The Witches Brew

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone and mostly PClemons (I didn't think beer could taste so good until he brewed with me for a class!)

For an extract brewer, I think that I am still below what goes on tap at the WB. I have become successful at doing extract brews. Now he is forcing me to go all grain... (Ya right twist my arm. I think it is an inevitable turn .....) Already bought my mashtun Lowes has a sale on coolers on wheels. Along with a chest freezer that can hold 2 kegs. Keep some ice in it, and run it for an hour a day, awesome until with I get a converter.

Just on average, How much does an all grain setup cost? Have a neighbor who has had never returned a keg in years. How much would someone pay for a Keg and stainless valve?

Also,

Do you still bottle?

Do you keg and bottle if so and why?

-Mike

There are NO drawbacks to going all grain, with the possible exception of needing/wanting a bunch of new brew gear. But that's not really a problem, its all part of the hobby. You can go as simple or as complex as you want. A simple set up, like I have shown in the thread on Pictoral All Grain Brewing, can last you forever. Or you can go crazy and add all sorts of bells and whistles, it all depends on how much you like to tinker with gear. For me, I like farting around with the gear almost as much as the brewing, but I'm a bit of a gear junkie. Over the years I've built at least three all grain setup's, one got stolen, one was a casualty of divorce and my current set up is in the (hopefully) last stages of modification.

As far as cost.... Depends on how fancy you want to go. You can get going with a cooler and a stainless braid, a turkey fryer, and an immersion chiller for around $150. (Best guestimate on costs) Keggles with SS valves and false bottoms will run you a bit more than that, but allow you to do 10 gallon batches. Same effort, twice the beer. You can drop 6 large on a brew stand from More Beer, and probably won't be able to tell the difference from what you make with your cooler and turkey fryer. But you will definately be able to tell the difference between your all grain brews and your extract brew. All grain gives you a TON more flexibility over what you can do. Decide what you can afford to spend and figure out how to best put that money to all grain then make the jump. You won't be sorry.

PTN

I think I'm in about 600 bucks just for my brewing system and that includes getting a few pretty good deals but I didn't start with all the gear I have now.

Unreturned 1/2 barrel kegs usually sell for $35-50 on craigslist and a SS valve will probably run you the same price depending on what and where you buy.

I bottle and keg but was still bottling 100% when I went AG. Sometimes I like certain beers in bottles and sometimes it makes more sense to just keg a beer.

$60. Thats how I started doing all grain. And no PTN's set up is not "basic" Compared to many it is, but I have the ghetto set up that I make some great beer on. Cooler MLT cost me $30, $20 for a turkey fryer with an 8G pot. No pumps or anything. All manual labor.

I keg mostly. I bottle big beers that age well so I don't fill a keg that I could use for a session beer, and so I can age em longer. Of course I am poorso I work with what I got

I missed your question about bottling vs. kegging, sorry.

I think you will find you end up doing both. Most of the time you're going to keg.

Kegs
Advantages
Once you have a keggerator, it's simple, easy and inexpensive. When a batch is done it goes into the keg and you are done. There is a TON less cleaning involved. You end up with your own dedicated beer fridge that you can decorate with your brewery motif. You end up brewing more. You can lager in a keg and not take up that much space. Relatively portable, a bucket of ice, a picnic tap and a few CO2 cartridges and you can be serving everyone who walks past your site at the Jimmy Buffett concert.

Disadvantages
It's way too easy to overserve yourself. It's way to easy for your friends to overserve themselves. Beer seems to disappear all by itself. You end up needing to brew more. You need to buy a dedicated beer fridge.

Bottles.
Advantages
Easy to bring a few to TWB to share with your friends. If you make something that you are REALLY happy with and decide you want to go wild and submit it to a competition you MUST bottle. Much easier to keep track of how much you've had.

Disadvantages
Washing and sanitizing a few cases of bottles every time you brew is a HUGE PITA. It's a double PITA if you do 10 gallons.
Storing cases of bottles is a huge PITA. Glass breaks. Bottles take up room in your fridge. Lagering cases of bottles is a HUGE PITA in the summer.

PTN

No, it's not, but like I said, I enjoy farting around with the gear almost as much as the brewing. I hit the trifecta with my current build. Welding, gas plumbing and fluid plumbing, all rolled up into a package that makes beer. Hello!

PTN

As always, thank you for the info and advice. I have started to acquire some equipment so to speak to make a great system. I have a kegerator now and a few other things. A stand with 2 burners might be up for sale with a low pressure gas setup on a Bayou Classic

and has a turkey fryer burner and 2 Sanke kegs with SS ball valve setups. 1 Has an awesome SS false bottom. A 10gallon Gott cooler with valve is also available. Lots of other parts as well just ask.

-Mike

I'm a little unclear on what you are saying in your post. Are you buying those items, selling those items or some combination of both?

Turkey fryers are a great buy. Not only can you fry turkeys in them (a truly great way to cook a turkey, BTW) but they can cook up 5 gallons of wort like nobody's business. SS false bottoms are Gods gift to brewers. If you can score those items your brewery is well on it's way to having a great foundation of equipment.

PTN

I started extract never had a good beer, then i tried partial mash, better but still was not a good beer, then i tried all grain after collecting and building the equipment which costed me roughly 80 to 100 buck i finally made a good beer (noticed i said good) it takes sometime to really start nailing recipes and making them consistant but once you hit the bullseye you'll be well on to victory with wonderful excepetional beers, i find that all-grain is a great brewing adventure and it has its awards and demerits but since we are like sciencetist with our hobby we have room for slighty differences, IMO i think all-grain is the way to go....good luck you on your venture, and the Witchesbrew is a great place for answers many, many good brewers with great advice. see you all there!!!!!!