Complete builds
The Buy-Once Electric Setup
One vessel, indoors, on household power, with real fermentation temperature control.
An all-in-one electric system mashes and boils in a single vessel on standard household power, which moves brewing indoors and removes the propane burner, the separate mash tun and the transfer between them.
Paired with a temperature controller and a spare fridge, this is the setup most brewers stop upgrading at.
The complete list below comes to a budget of under $1,200 across 18 items.
Who this build is for: Somebody brewing regularly who wants to stop assembling a three vessel system on the patio every time.
The system
One vessel does the mash and the boil, on 110V household power.
| Item | Why this one | Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Brewer's Edge Mash & Boil Series 2 with Pump Brewers Edge | Programmable all-in-one with a recirculation pump, at well under the price of the flagship systems. | Under $500 |
| Ferroday 2 Roller Stainless Grain Mill Ferroday | Milling your own grain is the largest single lever on efficiency. | Under $100 |
| TIZZE 4 x 10 inch Hop Spider TIZZE | Keeps hop debris out of the pump and the chiller. | Under $25 |
| Subtotal | Under $600 |
Chill
| Item | Why this one | Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Northern Brewer Copperhead Immersion Wort Chiller Northern Brewer | Copper immersion coil, simple to clean and impossible to hide an infection inside. | Under $250 |
| Subtotal | Under $200 |
Ferment with real temperature control
This is the part that changes the beer. A controller plus any spare fridge holds fermentation within a degree.
| Item | Why this one | Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Fermonster 7 Gallon Wide Mouth Carboy FastRack | Wide mouth PET carboy, far easier to clean than glass and much lighter when full. | Under $50 |
| Inkbird ITC-308 Temperature Controller Inkbird | Two stage controller that switches a fridge and a heater from one probe. | Under $50 |
| Fermtech Fermentation Heating Belt Fermtech | The heating half of the pair, for cold rooms and cold months. | Under $25 |
| Brewland 3 Piece Airlocks with Stoppers (6 pack) Brewland | Spares, because they get lost and cracked. | Under $25 |
| Fermtech Stainless Steel Auto Siphon (18 inch) Fermtech | Stainless survives hot caustic cleaning that would craze plastic. | Under $50 |
| Subtotal | Under $200 |
Measure properly
At this level you are correcting readings rather than just taking them.
| Item | Why this one | Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Brewer's Elite Hydrometer and Test Jar Brewer's Elite | The reference instrument for any gravity that matters. | Under $25 |
| Ade Advanced Optics Beer Wort Refractometer Ade Advanced Optics | Two drops of wort instead of a full sample, built for wort rather than fruit. | Under $50 |
| BOMATA 1 kg x 0.01 g Digital Scale BOMATA | Covers both whole hop packets and hundredth gram salt additions. | Under $25 |
| YINMIK Digital pH Meter with ATC YINMIK | Mash pH, once the rest of the process is consistent enough for it to matter. | Under $25 |
| Subtotal | Under $100 |
Water and cleaning
| Item | Why this one | Budget |
|---|---|---|
| LD Carlson Gypsum (calcium sulfate, 1 lb) LD Carlson | Raises calcium and sulfate, the salt that sharpens hop character. | Under $25 |
| Craft A Brew Calcium Chloride (4 oz) Craft A Brew | Raises calcium and chloride, associated with a fuller palate. | Under $25 |
| TAPCRAFT Campden Tablets (potassium metabisulfite, 50 count) TAPCRAFT | Dechlorinates tap water. | Under $25 |
| Five Star Star San (32 oz) STAR SAN | No rinse acid sanitiser. | Under $50 |
| Five Star PBW Cleanser (4 lb) Five Star | The four pound tub, sensible once you are brewing regularly. | Under $50 |
| Subtotal | Under $100 |
Running total
| Group | Items | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|
| The system | 3 | Under $600 |
| Chill | 1 | Under $200 |
| Ferment with real temperature control | 5 | Under $200 |
| Measure properly | 4 | Under $100 |
| Water and cleaning | 5 | Under $100 |
| Total | 18 | Under $1,200 |
Budget ranges and totals are rounded bands from the catalog, not quotes. Amazon shows the current price on each listing.
Amazon shows the items and asks you to confirm before anything is added. Affiliate link.
What you can skip
Telling you not to buy something is what makes the rest of this list worth trusting. None of the following are needed to finish a batch with this build.
- A conical fermenter, unless you genuinely want to harvest yeast. A wide mouth carboy costs a fraction and ferments identically.
- A glycol chiller. There is no true consumer glycol chiller worth recommending here, and a controller plus a fridge does the same job for far less.
- A plate chiller, unless brew day speed is your bottleneck. Sealed plate stacks are genuinely harder to verify clean.
What to upgrade first
Once this build is working, these are the purchases that change the most per dollar.
- Kegging, if you are still bottling. It removes the single most tedious two hours of the process.
- A wireless hydrometer, if you want to confirm stable gravity without opening the fermenter and risking oxygen pickup.
Before you brew this
PBW and other alkaline cleaners burn skin and eyes, and must never be mixed with an acid sanitiser such as Star San. Wear gloves and eye protection, and store them separately and clearly labelled.
Related on BrewGearCalc
Frequently asked questions
- What does the the buy-once electric setup cost in total?
- Adding every item on this page comes to a budget of under $1,200 across 18 items. Amazon prices change often, so treat that as a planning band rather than a quote. You can also drop the items listed under what you can skip, which brings the real starting cost down.
- Do I have to buy everything at once?
- No, and most people should not. The items are grouped by function, so you can buy the fermentation and cleaning groups first and borrow or improvise the rest for a batch or two. What you cannot skip is a way to measure gravity and a way to sanitise, because without those you are guessing at both safety and quality.
- What should I upgrade first afterwards?
- Kegging, if you are still bottling. It removes the single most tedious two hours of the process.
Researched from published brewing formulas, manufacturer specifications and verified owner reviews. This is general guidance, not professional advice.
