What was your initial investment into your home brew setup? How has it changed?

[newbrewguy11]

I'm certain the answers will range widely but I'm just wondering what people have put into their homebrew setup to start and where it stands now.

So far I've got a kit ($100) and some bottles/carboy holder/caps ($50), a bayou propane burner ($50), kettle ($55). That's a total of about $250.

I still feel I need a chiller ($80) and then a bunch of misc stuff and a recipe kit ($150). That would bring my total up to about $475.

How about you? Where did you start, where did you end up?

 

[cheezydemon3]

Had the turkey fryer and pots, but my first (gifted) was Mr beer. $30(?)

Then came 3 buckets, 1 bb, 3 kegs, Co2 tank, PRICELESS! ()

 

[Seven]

I started at over $500 and it has been slowly draining my bank account ever since!

 

[scottland]

After close to 50 batches I'm finally upgrading from my $30 igloo cooler mash tun and my 20' IC. I got my money out of them.

 

[Calichusetts]

$40 kit...now I've added about $250 in upgrades and more carboys.

 

[terror_storm]

I've got about $215 into my materials, including the 1000BB brewing kit, 48 bottles, a 5gal SS kettle, and 3 Brewers Best extract ingredient kits.

 

[Homercidal]

I think my first investment was a glass carboy in about 1991. It was my primary and only fermenter at the time. I brewed a Mt. Mellick Light Lager in it. It's currently holding 5 gallons of grape wine.

I think I also bought a hydrometer. It's still alive, but resting in my equipment case since I bought a refractometer.

 

[BrewThruYou]

Not including an ingredient kit, $155. $65 starter kit + $80 kettle + $10 thermometer. I did extract for my first 3 batches.

 

[Zamial]

I voted for 151-200 for my original set up which has rolled into around $1500 on where I am at now. I came from extract kits w/ buckets up to a full on mini home brewery. This is a low number as I have DIY as much as possible and hunted for deals (still am lol) over the last 18 months. BUilding a DIY brewery is cheaper when you wait for deals vs. buying things as wanted/needed.

Also I do not include ingredients in my numbers...

 

[Krane]

Started at about $80 and I would guess about $400 now. After Christmas it will be about $550

 

[nukinfuts29]

$20

 

[Airborneguy]

My first kit, in 2005 was around $100 and came with ingredients for one batch. Since going all out in 2009, I've spent thousands. There's no way to figure it out at this point.

 

[theonetrueruss]

well... I started with about $200 of stuff... right now i am right around $1600. I don't think there is any set upper limit, it is all about what you want to do with it. For some the equipment is as much a part of the hobby as the beer itself. For others, if it makes beer they like it's all good.

After xmas it may be that I go up a little more. I want to put in a 240V circuit and go electric with my HLT. That will let me start brew night a couple hours earlier (wife does not want the burner running with the kids running around so I brew after their bed time). With that I'll be able to mash and heat sparge water while they are getting put to bed. Heck, I could even sparge before they go to bed. And from there a HERMS isn't that far away. Then there is upgrading my mash tun from ice chest though that will wait.. the chest works so well. Lots more to do.

 

[J8D]

I found a dream kit for $100. It had enough stuff to get me doing partial mashes and kegging immediately (included 3 x 3 gallon corneys and CO2 bottle w/regulator). It had over $75 in books alone. However, I find brewing is like owning a boat. It can nickel and dime you over time. Yet, usually this is due to making upgrades or trying to do stuff better rather than just keeping your system running. There aren't to many expenses which don't add to the overall value of your brew setup.

From the initial $100, I am now into brewing for around $1500. I did price out my setup and figure I have around $4,700 in equipment. Craigslist and university equipment sales have allowed me to pick up stuff of high value for cheap. Norris stainless steel milk fridges for $10, 12 gal pyrex carboy for free, 5 gal corneys at $17 each, etc.... The other way I have saved money is in building most of my setup instead of buying it.

 

[Riopel]

I started with a used kit of 100$

Then, went from extrat to AG, buit a kegorator (wich I've put too much money in, but I love him), to fridge for fementation, went electric for the cold winters wint automatic temps control, build my brewing room and 7kegs latter, I think I'm over 3500$

 

[ajbram]

A friend gave me a few buckets, a bottling bucket, a hydrometer and a glass 23L carboy. I got 2 giant Nalgene carboys from my lab - surplus. Bought a couple other carboys from craig'slist - $20.
Had a big ass pot and an old cooler to convert to a mash tun.
Spent $20 on a capper.
$10 in odds and ends, tubing and airlocks

Total = about $50

Upgrades coming soon... another friend has a pile of kegging equipment he wants out of his house as he has never used it... it too will be free!

 

[Edd]

I'm just starting out but spent about £70 (~$100), not including ingredients. A couple of books, 2x10l fermenting buckets, 2 airlocks, a bottle capper, some caps, hydrometer, thermometer (5 brews in I'm on my 3rd thermometer now), bottling wand. I'm still boiling on the stove top at the moment and already had a big enough pot.

I've now made my 10l buckets into a kind of ghetto mash tun, drilling holes in the bottom of one, sitting it inside the other. When wrapped in a winter duvet it actually retains heat pretty well, losing around 3C over 90 minutes. I'm now itching to get better equipment but with Christmas coming I'm having to restrain myself...

 

[ByramMike]

I started with a $150 starter set up, including 2 cases of bottles and an Autumn Amber Ale extract kit. I purchased my burner for $50, built a chiller for another $50. I'm not going to count the 7 other extract kits I've purchased, or the Tap-a-keg (plus 2 extra kegs), seltzer chargers, replacement hydrometer (plus a spare), new thermometer (which I cannot find), and sundry other equipment items.

I love this hobby, I love brewing, I love drinking my own beer. I will likely spend another $200 or so next year to gear up for all grain and upgrade my burner for another $100 or so. I work to brew.

 

[Sheldon]

Started with a Mr Beer kit. Now I am going AG, buying bulk grains and hops. Have a 10 gal Blickman kettle and just spend $700 for a dual tap kegerator. so you can see I am now all in. Wanted to get the big ticket items on board before I retire (soon). I wonder what is the next big ticket item

 

[Weizenwerks]

I got started brewing when I was 18. I just used my stepfather's equipment and we brewed together. All grain from the start using 10 gallon Igloo cooler for a mash tun.

I built a system myself with the kettle style HLT and MT. That was fun for a while but I sold off the MT and went back to a cooler. Much more efficient with energy consumption and my extract efficiency didn't change.

At home I just have a 10 gallon system with a 10 gallon Igloo beverage cooler for the MT.

 

[Runyanka]

I started with a $220 investment. I will never disclose how much money I have spent on equipment to this day. Its a lot, I know that.

 

[limulus]

I started somewhere around 1994/95 with a homebrew kit purchased from the James Page Brewery in MN. It was the typical starter setup with two plastic buckets, bubblers, hydrometer, capper, caps (no bottles), a pale ale LME kit. I think it was less than $100. I got lots of bottles from a friend who ran a restaurant. I was very anal about cleanliness and the first batch was amazing. There was no chiller involved. The wort was allowed to cool by itself all covered of course. I remember I did pay a little extra to get a Wyeast pack.

 

[Im_Lars]

I started with a simple AG cooler and 10 gallon Costco pot, Buckets and Used Carboys system for about $200. Now I'm in the middle of a building a dedicated room with stainless sink and all electric system that if I was to guess is going to run a little over $2000 when done.

 

[TomSD]

I want to say the basic kit I started with was around 100-150 bucks and it grew from there...

- partial boils (extract) in the kitchen
- turkey frier and misc stuff to move it outside
- expanded capabilites (another carboy with more 'stuff' to go with it)
- immersion cooler
- submersible pump and hoses/adapters/tubing to augment immersion cooler
- kegging system
- chest freezer & built a keezer
- more kegs
- Craigslist chest freezer reconditioned as a ferm chamber
- basic starter stuff (jars, nutrients, DME, etc)
- new chest freezer to replace the Craigslist one when it died
- and just last week pulled the trigger on a blichmann and other stuff to go BIAB
- soon (tm) a blichmann burner to replace my beat up burner

Still thinking about...
- converting part of garage into brew shed... this needs to happen sooner rather than later, lol
- PH meter
- third chest freezer for conditioning/storage/carbing
- growing hops
- stir plate
- harvesting/storing yeast
- bulk grain buy/storage

This hobby went from functional (learn something, maybe save a few bucks like straight razor shaving is for me) to hobbiest (buy crap just because with no regard to cost or benefit, lol) for me pretty early on which though not the greatest thing for my wallet has been an enjoyable diversion.

 

[android]

all said and done, i was probably at about $250-300 for the initial setup... but that was over the course of like 8 months. and all told now, not including ingredients, i'm probably in roughly $1200 over the course of 3 or 4 years, which isn't that bad. this includes a chest freezer, kegs, all the brewing equipment, my stand, keggles, welding, couplers, taps, etc.

 

[bovineblitz]

I started with a kit with a 6gal and 5gal better bottle along with a vinator and bottling tree. Quickly grabbed a chiller because I couldn't stand the chilling. Got a bayou SS pot for my 4th batch. Since then I've added on a fridge with an ebay temp controller and an O2 system... now I have about 8lbs of hops in the freezer and an IPA about to boil as I type

 

[dfess1]

I will never disclose how much money I have spent on equipment to this day. Its a lot, I know that.

I started somewhere in the 101 - 150 dollars range. Basic kit and a small pot for concentrated boils. Now, I'm much past that. However, I will never disclose it either. Not because I don't want to (not that I really do) but more so because I really have no idea at this point...

 

[Aschecte]

My original setup was a true brew kit that was $120 and a 5 gallon pot $80 the kit had a plastic bucket a plastic botteling bucket capper auto siphon lids and a book. I also bought a hydrometer $10 and flask $10 so initially about $220 dollars. I have added since then about 5 - 6,6.5,5 glass carboys $250 a 15 gallon polarware kettle - $500 a burner - $80 plate chiller $200 3- corny kegs -$120 regulators and manifolds- $200 co2 tanks -$200 keezer build with taps -$600 10 gallon mlt and 10 gallon hlt with sparge arm -$300 and multiple brewing chemicals finings and accesories- $150ish. Whoever said brewing at home would save money is full of shi* !!! But I enjoy it more than anything else I do and can make finer beverages than I can buy so wad it worth the investment ABSOLUTEY.

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk

 

[eastoak]

i started with a $100-150 kit of buckets and carboys, extract and stove top. moved outside with turkey fryers and BIAB all grain after two extract batches. moved on to a blichmann top tier, keggles, refrigeration and temperature controller. from buckets i went to glass carboys then better bottles to a 30L speidel plastic fermentor and i'm looking at a stout tank 14 gallon conical. i've spent a few thousand but i have not kept track.

 

[DamageCT]

Started off with a brew kit & kettle, together they cost me about $140.

Since then I have purchased:
3 - Corny Kegs (including tubing and disconnects) - $165
1 - 5lb CO2 Tank - $60
1 - CO2 Regulator -$45
1 - CO2 3way Splitter - $25
1 - Two Tap Tower - $120
1 - Perlick Tap - $35
1 - Perlick Creamer Tap - $35
2 - 10gal coolers (including false bottom, valves, tubing and sparge) - $130
1 - 6.5 Gallon Carboy - $35
1 - Bottle Tree - $35
1 - Jet Stream Cleaner - $8
1 - Stir Plate + Starter Flask - $65
1 - Electric Scale - $20
1 - Copper Chiller - $60
1 - Johnson Temp Setter - $70
1 - Water Filter - $45
1 - Carboy heater - $25
Misc - $30
Total (including start up): $1148 - Not including Kits or Ingredients

I still want to purchase:
1 - 15gal electric brewpot (thermometer, liquid sight, heat stick, valve)- $300
1 - Blichmann Beergun (with kits) - $120
1 - Plate Filter (no clue why) - $65
Edit: 1 - March Pump - $150
1 - Plate Cooler - $150
Which would bring me to: $1933
Therefore; brewing is quite the investment, but in my opinion it's well worth it.

 

[Delerium_Hopturnum]

Started at $150 with Basic Hombrew Kit + Kettle + First Brew. For this amount you can get a lot of experience.

Going AG was another $200, but was well worth it. Plus I bought a few more carboys and a bunch of books. Id say I am at about $550-$600 now.

 

[cacattack]

i started at over $500 and it has been slowly draining my bank account ever since!

+1

 

[Ryush806]

Started with extract at a smidge over $200. Spent at least $400 since then. My dad has way more money than me so when he upgraded his system I got all his old stuff. Total worth has to be around $700. Thankfully I didn't have to spend that much.

 

[Cromacster]

Started with a starter kit from NB (160 I think) also added banjo burner, extra carboys, immersion chiller. ended up being 400$ or so.

Soon after I upgraded to all grain (within a month). Now I am up around 1400$ for all the equipment and ingredients I have purchased.

All within a span of a few months. Im guessing its going to keep rising.

 

[Brewnoob1]

Started with a basic kit - $100
After first brew bought a kegging setup - $150
More equipment to compliment start up - $150
Bought Freezer with Keezer conversion - $500

Drinking my own brew with an ever growing pile of stuff to do it with.....Priceless

 

[sonex]

I started with a $80 kit 5 years ago. Now I have a electric brew system that took me a few months to construct and two ferm chambers, lagering chest freezer, two keezers, plus all the
other toys. I guess I'm well over a couple grand, shhhhh don't tell the swambo.

 

[ZBrewski]

Started at $275.

35 batches and $2000 later I have gone allgrain, 1 keezer, 10 kegs, 1 fermentation chamber, 3 glass carboys, 2 plastic carboys, and 4 buckets.

...and I NEED to buy more things...

 

[SoonerDoc]

My first investment was about $160 (that included shipping, I think) for a starter kit from Midwest. I'm well over $700 invested less than 2 years later.

 

[Metallion66]

Initial investment was $200. This starter kit came with 1 Fermenting Bucket, 1 Glass Carboy, 1 Bottling Bucket, 24 Bomber Bottles and 2 recipes (everything else needed was included as well of course).

Since then I have purchased a Chest Freezer, $175 which I turned into a keezer so $350 for the kegging equipment, $150 on a temp controller (got ripped off but didn't want to wait) I have spent at least another $200 on supplies for the keezer plus I built a bar (which is still unfinished). And I would say a good $50-$100 on other assorted things for brewing.


Turning into a pretty expensive hobby but I love it.

 

[EdWort]

In 1987 it was a couple of buckets, a capper, etc.

Now it's into the thousands with the BrewHaus and still climbing.