Pulled the trigger day after Xmas and picked up a used Clawhammer 120V BIAB system. Dude was serious about unloading all his equipment and gave me everything from stirring paddles to fermenters.
Local brewshop had Northern Brewer kits so figured what the hell, let's dance. I added some Maris Otter because I was worried about efficiency.
Plugged all the stats into a brew app. Guesstimated my efficiency at 69 (lol). OG over shot 1.049 at 1.052. I guess my system is way more efficient. Probably finish just north of 5% ABV.
Some fun stuff: Brew day was about 5.5 hours long. Clean up at 30 minutes. All done in my kitchen. Cost per beer when complete: 60 cents.
Totally rewarding. Gonna brew a stout next. I like boring English beer (no IPAs). Now we wait and see.
Hey i make homebrew too! Been doing it about 5 years. My favs to make are hefeweizens and russian imperial stouts. Never done BIAB, i just do extract brewing. Good way to make good beer for cheap :) makes great gifts! Happy brewing!
Awesome! I think I did 2 batches of extract 20 years ago before I was like, wait, it can be done even cheaper?
Went all-grain and never looked back.
The equipment buy in and the space needed makes it harder for me but i didn’t know it was cheaper. I will have to look into it again.
Equipment is more involved (but eBIABs seem to have lowered the barrier to entry as I'm finding out now). But just looking at ingredients for recipes you'll easily save 30-50% on each batch.
Do you cycle your wort while you steep your grains? I picked up a riptide since my old pump broke and didn't have the correct sized nozzle to use it on this last brew so my efficiency was lower than I'd hoped.
System came with a pump to recycle the wort during mash. If you google the Clawhammer 120v system, that's pretty much what this guy sold me, plus a ton of auxiliary stuff. Not bad for $300.
That's sick, I didn't even know that that system existed. I upgraded from cooking on the stove to my anvil foundry system a few years back and have been loving it ever since. I can't wait to move on from bottling next.
I used to brew in the 00s so I still have all my kegging stuff. To be honest, I've never bottled. We'll see if it all still goes well. I might need to nickel and dime some replacement parts but so far so good.
Seriously thinking about just buying 50 lbs of 2 row and then only going to the shop for specialty malts. Dude gave me a mill. I literally have everything I need.
I almost bought a full size keezer that came with 3 taps and 3 kegs for $200. I wasn't able to because transporting it was going to be impossible in my car and renting a U-Haul for it was unappealing since I'd probably just have to sell it in two years anway. The guy who built it was so bummed told me that he'd spent $1500 on the setup only to have to move for work.
I mostly get my grains from a brew shop that's an hour from me because paying for shipping irrationally angers me.
Awesome stuff! What temp about are you fermenting at?
I also know the feeling on efficiency. I used to undershoot while I was getting used to my setup and now I pretty frequently overshoot to the point where people are a little annoyed when I tell them the pilsner is now 6 percent or something lol.
Nice! I've not taken a stab at my brown ale since the start of COVID and I guess everyone bought up all the usual yeasts so I brewed it with S-33 which came out well.
I bought a six pack of Samuel Smith for 15 dollars last month and that burned me to no end. Fuck these prices.
This aggression will not stand.
Yeah, if your good at keeping stuff clean and don't have a burning desire to keep buying tons of gear the prices for what you can brew versus buy flip in your favor for sure.
I mostly like German, Czech, etc styles myself. But recently had to brew random shit based on what I can get my hops to do. Family member gifted me one of those Yakima Valley hop boxes and still sitting on some Chinook, Idaho Gem and a full 2oz of Azzaca and Amarillo.
I'm pretty much a DIY dude so I think I'm pretty well good to go, as is.
Plus now at least I can finally post something food related on here that isn't going to start a struggle session/hexaggedon.
Yeah I've been wondering if I should post some stuff about my beers/ ciders I've made. Was never sure if anyone would care lol.
![English Nut Brown Ale - 5 gallons [Continuation of the beer thread]](https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/i7LwbhhYeX.jpg){kind=link}