I don't see a sticky on this, so hopefully it's not a useless post.
I've been homebrewing for a little while now (about a year) and really enjoying it. I jumped headlong into all-grains after just a few batches, and now i'm looking to improve my equipment a bit. I've still got a very effective, small cooler mash tun for lighter beers. My second one, a rectangular cooler with a manifold etc. worked fine once, but was very difficult and I generally wasn't happy with it.
Rather than dump money on a third cooler, I'm converting a keg into a keggle mash tun. I can stick to direct fire on it for now, but it's also got me thinking about going further. I'd like to start laying the groundwork for a proper brewing rig down the road.
So... where do I start with all this? I've done some research online (here, google, etc.) and tried to learn what I can about the differences between HERMS & RIMS, etc. I don't feel educated enough to settle on one, but I'm confident that with the right help from friends I could get either one built.
I'm on a budget, so I need to ensure that any costs laid out aren't going to be a duplication of effort down the road. If I'm buying it for brewing now (ie. my new mash tun) it needs to be functional in the future as well. So, from a cost perspective, what sort of setup should I be looking at? It's pretty hard to find concrete numbers on what people end up spending. I could throw $1000 at the project, provided it isn't all spent up front. If I can do it in steps, I can accomplish it.
So help me out, veterans. If I'm wanting to build a single tier brew rig, where do I start?
I've been homebrewing for a little while now (about a year) and really enjoying it. I jumped headlong into all-grains after just a few batches, and now i'm looking to improve my equipment a bit. I've still got a very effective, small cooler mash tun for lighter beers. My second one, a rectangular cooler with a manifold etc. worked fine once, but was very difficult and I generally wasn't happy with it.
Rather than dump money on a third cooler, I'm converting a keg into a keggle mash tun. I can stick to direct fire on it for now, but it's also got me thinking about going further. I'd like to start laying the groundwork for a proper brewing rig down the road.
So... where do I start with all this? I've done some research online (here, google, etc.) and tried to learn what I can about the differences between HERMS & RIMS, etc. I don't feel educated enough to settle on one, but I'm confident that with the right help from friends I could get either one built.
I'm on a budget, so I need to ensure that any costs laid out aren't going to be a duplication of effort down the road. If I'm buying it for brewing now (ie. my new mash tun) it needs to be functional in the future as well. So, from a cost perspective, what sort of setup should I be looking at? It's pretty hard to find concrete numbers on what people end up spending. I could throw $1000 at the project, provided it isn't all spent up front. If I can do it in steps, I can accomplish it.
So help me out, veterans. If I'm wanting to build a single tier brew rig, where do I start?