If you had a choice, which would you consider upgrading to if you found your Kilderkin sized brewery still wasn't cutting it for your's, and your girfriend's (and anyone else that drinks your booze) beer consumption versus available time to brew?
i'm trying to weigh up the pro's and con's between the two.... obviously the bigger you go, the cost of building and running it escalates exponentially also... and then there's the risk of making a large volume of beer that could go wrong and you have to send it to the drain... so the risk of cost per brew... i worked it out that it cost's me roughly £30 to make 150 pints on my kilderkin brewery... this would mean it would cost about £58 on a 1 barrel (288 pints), and about £115 on a 2 barrel (576 pints). and then there's the expense in extra kegs, bottles and a bigger fermenter!
swmbo and i get through 40-50 pints a week on average (damn her for liking my beers :twisted: )... it seems like a lot, but that's only 2 pints a each week night, and a small binge each at the weekends... plus whatever my mates drink when they're here and whatever i/we give to friends and fellow brewers! so as you can imagine, i need to brew at least once a fortnight on the kilderkin brewery if i want to build stocks up, or at least once every 3 weeks to maintain it!
unfortunately i've limited continous free time (ie enough of a day at home for a brewday) at the weekends and sometimes only get enough time to brew once a month... split brewdays on the kilderkin brewery involve quite late nights (even though i'm home by 4:45 every day ) as the additional volume means additional heating and cooling times.
so, what do you reckon guys? 1 barrel would last us roughly 6 weeks of drinking (which means i could build a stock of beers and only have to find time to brew once a month) ... 2 barrels would last us roughly 12 weeks... but seriously burn a hole in my wallet! and would take alot longer to accumilate cash for, but it would mean i only need to find time to brew once every 2/3 months (probably a bit too long tbh as i do actually like the brewday itself
) but then ofc you can brew only 1 barrel on a 2 barrel brewery if you wish
i'm stuck!... gimmie some more pros and cons!
i'm trying to weigh up the pro's and con's between the two.... obviously the bigger you go, the cost of building and running it escalates exponentially also... and then there's the risk of making a large volume of beer that could go wrong and you have to send it to the drain... so the risk of cost per brew... i worked it out that it cost's me roughly £30 to make 150 pints on my kilderkin brewery... this would mean it would cost about £58 on a 1 barrel (288 pints), and about £115 on a 2 barrel (576 pints). and then there's the expense in extra kegs, bottles and a bigger fermenter!
swmbo and i get through 40-50 pints a week on average (damn her for liking my beers :twisted: )... it seems like a lot, but that's only 2 pints a each week night, and a small binge each at the weekends... plus whatever my mates drink when they're here and whatever i/we give to friends and fellow brewers! so as you can imagine, i need to brew at least once a fortnight on the kilderkin brewery if i want to build stocks up, or at least once every 3 weeks to maintain it!
unfortunately i've limited continous free time (ie enough of a day at home for a brewday) at the weekends and sometimes only get enough time to brew once a month... split brewdays on the kilderkin brewery involve quite late nights (even though i'm home by 4:45 every day ) as the additional volume means additional heating and cooling times.
so, what do you reckon guys? 1 barrel would last us roughly 6 weeks of drinking (which means i could build a stock of beers and only have to find time to brew once a month) ... 2 barrels would last us roughly 12 weeks... but seriously burn a hole in my wallet! and would take alot longer to accumilate cash for, but it would mean i only need to find time to brew once every 2/3 months (probably a bit too long tbh as i do actually like the brewday itself
) but then ofc you can brew only 1 barrel on a 2 barrel brewery if you wish i'm stuck!... gimmie some more pros and cons!
