Please help. Wife made me do PowerPoint for electric brewery budget approval

[mongoose33]

Im really leaning towards a 2 vessel setup and started a new thread on this. I like the idea of having a separate mash tun and not having to lift a bag.

I have a BK, a MT (another kettle w/ reflectix wrapped around it), for my 2-vessel system.

I also have a RIMS setup....and it occurred to me it's really a 3-vessel system. That RIMS tube is the 3rd vessel, like a HERMS kettle though not a kettle.

 

[bracconiere]

I don't think the wif is saying not to spend the $$$, she's alread on board. $$$ does not appear to be the issue based on tge initial post:


I think she is responsibley asking," lets look at what we have, what is needed, and what type of capital investment this will require." Essentially, wanting to avoid dropping a bunch of $$$ only to be surprised by dropping a whole bunch more.

I had this conversation with my wife “so let me get this straight. You can spend about 1200 on the grainfather (with coat and sparge heater) and have better temp control and easier clean up than your electric system?”

my post was just trying to bump the budget, so i can get more fancy beer equipment porn!

 

[mongoose33]

OK, it's time for us to stop pussyfooting around. I'm going to tell you how much money you're going to have into this enterprise by the time you're done.

Ready?

$5000.

There. Tell her. Then get busy.

 

[6Tap]

Tell her $10k max but only spend $5k and you will come out looking like a hero! [emoji482]

 

[Jeremydc]

Tagged for interest

 

[Backslide]

eBIAB is the way to go imho. I'm shocked that no one mentioned Grounded Brewing tech. I have their 15g kettle, basket and a panel. Fantastic stuff for cheap. Check them out

 

[brewingmeister]

Buy a garden hose that reaches the garage and you are done.

 

[johnwpowell]

I don't think the wif is saying not to spend the $$$, she's alread on board. $$$ does not appear to be the issue based on tge initial post:


I think she is responsibley asking," lets look at what we have, what is needed, and what type of capital investment this will require." Essentially, wanting to avoid dropping a bunch of $$$ only to be surprised by dropping a whole bunch more.

That's exactly right. She kept saying "how much" and I didn't have an answer...and then I realized I had no plan.

 

[johnwpowell]

Buy a garden hose that reaches the garage and you are done.

At the risk of sounding whiny, the garage is about 200ft away, there is nowhere to drain without pissing all the neighbors off and cleaning would be a pain the ass without hot water. nearby Plus I can't wait to brew inside all year long!

 

[brewingmeister]

At the risk of sounding whiny, the garage is about 200ft away, there is nowhere to drain without pissing all the neighbors off and cleaning would be a pain the ass without hot water. nearby Plus I can't wait to brew inside all year long!

Ok a couple hoses.

What's with the neighbors not understanding how water goes into the 200 ft of ground between your house and the garage? That's confusing. Do you ever wash your car? Water your garden?

Hot water to clean, not sure I've ever had that.

 

[johnwpowell]

Ok a couple hoses.

What's with the neighbors not understanding how water goes into the 200 ft of ground between your house and the garage? That's confusing. Do you ever wash your car? Water your garden?

Hot water to clean, not sure I've ever had that.

You'd have to see the site layout. House is at a higher elevation than the detached garage. There is a small door from the side yard with 4 steps down to the garage floor. All the neighbors garages share an alley way. I would need to pump to get water out to my own side yard (or carry up and down the steps and dump), and putting water out the garage door entrance results in freezing in the alleyway. Dumping water with trub is also something I don't want in the alley way or my yard really. And to further complicate things, I have been written up by the HOA before for staining in my driveway as a result of dumping santizer and that down my drive into the garage entrance. Hope that makes sense.

I might not have a choice but to use a hose for a couple months while I build out what I want. I found a drinking safe hose for $200 on amazon, and Im sure I can figure it out.

 

[khannon]

Not sure how much it helps, but when justifying the size of the system, 10 gal(or more?) saves time. The only real difference in time between 5 and 10(or more) gallons is the amount of time to heat that much more strike/sparge water and then getting to a boil, and I suppose chilling.

I guess my point is bill it as "If I brew bigger batches, I will have more time to spend with you.."

As a garage brewer, I use a plate chiller and recirc the cooling water. At the end, I use that hot water for cleanup.

 

[Wizard_of_Frobozz]

You mentioned in your original post that ventilation for the brew room was in the plan. I would read this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...denser-no-overhead-ventilation-needed.636955/

Ventilation is not needed with a setup like this. Bobby at Brewhardware.com sells a kit that is way cheaper than an exhaust fan and hood...

As for the drinking water hose, how long does it need to be? An RV drinking water hose can be bought for under $1/foot...$200 seems way too expensive unless you need something really long.

Don't overly complicate this in the beginning, you already have the Chuggers, kettle, plate chiller, etc - it would be a waste to buy an all-in one system like the Grainfather and not use your existing equipment. The coolers can still works as your mash tun and/or HLT. I use a cooler for my mash tun and can still do step mashes by recirculating the wort through a RIMS heater that I added after I made the switch to electric on the kettle. I've eliminated a HLT altogether at this point; the brew kettle is also my HLT.

You are thinking about the controller correctly on this; it should be able to handle your "final" vision for the system. I've rebuilt my controller about 4 times so far...that hasn't been cheap...but it has been fun! I also could not have told you what my "final" system was going to look like back at the beginning - it took me a while to settle in on what I have now, but I also will probably change something again in the future - there really is no "final" setup. Don't try to plan too far into the future unless you are really sure you know what you want.

Make small changes and see how you like it before you dump a big sum of money on something. One warning on that approach: upgrading your brewing system is addictive; once you start, you can't stop!

 

[brewingmeister]

You'd have to see the site layout. House is at a higher elevation than the detached garage. There is a small door from the side yard with 4 steps down to the garage floor. All the neighbors garages share an alley way. I would need to pump to get water out to my own side yard (or carry up and down the steps and dump), and putting water out the garage door entrance results in freezing in the alleyway. Dumping water with trub is also something I don't want in the alley way or my yard really. And to further complicate things, I have been written up by the HOA before for staining in my driveway as a result of dumping santizer and that down my drive into the garage entrance. Hope that makes sense.

I might not have a choice but to use a hose for a couple months while I build out what I want. I found a drinking safe hose for $200 on amazon, and Im sure I can figure it out.

Well it makes sense in that you are speaking English and using complete sentences. It is much appreciated btw. It is a little hard to visualize the obstacles, a pic is worth a thousand words. I get it though, there are some sort of terrain, structure and apparently a drain issue.
Where you lose me is how an hoa thinks star san is staining a driveway. That's a mildew preventative. [emoji6]

And $200 for a hose is crazy. They're like 10 bucks for a 25 ft length. Hope the hose isn't actually 200 ft. I'd want a couple sections. Coiling up my 50ft garden hoses are a pain, can't imagine 200 ft.

 

[brewingmeister]

Figuring out where you are going to put electric, water and drains should be at the top of the list. Probably the most expensive and invasive aspect and you don't want to have to do it twice.

The equipment will come together, maybe something used to fit in with the equipment you already have. People are always upgrading, changing their set up or just tired of the work so there's options out there.

That steam catcher thing is a cool little option. Might be the way to go with your hoa instead of cutting a hole in the side of your house.

 

[mongoose33]

And $200 for a hose is crazy. They're like 10 bucks for a 25 ft length. Hope the hose isn't actually 200 ft. I'd want a couple sections. Coiling up my 50ft garden hoses are a pain, can't imagine 200 ft.

That's for a hose for potable water. A run-of-the-mill garden hose is not that. Those hoses are typically white, but they can be other colors.

Like this:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=hose+drinking+water+safe&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

 

[brewingmeister]

The price I quoted was for a potable water hose.

 

[brewingmeister]

Potable water hoses

 

[johnwpowell]

For the ventilation, I came across a STEAL on craigslist. A guy in an affluent area near me was dumping a commercial style range hood and long story short, I got this hood for $50. It's going in!! I've already got fresh air intake for make up air, so I'm set for life.

 

[k-os]

For the ventilation, I came across a STEAL on craigslist. A guy in an affluent area near me was dumping a commercial style range hood and long story short, I got this hood for $50. It's going in!! I've already got fresh air intake for make up air, so I'm set for life.

Does it already have a blower on it? I hope so, otherwise it looks like it'll cost you another $550 at least if you bought it from Home Depot.

 

[brewbama]

That’s a nice hood. I made one out of a $20 wash tub.

 

[johnwpowell]

Does it already have a blower on it? I hope so, otherwise it looks like it'll cost you another $550 at least if you bought it from Home Depot.

Found the blower for 300

 

[Jayjay1976]

Im really leaning towards a 2 vessel setup and started a new thread on this. I like the idea of having a separate mash tun and not having to lift a bag.

I can't help saying it, friend; if you can't hoist yer own sack, you really ought to.........scale down yer batch..
I'll still be brewing in a bag when I'm 90; it might be a custom job the size of a teacup from @wilserbrewer but I'll be hoisting it with a shoestring, turning out my 22oz batches.

 

[Blazinlow86]

I can't help saying it, friend; if you can't hoist yer own sack, you really ought to.........scale down yer batch..
I'll still be brewing in a bag when I'm 90; it might be a custom job the size of a teacup from @wilserbrewer but I'll be hoisting it with a shoestring, turning out my 22oz batches.

Fortunately if that advise isn't helpful you can just build whatever works best for your specific situation. No offense jayjay and I know you're kidding but you will never get a biab brewer on hbt to admit it's not the best option for everyone. They just can't do it. It's either it will work for you or your doing it wrong. See the why doesn't everyone biab thread. It's pretty entertaining to see the responses to why not everyone biabs. Cheers

 

[johnwpowell]

I’ve never tried BIAB.

 

[doug293cz]

Fortunately if that advise isn't helpful you can just build whatever works best for your specific situation. No offense jayjay and I know you're kidding but you will never get a biab brewer on hbt to admit it's not the best option for everyone. They just can't do it. It's either it will work for you or your doing it wrong. See the why doesn't everyone biab thread. It's pretty entertaining to see the responses to why not everyone biabs. Cheers

Not true, I BIAB but would never claim that BIAB is best for everyone. I do recommend to folks who have only done extract, and want to go all grain, that they try BIAB as an entry point to all grain. Usually all they need in addition to their extract equipment is a bag, but sometimes a larger kettle is in order (which they will probably need anyway if they want to go two or three vessel.) If they like BIAB they can stick with it, and save some money by not investing in equipment they won't need. It they don't like BIAB, all they had to buy that they don't need anymore is a bag (but then some multi-vessel brewers use bags too.) This is a hobby. If your not getting the enjoyment out of it that you want, try doing things differently.

What I do get annoyed by is folks who try to argue that rigging a pulley is much more troublesome than buying additional equipment, which requires more brew space and storage space. Just be honest and say you like the multi-vessel process better than BIAB. You don't need any more justification than that.

Brew on

 

[Brewfreedom]

I'm an AG brewer of 7 years and been in the garage with propane. We are moving to a house with a detached garage and there’s no running water and it’s not practical to run stuff back and forth inside to clean. Bottom line I can’t brew until I get an indoor electric brewing solution. She’s on board—she gets the house and I get an indoor brew room.

She made me put together a PowerPoint and convince her what I need and how much it will cost.

She is on board with a dedicated room with ventilation, stainless tables, utility sink, etc, but I can’t figure out what the “best” electric brew setup is for my situation.

I’m really struggling to justify the expense of a controller that I can grow into and retrofitting my existing investment compared to the grainfather. Dollar for dollar, the all in one system has more juice for the squeeze and I can’t prove otherwise. Best I can come up with as a counter is that I can’t do 10 gallon batches and it heats slower.

I had this conversation with my wife “so let me get this straight. You can spend about 1200 on the grainfather (with coat and sparge heater) and have better temp control and easier clean up than your electric system?”

Let me explain....

I have 2 Chugger pumps, a plate chiller, nice kettle and use coolers for HLT and MT. I can’t do a step mash now and my efficiency is in the high 60s to low 70s.

Cheapest I can get into electric brewing retrofitting my kettle and pulling the circuit with a super basic knob controller is $500. I could go with the Auber Cube and be around $1000 and still can’t step mash and still using coolers. Or next option I could go with the SS 1v controller and be at $1100 and permanently limited. 2V controller puts me at $1600 and I still wouldnt have a second heated vessel for that price. Next option is to add another vessel/mash tun and I’m at $2000 to have the same capabilities as the grainfather.

If I was a bachelor, I’d have theelctricbrewery setup, but since I don’t want to be single, must compromise.

I’m having a hard time justifying what I want.

FWIW I’m pretty handy (as most home brewers are), and DIY is an option.

What’s the best solution? Please be opinionated.

Post all of the bs from the picobrew threads and then say : " You don't want me to go through that do you? Or "You want a man and not a blue hair girl with a man bun right?"

 

[matridium]

Next time she wants to buy a collection of shoes make her put a PowerPoint together and do a TED talk for budget approval!

 

[rneumaier]

Can you share the presentation/budget you developed?

 

[johnwpowell]

Can you share the presentation/budget you developed?

Sure. First, no judging. Second, this is still a draft as I work up the budget.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1ojch15ks9ib0e6/Brewery.pdf?dl=0