WANTED: All-Grain Kit

[Sam Nelson]

Ive been looking to set myself up a nice brewkit to do AG brews.

I have had a wee look around at whats out there new kit wise and there are a few options but im on a fairly limited budget.

I have had a chat with Chris Banks from Banks Brewing Hardware and have a fair idea of what new kit is going to cost me to get it just the way I want but i would though I would see what is around the second hand market first.

So let me know what you have for sale, ideally im trying to build and AG kit similar to these ones

http://tinyurl.com/89fqtfa

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=429207109

the one in the second link would be ideal but its about $1k more than I want to spend for the whole kit and im not sure how flexible he would be on the price.

Gas or electric is good, my garage has upgraded cable so 3kw is no worries

sightglass is not necessary 

grain mill not needed but would be nice

let me know :)

cheers

Sam

[denimglen]

Have you got any gear so far and what are your DIY skillz like?

Not to piss on the parade but even second hand I think you'd be hard pressed finding a full rig like the ones posted for $550.

[Sam Nelson]

I have nill gear at the moment, my DIY skills are ok but Im no good at welding/metalwork

the link above he is wanting 2.5k... i'd be happy to pay 1.5k for that kit but 2.5 is just a bit much for me

[denimglen]

Oops my bad, I only saw the $1550 current bid.  $1500 is a workable budget then and you should find some good secondhand gear for that.

Personally, what I would buy brand new is your pump - hard to say how much work they've done and how much life is left in them, and your tubing.  I would recommend going for silicone tubing from the get go.  It's expensive at >$20/m but it does last a long time if you keep it clean, not to mention it's safer than PVC.

And not to steal work away from Chris but do consider DIY-ing some stuff if your budget allows, weldless fittings work fine so the only metalwork you'd need to do is drill holes.

[Sam Nelson]

yeah I had hoped to get it sorted for around $1500.
Ive seen a couple of pumps on trademe new for around $250ish so one of those might do the trick.

Thanks for the silicone tube tip, ill see what i can locate if i end up building from scratch :)

Had hoped someone might be selling up some old gear or wanting to sell current gear to upgrade ... will see what comes up!

[Sam]

Brewery's  like the top one pop up in that price range occasionally, the main problem is they don't pop up very often. If you where to put one together;

If your in Auckland there's a 50litre keg HLT some ones selling http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=430612946 $150 reserve. I would likely buy it but I'm in Wgtn.

You could use something like a Rubber maid 10 gallon cooler ($120 http://inibrewsupply.com/mash/) as a mashtun, plus a tap and the braid hose or whatever its called as a cheap false bottom. 

50 litre keg or cheap pot off trademe, add on a tap and a burner for a kettle

Immersion cooler, easy to make something that works, $69 - $79 for 15 meters of 1/2'' copper from trademe, plus $10 - $15 for a bending spring, alternatively some friendly air-con shops let you use a pipe bender for a couple of bends for free  

[denimglen]

If you just wanted some kit to get you started you could use that HLT as your kettle and grab two 50L Rubbermaid rectangular chillibins which are much cheaper than the cylindrical ones - they're fine if you're batch sparging.  

Use one for the HLT and the other for the MLT.  Those chillibins already have a drain in them so all you need is a valve and bulkhead for the MLT and valve and braided hose for the MLT as Sam mentioned above.

Then an immersion chiller, again as Sam mentioned.

At least then you'd be up and brewing while you piece together the rest of your kit.

[Brent Marquis]

Another option bro...

2 of these for mash and boil: http://www.inibrewsupply.com/blichmann-boilermaker-15-gal-stainless...

one of these: http://www.inibrewsupply.com/blichmann-false-bottom-for-boilermaker...

Then try get this: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=430612946

(If you don't get that then pretty much any old pot and element like mine)

You don't need a mill - just use mine.

Should come in about $1500

Then its just some gas burners (Joe has some at the moment) and some wood/steel to build a frame.

Hoses and connections can be done pretty cheaply and upgraded to silicone, etc in the future as funds recover :)

[Brent Marquis]

hmm, then again, you could DIY with stainless pots cheaper than the blichmann cost.

[Sam Nelson]

Thanks for the replies gents.

Sam, I have my eyes on that HLT too and also was looking at the minibrews/ rubbermaid on INI

If I can manage to get that HLT and the rubbermaid on INI ill just need a false bottom too and a few taps/hoses 

I could then get the nice Keggle built by Chris and I will be most of the way there... 

Unless someone else has kit they want to sell on that is

[Adam Sparks]

All this stuff cost me about $800 (excluding the grain mill)

Got most of it off trademe over a few months. The first thing I purchased was that hot water urn (second hand for $105), my intention was to do brew in a bag with it, but it was only a  20litre urn so it wasnt very practical.... But I still think brew in a bag with say, a 40 litre urn would be a great way to brew and probably the cheapest most hassle free option.

Im unable to recirculate wort or do step mashes, but Im pretty happy with the beers thus far, removing pumps from your setup will save you a lot of money. Fittings alone can add up to hundreds. You'll also want to think about temperature control for your ferment, much more important to have that than lots of shiny stainless steel :)

Another thing to think about is the cost of your brewing, you might not have the budget (or space) to do more than 20 litres at a time, if thats the case there's no need to spend the cash on a 50 litre system. For me, getting the cost of my brews down was a big factor, so when disposable income was available, I put it into building a grain mill instead of upgrading my other equipment

[studio1]

Nice setup. Does SWMBO give you grief about accessing the washing machine like mine does?

[Adam Sparks]

its definitely a going concern :)