Upgrade Justification

[myelo]

So I am curious...when or how do people justify upgrades to their setup?

I say to myself, "Self, this is what you do for fun. Will this upgrade make it more fun? Yes you say? Well then you have my permission to get it."

 

[Murphys_Law]

A great philosopher once said, "I want, therefore I buy".

Wise words, indeed. What more justification do you need than to follow the advice from a wise man?

 

[AZBeer]

Still debating, but thinking of going in a bit of a different direction. Bigger kettle, bigger fermentor, and focus on converting something for temp control (fridge, mini or otherwise).

Been reading up on the 3.5g brew bucket, some people are saying the detachable base is a pain to deal with.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Going back to your original post of "500 ain't chump change" I built my entire 20 gallon electric setup including control panel spa panel dryer connections...everything..for $500 or $600.You don't HAVE to spend a ton for a good working system if you don't want to.

I've made my money back twice over just by brewing and not buying beer.

 

[AZBeer]

Slowly moving forward.

Picking up a 4.4 cu ft fridge this weekend, and have an ink bird on its way.

Looking for a kettle, will probably stick with the 3.5 gal SS BrewBucket, and will probably look at a Jaded Mantis.

 

[PADave]

Now that I have my set up, any upgrades have to make things easier or make the beer better. My last upgrade was to a SS BrewBucket fermenter. Why? Because I hate the clean up part of brewing. The BrewBucket is much easier to clean than my Fermonster or Speidel. Yes, $250 might seem like a lot, but it lessens my misery so to me it is worth it. And will probably be getting another one.

 

[Moose_MI]

I certainly would not let 1 mediocre result call into question your enthusiasm for the hobby. Pretty good chance you're going to occasionally have those so I would go back to how you felt about the upgrade before this batch. If $500 is not a major financial event for you then the $250 that you will be out if you decide to sell it on CL is even less of an issue.

Just do it.

 

[mongoose33]

Now that I have my set up, any upgrades have to make things easier or make the beer better. My last upgrade was to a SS BrewBucket fermenter. Why? Because I hate the clean up part of brewing. The BrewBucket is much easier to clean than my Fermonster or Speidel. Yes, $250 might seem like a lot, but it lessens my misery so to me it is worth it. And will probably be getting another one.

Dave, what did you get with yours that bumped the price up to $250 from the base $199?

 

[teal]

I'm single so the only person I have to justify things to is my cat and she don't care. 500 is nothing to sneeze at - particularly at one jump, just make sure you never add up what you spend here and there. I might have 500 in broken hydrometers around here....

Generally I look at it as this - will it improve things for me? Can I have more fun?

A yes to either starts the budgeting process.

I had decided to go AG a while back - bought some coolers etc but never got around to doing the change. Now I'm back to brewing after a 3 year break and those coolers are staring at me. I'm also lusting after a Spike Brewing system but as an intermediate step - I think I might do BIAB with those big gatorade coolers. Most BIAB seems to be 3 gallon stuff but I think if I do regular 5 gallon deals in those coolers, it might work just fine as a MLT. Siphon off to my boil kettle after and proceed as normal.

Point being - your brew journey will change 100 times, usually after the next email from Blichmann or Northern Brewer hits my inbox.... be open, be flexible and just enjoy it.

 

[PADave]

Dave, what did you get with yours that bumped the price up to $250 from the base $199?

I bought the brewmaster edition, so my inkbird probe can go inside. I always like to have spare parts on hand, so a couple extra stoppers and o-ring kits, put it somewhere just under $250.

 

[PADave]

I'm single so the only person I have to justify things to is my cat and she don't care. 500 is nothing to sneeze at - particularly at one jump, just make sure you never add up what you spend here and there. I might have 500 in broken hydrometers around here....

Generally I look at it as this - will it improve things for me? Can I have more fun?

A yes to either starts the budgeting process.

I had decided to go AG a while back - bought some coolers etc but never got around to doing the change. Now I'm back to brewing after a 3 year break and those coolers are staring at me. I'm also lusting after a Spike Brewing system but as an intermediate step - I think I might do BIAB with those big gatorade coolers. Most BIAB seems to be 3 gallon stuff but I think if I do regular 5 gallon deals in those coolers, it might work just fine as a MLT. Siphon off to my boil kettle after and proceed as normal.

Point being - your brew journey will change 100 times, usually after the next email from Blichmann or Northern Brewer hits my inbox.... be open, be flexible and just enjoy it.

NB BIAB kits are 3 gallon but there is nothing special about them, just 3/5 of the ingredients you would normally use. There is no reason you can't do any size BIAB if you got big enough equipment. I've been brewing BIAB since I started doing AG, and any 5 gal recipe works just fine.

 

[AZBeer]

Now that I have my set up, any upgrades have to make things easier or make the beer better. My last upgrade was to a SS BrewBucket fermenter. Why? Because I hate the clean up part of brewing. The BrewBucket is much easier to clean than my Fermonster or Speidel. Yes, $250 might seem like a lot, but it lessens my misery so to me it is worth it. And will probably be getting another one.

Yep, cleaning the stainless is a big factor. So is the conical-ish bottom.

I certainly would not let 1 mediocre result call into question your enthusiasm for the hobby. Pretty good chance you're going to occasionally have those so I would go back to how you felt about the upgrade before this batch. If $500 is not a major financial event for you then the $250 that you will be out if you decide to sell it on CL is even less of an issue.

Just do it.

Yeah, I was down on my brews. I had that Hef that went sideways, and we have a friend show up from out of town. I didn't have much to offer him, and pulled out some older, not so great beers.

Overall, I'm really happy with where my homebrews are at these days.


Trying to decide on a kettle size. Not sure if I the 5.5g SS Bewtech will end up being too small for full volume, BIAB. Unless I do partial volume mash, and sparge to get to my full volume. Typically I do a full volume, no sparge mash.

 

[Moose_MI]

Trying to decide on a kettle size. Not sure if I the 5.5g SS Bewtech will end up being too small for full volume, BIAB. Unless I do partial volume mash, and sparge to get to my full volume. Typically I do a full volume, no sparge mash.

Hefe's are challenging....I raelly would forget it and move on

I brewed a lot of 5 gal with 8gal kettle and a lot of 10gal with 15gal kettle so 2.5g batches in a 5.5 gal kettle wouldn't scare me:rockin: