wookiemofo

Recipes 

I swear I was reading something on this site yesterday but now I can't find it. I think I want to add a piece or two to my setup every year, but I am at a stand still for what to add. Looking for suggestions.

Current setup.
2 propane burners, one a classic turkey the other a SQ14
8gal kettle
10gal polarware kettle with valve and space for thermometer (no false bottom)
10gal drink cooler for mash tun with false bottom
Stainless Immersion chiller that I used back when i was doing partial mashes in a smaller pot

My brew day:
Heat strike water in kettle, dump in to preheat. Dough in.
Heat Sparge water in second kettle. Vorlof... Drain into primary kettle.
Start Boil
Sparge... repeat
Boil
Cool
Siphon into carboy, pitch, aerate with an oxynator
Into the fermentation fridge

No yeast starter equipment

Ideas?

phreaky

Recipes 

First question to ask yourself is what part drives you nuts on brewday? I got to the point that I was hating lifting pots of hot liquid, and always needing someone to help me carry them, so my last purchase was to finally get a pump.

wookiemofo

Recipes 

Yeah I guess the worst part is dumping in my sparge water, it's damn near impossible by myself. Lifting the tun or kettle to a shelf for siphoning isn't as bad. So did you just add a pump for the sake of moving hot liquid to your mash tun?

phreaky

Recipes 

I actually plan on using it for mash recirculation and then runoff to the boil kettle, and then chilling through a CFC and whirlpooling, which means I still get to lift my HLT, but its one step closer to lazy brewing.

TyTanium

Recipes 

This. One of the most important components of brewing (other than maybe ferm temps)...pitch rates and yeast health.

Pilgarlic

Recipes 

Are you looking to make better beer, or a better system? If it's the former, look first to the beer. Is there something about your beer you'd really like to improve? Is there an investment you can make that will help you to make that improvement?

damnitbeavis

Recipes 

Do you have temperature control of the fermentation fridge? This is quite important.

Do you bottle? Consider a legging setup, it is much faster and easier

Do you keg? Consider a beer gun to help you share your brew, and enter competitions.

Consider changing your chiller. I use immersion/ whirlpool with 5/8" copper, and a march pump. With my setup I can chill an entire 30 gallon batch in 15 minutes to pitching temp. Some people prefer the lower water usage of a plate chiller, but they require more finicky cleaning.

I switched to trick over fittings, and will never look back. Consider changing or at least standardizing all your fittings so you can move things around.

Buy a stir plate, and a 5 liter erlenmeyer for making giant yeast starters. Happy yeast = better beer.

Have a homebrew.

Get a pump.

XombieDeath

Recipes 

Add a chinup bar to keep the SWMBO happy.

damnitbeavis

Recipes 

Tri clover fittings, rather

StainlessBrewing

Recipes 

Usually the question is "what to get first?". I have a list of things I want to do but money is always a factor.

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