"ill never be one of those crazys that spend thousands on equipment"

[shadow160]

Yea I started with one freezer as a fermentation chamber... then served the beer using picnic taps for two or three batches... then go a second freezer for a dedicated keezer and fermentation chamber... then bought conicals and made a glycol coolant system

It's going to take me a while to figure out how to justify that so that the cost is for something else in the house....LOL

If I am kegging beer I need a place to drink beer, so I am going to build a new bar to house the keezer in. Right now I am debating between a keggle vs a regular pot.

 

[MaryB]

Am I crazy? I am sketching plans for a 4x6' walk in cooler...

 

[shadow160]

Only crazy if you don't post the plans for the rest of us

 

[schematix]

Am I crazy? I am sketching plans for a 4x6' walk in cooler...

Seems small to me!

 

[ThatVideoKid]

Yeah make it an entire 10x10 shed

 

[bionut]

How will you chill that chamber? A/C unit or something else?

 

[Staylow]

I estimate I've spent $3k over the past 3.5 years. DIY 4 tap keezer, 3 5 gallon kegs, 6 2.5 gallon kegs, beer gun for bottling sometimes, freezer ferm chamber, 3 primary fermentors, 2 glass secondary, on my second square cooler mash tun, food grade containers for bulk grain storage, vacuum sealers for hops with 5+ lbs of mixed hops in the freezer, large pressure cooker for canning starter wort, just started a frozen yeast bank.

Built a fermentation chamber from scratch early on, but ended up scrapping it. We moved to a new house where it would be located in the blazing hot garage as opposed to the cool basement where it was previously. Chamber was too big for the little mini fridge to keep up with. Ended up freezing over and quit working, then all the ice melted and ran down the side and underneath causing mold. That was about $500 down the drain.

Gearing up to build a large cooler under my basement steps to triple as kegerator, bottle storage and long term aging storage at 45 F. Will also be replacing all my bar/countertops with concrete countertops. Will be costly, but so friggin sweet.

 

[Stillraining]

Am I crazy? I am sketching plans for a 4x6' walk in cooler...

Ya come on think a little bigger will ya! :fro:

 

[MaryB]

Small A/C unit. Should have no problem with that small of a space. I don't plan on having more than 5 buckets fermenting at once, so one side for buckets, one side for shelves for bottles or kegs.

How will you chill that chamber? A/C unit or something else?

 

[MaryB]

Well this has R30 walls and R50 ceiling... big door is R26... triple pane windows... 24x30'

Ya come on think a little bigger will ya! :fro:

 

[treacheroustexan]

Started with a mr. beer kit years ago...

now own a Grainfather, 2 tap kegerator, SS brew buckets.. until I buy my first home in two years or so, I am trying to be done upgrading..

Probably won't happen.

 

[ThatVideoKid]

Started with a mr. beer kit years ago...

now own a Grainfather, 2 tap kegerator, SS brew buckets.. until I buy my first home in two years or so, I am trying to be done upgrading..

Probably won't happen.

I was hoping I'd be able to expand when I bought my house. Unfortunately it's too small for SWMBO to let me have a space.

Time to start working on the brew-shed

 

[Vandulus]

I maybe spent $150 when I first tried my hand at homebrewing in 1996. Since getting back into the hobby in 2014 I've bought:
- 2 x 7g SS BrewTech BrewMaster buckets
- 10g SS BrewTech kettle (replacing a 10g Bayou Classic )
- Yeastir and flask/graduated cylinder set
- Chugger SS pump + TC and quick disconnect fittings
- Brewometer hydrometer
- Barleycrusher mill
- Aeration kit
- Gobs of storage containers

It's amazing what happens as you get older and have more disposable income. Altogether I'm well past the $1000 mark and eyeing a freezer or chamber for temperature control now...

 

[Rockn_M]

Started with a Mr. Beer kit...Now I have an ElectricBrewery, fermentation chamber with brewpi, kegerator 4 kegs, countless bottles, random stuff, beer fridge in the garage...I think I have a problem.

 

[JohnSand]

I probably brewed my first year for less than $100, it's not hard. If you do stovetop BIAB with a pasta pot you already own, or a 20qt yardsale find. Ground grain in the blender. Bottles were had from the distributor for 5c each. I think that all I bought was a hydrometer, a bottle capper, a glass thermometer, and a fermenter with a valve to bottle. My first "You made this? It's great!" batches were made that way. Of course, I've fallen. Kegs led me down the path...
Now I'm in for hundreds, but not thousands.

 

[Jonakr]

"I would never spend thousands on brewing... just $200 about a dozen times."

I'm not sure if it's a dozen or not, but today I came home with a $200 fermentation chamber.

 

[schematix]

Adding to my 5 figure investment:

+$200 Switching to immersion chiller. Tired of the plate chiller clogging.
+$200 Pressurized fermentation in kegs (x3). Batch size now 13.5G!
+$150 Misc fittings, quick disconnects, tubing, etc to improve low dissolved oxygen levels and above items.
--------
=Great Hobby

 

[bendog15]

Got a chest freezer from a neighbor I turned into a fermentation chamber, $100. Jaded immersion chiller, $200. Both have made my beer awesome and so worth it!!

 

[JohnSand]

I'm already doing that!

 

[JimEb]

I don't even want to admit to myself how much I spent building my semi-auto electric brew stand. Of course people always ask, "How much money do you have in that?" I usually squirm a bit and say, "oh, probably about $1000"

Then I started thinking...It was $400 alone for the HMI touchpanel, $200 for the PLC, $120 for the analog input module, $250 for the electrical enclosure, $150 for the 40amp220V GFCI breaker, $150 for each pump, $100 for each of the three temp controllers.....
...."Who want's another beer?"

 

[bendog15]

Did the math on my home brewing. WITHOUT counting my propane, or electricity on my fermentation chamber, or water usage (water is included with rent where I live) my 10 gal batches run about .42 cents to .48 cents per beer, depending on abv. Not too shabby.