. Google search "one red paperclip" and you'll get the idea. All I've had to buy for my setup was fittings, thermometers, and hose.
 
Granted, I had brewed in the early 90's and had a bunch of stuff (carboys, keggle, burner, IC and small stuff) since then.

But I put together a steam system, built a better MLT, and put a kegging system together fairly cheap by watching for deals on CL and ebay and networking with friends. It took time but I did it fairly inexpensively.

What I have is no Brutus 10, but it serves me well and I make some good beer!
 
Can't even get any of the few brewing friends I have to make time to split a 10G batch with me. Arghhhhhhhh....
It's time to look for real friends.


ClaudiusB
 
I deal with rental housing and evictions all the time, tons of stuff to be used or sold. Coolers, t.v.'s,furniture, appliances, tools........ find local apartment or mobile home community's and become their "junk man". I promise it will pay off.
 
All that shiny stainless makes for great eye candy but you can make great beer with one pot, a cooler and a cajun cooker...

GT

+8 effin million. A turkey fryer and a carboy makes damn good beer. And if extract a 16 qt pot and a bunch of ice makes damn good beer too.
 
I've been trying to pull y setup together for a few months now. It's geting to the point where I may actually be able to sit down and finish a couple pieces.

It's mostly dependent on how much it will cost to get a 240V line to the garage.
 
Anyways, I feel your pain. If its any help, I traded for most of my stuff. I started with a bike rack and an old fridge and traded my way up from there. Google search "one red paperclip" and you'll get the idea. All I've had to buy for my setup was fittings, thermometers, and hose.

Oh... wow...

I'd never heard the "One Red Paperclip," story before, and it floored me.

Fellow HBT'ers, know that any equipment that I outgrow and decide to replace will be offered up for free or for a very modest trade. That's some serious, next-level, pay it forward stuff.
 
To the OP - Wishing you better times ahead! You could consider making some apfelwein ($15-20 for 5 gallons) or maybe a mild ale or BM's Centennial blond (approx $20-25 for 5 gallons) if it is affordable. If you search for those two recipes on HBT, you will find lots of information and recipes.
Also, AHS has has a 50cent beer kit category. All batches come out to roughly 50cents per beer for five gallons. Here is the link. Austin Homebrew Supply
I know its not 10 gallons, but at least its beer/cider that you made and can enjoy!
 
I have been building my setup/researching for years now. Things that are expensive come slowly in my world.
 
+1 on the turkey frier setup ($40), cooler ($20) and carboy/bucket ($5-$25).

We all feel your pain in some way. I was given two pots, borrow someones stove and chiller everytime I brew, get other people to pay for ingredients when they want me to make them beer and store it not at my house. Essentially, if it weren't for the generosity of others, my beer making would be nill. My setup has changed so slightly that the only addition I have made in the last 8 months is my kegging setup (which by the by is two kegs in a fridge with picnic taps) where I bought kegs and a regulator and was given a CO2 tank and fridge.

Total equipment investment for me is about $150...you can do it.
 
I have been building my setup/researching for years now. Things that are expensive come slowly in my world.

Same here... I have 20G SS pots, copper fittings, big immersion chiller, and even a 50A 240V GFCI. I have been looking for closeout deals and things on ebay for over a year and a half and have probably spent under half of what I would if i went and bought it all today.

Been brewing on the stove with 5G water cooler doing split boils in a 4G ss pot i got for 20 bucks or brewing on my dad's rig until I have everything built.
 
+8 effin million. A turkey fryer and a carboy makes damn good beer. And if extract a 16 qt pot and a bunch of ice makes damn good beer too.

Word. I started out designing a brew rig this morning and kept thinking of ways to make it easy to store and easy to use and I browsed the brewing rig thread and I just kept thinking, all I really need is a single stand to place my MLT. I thelps when you are only doing 5 gallon batches though.

So, until I start fly sparging, I won't even build one. I'll just use whatever table is handy at the moment. Even then, I'm not sure I will build a stand just for brewing. (heck, yeah I will, if it gives me a chance to design and use my welder!)

But it will be with scrap parts from the metal yard for cheap.
 
I reached the point about four years ago (semi-retired), where spending more money on gear wasn't an option. Oddly enough, my beer continues to get better using the same old stuff. I did build a new kegger, as the old one can't hold anything under 50F now, but the rest of the money goes to makings.
 
Unemployment is up and economy sucks yet every time I come to this forum, someone has new mad new shiny expensive gear thats all f'n automated.

Sure.....I'll just drop a couple grand that I got layin around and design or build some wicked sytem to produce 10G at a time(jealous/laughing). That's beside the amount of time needed to do it.

I can't even get my system back to basic brewability cause I keep hitting walls and running out of money.Sh***y welder, broken tools, and no beer being produced means kegs emptying fast.

This is probably wrong forum but everytime I browse, I get jealous.
Just wanting people to appreciate your gear/system from someone so frustrated that they can't brew. Can't even get any of the few brewing friends I have to make time to split a 10G batch with me. Arghhhhhhhh....

If you're anywhere near smAlbany, NY I'll split a ten gallon with you any day. I had the same problem you do. Welder didn't do the job right and trying to find the time between kids, job, extended family, home ownership to make the necessary adjustments. No time, no money, and no skills...so everything I do on my own has a wicked learning curve or I am at the mercy of contractors who I always seem to get screwed by. I have the rubbermaid cooler mash tun (very easy cheap build), the 3 keggles that still need tweaking (future HLT, MLT, and boil kettle) and for the time being will be doing the mashing in the cooler on a tv tray, and boiling on a turkey fryer. Can't get more ghetto, and in all honesty simplicity may have it's benefits, especially for someone as mechanically disinclined as me (ie the beer will be just as good, but eventually I will get to automating as much as possible).

My suggestion, if you want to get brewing 10 gallon batches fast, set up the rubbermaid mash tun and hit a local homebrew club to find the easiest place to get a keggle for 10 gallon boils, buy a turkey fryer (cheap at Target/WalMart/HD) and you can buy ICs or cfcs online or at a LHBS for 100 or so. They are expensive but it will get you back brewing quick. Of course if you have anything that might be an easy fix, get er done and replace what you can't. Feel for your plight man. I'm pretty much in the same situation.
 
post your location so you may find new brewing friends in your area
I made my stand out of 90% scrap metal I found in the bulk trash
 
Thanks for the support and pity after my lengthy rant.I apologize. I'm not totally out of brew, I still got a few kegs about half to two thirds full and a full carboy in the fridge, but......I want to brew.

Oh, and I'm not trying to brew 10Gs right now, I have a few friends from brewclub who have 10G ability, but haven't been able to sync up schedules to put a batch in the fermenters.

Right now I have no pots that don't have holes in them, so....no brewing is possible. Believe me, if one was welded or didn't have a hole, I probably would have done a no-sparge batch by now.

I have a cooler(rectangular and slightly warped) that I used a few times, but the whole reason brewing was halted was because my other one(also rectangular) eventually warped to the point where when I slightly pushed on the white liner inside cooler where it had bowed in and it tore.

At that point I decided I wanted a SS MLT and to rid my brewery of as much plastic as I could(mmmmm,....plasticisers). I figured while the keg(MLT) was going to be welded, I might as well do my two 30qt pots and put valves on em.

However, the pots are thin and one was welded, but leaks, so hopefully another welder can fix it and do the other as well as MLT. Talked to one today. He's going to look at the pots beginning of next week(fingers crossed).

I'm in Michigan(Lansing).
 
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