Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:37 pm
Well ... it is up to you on buying the B3 1100 or building it yourself. If you don't/can't change your own oil and brakes on your car, you probably wouldn't want to build your own brew sculpture. I didn't have the ~$3,000 to buy the 1100 and I enjoyed/prefered designing and building my own system. From conception to brewing, the whole process took me about 1.5 months with only a few hours to work on it every few nights. If you have the time and parts, I think it could be built in one long and dedicated weekend (I watch my now 2-yr old kid on my days off while the woman works, so it was hard to find good times to weld). I had never welded before, so I spent some time learning how to weld on practice steal and built a 1/3 size prototype that cost me ~$10. I was amazed at how easy it actually was to weld decenty (Need an auto darkening mask ... the cheap one worked fine for me ~$50). There are some great resources on-line for learning how to weld. With the sculpture steel, two burners, two pumps, SS quick disconnects, burners, high temp tubing, ball valves (pumps and kegs), keg thermometers, and the home-made copper HERMS setup, the whole system cost ~$1,200 to build. This does not include the cost of kettles, since I was given kegs from various friends that had them sitting around in their garage for years. This is also a manual system, "economy", but with ten gallon batches I don't have a whole lot of turning burners on and off anyways.
If you don't have any friends that have a welder and want to build the stand, I suggest buying a MIG welder ($450 new). You can usually find a good deal on craig's list ($100-200). The other piece of equiptment that you would want is an angle grinder ($70) for cleaning the welds and cleaning the steal. Even with buying this equiptment, you are substantially less than the "economy" B3 1100 and have a welder at your disposal. I am very happy with my results ... 40 gallons of beer on the new system in the last three months, total brew times ranging from 5 -7 hours AG.
If you decide to build one, I may be able to help with any questions.
good luck,
Eagle Dude
On Tap: Barrel Fermented Berlinerweisse 3.2%; American Pale Ale 6.3%, Amarillo Blond 5%
Aging: Flander's Red in a 60 gallon Merlot barrel
Fermenting: Robust Porter 6.5%
