Only in America do we justify spending thousands of dollars by saying we’re “saving money”.In my opinion there are four levels of making beer... Making beer, making good beer, making really good beer and making RFG beer. SS Unitanks fall in the RFG category. Add in the temp control function and ability to more easily harvest yeast and wallah you have RFG beer that is actually saving you money
Well yeah thats one of the issues with the conicals. Its not enough just to buy the conical. You also need temp control. So you either have to buy the glycol chilling upgrade for the conical and then a glycol chiller which costs as much again as the conical - or you have to have a dedicated spare refrigerator that it will fit in. And you still can only do one batch at a time.
I'm over sixty too and I think twice or more about any big dollar purchase, but I figure if I can afford it why not. It's a great hobby and it provides a good end product for me to enjoy alone or with friends. But I get it, as we get older other things in life do and should be where we spend our money.
See, you give me lots of new hope that this hobby will provide me with many more great years of enjoyment. Reading from many of the others out there I get the impression a lot are well over 50 and still brewing strong. I love the brewing aspect too and all of the history behind it as much as the drinking part just like you. Brew On!
I retired early, the end of 2021, before that I worked part time for almost two years. Went from 50+ hours a week to 25 then to zero. I figured I had been saving all my life to retire one day so it was time. I can always make more money just can't make more time. But now I have more time to brew and not trying to squeeze it into maybe a couple days off. Before I retired I made sure I bought the big ticket items for brewing or had a way to extend payments out. If it gets me into my mid-seventies that would be great and I'll enjoy every brew day and every sip of my beer!
29 here. I love reading the stories as well, thanks for sharing.As a dude in his early thirties, I'd just like to seize the opportunity and express my respect for all you guys that are brewing at twice my age. I look forward to the years ahead
Preach it, Brother! Words of wisdom.
I've thought about your idea of "piping" from brewing in the connected garage to the basement fermenter. Right now I brew strictly in the basement and I do like that convenience but the garage would offer more room. Not sure I want to expand right now when everything fits OK in my small basement brew space (10 gallon batches also). Good to dream of an expanded area though.
Hobby, to me it’s a necessity – what would life be without our brew days and the subsequent enjoyment drinking the results
How far is your transfer from the brew kettle to the fermenter?
Welcome to the group!I do triple/60l/15gallon batches and wanted to do pressurized fermentation. Didn't care about yeast harvesting and wanted the simplest cleanest approach. I love stainless steel but not as much as the ability to see what's going on inside the fermentation vessel.
So the only logical approach was to get Fermzilla All-rounder 60l. Cheap AF - invested rest of the money into temperature control, sparge water heater, iTap and other things which actually make my life easier and beer better
Just few days ago bottled almost 1bbl as I've got a second all-rounder now... things are getting out of hand
^^^Truth^^^
I'm using 20 ft of hose.
A BMW gets you where you want to go when its new and under warranty. After that, its an endless money pit unless you do all your own work, and time is money, so its still an endless money pit. GM products can be a money pit also, depends what you get, but not near as bad as the Euro cars like BMW, Mercedes and Audi.
I've continuously owned at least one Volvo (sometimes two) since 1972 simultaneously along with numerous German, Japanese and American iron. The Volvos have always been the most dependable and least worrisome regarding upkeep and maintenance. Not all Euro cars are created equal, and IMHO Volvos have no equal.
Apologizing in advance for going off topic, but what would be a good "recent" (since say 2012?) Volvo to get with reliability being the most important ? I had a 70's 164 and still have a 2007 DL wagon, so I'm a little bit familiar with Volvo, but I've heard the more recent models suffer from blown head gaskets, transmission and electrical issues that make them expensive to keep on the road and are generally a TPITA.
We bought an S60 in 2013 about a year before retiring. Close to 70,000 miles on it now, 90% of which is mostly less than 50 mile jaunts. Since I seldom do my own upkeep and maintenance anymore, it gets regular service visits to the dealership. Tires, new timing belt, minor glitches, routine oil changes. Knock wood, absolutely nothing out of normal wear & tear. Had a '75 DL wagon that went close to 400,000 miles over 17 years with nothing major. Picked it up the day we brought our son home from the hospital, and it lasted 16 years until he started driving it.
well it's 
