Help, I stuffed my Mash tun

[lethaldog]

Yeah still waiting, they said it would be 6-8 weeks and its just over seven now so if its not here by the end of this week ill be flying to the US to ring some bastards neck

I was pretty happy to outlay that much and as you said its not to bad for the equipment that ive ended up with and considering a good hermes system or one of those flash US setups are up in the thousands then yeah its not that much in comparison and its not like you have to keep spending ( although i seem to always be able to find a reason to ) once you pay for the equipment its yours and from then on its just ingredients, im going to be buying my grain in bulk cos i have the room to store it and for your average 25kg bag of grain your looking at about $48 which is less than $2 a kilo so this brings down the cost of a brew considerably

Cheers
Leigh

[Swifty]

It would be better to buy the grain in bulk. Then you can have a good choice on hand to make whatever you feel like. I still don't have a fridge and fridgemate so would prefer to spend the money on that before I go upgrading. I've been keeping the fermenter in the spare room where it doesn't get too hot on 30 plus days but am going to start putting it under the house where it never goes above 18 degrees. Good enough for now. Your equipment would be nice to have though, but I'm happy with my cheap setup. I also just ring up and order my crushed grain and it's on my doorstep within a couple of days for around $6 delivery which I would spend on fuel atleast getting to grain & grape.

[lethaldog]

Yeah fortunately i have the fridge and fridgemate, there are pros and cons to everything i guess as i dont have the option of under the house i had to get the fridgemate by neccesaty, i have a friend that brews up in brisbane who ferments under his house in the garage and loves it, even in summer it doesnt kick up above 20*C so its ideal for brewing, maybe a little to hot for lagers but he doesnt seem to find it a problem..

The idea to buy grain in bulk came from the fact that

#1 i was paying at least double buying in small lots and then the cost of delivery on top ( im a bit of a tight arse when it comes down to it, even my equipment i searched for for ages to get the best deal)
#2 as you said, driving to the grain and grape couldnt be justified if you were only buying in small lots, just wouldnt be worth the fuel or the hassle. Considering i just bought 50 kg of bulk grain Ale/pilsner and 5 kilo lots of other specialty grains and some wyeast smack packs and a few hops i was looking at a total of about $260 so its worth it considering that will keep me going for at least the next 9 months, although i also ended up another $120 lighter cos i just couldnt resist the 4 ring burner that they had there

At the end of the day its all about the beer and as long as your getting the results that your after then thats the name of the game, i could of gotten away with spending alot less but im like a little kid in a toy store, when i get into something i just cant help myself

I just keep justifying it to the missus by explaining that i could have spent alot more and i leave out the part that i also could have spent alot less

Cheers
Leigh

[Swifty]

What is the best way to store the grain? Maybe I could buy some grain in bulk but plan my next few brews around what I buy as long as I don't keep it too long. That way I could save a bit more and make the brews cheaper.

[lethaldog]

As far as i know the grain is good for 12 months uncracked, i store mine in the original bags dropped inside plastic bins that i got from bunnings for $10 each and whatever i cant fit in there i get in the fridge, the only grain that i have bought in bulk so far has been pilsner and ale and the rest like choc,black,carapils, wheat etc i buy in 5kg lots

Cheers
Leigh