About to bring up Captial Investment to SWMBO....need advice/guidance

[DizzyPants]

Good Evening,

I am a big beer drinker and have brewed about ten batches over the last year. I am doing liquid extract with steeping grains. I now want to move in to mini mash but will need some big $$ items to do it right.

I have all the normal equipment (basic) but enough to keep three batches going on a rotational basis, plus I am kegging b/c I bought a kegerator a while ago to drink BMC.

Here is my quick past. My last hobby which was really spendy was remote control airplanes. It took me 1000's before I found my sweet spot and what I really wanted and needed.

My goal overall goal is to have good brewing equipment and utilize the space, and storage, of our 1250 condo. My goal is to do full boils which will require a nice 8 gallon pot.

My questions:

* I think with a 42 quart pot with ball valve and brewometer, propane burner, wort chiller I am probably looking at $325 give or take.

* Can I use the new big brew pot for a mash tun for the partial mash? And use my existing brew pot for strike and sparge water.

Then clean it out and use it as a brew kettle. Am I missing something here?

I would like to forgo the cooler route and was wondering if anything I am talking about strikes a cord.

I just want to make better beer, and I believe full boils, partial mashing and fast cooling will go a long way.

Last question, I buy kits b/c I have found a bunch I already love. Would doing a full boil with a small extract hop schedule change the amount of hops due to utilization?

And how do I tell my wife I want to get started and get a true brew setup? Wait, I will deal with that.

Thanks!

~Diz

 

[JetSmooth]

I am not the guy to answer this question. I am just getting back into the hobby after a 14 year lapse. I told her it would be maybe $150 in equipment to get back up to speed. . . $450 later, I'm about ready for my first brew. Haha.

My advice is to make as much as you can DIY. An immersion wort chiller is stupid-easy. You can cut a little cost with an Aluminum pot if you want.

My strategy was to show her what everything would cost if I bought the best and then tell her things like, "You know that stir plate I need that was like $100? I found a way I can make one out of old computer parts for $10. Saved $140!"

She just rolls her eyes at me.

The way I figure it, though, I'll be in the red with my spending money until late April. Anyone want to buy a Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus?

 

[Bobby_M]

The only challenge with kettle mashing is holding the temp for an hour. With a cooler, you just walk away. I'm not saying you can't do it, but you'll have to find creative ways to insulate the pot if you don't want to be applying heat for short bursts over the hour. A 5 gallon cylindrical cooler might even nest inside the 42qt pot for storage purposes.

 

[Cliff897]

Setting aside the whole "permission" discussion I submit that you just figure out what you will need.

Are you going electrical or gas?
That's sort of important I think Electrical may be cheaper if all you are building is a Brutus clone.
Minimum whether or not you go gas or electric
You need two pumps: North of $200.00 each
Two kettles About $200 + each
Two valves $30 - $50 each
Some sanitary fittings: not terribly expensive
Some hose: not expensive

You can use either PID controllers. I'd use two, but I bet you could get away with one so ling as you were happy swapping out thermocouple leads.
Or
You can get some software that will be your controller Some one here in HBT sells it. Check out the Pols thread.

And some thermocouples. Type K are cheap. Need no less than two.

I don't know if you'll need SSRs to open and close gas valves, but you do need at least two for an electric element.


If you were super cheap and willing to be futzing with fittings and disconnects you might squeak by with one pump. But you'd need more valves I believe.

Then of course you are either using gas valves or water heater elements.

I just pulled this all out of my head, so be warned: No one is always right, and nothing is ever absolute (except death).

 

[Apollo]

I doesn't sound like he's quite at the level of making a Brutus type rig yet. I got three 15.5 gal kegs off of craigslist for $20. Cut the tops and drilled drain holes in all of them, only using one right now for my BK. Weldless ball valve fittings for ~$20 each. SQ-14 burner (b-day gift) I think was around $65-75. I mash in an old, but sound rectangular Coleman cooler I had. Made my own IC, but I've been doing no chill brews recently. I use an inexpensive digital thermometer I got at the grocery store that works for my needs. There is almost an endless range of equipment that you could use. The cost of that equipment depends on how patient you are and how often you search craigslist or other local classifieds.

I'm not sure how well having a single mash tun/brew kettle would work. You'll need someplace to put the wort after mashing/sparging while you clean the tun. This sounds like it would add quite a bit of time to your brew day.

 

[DizzyPants]

Thanks for the replies guys/gals.

Yeah, I am not going anywhere close to a rig of any nature. My thoughts were having an eight gallon pot w/ ball valve to mash in (keep in mind I am only doing a partial mash) and could easily get a cheap alum pot to hold the wort while the tun, now kettle, is cleaned. I would use my existing brew pot to heat strike and sparge water. I would get a propane burner and IC.

With the size of my joint, I never see going AG, but would/could see doing full boils on a propane source.

I have a gas range so insulating/adding heat in bursts wouldn't be a problem for the mash.

Please let me know how that sounds.

Thanks,
~Diz

 

[weirdboy]

FWIW, I think 42 quarts is a really awkward size for a brew pot. It's bigger than necessary to do 5 gallon batches, and not big enough to do 10 gallon batches.

 

[MacBruver]

* I think with a 42 quart pot with ball valve and brewometer, propane burner, wort chiller I am probably looking at $325 give or take.

From Amazon:
Bayou SQ14- around $50

Bayou 32qt stainless pot- about $120
-or-
32qt tamale pot from target- $19

From bargainfittings:
Weldless kettle fitting- $30ish
thermometer: $30ish (personally I'd skip the kettle thermometer and just get a Polder probe thermometer- much more versatile)

Total: $230 or $130 (or less)

* Can I use the new big brew pot for a mash tun for the partial mash? And use my existing brew pot for strike and sparge water.

Then clean it out and use it as a brew kettle. Am I missing something here?

You will need 3 vessels: the mash tun, the HLT, and somewhere to put the wort you're draining out. You could use a bucket- but draining the wort, cleaning all the grains out of your pot, and then putting the wort back in will slow you down a LOT. Brew days are long enough as it is, no reason to make it that much longer.

I would like to forgo the cooler route and was wondering if anything I am talking about strikes a cord.

Why do you not want to do a cooler? I started off doing stove top partial mashing and when I switched to a cooler it made things *so* much easier. You get the temps dialed in, and just walk away. Set it n' forget it, as Ron Popeil says. If you are pretty good at doing partial mashes, there is absolutely no reason that you shouldn't switch to all grain. It will save you money, for sure.

 

[Want2Brew]

I would suggest planning for all grain even if you don't plan on doing that soon because eventually you will probably want to and I don't think it will cost that much if any more to get the equipment now if you are buying equipment any way. If you are looking to do things on the cheap remember plastic buckets are your friend. You can make a mash tun our of two buckets nested together by drilling holes in the bottom of one and putting a valve in the bottom of the other. When I did my first PM's and all grain brews I used a large grain bag and 2 kettles. I heated strike water in one kettle and placed the grain bag in that kettle and doughed in. Then I heated water in the other kettle while I was mashing and lifted the grain in the bag out of the first kettle and placed it in the second kettle to sparge. See these thread for a better explanation https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/ Only difference is I used a turkey fryer burner to do the boil with. You could use a bucket to hold your wort or to mash in using this method if you only have one kettle big enough to mash in.

So IMO you would need a burner and a kettle if you want to do full boils. 8 gallon would work, 10 would give you a little more room to not boil over. Price on this will vary dependent on what you choose (aluminum/stainless) and if you can find a used burner for cheap or if you buy new. Possibly a grain bag and/or buckets. I would recommend a wort chiller but many get by with out one and some other odd's and ends. I think you could easily do it for under $200 if you are a good scavenger and do it your selfer or much more than that if you buy every thing new. I will add that I love my igloo mash tun but I could get by with out it if I had to. Hope this helps. good luck.

P.S. I would recommend pricing every thing out before you talk to SWIMBO about it and then add quite a bit to that as the figure that you give to her. That way you have some wiggle room and if you come in under you will you score some points with her. Good Luck!

 

[DizzyPants]

MacGruver,

You have a good point, if I am going this far and *don't* think I am going to do AG, but then decide I should just get the stuff now.

So:
Burner, will be purchased
IC, DIY
What size pot and cooler would I need to do AG. 7.5 gallon big enough or 8 gallon? I have no idea about the cooler size (round or flat?). I can do the searches on the hardware needed, unless you have a golden setup. I could use my existing 5 gallon pot for the HLT couldn't I? Get a cheaper alum pot to catch the sweet wort?

Forget it, I am going the full monty...I just need some direction.

Your responses are greatly appreciated.

~Diz

 

[rcm_rx7]

Have you considered the brew in a bag method? If you are really against getting a cooler this would be a good option.

 

[DizzyPants]

10 gallon Rubbermaid, 50 ft of 3/8 copper, 7.5 gallon pot, Banjo propane heater all on their way.

BTW, copper is expensive. Home Depot and Lowe's were close to $50. Amazon had a roll for $38.

I have three partial mash kits to brew and then it's all AG.

Thanks guys,
~Diz

 

[Want2Brew]

Congrats Bro! Sounds like you made some good choices. That setup should work well for you and leave you room to move up when you feel like it. Have fun mashing.