Equipment Sizes

[komodo]

Well now I'm looking at (long term plan) :

1 x Beer belly 70L HLT
1 x Beer belly 50L Mash tun
1 x Beer Belly 70L Kettle
2 x march pumps
1 x plate chiller of some form - yet to be decided
2 x pid controllers (HLT and HERMS)
1 x 1800watt electric element (HERMS)
1 x 3000watt electric element (HLT)
and a whole lotta sucking up to one of out boilermakers who can weld stainless

There goes the best part of $3k LOL
Thankfully the steel for the brew stand I can get and have fabricated for nothing (ahh the joys of being the bosses son - one of the very few perks let me assure you!)

Time to sell some of the surplus car audio gear me thinks

Lucky the sheds already been wired for a 45amp circuit (though only a 16amp circuit breaker in there at the moment - might have to get a sparky mate in to rectify that issue)

I'll get there - slowly slowly.

 

[PostModern]

From starting out cheap to that! Wow! Go for it, you'll have a lot of fun brewing.

My own take on this is to brew to the size of my kegs. When I bottled, I brewed larger batches (23-25L) as I could just keep filling bottles until the bucket was empty. Now I have 20L kegs, I like to finish with 20 litres. I make higher gravity wort in 17L no-chill packs, which I then dilute to about 21L in the fermenter. Kettle and HLT are 50-ish litres, giving me a 46L or so boil which evaporates down to about 36 litres. After losses to trub, two 17L cubes fill perfectly. I have a 44L square Willow esky for a mash tun, which is looking the worse for wear atm. I'll probably go larger for the next one.

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

Great thread, and very relevant to me.

I plan on never really doing double-batches, as I'm really into experimentation and variety over volume. Do you think a 36L kettle will be plenty for my needs?

Cheers,

Jon.

 

[komodo]

Well I've got a little over $4k worth of car audio amps for sale so hopefully I can sell a few of those to go towards this.
But your right it does seem like a massive jump. But I've learned through my hobbies (RC cars, BMX and mountain bikes, cars, car audio and home theatre) that starting with cheaper equipment with the ability to upgrade at a later date is generally a false economy as cheap equipment is worth nothing second hand and good "brand name" equipment holds its value far better so the lose $ wise is similar but in the process you get to use better equipment - when using better equipment your more likely to stick with a hobby thus you loose nothing.

Well thats my theory

 

[mesa]

Hey Komodo,
with a 45A circuit, why don't you consider an electric kettle as well?

Also why 2 march pumps rather than 1 and lots of stainless disconnects? General feeling on the forums seems to be that soft plumbing with disconnects is easier to clean than hard plumbing. I dont' think most people continue to recirculate the mash once they are sparging. And if your splurging, why not a peristaltic pump rather than a march pump?

Finally I agree that second hand equipment is worth nothing, but I've got to disagree that that means you should jump in and purchase the best of everything from the outset. I've got a bucket of death for an HLT. Its worth about $20 to build. Obviously its got no resell value at all, and at some point I'd like to upgrade to something that looks nicer, but it certainly works well and there will be many other purchases first.

 

[komodo]

well if I'm pumping water into the mash tun using one pump how do I get the wart out of the mash tun into the kettle without another pump?

My understanding is that electric kettles may lead to scorching the wort - plus the wort is a hassle to clean off the element. I also don't really like the idea any way

Things like March pumps hold value quite well thus theres not a great amount at risk.
HLT I can use a bucket of death or a large urn (apparently there is a 30L urn at the back of the shed that dad obtained when we had my sisters wedding at mum and dads)
So HLT should be taken care of to begin with.

Mash tun I want something decent and whilst I was originally going to go with an esky tun I decided that I'd rather invest in a SS vessel.

peristaltic pumps are more $ than a march pump I believe? and I don't really see any benefit over a mag drive pump? if anything I see more room for problems with peristaltic pumps (I know they are used in the medical environment - but i'm sure they aren't pumping near boiling fluid and I'm sure there is far stricter maintenance and inspection regimes than in the average home brewery.

Any way its all dependant on me selling some car audio gear as the rest of my cash is going towards a rock for the minister of war and finances finger and new carpet for the house. Gotta have a hobby

 

[Darren]

Komodo,

You might find in this hobby that $3000 "in" will depreciate significantly as most here paid far less for comparable systems.

Home brewing ain't home-theatre.

If you have got the bucks to spare maybe "plonk" it down on one of these "tried and true" brew sculptures

http://morebeer.com/search/103502

cheers

darren (no affiliation etc etc)

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Komodo,

You might find in this hobby that $3000 "in" will depreciate significantly as most here paid far less for comparable systems.

Home brewing ain't home-theatre.

If you have got the bucks to spare maybe "plonk" it down on one of these "tried and true" brew sculptures

http://morebeer.com/search/103502

cheers

darren (no affiliation etc etc)

Or maybe something ready to go, tried and true blue and locally grown with easier back up service. No international calls, the money stays in Australia (well at least most of it) and creates work for the Australian economy.

BYB

Edit: No affiliation with Beerbelly just a happy customer B)

 

[altstart]

Hi people
I ventured into AG in 2005 after an invitation to a brewday by Ross. I took a while thinking before I jumped into Ag and planned for double batches from the off. When I started assembling my Ag gear I erred on the side of caution and over sized most components ie 140 litre S/S hlt 57 liter Mash tun. I just recently aquired a 100 lttre S/S fermenter this gives me the ability to brew 80 litre batches should I need to. The lesson I have learnt from this is oversize and keep the option to upgrade your brewing requiments without having to replace all your gear.
Cheers Altstart

 

[Darren]

Or maybe something ready to go, tried and true blue and locally grown with easier back up service. No international calls, the money stays in Australia (well at least most of it) and creates work for the Australian economy.

BYB

Edit: No affiliation with Beerbelly just a happy customer B)

BYB,

Yes, there are locally made prototypes available. But, Beer beer and more beer http://morebeer.com/search/103502 have been selling their sculptures since before I started making all-grain beer (13 years now). Undoubtedly, all the bugs have been ironed out with their systems and you probably wont need to rely on "faith" that the local manufacturer will be around this time next week.

I have always had great customer service with http://morebeer.com.

No affiliation yadda yadda

cheers

Darren

 

[altstart]

BYB,

Yes, there are locally made prototypes available. But, Beer beer and more beer http://morebeer.com/search/103502 have been selling their sculptures since before I started making all-grain beer (13 years now). Undoubtedly, all the bugs have been ironed out with their systems and you probably wont need to rely on "faith" that the local manufacturer will be around this time next week.

I have always had great customer service with http://morebeer.com.

No affiliation yadda yadda

cheers

Darren

Darren I have bought equipment from Morebeer in the past and I agree it has been top quality and the delivery has been astounding. I would take issue with you that aussie welders cant do as good a job as Morebeer. I have just had a 100 litre conical fermenter manufactured locally and I dont think anyone could fault the welding or the product I have recieved in fact I am delighted with my new fermenter. All welding joints have been ground polished and passivated to a mirror finish and the all round workmanship is excellent.

 

[Darren]

Altstart,

Not knocking Aussie welders at all. Its the rig that performs an entire process that could be a problem with locally made prototypes.

cheers

darren

 

[Jakechan]

Its hardly rocket surgery. It would be local Aussie gear for me only. And with the Aussie dollar at the moment I cant imagine buying anything from the states.

Cheers,
Jake

 

[altstart]

Altstart,

Not knocking Aussie welders at all. Its the rig that performs an entire process that could be a problem with locally made prototypes.

cheers

darren

Darren
Any rig or equipment is only as good as the operator and this reflects in the finished product ie beer.
Cheers Altstart

 

[PostModern]

Darren
Any rig or equipment is only as good as the operator and this reflects in the finished product ie beer.
Cheers Altstart

I agree totally. Have had some superb beers brewed in bucket and esky breweries and shit beers made in multi-million dollar facilities. What you do with what you got is what matters. However, if you've got a few lazy bricks, why not throw them down on a quality setup?

 

[komodo]

Darren I'm not interested in importing when there is there is similar product available locally.
I like the Beer Belly gear and this is where I'm looking like I'll be spending my hard earner.

Secondly I highly doubt that after paying shipping and import duties on one of those More Beer brew sculptures that it would be any where near competitive when compared to buying locally.
Sure the More Beer brew sculptures might have been around for a long time but that doesn't mean there any better than the locally made products. Were talking about brewing beer - not flying man to the moon.

I have no doubt that I will pour more money into this hobby than I need to - and I'm perfectly happy with that as really its not going to cost me much as I'm liquidating excess equipment from another hobby to pay for this one. I realise its not home theatre - gear in home theatre is superseded before you get it home. Brewing equipment has remained relatively the same for a long period.
Either way I'm not really too concerned about the resale value of my investment in my hobby - that's what I have shares and property for.