Pimped Out Brew Plant Vs. Plastic Fantastic

[Darcey]

Hello!

As with most starting out home brewers I have various bits of assembled plastic bucketry with varying lids and hoses, hydrometers varying in age from 35-1 years, broken and 'fixed' thermostats and a generally Heath Robinson borrowed shoe string assembled 'brewery' in my cellar held together mainly with good faith and drunken engineering physics. I wonder should I save up some money and buy lovely stainless steel FV, HLT & copper? Or really am I setting my self up for a financial fall?

What are the advantages part from it looking cool? Easier to clean? Well I dont mind spending £10 every year on a new plastic FV if it gets scratched? If I upgrade it would have to be the point where I the FV's can be chilled using a product chiller (or other) and PID's and... and... and.... otherwise I just have a stainless bucket.. and if I scratch/damage that it'll cost more than £10.

I think I just have shiny brewery envy

I have a current plan after xmas is to build a system from 22g/11g kegs (acquired legally from my employer) but after fittings and fiddling it shall be an expensive endeavour. Would you the homebrew public have in advice for someone that actually takes it quite seriously as a hobby (and has the full support of his partner and a cellar solely for brewing purposes)?

D

 

[unclepumble]

The only advantage is as a Penis extension

Seriously though, stainless is easier to clean and less likely to harbour bacteria etc in scratches, thats about it.

The beer you make won't neccesarily be any better, you will just have your object of desire locked away in the cellar.

I have a 5 gal basic plastic and also a 1BBL stainless steel all singing and dancing brewery, I have had most use out of the plastic one, and made great beer on both.

Suck it and see and brew with what your wallet can afford.

O the only other thing to consider is, the stainless one will be easier to sell and get most of your money back on, should you decide to give up.

UP

 

[Darcey]

O the only other thing to consider is, the stainless one will be easier to sell and get most of your money back on, should you decide to give up.
UP

This is a very good idea in convincing the ladyfriend! Good points all round. I think I need to plumb in properly before I spend any money.

 

[keith1664]

In my opinion there's not as much difference in the cost as you might think, buy 2 70 Litre stockpots from France and it's going to cost you £93.63 delivered, or £46.81 each. I really don't think it compares too badly to the £49.50 it'd cost you to buy 2 of THESE. Yes, it's going to cost you a bit extra for cobalt drills and Q-Max cutters but I know where I'd rather have my 10 gallons of boiling wort!
It's not quite as easy to make the case for the thermobox mashtun, it's going to cost you £110 delivered and isn't going to be used to hold boiling liquid (just hot) but it'll hold the temperature better than any coolbox.
They both have the advantage that they'll never need replacing and I bet if you ever had to sell up you'd get most of your cash back.

Did I mention that they're shiny and look cool?

 

[Sean_Mc]

Baby oil keeps them looking shiny

 

[dennisking]

Baby oil keeps them looking shiny

Wrong forum

 

[Sean_Mc]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Darcey]

Baby oil keeps them looking shiny

Ive already had to deal with stainless beer tap porn this week on this forum, lets not bring rubbing down 70l mashtuns in to it....

 

[Darcey]

buy 2 70 Litre stockpots from France and it's going to cost you £93.63 delivered, or £46.81 each.

Did I mention that they're shiny and look cool?

Where are you buying those from. At that price then yes, HLT & boiler here I come. Where do you get those from!?

 

[Sean_Mc]

I know I was drooling over Steve's kegerator :mrgreen:

 

[keith1664]

buy 2 70 Litre stockpots from France and it's going to cost you £93.63 delivered, or £46.81 each.

Did I mention that they're shiny and look cool?

Where are you buying those from. At that price then yes, HLT & boiler here I come. Where do you get those from!?

Here.

http://shop.ebay.fr/catering-service-fr ... ksid=p3686

 

[Darcey]

Wish I had paid attention in French now... looks good tho. What is the international postage? I doubt 13 euros will be 'international'

 

[evanvine]

I dare not post a comment, re plastic versus SS, else Aleman will jump down my throat! :whistle:
When I had a complete brewing platform collapse on me, SS would not have saved the day!
No damage to the plastic boiler, but I bet SS would have ended up a tad misshapen.

 

[Aleman]

Wish I had paid attention in French now... looks good tho. What is the international postage? I doubt 13 euros will be 'international'

Copy the Item Number into the UK Site . . . and buy it from the UK Site . . . And Yes the 13 Euros is International delivery . . . If you buy two they'll combine postage

 

[Vossy1]

As UP has already said plastic and metal both make great quality beer, most people start with plastic as it's a 'cheaper' way to dip your toes into the hobby.
Everyone who has a metal/plastic brewery has their own reasons for it, be it cost, preference or whatever. Mine was because I don't trust boiling liquids in plastic after nearly knocking a tap off the boiler mid boil. Now you could argue the fault was mine, and if the copper had been positioned correctly (read tap not overhanging bench), there wouldn't have been an issue. I also didn't like the way the tap moved when trying to attach hose to it when it the boiler contained hot liquid, as it makes the plastic more flexible.
I decided I wanted a more rigid set up and the move to steel was made. As has been mentioned you probably won't lose money on a home build, a 100ltr stainless system made by a forum member is sold as new on E-bay for £1400 ish, fair enough, but it can be made for a 1/3 of that price if your willing.
Whatever you decide you'll be making the right decision :thumb:

 

[evanvine]

I totally agree with all V1 says!
Connecting a pipe to the tap is precarious, I over came this by pre connecting a very short length of Vossey's silicon tube to the tap which in turn had a 1" piece of 15mm copper attached.
When connecting the CFC tube to it, the short length of silicon takes up all my fumbling leaving the tap unstressed.

 

[unclepumble]

I decided I wanted a more rigid set up and the move to steel was made. :thumb:

You could have saved a fortune by pre treating the liquor with Viagra that stiffens most things up.

UP

 

[Vossy1]

:rofl:

 

[31bb3]

nothing wrong with plastic breweries except from the life expectancy ss last forever plastic will deteriorate over time having said that can you justify buying the ss i personally couldnt resist the shiney ( i cant help it its so beautiful)