Trying to decide how to spend my gift cards AKA Help me expand my brew kit!

CornyKegs 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
WayFrae

WayFrae

Homebrew Enthusiast
HBT Supporter
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
Messages
1,300
Reaction score
225
Location
Lehi
So my birthday and Christmas are 2 weeks apart. Between those two holidays I received $175 in gift cards to Home Depot, $25 to Amazon, and $100 gift card to Midwest Supplies. I am one of the most indecisive people that I know so I am requesting your help to aid me in building a better brewing set up!

Currently I have:

10 gal rubbermaid MLT
10 gal aluminum stock pot HLT (no spigot)
15.5 gal SS Brew Kettle (no spigot)
Dark Star Burner
I do not have a pump so there is a lot of lifting on brew day.

I ferment in a 6 gallon carboy and better bottle.
I use a swamp cooler to control fermentation which seems to be working out.
I have an STC-1000 with the hopes to build a chamber eventually.

I bottle my beers and don't have any kegs.

I am kind of just leaning towards getting a SS chugger pump and then spending the HD gift cards on something else but I would love to spend it on stuff pertaining to brewing!

Let me know what you would get if you had my set up and the same amount of gift cards to spend. :mug:
 
Spend your money, sure!

You didn't mention grain mill or chiller, but I assume you have those. Kegging is a lot of fun, its very satisfying to pull your own pints in the evening after a long day. You can get into it for less than $200 if you can find a free or very cheap mini fridge.

Other ideas: More carboys so you could try wine making (super easy, just requires a cheap corker and some bottles). Oak barrel. Pump would obviously be a good choice as well given your setup.
 
i have a similar setup...

i'd add some valves/thermos/sight glasses to your hlt/kettle.
 
Or use the Home Depot card for valves to go on those kettles & get some pumps & hot liquid hose to hook them up? Not to mention the materials to build a brew stand.
 
unionrdr said:
Or use the Home Depot card for valves to go on those kettles & get some pumps & hot liquid hose to hook them up? Not to mention the materials to build a brew stand.
Click to expand...

I hadn't even thought of a brew stand. That is definitely something to consider! What would you build it out of if you didn't know how to weld? I figure wood is not a good option.
 
solbes said:
Spend your money, sure!

You didn't mention grain mill or chiller, but I assume you have those. Kegging is a lot of fun, its very satisfying to pull your own pints in the evening after a long day. You can get into it for less than $200 if you can find a free or very cheap mini fridge.

Other ideas: More carboys so you could try wine making (super easy, just requires a cheap corker and some bottles). Oak barrel. Pump would obviously be a good choice as well given your setup.
Click to expand...

Whoops! Forgot to mention that I have a chiller. I don't have a grain mill but I get pretty consistent efficiency with the crush from my LHBS. That might be a good option. Which mill do you recommend?
 
atom said:
i have a similar setup...

i'd add some valves/thermos/sight glasses to your hlt/kettle.
Click to expand...

I have been wanting to but I am kind of scared to drill into my kettle with a step bit. I am terrified I will drill too large of a hole. I have been looking at getting a punch but they are pricey.
 
I would do a fermentation chamber build followed by kegging set up follwerd by a stir plate.
 
I would take the home depot gift card and get a chest freezer..just bought mine there on sale for 158$ and a two year warranty for another 25$..Use your stc on the freezer for a fermentation chamber and in the future change it to a Keezer for when you want to keg ( because eventually you're gonna want to keg). And then I would use the Midwest supplies giftcard for some Valves and a thermometer or a sight glass
 
WayFrae said:
I have been wanting to but I am kind of scared to drill into my kettle with a step bit. I am terrified I will drill too large of a hole. I have been looking at getting a punch but they are pricey.
Click to expand...

I'm an idiot and I drilled my Aluninium pots fine with a Titanium Step Bit :) You'll be fine. I haven't drilled SS so won't comment there.
 
rowan57 said:
I'm an idiot and I drilled my Aluninium pots fine with a Titanium Step Bit :) You'll be fine. I haven't drilled SS so won't comment there.
Click to expand...

Haha alright you convinced me. I also found a cheap punch set at harbor freight i might try for the stainless.





MarkO22 said:
I would take the home depot gift card and get a chest freezer..just bought mine there on sale for 158$ and a two year warranty for another 25$..Use your stc on the freezer for a fermentation chamber and in the future change it to a Keezer for when you want to keg ( because eventually you're gonna want to keg). And then I would use the Midwest supplies giftcard for some Valves and a thermometer or a sight glass
Click to expand...


i have actually been trying to get a used chest freezer recently with no luck. That really isnt a bad price to get one new. Thanks!




MaxStout said:
You could use Super Strut.
Click to expand...

Nice! Now i just need to convince my fiancee that we have room in the garage for a brew stand. Haha!
 
If those punches are the hollow punches from harbor freight, they're not designed for steel. but gasket material & the like. I have the set myself.
 
Alright, so I still haven't decided on what to get but I did get some valves with my Amazon rewards points that I forgot I had. I am either going to build a brew stand or a fermentation chamber. The thing is I am completely happy with the results I am getting from my swamp cooler set up especially with it being winter but a fermentation chamber would be nice since I would like to brew some lagers.

Here is a pic of my valves I used. I ended up using the Harbor Freight knockout punches set that I was originally looking at and it worked wonders. It punched a perfectly round hole without any burrs. I got the Bayou Classic brand stainless steel spigots and they are really nice. I already have one on my cooler MLT. I don't know if all of the spigots are like this but the sides of the nuts that are against the o-rings are recessed to fit the o-ring perfectly. That way you can really crank down the nuts without pinching the o-rings and causing a leak.
jaMLazN.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm going to echo others and recommend that you pickup a chest freezer. I have two - one is for fermentation and the other is my keezer. It has honestly had the most impact on the quality and consistency of my beer than any other piece of equipment in my home brewery.
 
I'm going to head to Harbor Freight and grab a punch set my self. $25 is a good deal and I looked at a vid on YouTube. Easy to do.
 
richlong8020 said:
I'm going to head to Harbor Freight and grab a punch set my self. $25 is a good deal and I looked at a vid on YouTube. Easy to do.
Click to expand...

Yeah it was way easy. I used a step bit to drill the hole for the punch and then the punch did the rest. The punch you need is the smallest one in the set. It says it is 1/2" but it is actually larger than that.
 
And it will hold the weight of all the water? That's a lot of weight. I had plans to build mine out of 2" angle iron or 1" steel square tubing.
 
Yeah it is strong stuff. Look up the Wallace Brew Stand. It is made from unistrut which is just a different brand.
 

Similar threads

R
Adding a recirc pump to my BIAB setup
Replies
15
Views
656
Exception13
Exception13
fljim
SS Brewtech 1BBL Unitank - BEWARE!!
Replies
22
Views
1K
Indian_villager
I
corncob
Bucket heater cut 30 minutes off my brew day
Replies
0
Views
304
corncob
corncob
R
Hitting my OG
2
Replies
49
Views
3K
RogerGrahl
R
Zenmeister
I give up! I need to get trace amounts of O2 out of my beer
Replies
17
Views
2K
wepeeler
wepeeler

Latest posts

Back
Top