Cheep AG brewery

[corby_brewer]

Right ive notices quite a few posts of late, going on about moving over to the dark side and how much money you have to spend.
So below are a couple of pictures of my brewery.
Now the most expencive item was the Electrum boiler which cost £70, when i first moved over to the dark side this was all i used as i used to brew using the BIAB method. now all i use it for is a HLT. The burco boiler was brought of EBAY and cost me £10. The mash tun is a converted ASDA 24ltr cool box which cost me £7. Various pipe fitting and ball valves cost around £20. Now if you where to convert an old FV using kettle element i would say you could make a AG brewery for about £60. So for the price of 3 premium kit you could be making the best beer youve ever drank.

 

[aneray]

Nice one mate

I really should stop being a lazy sod and move over to the Dark Side.

The equipment gathered so far includes


An old 10 gallon Burco wash boiler from freecycle ( no electrics but ready to convert).
A Cygnet 6 gallon 3kw water boiler from freecycle (working)
Cooler box in the shed (I think 27 litres)

A few bits and pieces to go and I will be there

Cheers Neil

 

[evanvine]

Dave, your post is quite an inspiration.
It can be done quite cheaply!
Then you can move on to pumps , herms and shineys for the fun of it.

 

[Moley]

Dave is absolutely right. :thumb:

I was lucky and picked up a big aluminium pot (60 litre) from a local auction for £5.
My mash tun is a £14.99 coolbox.
I spent less than £20 on plumbing bits and pieces.

Complete AG set-up for less than £40. :

Keep your eyes open, bargains are there to be had.
Also, use your local Freecycle.

 

[corby_brewer]

There are still a couple of things ive got to get sorted out, i.e, a wort chiller. As what i do now is just let it cool over night and then pitch the yeast. Also i have to fit the hop strainer to the boiler.

 

[Sean_Mc]

Nice work Dave :thumb:

Neil did you get your boiler clean, just I struggled with my copper cylinder until I found Hobrite.
Think it cost just over a pound from Lidl and cleaned my boiler up lovely

 

[aneray]

Hobrite, is that the one for cleaning halogen hobs?. Bloody hell, I know the one you mean now. Its like a very slightly abrasive white/grey cream. Up until last year we had a halogen hob and I'm sure there is a bottle lying about somewhere.

I tried everything from brown sauce to soaking cotton wool with vinegar and rubbing, but hobrite it will be in the morning !!.

Thanks for the tip Sean :thumb: .

Cheers Neil

 

[Sean_Mc]

That's the one. I was desperate so gave it a go and worked well on the copper.
Just try in a small area first to be on the safe side

 

[Screwy]

Great stuff Corbs,

Great example for brew noobs, the hobby of home brewing is as much about home brewed equipment as it is about the beer. Pretty much the bomebrewing fraternity are tinkerers, people who want to do it for themselves, and will do so whatever their constraints. These can be, time, space and or budget. Whatever costraints are faced by homebrewers they will overcome them in their quest for good beer.

Your point is important, great beer can be made with the most rudimentary equipment. Even if a brewer is a complete tool tard, all grain brewing at home is still possible with the most basic skills using plastic buckets and coolers.

For the tinkerer and shed head the journey has just begun, all of this shiney stuff that can be put together and built with additions such as plumbing, pumps, chillers and controllers for temperature and flow.

Inspector gadgets such as myself just kept going from Coolers and camp mat insulation, developing, enlarging and improving until we have something like this in the shed. I still have two improvement projects on the go, a control box mounted away from heat and moisture and a new and improved HERMS heat exchanger. It never stops, oh well if you can't brew for some reason, maybe the FV's are all full or you have no empty kegs............ there is always the next project to work on..........it is an obsession..........noobs beware, tis a slippery slope :twisted:

Grab some basic kit and get brewing.

Cheers,
Screwy