Flexible all grain pilot setup for relatively little $

[Alan Hogue]

I'm new here and hopefully this isn't an old/dumb question.

I have a fair amount of experience with extract brewing using basic equipment, though it has been a while and I no longer have most of that equipment.

I would like to set up an all-grain system that fits the following criteria in order:

1) Includes everything needed to brew consistently (something you could reliably test new recipes with)
2) Brews relatively small batches -- no more than 10 gallon yield.
3) Isn't more than say $3k (preferably considerably less). For that money, ideally, I'd like a decent SS fermenter as well.
4) Doesn't require a lot of manual labor on my part.
5) If there needs to be a trade-off between labor and expense of equipment, more labor is better.

Basically, I enjoyed brewing on the basic stuff, but it was a ton or work and a ton of cleaning. All the equipment took up a lot of space too. I'd like to start again with all grain and with high quality equipment, but avoid spending a lot more than necessary.

Any suggestions?

 

[camonick]

I’d suggest researching single vessel full volume no sparge BIAB.

 

[SW Ohio Keith]

Grainfather

 

[RPh_Guy]

I imagine you can brew quality 1 gal batches with nice equipment for around a hundred bucks.

There's a thousand different ways to brew, so you have some decisions to make about batch size, heating method, sparging method, and packaging method. Do you want to mill your own grain? Do you want to make ideal yeast starters? Do you want a pump to circulate during the mash or chilling? What will you use to maintain temperature during fermentation? Are you interested in low oxygen brewing?

I like my system -- I brew world-class beer to my taste, and it's certainly under $3k.
I'd take my Fermonsters over a SS fermenter any day.

Manual labor is part of brewing. Yes, most of it is cleaning.
The more gadgets you get, the more space it takes.

Welcome to HBT, cheers.

 

[antony]

Start off small and invest more as you see fit. It's pretty much what we've all done. Granted, you can always have more brewing equipment, it's what makes the hobby a hobby. I've been brewing about 7 years and have a full grain set up with keggles, turkey fryers, and a dedicated fermentation freezer and kegerator but I didn't need all that to start off with. Temperature control is important. Pitching enough yeast is important. You can get better beer going all grain but it's not a given. Start off where you see comfortable and build up from there. Cheers!

 

[Alan Hogue]

I imagine you can brew quality 1 gal batches with nice equipment for around a hundred bucks.

There's a thousand different ways to brew, so you have some decisions to make about batch size, heating method, sparging method, and packaging method. Do you want to mill your own grain? Do you want to make ideal yeast starters? Do you want a pump to circulate during the mash or chilling? What will you use to maintain temperature during fermentation? Are you interested in low oxygen brewing?

Thanks, yeah, at this point I know more about what I don't want than what I do. Up until a few years ago I was working with a turkey fryer with a 7 gal aluminum pot, a copper wort chiller and two glass carboys. I was disappointed with the wort chiller. It wasted a ton of water and didn't seem to cool very fast.

So this makes me think for instance something like a plate chiller and a pump or two would be worth it. But I have no experience with that stuff.

I like my system -- I brew world-class beer to my taste, and it's certainly under $3k.
I'd take my Fermonsters over a SS fermenter any day.

Thanks for mentioning those, that's just what I was hoping for. Mind sharing other details of your setup?

Manual labor is part of brewing. Yes, most of it is cleaning.
The more gadgets you get, the more space it takes.

I get it, but at least at the low end there seems to be an inverse relationship between equipment and labor time. I know buying a big enough kettle and an outdoor burner made a big difference for me.

 

[Alan Hogue]

Start off small and invest more as you see fit. It's pretty much what we've all done. Granted, you can always have more brewing equipment, it's what makes the hobby a hobby. I've been brewing about 7 years and have a full grain set up with keggles, turkey fryers, and a dedicated fermentation freezer and kegerator but I didn't need all that to start off with. Temperature control is important. Pitching enough yeast is important. You can get better beer going all grain but it's not a given. Start off where you see comfortable and build up from there. Cheers!

I hadn't heard of the keggles, they look great. I'll definitely look into those.

I'm tentatively considering bottling with 1l or larger bottles. I think bottle conditioning would be nice, and I would rather put more resources into the brewing side for now.

 

[Beernik]

- 15 gallon SS kettle with a valve, and thermometer. If you go with a keggle, it needs a dip tube.
- whistlebrewer BIAB bag sized for 10 gallon brews (mounting a pulley & rope for raising & lowering it would be a nice add on).
- 55,000 BTU Bayou burner.
- craigslist freezer with temperature control capable of holding two 5 gallon fermenters or kegs for fermenting in.
- Corona mill build project with its own bucket & grain feeder chute.
- stir plate build project with a 2L flask.
- two immersion chiller build projects or counterflow chiller project. I used two ICs in series, one in a bucket of ice as a pre-chiller.

Will all that, you can brew up to 10-gallon batches reliably & consistently. You’re only purchases over $100 might be the kettle, the freezer, & the counterflow chiller parts.

 

[RPh_Guy]

So this makes me think for instance something like a plate chiller and a pump or two would be worth it. But I have no experience with that stuff.

I'd avoid plate chillers. They clog and are difficult to clean. Counterflow chillers are better.
FYI, using a pump to whirlpool the wort drastically improves the performance of an immersion chiller, which is easier to keep clean and setup than a CFC.

Mind sharing other details of your setup?

I brew anywhere from 1 to 6 gal batches and I feel my system is very flexible for the types of things I want to brew.

Spoiler: my setup

Heat: Bayou Classic SQ14 propane burner. A local place refills tanks; I keep 2 tanks on hand. Budget friendly, quiet, and quick heating.

Kettles: 8.5 gal stainless kettle with 2 welded ports, and a 5 gal stainless without ports that I use to BIAB small batches or use for heating sparge water.

Mash tun: 10-gal round cooler with ball valve and bazooka screen. Blanket and towels for additional insulation. Wilser bags for the 5 gal kettle for small batches.

Pump: MKII with stainless head, silicone tubing, ball valves, fittings, and clamps. It's good to help chill/whirlpool, help clean, and eventually help circulate my mash.

Chiller: I have both a copper 3/8" x 25' counterflow chiller and a copper 3/8" x 25' immersion chiller, so I can rapidly cool to pretty much any temperature.

Thermometers: "Thrumometer" for using after CFC, 12" dial thermometer for brewing, glass lab thermometer for working with yeast.

Mill: KegCo 3-roller. A cordless drill to power. Mounted on a base to sit on a bucket.

Yeast: a stir plate, a couple 1L Erlenmeyer flasks, jars for a yeast ranch, plates + loop for yeast isolation, vials for shipping.

Aeration: drill-powered stir tool

PH meter: an older model Hanna 0.01 resolution manual 2-point calibration. Test tubes for calibration solutions. A pH meter measures mash pH, tests Star San efficacy, measures Lactobacillus progress, and helps adjust sulfite levels and measure acidity in wine/cider.

Misc: large stir spoon, yardstick with markings for measuring volume, a small 0.01g res digital scale for small things, an UltraShip-55 for grain, jugs for buying RO water, pizza pans for capping (low oxygen brewing), measuring spoons and cups, oven mits, spray bottles for sanitizer and grain conditioning, funnel, pitcher to vorlauf, triple scale and narrow range FG hydrometers, small beakers, pill splitter, lighter.

Fermenters: I have several 1 gal glass carboys, and a 2 gal bucket mainly for cider & mead. A 1 gal ported Fermonster, a couple 3 gal ported Fermonsters, several 6 gal ported Fermonsters, and a 7 gal ported Fermonster ... Plus opener, carrier, spigot, standard #7 & #10 stoppers and s-shaped airlocks. I also use silicone waterless airlocks and DIY breathable airlocks.

Temperature: Inkbird 308, a FermWrap, and a refrigerator. Fermometers.

Bottling: 6-7 gal bottling bucket with spigot, 3/8" bottling wand, Colt bench capper, FastRack for drying (12 & 22oz), sanitizer sprayer, single & multi bottle rinsers, floor corker

The only thing is I wish I had gotten a 1/2" CFC so it would flow faster. It's a little late for me to switch now.

 

[jtratcliff]

If you want to be a minimalist... Get the cheapest 10G kettle you can find (mine is an awesomely thick Al kettle from Staples for $40)... Get a custom BIAB bag combo from @wilserbrewer (bag, hop sock, pulley), get a heat stick for supplementing stove output (mine is from amazon for $10), get a corona-style mill (~$24) and build a drill powered mill in a homer bucket (see threads here on HBT) to mill your own grain (super fine compared to your LHBS, almost flour for BIAB)...

Stovetop BIAB, no-chill/overnight-chill.

Mash in the kettle... pull bag... cool in the kettle 12-18hrs)... then into fermenter...

Minimal investment for a taste of All Grain...

 

[augiedoggy]

so many different ways to skin a cat.
3k it really a large budget, my whole electric 3 vessel/rims setup with motorized grain mill and 4 glycol chilled stainless conicals cost me less than that. Of course like any hobby with designer/gear equipment its also easy to spend 3k on a lot less too. You kind of already know some of what you do and dont need. Im going to second that for consistent good beer , temp control for whatever your going to use for your fermenter is a must. otherwise your beers will come out all over the place.

I dont know if your goal is to continue to brew outside with propane or bring it indoors with electric but the older blichmenn controllers are on clearance and they are a great value right now. you dont need anything fancey and can use the same controller for multiple kettles very easily or do biab and just spend more on grain each brew session.

I vote for the duda plate chiller, as long as you use hop spider baskets and chill down to temp in one pass the plate chiller you should not have any plugging issues. Ive been using mine for 6 years with zero issues. When it comes to plate chillers the longer ones are better than shorter ones with more plates. They are less prone to plugging and more efficient for cooling too. blichmanns therminator is the worst design ironically from what Ive read because of the way they designed the passageways for turbulent flow for better cooling but much easier plugging.

 

[BassBabiesBeer]

I'm going to second the vote for Grainfather. Not sure if they have a model that yields up to 10 Gal, but I love my Robobrew v3 with pump. I use the smaller model, there's a larger one that brews up to 12 Gal batches, and it runs under $700 from what I've seen. It takes up little room and is easy to clean.

My wife is supporting my homebrewing in an effort to open a brewery, but our space is small. I brew in my kitchen, use a 10 plate chiller, better bottle carboys, a small in-line carbonation setup, and a 7.1 cu ft keezer that fits in my storage space my landlord allows me to use in the basement.

If you're concerned about footprint, this is a very easy setup to maintain. I wish I had room for a lab and a fermentation room/chamber would be the two biggest steps I need to have better control. So far, I've come out with very clean, professional level beer, and have investors interested with just 5 brews under my belt on this system.

I know the Grainfather is better overall and tends to have better efficiency, but I'm very happy with my results from the robobrew. Full setup including kegs, CO2, Perlick flow control taps, and brewing system (I had the better bottles already) ran us just over $2000. Well under your budget, so you could easily spring for better fermentors, a better chiller, a bigger keezer, and even convert a minifridge to ferment in

 

[tellyho]

If you're willing to spend the money, so yourself a favor and make the kettle electric. Faster, cheaper in the long run. If I were making a setup again, I'd probably just buy a grainfather or the like .

 

[sicktght311]

If you're looking for all in one and fairly simple and easy to grow with, consider the Clawhammer Supply 120v system. Its Brew in a Basket which is easy to use, its 5 gallon batch size which is great for getting your feet wet with all Grain, its Single vessel so its super easy maintenance and cleaning, the controller is based on an Inkbird IPB16 which is pretty easy to operate, and the 120v power source (although slow to heat) can be used pretty much anywhere without investing in 240v dedicated line. And its only $900. The leftover savings will give you plenty of wiggle room for Fermenters, temperature control of fermentation, kegging, etc

https://www.clawhammersupply.com/co...ts/digital-electric-120v-homebrew-beer-system

 

[bleme]

If my wife wasn't bugging me for a new car, I'd be buying an Anvil Foundry.
https://www.homebrewing.org/105-gal...ystem-with-Recirculation-Pump-Kit_p_9786.html

Half the price of a Grainfather.
2.5 gallons bigger than Grainfather.
Double walled so it gets to temp faster and maintains mash temp better.
Can run on 120V or 240V.

Also, all immersion chillers are not equal. While your chiller may have had performance problems, a well designed chiller (like anything from JaDeD) can chill very quickly. I have a friend with the Grainfather and he uses The Scylla chiller because it gets him to temp in under 5 minutes. The counterflow that came with his Grainfather takes more than twice as long.

 

[Alan Hogue]

Thanks all; so many great suggestions here. I am just getting reoriented after living for some years in a place where brewing was not really feasible, so a lot of these products you mention are new to me. Please keep them coming.

My intention is to have a fairly small setup that I can focus on developing new recipes with, but ideally it would also be scale up well.

I would probably be brewing in one quarter of a garage. Electric looks great, but I don't think I will have a 240v outlet handy, so gas is definitely on the table.

 

[Alan Hogue]

so many different ways to skin a cat.
3k it really a large budget, my whole electric 3 vessel/rims setup with motorized grain mill and 4 glycol chilled stainless conicals cost me less than that.

Wow, that seems cheap for such a setup. I assume you must have done a lot of DIY? The cheapest glycol chiller I have seen is alone 7-800 and smaller SS conicals seem to hover around 700 too. Maybe I just haven't shopped around enough yet.

 

[Alan Hogue]

I know the Grainfather is better overall and tends to have better efficiency, but I'm very happy with my results from the robobrew. Full setup including kegs, CO2, Perlick flow control taps, and brewing system (I had the better bottles already) ran us just over $2000. Well under your budget, so you could easily spring for better fermentors, a better chiller, a bigger keezer, and even convert a minifridge to ferment in

What do you use for controlling fermentation temps? I think I'm going to need a fridge or some kind of jacket setup because I live in a rather warm climate.

 

[BassBabiesBeer]

What do you use for controlling fermentation temps? I think I'm going to need a fridge or some kind of jacket setup because I live in a rather warm climate.

I personally don't at the moment, due to lack of space. I don't see myself fermenting more than 2 batches at a time for a little while, but you can easily set up a small fridge or chest freezer with a temp controller for that. Two 6.5G carboys will probably fit in something between 3 and 4 cu ft, depending on depth, etc. I do use my keezer to cold crash though, it works very well.

 

[BassBabiesBeer]

Something else to consider is a seasonal brewing style, or using yeasts that do fairly well over 80 F. I've been doing the latter.

 

[andrewmaixner]

First post nails it -- electric BIAB.
You can spend $500-850 on a basic 5-gal batches turn-key system (anvil/grainfather), or spend 3k on a super-custom exactly-how-you-want-it 20 gal system like I did. Or something in between.

 

[Alan Hogue]

I'd take my Fermonsters over a SS fermenter any day.

Another question for you, if you don't mind. Do you think that Fermonsters have any advantage over traditional plastic buckets?

 

[Beer Nuts]

Another question for you, if you don't mind. Do you think that Fermonsters have any advantage over traditional plastic buckets?

Beer is more than three decades older than the Fermonster.

 

[Alan Hogue]

Beer is more than three decades older than the Fermonster.

Yes, what am I thinking. I should get some stone bowls and some grain and let it sit out until there's alcohol in it.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Another question for you, if you don't mind. Do you think that Fermonsters have any advantage over traditional plastic buckets?

Major advantages over buckets:
1. Fermonsters (and all PET carboys) are clear so you can see inside. This is also why I prefer it over stainless, besides the cost. Being able to see the fermentation process means I can more efficiently manage it, and it's a lot more entertaining.
2. Fermonsters seal much better than buckets. They have a threaded lid and a gasket; just be careful about overtightening unless you get the opener I linked. Oxygen is the enemy of beer.
3. The tapered top and punted bottom may have some benefit to minimize too much headspace and maximize the beer you get out, respectively.

Slight disadvantages:
1. Buckets have a built-in handle, so they're a little easier to carry. The carrying strap for the Fermonster mostly mitigates this.
2. Buckets are more heat-tolerant. Fermonsters you need to keep the temperature under ~125°F if memory serves, or it would deform. Shouldn't be a problem.

Cheers

Beer is more than three decades older than the Fermonster.

Beer is as old as human civilization.

 

[BassBabiesBeer]

As much as I like my Better Bottles or the idea of Fermonsters, I would highly recommend in investing in one of the newer conical fermenters, which allows you to harvest yeast more easily batch to batch (which will be a huge money saver especially if you also make starters), as well as making trub removal easier, and gives you a better gravity feed on transfers.

Catalyst, FastFerment, and Fermentasaurus are all very good, each having some pros and cons advantage over the others.

 

[RPh_Guy]

which will be a huge money saver especially if you also make starters

How many batches of yeast would you need to harvest to pay for the price difference of a stainless conical vs a Fermonster? How far will it set you back when a batch gets contaminated from harvested yeast?
How is harvesting yeast slurry from a spigot any better than harvesting slurry from the bottom of a Fermonster after racking?
Why wouldn't you just overbuild a starter to harvest that yeast instead? The batch slurry has more unwanted hop debris, malt flavor, and higher osmolarity, plus higher risk of contamination.

Compared to stainless, PET is clear, less expensive, easier to transport, they more easily fit in a fermention fridge/freezer, and they more easily fit heaters like a FermWrap.

The main advantage of stainless is durability, but it's not cost-effective in my opinion even if it never needs replaced (plastic does last a long time too). The "shiny" factor I think is the main selling point for stainless. It's more professional looking.

IMO the plastic (especially HDPE) conicals are way too high in price, with no upsides to justify it. They suffer from being opaque (HDPE) and difficult to fit in a fridge, and difficult to transport, while not having the durability of stainless. Leaking can be an issue as well, or so I've heard.

Glass has issues with lacking a spigot option and has risk of dangerous catastrophic failure. They're also typically narrow mouth. Heavier than plastic.

Speidel plastic (HDPE) fermenters have nice handles compared to a Fermonster, but the trade-off is that they're opaque and slightly more expensive.

Closed transfers can be done with any vessel. They all can be properly cleaned and sanitized. Unless there's a leak (ahem, buckets), they're all adequately oxygen-impermeable.

That's just my humble opinion. Obviously people use all these different kinds of fermenters and they're happy with them. There's no wrong decision (except big mouth bubblers, everyone hates those).

 

[augiedoggy]

Wow, that seems cheap for such a setup. I assume you must have done a lot of DIY? The cheapest glycol chiller I have seen is alone 7-800 and smaller SS conicals seem to hover around 700 too. Maybe I just haven't shopped around enough yet.

I did get a few chillers for free, but the micromatic 1/3hp chiller we use at my brewpub was $225 at a restaurant/bar auction.

The stainless conicals I bought ranged from $200-$375 both new and used I did not buy a unitank those are relatively new as far as being popular in the homebrewing scene and since I keg I just transfer and carbonate in my kegs anyway. I used buckets and carboys and better bottles prior to this and as someone whos done it both ways I can tell you a real conical has real advantages. I did not buy 4 of them for looks as you can see from my build thread below in my signature.
I have a couple like this one including this size and a 12.5gallon version which is taller.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sold-1-2-L...002058?hash=item4b6100fd8a:g:~GQAAOSwhMpT0JNO

which work very well with the coolzone.com brewing jackets.

As you can see they are only $400 with shipping as are SS brewtechs smaller conicals. I paid $375 shipped for my stout 12.5g conical new about 5 years ago.. it seems they have all jumps in price quite a bit in the last year (No idea if this is due to Trumps tariffs or not)

 

[Soulshine2]

I'm new here and hopefully this isn't an old/dumb question.

I have a fair amount of experience with extract brewing using basic equipment, though it has been a while and I no longer have most of that equipment.

I would like to set up an all-grain system that fits the following criteria in order:

1) Includes everything needed to brew consistently (something you could reliably test new recipes with)
2) Brews relatively small batches -- no more than 10 gallon yield.
3) Isn't more than say $3k (preferably considerably less). For that money, ideally, I'd like a decent SS fermenter as well.
4) Doesn't require a lot of manual labor on my part.
5) If there needs to be a trade-off between labor and expense of equipment, more labor is better.

Basically, I enjoyed brewing on the basic stuff, but it was a ton or work and a ton of cleaning. All the equipment took up a lot of space too. I'd like to start again with all grain and with high quality equipment, but avoid spending a lot more than necessary.

Any suggestions?

I have been brewing for 4 yrs (AG for 3 of that, total going on probably 13 batches ) and I have yet to hit $3k . I could build quite the rig if I could with that amount. I'm frugal. If it works and I cant justify the added expense for ease, I wont do it.
Mine is simple , it works .
I brew 5 gallon batches .
I use 2 kettles - an 8G for strike and sparge water and 10G for boil, both ss with 2 bungs each for valve and thermometer.
mash tun is a converted 43 qt Igloo cube with a ball valve .
the rig is a 3 tier electric made from the working parts of a small apartment sized electric range .
gravity. no pumps.
instant read digital thermometer new to the list since my glass floater broke last batch. SS long handled spoon is my mash stirring tool. I dont see what the fuss is about a special mash paddle.
plastic brew buckets
racking cane,
bottling wand,
various tubing and hose clamps .
hydrometer and test jar.
a couple decent sized coolers that double as bottle cleaning /
soaking vessels when theyre not storing grains away from mice and insects.
50 ft copper coil immersion wort chiller run by garden hose and house water.
still using 5 and 6G glass carboys but soon will be going to a plastic big mouth bubbler with a spigot ,maybe eliminate the racking cane finally.
I also bottle . I dont have the room for kegging and keg chilling equipment and my power bill is already higher than Id like without adding the expense of running a full time keezer.

I might invest in something in the near future to have a more controlled fermentation space. I'm thinking either walling off and insulating the corner and installing a small room ac unit...OR I might just buy a used fridge . Right now and for the last 2 yrs my little corner in the basement stays fairly constant and consistent to do what I need to do . A little carpet foam jacket and bath towel on my carboys helps keep ferm temps stable.

Its a hobby you can keep as tight budget as you need or pour a ton of money into it if you are able.
It all depends on what you want to do with it as to how manual or automated you want to keep it.
I like to spend my money on grains/ingredients rather than the expense of equipment . I get more beer that way.
I make a day of brewing . I average 6 hrs from filling the first kettle to cleaning up , gives me something to do especially rainy days or in the winter when theres just not much else to do .
Some brewers are trying to cut their brew times down and some have gotten it down to 3 hrs or less. I'm not sure how with heat times , boil times , mash times ,and chill time , but they do.

In the end , you still get beer .

 

[RPh_Guy]

a real conical has real advantages.

Besides durability and larger size options?

 

[augiedoggy]

Besides durability and larger size options?

Yes, To really appreciate the difference it helps to actually use them both.
But they have advantages for many of the same reasons just about all commercial breweries use them over buckets or containers with spigots. They are easier to clean with more resistance to infection vs plastic, the conicals can be used to keg or bottle without oxygen exposure, trub and dead yeast can be more adequately removed at different points in the fermentation process without negatively impacting beer like oxygen exposure and or greater risk of infection from transferring to a secondary. also the cone shaped bottom minimizes the amount of dead yeast to beer surface area at any given point during fermentation which helps with autolysis (Im aware I spelled that wrong.)

I have both plastic and stainless conical fermenters at home and at the brewpub and the stainless conicals are worth the extra investment to me. so much so that as soon as space permits we are upgrading to stainless unitanks. for home brewing , having a unitank may not offer as many advantages and can actually be a disadvantage in the sense that it can slow everything down and prevent as much beer from being able to be made due to conditioning, carbonation and cold crashing tieing up the unitank and holding up the next brew. however to some having zero yeast in the keg and brite clean beer going into them might outway that. especially when one can afford multiple unitanks.

 

[GnenieGone]

$3k?? Just for hb? Try $200. Converted homer cooler/false bottom and 2 aluminum pots from Academy. Consistency is about knowing your equipment. I've had wildly inconsistent beers from million dollar breweries mind you.

 

[bracconiere]

$3k?? Just for hb? Try $200. Converted homer cooler/false bottom and 2 aluminum pots from Academy. Consistency is about knowing your equipment. I've had wildly inconsistent beers from million dollar breweries mind you.

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+1, looks like about what i brew with....cost me $400, with a burner....and i picked up a fridge for my kegs at a garage sale....20# co2 tank is about $120. QD's are pretty cheap...picnic taps...

 

[RPh_Guy]

They are easier to clean

I didn't factor in cleaning into my comparisons because I think they're all really easy to clean. My Fermonsters I soak with PBW, the wide mouth makes wiping easy, and rinsing is super easy since I can easily hold it upside-down while I spray water into it. Narrow-neck glass carboys can be easily cleaned with pads on a drill attachment (e.g. a Vortex). Stainless and glass you can more aggressively scrub, but that's not strictly needed.

more resistance to infection vs plastic

While you're right, I think the difference is negligible.
IMO most contaminations come from newbie bucket users that scrub too hard and/or don't properly clean/sanitize and/or don't use proper clean technique when handing the wort/beer and/or use unsanitary ingredients. It's easy to get lazy and cut corners after the first few batches without contamination.
If plastic fermenters caused rampant contaminations, we wouldn't be using them.

the conicals can be used to keg or bottle without oxygen exposure

Any type can closed transfer to a keg.

How can you bottle without oxygen exposure? Carbonate in the fermentation vessel and fill bottles straight from there? That works but it's unnecessary, and bottle conditioning probably provides superior oxygen-reduction anyway.
I successfully bottle low-oxygen (AKA LODO) beer with a traditional homebrewer bottling process.

trub and dead yeast can be more adequately removed at different points in the fermentation process without negatively impacting beer like oxygen exposure and or greater risk of infection from transferring to a secondary.

That's true, if you decide a secondary is necessary for some reason. I'd consider this a rare case.
Autolysis isn't an issue on the homebrew scale -- less pressure on the yeast.

Again, a lot of this is just opinion. It's all good.

 

[GnenieGone]

+1, looks like about what i brew with....cost me $400, with a burner....and i picked up a fridge for my kegs at a garage sale....20# co2 tank is about $120. QD's are pretty cheap...picnic taps...

True. Just bought an induction top and 5gal kettle for $100 for 3gallon batches myself.

 

[augiedoggy]

$3k?? Just for hb? Try $200. Converted homer cooler/false bottom and 2 aluminum pots from Academy. Consistency is about knowing your equipment. I've had wildly inconsistent beers from million dollar breweries mind you.

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Theres a number of manufacturers (especially in the food and medical industry that would disagree with you here) you can make great beer with your equipment I am right there with you for saving money. but by that same token, to rule out anything more professional or complex as having no merit is pretty short sited too.

 

[bracconiere]

especially in the food and medical industry that would disagree with you here

the medical industry is funded with insurance money, and they know they can charge what ever they want too....the doctors all look at me funny when i ask "how much does it cost?" lol

 

[Alan Hogue]

Hey, I think I get it, I know that a question like this will elicit sometimes drastically different brewing philosophies. I've been doing some fairly intensive research lately, and so many decisions come down to how you weight many different factors.

Previously I weighted thrift above everything. While I had a good time and did make some nice beers, I could not seem to get much consistency, and some of the brews were fine but somehow slightly off to me, I don't know I might be finicky or maybe I just suck at brewing this way.

So now I am reweighting the variables and trying to find the best balance for me. I know I want more consistency and higher quality than I seemed to be able to manage before. (I think a lot of the variance at the frugal level has to do with differing climates.) I am looking for a setup which would be more or less ideal for consistent, high quality results -- given my probably woeful level of skill -- and be fairly compact. I don't have a lot of room.

So far I think the Anvil looks best to me. It's not super expensive, but would be a nice rig to do small batches at somewhat high volume, so I can easily compare small recipe tweaks.

Anyway, that's me. I appreciate all of this feedback and am thinking carefully about it.

 

[RPh_Guy]

$3k?? Just for hb? Try $200. Converted homer cooler/false bottom and 2 aluminum pots from Academy. Consistency is about knowing your equipment. I've had wildly inconsistent beers from million dollar breweries mind you.

View attachment 632829View attachment 632830

What's happening in that first photo? Vorlauf?

@Alan Hogue If you have questions about specific items or processes, fire away!

We are happy to argu--- I mean help!

 

[madscientist451]

I spend a lot of time at a second home and I recently splurged and acquired another brewing rig for the part time house.
4 gallon SS brew pot from local Goodwill store $7.99
BIAB bag I think it was about $8
3 gallon PET fermenter $20
I already had an extra funnel, thermometer, hydrometer and some other odds and ends.
But if I had to buy that stuff I'd probably be into another $50.
So if your budget is $3K you'd have $2900 left over.
OK so this will only do 2.5 gal batches, but I'm trying to make the point that if you want to brew beer and keep it simple, you don't really need a lot of cash.
If I lost all my brew stuff in an earthquake and had $3K to spend here's my list:
220V EBIAB from one of the companies that make them
2 chest freezers, one for temp control, one for kegs.
Kegs, Co2 tanks and regulators
I'd probably upgrade to a SS fermenter, but not a conical.
Grain mill, grain storage, scale.
Misc test equipment, PH meter, hydrometer thermometer.
I think I'd still have $1k left after I bought all the above.