ma2brew said:
Holy cow! I thought I spent alot at about $233 initial cost:
..........
Okay, now you've got me motivated, I've never tallied it "officially" before.
- Turkey Fryer Kit (FYI, Bayou Classic w/ 7.5gal S/S kettle, found on Amazon)- $100 SHIPPED
- 3 Ale Pails - $45
- 6.5gal MiniBrew - $160 SHIPPED
- JSP Maltmill - $145
- Phil's Counter-Flow Chiller - $45
- Misc Hardware (Ball Valves, PVC) - $40
- 2 Igloo coolers for mash tuns - FREE!
- Capper, Caps, Filler, Tubing, StarSan - $35 ish
- Thermom's and Timer - $25
- Misc Receipts from LHBS - mostly grain, i think? - $60
- Strainer from restaurant supply store - $5
- Juice and supplies for Apfelwein - $30
- 2 cases of 24-12oz bottles - $28
Comes out to around $715 - add about $50 for "filled" bottles, soon emptied, from the liquor store... heh... :fro:
For the benefit of the original post, here are a bunch of "little crap" that are a huge help to have around (that you often don't even realize you need!):
(Some of these items only pertain to All-Grain, sorry.)
- Extra rags
- Tube clamps (shutoff clamps)
- Sharpie markers
- Scale capable of measuring less than 1 ounce (for hops) and greater than 1 pound (for grains)
- Spare containers to put stuff in - I use cottage cheese containers or yogurt containers - Great for using w/ scales.
- Extra 1/2" hose clamps, Just In Case one of your hoses is misbehaving and (hopefully not) spraying hot wort all over.
- Spare buckets - for sanitizer, water, rags, hoses, whatever.
- GOOD measuring pitcher - trust me, the Dollar Store is NOT a good place to shop for this one! Doubles for vorlaufing before you sparge at the end of your mash.
- Extra ziploc baggies, for splitting up partial amt's of hops
- Something to keep your grain cool and dry when not being used! (I still haven't found this special "something"!!)
....and of course,
- A few cold homebrews for while YOU brew!
By the way, our LHBS is about $32 for glass carboys in the 6-ish gal range, so by our standards, you got a good deal. I wanted to invest in Better Bottles, but they come out to about $40 a piece here.
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OH - I completely neglected your second original question, what STYLES are forgiving for newbies like us to brew!
My first batch was a 10B - Northern Brown Ale. I just got my results back from the competition I brewed it for (21 entrants) and I placed 13th with a score of 34 ("Very Good" rank) - the lowest in the top 10 was a 37, so I was SO CLOSE!
My second batch was a 15B - Brown Porter, and it seems to have come out well too, it's too new to try yet, it needs to condition in the bottle for another 2 or 3 weeks for carb'ing.
Tomorrow I'm brewing Cheesefood's CVCA (
Linky!) and can't wait!!!!