Would this be a good deal for getting into AG?

[Cimerian]

I'm wanting to do AG brewing. I have been looking around for stuff I need to do this. While browsing I came across this kit.

http://www.homebrewing.org/Beginning-Homebrew-All-Grain-Kit-Upgrade-6_p_1709.html

I have been wanting a SS brew pot and would need the 5 gallon for the sparge water and the extra fermenter would be useful. I can find a use for about everything here except for the hydrometer and the capper. I was going to make a chiller with just copper tubing until I saw this and I would pay around 60 bucks just for the copper to make the chiller.

Only other thing I think I would need would be a grain mill. Which is what I was really looking for in the first place.

 

[Revvy]

You don't need a grain mill to do ag, even online you can order your grain already milled. And just about every lhbs mills your grain if you ask them.

The kit's decent, though if you hadn't mentioned you didn't already have a wort chiller, I would tell you to just get a cooler and modify it via the plans on here. A backup hydrometer is always a good thing to have because it is inevitable you will break the one you have.

Most of us don't use a second vessel for sparge water.


But nearly 350? My kit didn't cost me that much piece by piece.

I think you're better off spending 100 buck on both getting a wort chiller and making your own cooler mash tun, even another 12 bucks for another bucket fermenter is still less than that kit. YOu could get a refractometer for 30 online which I think is invaluable for AG and more useful than some of the stuff in that kit, and still be half the prices...

Yeah in retrospect I think if you put some thought in it you can do better on your own.

I mean this is the AG setup that has served me well for 5 years.

And it didn't cost me NEAR as much as that kit. Not pictured is my grain mill, and wort chiller.

 

[Cimerian]

You know until I just saw your set up I never considered using a brew kettle also to heat the sparge water. I just assumed I would need to send the wort directly to the brew kettle instead of using the pail to collect it. I think I should use the cash to get a grain mill rather than try and get everything all at once. It just looked so easy and the pots were very shiny.

 

[h22lude]

Just as Revvy, I would buy what you need piece by piece. You can make most of that stuff yourself for much cheaper. Cooler mash tun and wort chiller will cost you around $110 or so, if that (copper prices vary greatly based on where you life). I got my 10 gallon pot online for $50. If you already have a beginner kit, those are really all you need to buy. Burner too if you don't have that which will be another $50 but that isn't included in that kit you listed anyway.

You can definitely expand you equipment list and get into AG without spending almost $350. Buying a premade cooler mash tun is a waste of money.

You know until I just saw your set up I never considered using a brew kettle also to heat the sparge water. I just assumed I would need to send the wort directly to the brew kettle instead of using the pail to collect it. I think I should use the cash to get a grain mill rather than try and get everything all at once. It just looked so easy and the pots were very shiny.

Grain mills are great if you buy in bulk online but not needed if you buy kits, buy by the pound or from your LHBS. If you do plain on buying in bulk, definitely get the grain mill. If not, I would say save your money and hold off.

 

[muthafuggle]

...

I think you're better off spending 100 buck on both getting a wort chiller and making your own cooler mash tun, even another 12 bucks for another bucket fermenter is still less than that kit. YOu could get a refractometer for 30 online which I think is invaluable for AG and more useful than some of the stuff in that kit, and still be half the prices...

Definite +1 to the refractometer. I've only done two brews with mine and I already forgot how i lived without it. I'd go so far as to say it's my favorite brewing toy. It really removes one tiny PITA part of brew day and it DOES make you a better brewer.

 

[astropunk]

Do you already have some of that stuff? If so, it seems pretty expensive.

My setup looks a lot like revvy's, but I use a rectangular cooler, and I dont have a fancy work table like he does Mine is just a piece of plywood over a couple saw horses!

I would work on just the stuff you need: 8-9 gallon boil kettle, 5 gallon kettle or bucket, and a cooler mash tun. Then build or buy a wort chiller. If you have been doing extract batches already, then you have everything else you need.

 

[Revvy]

Do you already have some of that stuff? If so, it seems pretty expensive.

My setup looks a lot like revvy's, but I use a rectangular cooler, and I dont have a fancy work table like he does Mine is just a piece of plywood over a couple saw horses!

I would work on just the stuff you need: 8-9 gallon boil kettle, 5 gallon kettle or bucket, and a cooler mash tun. Then build or buy a wort chiller. If you have been doing extract batches already, then you have everything else you need.

Dude, best 10 bucks I ever spent with a coupon at Harbor Freight, normally it's not much more like 15 bucks.

I took a piece of dowell that fit into one of the holes and a piece of scrap metal and made a little stand that the magnet on my digital probe kitchen thermometer would fit on.

I'm going to take a board and make a lower shelf to replace the milk crate so I can sit my bucket right below the mash tun.