I feel like I've gone down the equipment rabbit hole

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mendelec

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I know plenty of folks have far more elaborate setups and a lot more stuff than I, but a year or so ago I felt rather proud of my low budget minimalist diy biab setup. A repurposed turkey fryer, a cooler, a diy immersion chiller, a garage sale find of a carboy, and not a whole lot more. Well, maybe there was, since I grow most of my hops and culture yeast. But, in my mind, it didn't seem like much more than that. I was happy with my relatively low budget minimalist diy approach and bottling. It got the job done and I liked what I brewed.
Then, toddler and the associated time constraints, along with being annoyed at how much propane I was using, caused me to decide to go induction so I could brew in the basement. Then, I started taking a look at my process, with an eye towards making each step less time-consuming. Some of the things were simple and easy, like upgrading 3/8" tubing and connectors to larger diameter. But, a sale here, a garage sale there, a craigslist find or five and somehow I now have a 3500w induction burner, multiple induction ready kettles, several fermenters, a circulating pump, a dedicated stand, a hoist for the bag of grain (still doing a form of biab), keg, several CO2 cylinders and regulators, and the list goes on and on. This week's craigslist find was a kegerator that just needs a wee bit of TLC and some fittings swapped out (but will become more of a project as I modify it for additional kegs and taps).
I think it was this last bit that made me look around and realize that somehow I've fallen down the rabbit hole. It's comfy here. I regret nothing. I'll brew better beer, more often. But, I may need to get rid of some of the things that are redundant and/or that I've outgrown.
 
I have a 10 gallon propane all-grain rig with kegs that I can fit in an SUV and a 4x8 landscape trailer. I have had late-session thoughts about a destination brewing session, but SWMBO (do you guys still use that acronym?) reminds me how ridiculous that is.
 
I've always been pretty into the equipment/process side of things on my hobbies and as a result have always done a lot of buying and selling as I acquire stuff to try and move on to something new. I think I'm on my 5th set of fermenters in ~5 years starting from a plastic bucket, some Speidels I got off Craigslist, some SS Brew Buckets, then some SS Chronicals I found here for a great price. Kept those a couple years but just moved to Spike CF10s in the last month. I'm probably done?
 
Oddly enough...I just put away some of my stuff back into the attic earlier this week and was looking around going...

"I can probably get rid of this...and this...and this. I should take pictures so I can place an ad. Nope..too damn hot up here"

It is not the first time I've gone up there, had similar thoughts and...yeah...
 
I have a 10 gallon propane all-grain rig with kegs that I can fit in an SUV and a 4x8 landscape trailer. I have had late-session thoughts about a destination brewing session, but SWMBO (do you guys still use that acronym?) reminds me how ridiculous that is.
That doesn't sound ridiculous to me at all.
 
I bought out three (four?) homebrewers that were quitting so I could upgrade a couple things in my own setup over about three years. And then I passed along a complete AG setup to my bro-in-law, and then again to a coworker, and sold (shipped!) a bunch of redundant equipment to a guy setting up a brewpub in Central America, and I can proudly say that I have not bought any major equipment in at least 6 months! (Hi, my name is Reevesie, and I am a Homebrewer)

But I went from a single propane, BIAB with an 8G kettle and some bottles to a 3V, all SS, induction-heated (220V) 5G brew system with a keezer and 3 taps. Not counting the 3 barrels for aging, and I just finished a homemade glycol chiller for my 3 stainless fermenters, and still have 6 full carboys for sours, and a garden shed of bottles and extra equipment that hasn't sold yet, and, and, and....

I have only been seriously brewing since 2017, so...good luck!
 
I have a large quantity of used carboys and kegs, it seems like a ridiculous amount, but when wine and cider season come around, I'm always scrambling for another vessel to transfer to. Good quality used equipment doesn't cost that much to buy, and when you are done with it you can probably get most of your money back when you sell. So if you see really good deals, go for it.
 
I've been kind of the opposite. I'm still on my very modest, single-vessel, electric BIAB setup I built when I started for around $200. Including my keezer and kegs, I've spent about $600 total on brewing equipment.

I've never really felt the need to upgrade, besides not having a lot of money to spend on brewing and my basement brew room being quite small. I like having a setup that I know the nuances of and have it dialed in. My efficiency never varies by more than 1-2%, which makes recipe design a breeze. I like to brainstorm on how to automate things or make my process slightly more efficient, but rarely do I change anything.

Even if I had more disposable income for brewing, I think I'd keep everything as-is, and spend the money on more ingredients, or more fruit trees and berry bushes for future ingredients.
 
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