Its Official: No more DIY projects

I have taken on a number of DIY projects for home brewing but last nights reinforced a growing thought.

Its just not worth it. The money savings end up being minimal if any exist and the time investment is always longer than you expect.


I am officially a "cut a check" guy when it comes to home brewing.

 

I have to agree with that statement for many brewing DIY projects. I just recently purchased the hopper and base with my MM because I didn't want to invest hours into building one. For $40 the price was more than acceptable! I built my hop spider and other items though. It's a matter, as you stated, of time and savings in the end! :rockin:

 

I've been that way for awhile myself. i will only do the DIY if it's a job i really want to do. like make a custom keezer or something similar. people never take into account there time when doing DIY's and then think it's much cheaper. if money is tight and you are buying a few parts on pay day, then DIY can be a benefit.

 

I would give up homebrewing before I gave up DIY. Half the fun of making beer at home for me is making the gear to create it, serve it, or clean up after it.

If I am just going to "cut a check" it is going to be to the local beer store to buy good craft beer.

 

I got into homebrewing to make beer. All the other stuff I have made is just a means to my beer end.

Id much rather spend the time brewing than building a keezer, converting a keg, mast tun, ect.

 

I like to build stuff and home brewing gives me plenty of projects to tinker with. My complete brewery would cost about $10,000 if I bought it new, I paid about 1/3 of that price and it really wasn't about the savings it was about the fact I can say I designed it and built it all myself. Just writing a check takes all of the fun out of it.

 

I Love to brew AND I love DIY AND I love to SCUBA dive....... They are not meant to be synonymous, but it happens that brewing and DIY are a great fit if that happens to be your thing. SCUBA and DIY (or beer) on the other hand, while possible, not as great a fit!

 

For me it entirely depends on the project.

The stirplate was simple cost $7.40, has done dozens of starters. It took a bit of time as I went through a 3 power converters to find the one that ran the stirplate at the best speeds.

I bought kettle valve kits instead of parting things out. I installed them and a Bobby_M weldless sightglass with thermometer. I built my three tier wooden brew stand. I also built a fermentation chamber.
For me it has been a huge savings!

I would not mess with parting out and building an electric setup though.

 

Why not just buy beer then? DIY is what brought me to the hobby in the first place. Who cares if it cost just as much or took you forever, YOU made it. To me, that's the entire point.

 

I can see both sides - which is why I pick and choose my DIY's. Sometimes building stuff is awesome - other times I don't feel like dealing with it and want a ready-to-use and meant-for-this piece of gear. For those times I'll happily cut a check and be done with it. I got into making beer to enjoy the hobby and everything that comes along with it, but I'm no engineer and I'm sure as hell not trying to be no John Blichmann

 

SWMBO keeps the "honey do this" list way too long to get to do a DIY. SHE makes me be a "cut a check" guy. Its her fault damn it!

 

So you grow your own food, sew your own clothes, build your own house?

Everyone draws the line somewhere...

 

Well, I am not Amish but I have done all those things to some degree and I like DIY. But I agree the line has to be drawn someplace. For me it is usually where the fun meter starts heading to the this sucks and or hurts my knees, back, or shoulders too much setting.

 

I'm interested in making beer(and food for that matter) as an artistic(and delicious) expression. There is no art in drilling holes in a keg or bending copper tubing, or whatever.


Its going through the motions to create a tool.

Don't take this thread as an attack of DIYers. I understand some people enjoy this kinda stuff, I do not.

 

I love DIY projects and I get a lot of satisfaction out of making them. However there are just some things that aren't worth it to me because I don't have the skills, equipment, or time to pull it off. A perfect example not related to homebrewing is auto repair. I like to do most of my own repairs. My civic needed a new timing belt. I shopped around and got a few quotes in the $700 range. I decided to do it myself. It took me most of a weekend but I saved a ton of money. The car has been running great and that was five years ago. In a year or so it will be time to do it again and now I have all the tools and can knock it out in a day. However, when the AC system died on me I knew it was over my head. To the shop it went.

 

I'm building a kegging setup now.


People say it's faster than bottling. But when you spend hours research part costs, then weekends assembling it all...

 

^ Though I will say, a Jedi must build their own lightsaber.

 

I'm just building stuff when my equipment and process dictates. For example, I brew 5 gallon batches in a fairly wide 15 gallon pot. Of the shelf wort chillers end up sticking up out of the wort, decreasing cooling efficiency. Gotta build a chiller with a wider circumference and a shorter coil stack.

I'd DIY more, but at this point in my life, time is limited and it's more stressful than fun because of that.

 

If I didn't like DIY so much I would just go to the liquor store and pick up beer. >.<

 

Wonder if they can use those things for a BK heat source? Hmmmmm...

 

it depends.

gas/plumbing projects are so easy for me its not a chore.

SS welding where it counts, "write a check". If it can be done with a stick, OA or DC scratch-start TIG its DIY.

some things its just nice to have premade though.

I don't do electicity. putting an element in a pot seems to as simple as rebuilding a water heater. But after looking at the controller builds, I AINT TOUCHING THAT VOODOO

 

Depends on the project, if the cost savings is significant enough I'll put in some nights. Otherwise, it's figuring out the best pre-made solution and buying that. A lot of what homebrew requires, makes us DIY. Mini fridges in to kegorators? Sure there are options out there, but nothing perfectly aligned with homebrewing. Fermentation chambers that can fit multiple buckets / carboys? Sure there are options out there but nothing perfectly aligned with homebrewing.

When I must, I DIY.

 

You have to run it at a lower voltage than it's rated for (kind of like the electric elements people use). The nice thing about it is that you don't need any controls. Just concentrate intensely on the temp you want and voila!