What should I spend my money on?

[fury_tea]

I'd hire someone to bottle for me. Hate it.

I don't really mind it too much. I have a good little routine down I think. I transfer to bottling bucket and I have my bottling wand on a 3 metre long hose and bucket on a chair on top of a table (extra height for quick filling. Line up all bottles on the floor (I've got 15 swing tops) then just start filling them all then cap them all at once. It still takes well over an hour with all the cleaning and sanitising but with a good album or a podcast it's over in no time.

 

[Alside101]

Id buy yeast by the bucket

 

[phildo79]

I don't really mind it too much. I have a good little routine down I think. I transfer to bottling bucket and I have my bottling wand on a 3 metre long hose and bucket on a chair on top of a table (extra height for quick filling. Line up all bottles on the floor (I've got 15 swing tops) then just start filling them all then cap them all at once. It still takes well over an hour with all the cleaning and sanitising but with a good album or a podcast it's over in no time.

Yeah, it takes over an hour and you're only filling 15 bottles. Imagine filling 3 or 4 times that amount when you scale up your brews. Sooner or later, we all reach a breaking point.

 

[MickDundee]

Get a peco boiler for a 5 gallon biab. I paid about £88 for all the kit, chiller etc from HBC.
Get a second hand fridge locally.
Build a fermentation chamber.
Get a second hand cornie.
You will have plenty of money left for ingredients

He could probably get a second fridge and a corny set up with the cash he would have left.

 

[-Bezza-]

I want to have the option to do 5 gallon all grain batches really.


Fairly handy but not really got the space for a 3 vessel system at the moment, kinda thinking all in one jobby.

Any issues with the beer itself?

So far, I'm thinking £500 could get you an all in one and fermentation fridge. Anything left, I'd save towards the first bits of a keg setup.

 

[fury_tea]

Yeah, it takes over an hour and you're only filling 15 bottles. Imagine filling 3 or 4 times that amount when you scale up your brews. Sooner or later, we all reach a breaking point.

I do do larger batches with extract and it still only takes me about an hour and a half. That's 45 bottles and capping. I get it, it is a PITA but if you are methodical about it you can get it done pretty quick and like I say, put a podcast on and just try to enjoy it.

 

[fury_tea]

Any issues with the beer itself?

So far, I'm thinking £500 could get you an all in one and fermentation fridge. Anything left, I'd save towards the first bits of a keg setup.

I've had a few issues (usually down to errors I've made or inexperience) but overall I'm happy with my beers, they are getting better, like. I just want to move to full batch all grain now and think an all in one system meets my needs so that's why I'm going for the Robobrew. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[chesters-mild]

I'd hire someone to bottle for me. Hate it.

Agreed! - However once finished and cleared up the sight of all those bottles, and the promise of fine beer in a few weeks is worth it.
Cheers

 

[GerritT]

I don't really mind it too much. I have a good little routine down I think. I transfer to bottling bucket and I have my bottling wand on a 3 metre long hose and bucket on a chair on top of a table (extra height for quick filling. Line up all bottles on the floor (I've got 15 swing tops) then just start filling them all then cap them all at once. It still takes well over an hour with all the cleaning and sanitising but with a good album or a podcast it's over in no time.

32 fliptops every month, with a good bottling wand it might take an hour but it's an hour wellspent.

 

[Ghillie]

Fermentation fridge is probably the most important, not to mention the cheapest!

Kegging is a very good consideration as well. I never minded bottling, but I do prefer kegging. By a country mile.

@Clint has suggested a solid option. I use a Robo and love it. Also second hand fridge w/ tube heater as a fermentation chamber. But second hand fridge all day long; couldn't even consider new. Even if the second hand one packs in, the heater and temp control can be stripped out and put into the next one.

 

[fury_tea]

Fermentation fridge is probably the most important, not to mention the cheapest!

Kegging is a very good consideration as well. I never minded bottling, but I do prefer kegging. By a country mile.

@Clint has suggested a solid option. I use a Robo and love it. Also second hand fridge w/ tube heater as a fermentation chamber. But second hand fridge all day long; couldn't even consider new. Even if the second hand one packs in, the heater and temp control can be stripped out and put into the next one.

Just bought myself a 35L Robo, £360 with compression connectors, with hose etc costing another 15.

My issue with the fridge is that I don't drive and most second hand sellers are pick up only. Hopefully a mate can pick one up for me though, if I offer him a few homebrews in return!

 

[Brew_DD2]

Just bought myself a 35L Robo, £360 with compression connectors, with hose etc costing another 15.

My issue with the fridge is that I don't drive and most second hand sellers are pick up only. Hopefully a mate can pick one up for me though, if I offer him a few homebrews in return!

Definitely keep your eyes peeled. My car isn't the biggest so I had a similar issue. Fridges do come up where the seller can deliver. Difficult to be patient though!

 

[Linalmeemow]

For £500 you could get an all in one, a second hand fridge, and Inkbird controller and greenhouse heater and still have £50-80 to play with for hop spiders / chemicals etc. The all in one systems make life easy in terms of set up and clean up, I'm happy with the set up (as described) that I've got.

 

[Banbeer]

I'd hire someone to bottle for me. Hate it.

I'm with you on that, it's the only part of the process I don't like

 

[Richie_asg1]

Bottling - easy with a wand and bench capper. Most time consuming for me is sterilising them all. Thinking of a fast-rack and a 12v pump and manifold in the sink.

 

[MyQul]

When I read the title of the thread I immediately thought of the George Best quote.......

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds, and fast cars. The rest I just squandered"

You could do a HB version of that quote. 'I spent a lot of money on hops, grains and shiny stainless steel. The rest I just squandered'

 

[Clint]

...and flip flops if you're a hipster.

 

[Ghillie]

Just bought myself a 35L Robo, £360 with compression connectors, with hose etc costing another 15.

Nice one!

My issue with the fridge is that I don't drive and most second hand sellers are pick up only. Hopefully a mate can pick one up for me though, if I offer him a few homebrews in return!

Sounds like a great deal to me!

 

[Clint]

Get round to Duttos he's flogging loads of stuff...

 

[fury_tea]

Update on this, I bought:
The bits to make a stir plate and a a 2L Erlenmeyer £30,
Robobrew 3.1 and assorted bits £375
Tall fridge £65 (delivered)
Greenhouse tube heater £20
4kg Pilsner malt and some Kolsch yeast £10

Most of it is delivered already or is getting delivered tomorrow (with the exception of the stir plate parts, which are from China and may take 4-6 weeks)

Thanks for the advice, feeling excited for Saturday's brew day. Should be a fun one if I can get my head around the Robo.

Cheers!