In the age of the Internet and the massive amounts of instant information we have at our disposal, one could drive themselves nuts ooh-ing and ah-ing over the large selection of equipment for Homebrewing.
A personal brewing system can be as simple or advanced as the Brewer desires.
Is it too much? I’ve found myself, in other hobbies as well, crippled by what the Guitar community calls GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) but have tried and so far succeeded at keeping my homebrew aspirations simple and reserved.
What is everyone’s opinion on simplicity in brewing? Does your equipment fit the model of simple and pragmatic? Could you be accomplishing more with less?
My actual brewing system is simple - cooler with braid (though I did bling it with a SS valve). I have tons of kegs and a couple kegerators that ate up plenty of the $. I prefer to cooler mash because I just like the simplicity of it, and secondly because it doesn’t make inferior beer to any system. There are definitely a lot of shiny, cool brewing systems out there, though.
My system is simple out of necessity, mainly. I brew smaller batches in my kitchen on my stovetop. Between work and family, I don’t have a whole lot of time for brewing, either. Any gear I acquire has to either make my brewday simpler or reduce my footprint. I’m always looking to pare back rather than expand.
My gear acquisition is primarily additional fermenter space. The only big ticket items I want are a kegerator and a Zymatic. I don’t see that sort of capital available in the near future, and it would still have to compete with my instrument G.A.S. if I did free up that sort of cash.
I’m in the same boat as you. Every couple of years I start to get hung up on something new and the Jones won’t go away until I buy it, even though my playing time has been severely limited since fatherhood. The new Ibanez fanned-fret basses are really giving me the itch right now.
Take a tip from my wife: buy ALL YEAR for the kiddos. Distributing the cost is key. A little here and a little there allows for everyone to get what they want! Even us!
My brewery is on the simple side by modern standards.
Mash tun: 5G Igloo w/braid
Kettle: 30 qt aluminum no ports
Fermenter: 5G ported big mouth bubbler
Ferm chamber: 5 cu ft chest freezer w/ Johnson Controls temperature controller
Kegerator: used side by side fridge with cobra taps
Kegs: 2; 2.5G
Chiller: immersion copper length=?
Boil: homemade heat stick (I use propane on Blichmann to get to boil, heat stick only during boil)
Mill: 2 roller monster mill
I am very happy with my system. I have a very easy brewday. Smaller batches make cleaning very easy, make lifting easier, use less yeast (less starters), and allow me to brew more often.
My equipment has evolved overtime. The Blichmann gas grill is left over from when I heated exclusively with propane. It is over kill now. I use it about 5-10 minutes per batch now.
Best thing we’ve done is buy off-season clearance and sale stuff for my son year round and stash it away. He’s always a year ahead in clothes and it’s a fraction of the cost. We buy for his June birthday starting after Christmas and start stashing away Christmas presents in the summer. That’s a big time/money/stress saver.
My wife just had our second child on 11/30. We had the presents we had gathered all year wrapped, tree up and decorated and outdoor lights on before she came. We are now kicking our feet up, real easy-peezy like drinking wine and beer waiting for the “man with the bag”.
There is no replacement for being ahead of the game. Life is difficult enough without running around like a maniac for no reason.
Simplicity in my brewing is the only thing that lets me afford the amount of honey and cider apples I buy. I suppose needing to acquire a new expensive honey could be similar though.
For actual gear acquisition, I’m familiar with this more through my reefkeeping than brewing.
I’ve done the bling. Built the HERMS, bought huge kettles, and made structures. Pumps, tri-clovers, and gadgets galore. I’m now into the simple, cheap just happens to part of the simple. I do like my pump, but the rest would be Denny style. Buy to fit your style. I just spent $1,200 on kegs and kegerator equipment. The great thing is you can get outfitted cheap, or spend a ton. In the end, if brewed right, the beers will be the same. All the bling won’t make great beer obviously. Kind of like golf, you can have a $3,000 set of clubs and still shoot 110.
Every hobby has its own acquisition syndrome no matter how little utility comes with acquiring more.
I have a really simple cooler setup. Before buying anything I ask whether I really need the equipment to make or serve better beer than the equipment I already own. Often the answer is no and that guides my purchases. At some point in the near future I want to upgrade my mill and I do think that would improve my efficiency a little but that is at least partially a want rather than a need. I am still making really good beer with a $25 corona-style mill. At some point I will finish a kegging setup when I have the space in the home.
I am absolutely a skin-flint. I don’t buy anything I don’t need. However, due to a desire to stay out of the cold Indiana winters, I’ve upgraded my system to all electric. I could have still gone with natural gas since the line is just feet from my brew room, but that skin-flint/self preservation thing kicked in and I decided that all electric was the best for me and least likely to kill me or the family.
I have cobbled together all my gear over the course of 15 years and its been satisfying. One step at a time, I’ve assembled what I consider to be utilitarian and functional gear. Sure, it would look better to have a wiz-bang, fancy commercially-sourced system, but that is not me. Half the joy of the hobby for me is learning and creating.
Invest in the equipment that meets your needs and moves you along in your continuum to what you consider brewing satisfaction. Don’t lose sight of the fact that sometimes paying more for quality is worth it.
My opinion of simplicity? Well, I’ve used the same 48 qt. cooler and hose braid for 16 years and 492 batches. It doesn’t need to be more complicated than that. I just don’t care about equipment as long as it isn’t a PITA to use and makes good beer. But it’s a personal thing. I know that some people are into the equipment as much or more than the beer. Whatever works for you.
I’m upgrading some items soon and I couldn’t be happier. There is a sense of pride to brewing on old hacked together gear and finally upgrading. It’s like buying your first new car.
I really appreciate the time you guys take to answer my posts. I seem to fire off an opinion related post weekly and I am always intrigue by the variety (and sometimes lack of variety, which isn’t a bad thing!) of answers given.
