Oh boy I'm in trouble.

My first batch of beer hasn't even been fermenting for a week and I'm hooked. All I do anymore is look up recipes and read about brewing. I'm thinking that pretty soon I'm going to buy a case of Grolsh (sp) and drink it so I can get some sweet swing type bottles/caps. I'm thinking about taking the second mr beer that I bought as a birthday gift for my father in law and starting my first extract recipe (not Mr. Beer from a can). I'm this close to buying a couple Ale Pales so I can make bigger batches. I'm pretty sure PM brewing is in the not to distant future. This is going to end up costing me a lot of money and really annoying my wife.

Welcome to HBT and brewing!

Yes, it will cost you lots of money and may annoy your wife.

Looking up recipes, reading about brewing, and hanging out on HBT talking about brewing ALL THE TIME sounds pretty normal to me.

Get yourself a couple of pails, start drinking to get bottles, and get a few 5 gallon recipes going ASAP and you will be just fine.

If you buy your equipment with an eye towards the future you can save quite a bit of money, I purchased several items I rarely use anymore. But the gadgets are half the fun!

Ok, my two cents.. You will likely need lots of bottles... Save money by going to your local bottle return center/store and snatch up as many of the crown top bottles that you can. Remove the labels by soaking them in a warm oxiclean solution for a couple of hours. In Michigan bottle deposits are 10 cents... which is what the store/center will typically sell the returned ones to you for. But, new bottles cost $1.00. So save a bunch of money and get yourself some nice "used" bottles.

EonBlue66 said:

If you buy your equipment with an eye towards the future you can save quite a bit of money, I purchased several items I rarely use anymore. But the gadgets are half the fun!

Click to expand...

This.. I would just skip bottling. I did it twice and could not stand it.

danculwell said:

This is going to end up costing me a lot of money and really annoying my wife.

Click to expand...

I'm lucky in that my wife is pretty tolerant to my hobbies. She refers to the garage as 'the still' now...

But, the first part of your sentence? Yah, it can. My trips to the local HB shop to get grain should only run me about $25 but, usually wind up near $100 in new equipment. Then there's all the little trips to the hardware store because I had 'an idea'. It adds up quick...

to save money:

use the free online brewing software (recipator, and brewcalcs, etc)
use the brew in a bag method instead of building a mashtun
buy hops bulk from hopsdirect
don't get into kegging
use the "bath" method to regulate ferm temps instead of a built chamber
use dry yeast


I follow the above and have managed to save a lot of money (im a grad student who lives in "noble poverty.")

Here's a homebrew club in Iowa City.

http://www.thirstyhomebrew.org/

When I first started brewing, I bought a bunch of beers with those swing-top caps and used them, but nowadays I just don't use those bottles at all. I like the regular 12oz crown caps better. The Grolsch-style bottles are a pain because IMO they are more difficult to clean and sanitize properly, don't fit into "standard" boxes and carriers, don't fit on my pantry shelves and are more difficult to replace when a couple go inevitably missing or get broken.

I still have a few sitting on a shelf, but have considered just getting rid of them several times.

Welcome to WBT and the addiction/obsession! I just started brewing last September and have allready invested more than a grand into this! Thankfully I have a SWMBO that suports my expensive habits (fishing and brewing). Now just get your pipline going and enjoy the ride

Your symtoms are quite common to probably everyone on this board.
Enjoy!

Welcome aboard! We've all been there and it only gets better! (worse?)

Brewing equipment is slowing filling the garage, grain storage in filling shelves in the basement and extra fridges are popping up like mushrooms after a rain.

Welcome!!! In addition to the great advice given so far, I would encourage you to look throught the DIY section (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/) before you buy anything more. Chances are someone has built something similar for less money. I took advice from there to build an immersion cooler and lauter tun. I spent far less building it than buying and I had some sense of accomplishment in doing so.

You can also find info on harvesting yeasts to further save money.

Also, check with your local bar about having them save off bottles. I was able to score some swing top bottles from one which helped to cut costs.

Finally, check the classifieds sections here and in your local craigs list, you can usually get a good deal on used equipment. This forum is really good at policing the classifieds to prevent an unfair transaction from taking place.

I again want to echo a previous statement which is if you truly are addicted it is well worth spending a few extra dollars to buy equipment that you can grow into as you advance as opposed to buying for current need. This is especially true for buying brewing kettles.

Thanks for all the info guys. I'll defiantly try to DIY as much as I can. I'll start calling some of the local bars too, although there are some benefits to buying the bottles already filled.:cross:

coryforsenate said:

Here's a homebrew club in Iowa City.

http://www.thirstyhomebrew.org/

Click to expand...

Yeah I've tried to get in touch with them and register for their forum but I haven't gotten any replies. I get the feeling that they aren't that active.

I again want to echo a previous statement which is if you truly are addicted it is well worth spending a few extra dollars to buy equipment that you can grow into as you advance as opposed to buying for current need. This is especially true for buying brewing kettles.

Click to expand...

That larger brew pot might cost more than the smaller one, but it certainly costs less than buying both of them. Like he said, if you think you're going to get serious about it, look to what your future goals/desires might be when pricing out equipment to buy or build.

Visit a restaurant supply store, buy an 8 gallon aluminum thick-walled kettle.

Then buy this: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_33_82_89&products_id=11638

Drill a hole in your kettle, install the valve, buy a bazooka screen and voila, you have a kettle that can be used both for mashing, sparging, lautering, and boiling.

It costs around $100 all together and has made my life much easier.

FYI, it doesn't get any better. I've got about 2 1/2 years in and I'm still the same way. There's always something to learn about with brewing, the science aspect, gadgets, techniques. Definitely hang out with some other brewers if you can. You'll always pick up something from brewing with other people, even if it's watching someones bottling techniques, etc....

I feel sooooo much better. I have the same symptoms. My wife is beginning to get annoyed, BUT she can't say much because she got me this stuff for my birthday and Christmas.

I wouldn't say she's supportive of my hobbies, but she's tolerant........sort of.....a little......you know.......

im fortunate enough to have a girlfriend who knows me well enough to buy me my first home brew equipment and extract kit for my birthday she tries to keep up with my lingo and talk about it with me. she too has already learned more about beer in the last 3 weeks as she knew in 24 years.

this is the best hobby ever - and as for the money factor - it isn't too much of an issue i dont think.

just buy equipment you NEED NOW to do what you are planning on - dont go out and spend 500 dollars in a day when you are new to the hobby.

also think about this - pretty soon you (and i) will be drinking our own brews - we will probably enjoy them more then any beer we can buy at a store because it will be made to are taste and it will be the fruit of are labor - and we only end up spending about 1 dollar a beer opposed to 17 dollars a 6 pack (mad elf in my area) or 12 dollars a 4 pack (jefferson reserve bourbon barrel stout in my area)

so if you drink good beers and you plan on brewing good beers - you are actually saving money in the long run

cheers

There is another tradition that no one has mentioned to you yet and that is you need to send everyone who responds to your posts a bottle or two of your homebrews on a go forward basis. It is kind of like one of the pyramid schemes - more like a beer-amid scheme. I will be looking for mine shortly.

eljefe said:

There is another tradition that no one has mentioned to you yet and that is you need to send everyone who responds to your posts a bottle or two of your homebrews on a go forward basis. It is kind of like one of the pyramid schemes - more like a beer-amid scheme. I will be looking for mine shortly.

Click to expand...

I hadn't heard about that one yet...Damn...I better stop posting or I wont have any homebrew for my self.

Everyone usually starts saving Sam Adams bottles cause it's all we know for sure as a pop off bottle. However my eye caught the bottle design from Red Hook brewery and they are really nice. There are embossed hop flowers going around the top and bottom of the bottle. Not much room for your own labeling but maybe you just keep these for yourself like I'm going to do. A sixer is just as competitive in price from what I've seen around me at least.

http://www.redhook.com/Default.aspx?p=41