Good morning Keller Brauer,
To address the points you made:
1) Yes, I brew outside. I live in Phoenix, AZ so rain is never an issue . . . EVER. I have a sliding glass door that opens up from the kitchen to the back patio. That part of the patio has a roof and ceiling, (
so it's kind of half inside half outside). From there it opens up into a garden/patio area without a roof where my outside kitchen/BBQ area is. So my brew area is inside, semi-inside and outside.
2) I am leaning more and more toward keggles. When I first got into this I thought having 3 kegs was the kind of severe overkill reserved for those obsessed fanatics on youtube who brew 2 barrels a week (
as a hobby).

However now that I've brewed for awhile the three keggle system is looking better and better. Not because I want to increase production and compete with Budweiser on my output, but because when it comes to brewing, "Bigger
[IS] Better." I'm sure there's advantages to an actual "brew kettle" vs a converted keg, but at $45 for a used keg compared to 8 times that amount for a decent kettle, the advantages don't even come into play in my cheapskate world.
3) I'm still mulling over different ideas for a keggle mash tun. I don't like mashing in plastic - probably just a mental thing. I can buy a brand new 55 gallon drum, (
also for $45), so I'm thinking about putting the sanke keg inside the drum, running all the plumbing to the outside of the drum, and then filling in the space with some kind of high heat insulation material. Building a big metal version of a plastic ice chest in other words. If I don't insulate the bottom I can even direct fire heat it if I need to. I was also looking at a 120 qt heavy duty aluminum stock pot, (
they're about $100). I was thinking about setting the keg in that, raised up off the bottom, filling the aluminum pot with water and heating the mash like a big double boiler. That would solve any scorching issues but I'm not sure how easy it would be to maintain a constant temp using water as the heat source.
4) I'm the other way around. I started out brewing a lot more. But as I said, I live in Phoenix. From about May until October the temperature is brutal here and trying to maintain optimal fermentation temps becomes a HUGE hassle and expense, so I just gave up brewing during the summer months. I have two refrigerated temp controlled fermentation chambers, (
one for primary and one for secondary and conditioning). But when it's 115 degrees outside it's too expensive and hard on the equipment to try and maintain temps in the 60-75 degree range. I could bring them in the house where the temp is a constant 78 year round, but again, this is just a hobby. I don't want to start turning my living room or family room into a fermentation room with big bulky eye sore equipment humming away. It stays in the garage, (
which is not climate controlled). So it's just easier not to brew during the summer. That gives me 6 months a year to research, adjust my equipment, tweak my recipes. Then when October hits I'm cocked and loaded and ready to hit the ground running.