For much of this year, I have taken to making my own beer.

I did all grain homebrew with a friend back in the '90's, on a similar size scale, but much more primitive, lifting and pouring hot liquids. Took two young fellers to lift the kettles.

Below are some pictures of current set up. Everything is moved around with pumps. Made the kettles out of old kegs I found doing yard clean ups.

Of course, there are digital, electric and programmable ones you could buy, but this rig is basic and effective, and relatively inexpensive.

I pump the wort, usually around 11 gallons a batch though a plate cooler down to cellar where it spends time in stable temps.. More is involved, but that is a summary. Each of the two fermenters in cellar holds a 10 or 11 gallon batch.

Any one else have other extra curricular activities bamboo?

Looks quite the set up well done

That's a beautiful rig, dependable. I'm envious. I've brewed on and off since 1995. I love it, but it's a lot of work. I haven't brewed this winter, but there's still hope. What styles do you brew? I tend to stick with ales, usually hoppy or dark. Do you keg? I still bottle, which is its own huge hassle. Great to see your system.

Usually I brew lagers, pilsner types, light bock etc with lager yeast in winter. Some crisp, some a little more malt forward. The cellar is a good temperature for fermenting lager about half the year.

When the cellar starts getting to 60F in summer, I switch to an ale yeast and brew ales. Mostly light to medium in color and body.

I like hops, but find some of the trending IPA and craft beers a little too much. Hop level I shoot for depends on ABV of particular brew. Lately have been working in some late hopping with whole leaf hops to get some flavor without too much bitter.

My brew rig was cheap and fairly easy to make. I'm sure you could get or make similar with low $ investment. Let me know if you want some pointers.

All my brew goes into 5 gallon corny kegs. Started out with bottles of course, but dealing with them on any scale takes as much time as the brewing. Forced carbonation once the brew is aged and cooled in kegs is more exact and sterile than dextrose or krausen priming. Ever have a batch of bottles explode?

My brother has been brewing beer for years, and I started making my own wine about a year ago. My wife drinks a bottle of wine 5-6 nights a week, so I figured I'd try to save a few bucks. It's a very rewarding hobby, and of course now I'm a wine drinker.

His first attempt was over 20 years ago when I was still in high school. The beer tasted like old ass, and I got to bring him to the ER when one of his little beer bombs exploded in his hand. I probably spend more time degassing my wine than is necessary, but I'll never have an explosion or corks flying around.