To the rookies - what was your first equipment upgrade?

For me, I'm a gadget guy. When I was new to this, I knew I could sneak in a red baron capper to the house but I'd have trouble hiding a bench capper. Beginning to think I should have spent the extra $30 to get a bench capper.

Curious to know what your first equipment upgrades were...

My kit only came with racking cane and tubing so first was autosiphon.

My first upgrade will be from a 7 gallon pot with no spigot to a 16 gallon with spigot. Many people have suggested to go as big as you can when upgrading your pot, so we will see.

I started with a great kit but recently my capper broke... so that will be 3rd. My first was a more accurate thermometer and 2nd was a temp controlling fridge

In my mind compared to so many with so much more experience, I will still be a rookie of sorts in years to come.
I realize this was a one item question, but maybe it might help someone else make a better informed upgrade choice.
I started with a 22qt SS pot, and two 5 gal buckets, one with a spigot, one w/o. Spigot for #2 bucket was 1st, building a Zapap that I still use was 2nd, a couple of extra 5 gallon buckets w/spigots were next. When the weather changed, and I could no longer control fermentation temps, since I already had a 5 cu ft chest freezer, I built an STC-1000 controller for the chest freezer I had, it really simplified my brewing capability. I already had a propane burner that came out of a smoker I had, it was better than nothing as I could no longer fit my SS pot between the stove and the built in microwave. Slow to a boil was an understatement, so I drilled out the orifice and got lots of heat. Dirty heat, because the orifice was too big, but it didn't take an hour to boil anymore. After that I bought a 40qt aluminum pot delivered for $55.00, so I wouldn't have to spend half a day refilling my 20qt pot to continuously boil off my wort and sparge water. Boiling off 8 gallons of combined wort in a too small pot really sucks, but opening up the gas orifice did help that using the larger pot. I recently picked up two 30qt turkey fryer setups from Wally World for $20.00 each. Recently, Home Depot put copper tubing on sale, and many members of this forum, including myself, built inexpensive Immersion Chillers. Some HD's still have tubing left. I don't have space or budget to go to kegs right now, and I'm okay with that as we really don't have the space anyway. At present, none of my pots have valves on them, so maybe Santa will bring me a weld less one for Christmas, as pouring a 50+ pound pot into the fermenter is a real drag.
O,BTW, this is not how to build a double pass Immersion Chiller

aStoutObserver said:

My first upgrade will be from a 7 gallon pot with no spigot to a 16 gallon with spigot. Many people have suggested to go as big as you can when upgrading your pot, so we will see.

Click to expand...

How many BTU's does your burner produce? You may not have enough heat available to bring 10+ gallons to a rolling boil. Just wondering...

Avinnatore and a bottling tree. Made bottling much easier.

I lucked into a decent priced 3 vessel keggle with a heavy duty stand, three big banjo burners, two march pumps, and a blichman terminator.

The HLT had a sight glass, 1/2" MPT SS valve with barb. The MT had a dip tube and top hat screen, 1/2" SS valve with barb. The BK had a bazooka, sight glass, and extension on the 1/2" valve and barb fitting.

After one brew (my first in many years). I built a propane manifold on the front of the stand to control the burners instead of running behind the stand to two propane tanks to adjust the flame.

I added a double gang electrical box with waterproof housing with a switch to a outlet to control each pump. I mounted that on the front corner post. Enough running to the extension cord to plug and unplug the pumps.

I got tired of sticking my hand in a boiling kettle to take temp readings because the temp gauge was too high for 5 gal batches. I used a SS nut and bolt with O ring to plug the higher hole and drilled a lower on in both MT and BK at about the 3.5 gal point. Now I can raise or lower the temp gauge depending on batch size.

After two batches and problems keeping the fermentation WARM enough. I built a fridge fermentor with dual stage controller (STC 1100). I went a little crazy and bought two old fridges for $50 ea, a chest freezer for $50, and then I found a FREE freezer on the side of the road. You guessed it- I use the free freezer and the others sit unused (so far).

I rotated the Blichman on the front so the IN and OUT wort connections faced forward. The IN facing the wort pump and the OUT facing to the left of the stand to discharge chilled wort into a vessel. I installed it on a hinge so I can drop it and sanitize it when not in use,flip it up, rinse, and be ready to brew.

I tweaked (bent) the dip tube on the MT to pick up more wort under the top hat for better efficiency.

I removed the bazooka- it clogged terribly. I installed a compression fitting and shortened dip tub so I can whirlpool (manually) and get a better volume efficiency.

I went ahead and installed all tri clover fittings on the system instead of the PIA barbed fittings and hose clamps for ease of moving the hoses and cleaning. $$

I was having problems purging air out of the lines from the valves on the vessels to the pumps, so I installed 3 way valves on the tanks with a barb on the top with a 3" section of hose. Before I'm ready to use the pumps, I open the valve, slowly bleeding the air from the hose until it's full of liquids and I'm ready to pump.

I just installed a weld less whirlpool on the BK. I used a 90 degree 3/8" barb to 1/2" NPT with lock nut and O ring on the inside. On the outside is a 1/2" extension to a 1/2" valve to a 1.5" tri clover. The whirlpool tests pretty good. I installed it a the 3.5 gallon mark.

I got tired of my hose slipping out of the MT during sparge. I installed a similar weld less fitting at the 13 gal range on with a 90 degree elbow to 3/8" barb- straight to a 1.5" tri clover fitting (above water line). A piece of sanitary hi temp hose loops around the tank for sparging ALA the electric brewery method.

I have two more projects in mind.

I want to replumb the blichman with some hard pipping to include a temp gauge and a venturi aerator (with inline filter). I have the blichman inline thermometer and it works very well but connecting it using tri clover for ease of back flushing has been problematic. Now I have to unscrew the barbs, attach a tri clover for cleaning and back flushing then reverse to brew.

I need to make covers for the march pumps so I don't drop wort in them and short them out.

Then of course there's the hop stopper, hop back, oxygen aerator,....

I've brewed 5 batches so far, another planned today. Then I'm going to try a 5 gal all grain batch and move up to 10 gal batches.

An 8 gallon kettle. Which didn't last long, now it's my hot liquor tank. Mash tun came shortly thereafter. Then kegging. Kegging alone brings a whole new chance to gadget up.

A ten gallon kettle, then a wort chiller, then a mash tun, then a and on and on it goes.

MindenMan said:

How many BTU's does your burner produce? You may not have enough heat available to bring 10+ gallons to a rolling boil. Just wondering...

Click to expand...

I will be upgrading that too soon. I'll likely not be doing to 10 gallon immediately, but now that I will have the pot, it will be a less expensive transition.

MindenMan said:

...At present, none of my pots have valves on them, so maybe Santa will bring me a weld less one for Christmas, as pouring a 50+ pound pot into the fermenter is a real drag.

Click to expand...

If you don't have a valve on your kettle (I don't), don't brake your back. Have sanitized tubing and an auto siphon ready. Once the wort is cool, just siphon it over. As a plus, you can use the pouring wart to aerate just by holding the end above the wort level and moving it around!

My first upgrade was building a wort chiller.

First upgrade was building a cooler mash tun to go all grain followed closely by building a keezer and setting up 3 kegs.

Temp controlled fermentation chamber. That along wi a stir plate. These two thing help make better beer.

Bench capper I believe was the first true upgrade. Next will be brew kettle and burner.

For me it was a 15 gallon kettle and a BIAB bag, then my kegging equipment. When I started kegging, my beer got a lot clearer, tastier and more convenient. That was a big changing point for me.

Immersion chiller and auto-siphon simultaneously. The chiller cut a lot of time and worry out of my brew day.

BradTheGeek said:

If you don't have a valve on your kettle (I don't), don't brake your back. Have sanitized tubing and an auto siphon ready. Once the wort is cool, just siphon it over. As a plus, you can use the pouring wart to aerate just by holding the end above the wort level and moving it around!

Click to expand...

The first few times I lifted the brew kettle, I had a sore back the next day. Enough! What I have been doing is putting a filter in a mesh screen, and using a bowl to bail out of the pot. By the time I get to the bottom, I already have a fine layer of trub lining the screen working as a much finer filter. And since the screen sets almost the same height as the bucket, it appears I am getting good aeration due to the splashing into the bucket from the screen.
I do appreciate the auto siphon idea.

#7 +1 real value for money

In order:
accurate glass thermometer and hydrometer for AG mash
8 gallon pot
dedicated BIAB bag
valve rather than siphon
Auto siphon for racking
refractometer
cheap, working bench capper

of all of them, the thermometer and refractometer are used most.

First upgrade, copper coil wort chiller.
Second, bigger pot, from 6.5 gal SS pot to converted keg (no tap, for BIAB)
Third, a keg and co2, etc.

In order:
Extra carboy's/buckets
Bigger pot/outdoor burner
Fermentation fridge

Next:
Wort chiller
Mash/Lauter Tun (cooler conversion.. I have the cooler.. just need to do the work)

Started out with the Deluxe Homebrew Starter Kit from Northern Brewer. First thing I bought to go with it was a 22qt (5.5gal) stainless steel kettle and stirring spoon.

As far as "upgrades" go, I would have to say I haven't gotten any yet. Unless you count a hydrometer, because that didn't come with my kit. I'm thinking I'm gonna pick up one of glass carboy carriers, and I need a real burner. My wife might actually pay for that to get me off the stovetop, giving me the option to cook it outside. Thought she was going to kill me with the odors the first brew...

My first upgrade was building an immersion chiller, but it probably should have been a fermentation chamber. The quality of my beer improved drastically when I put a temperature controller on an old fridge I had. Best 75 bucks I ever spent.

I no longer use my first upgrade. Getting started I was unaware of the "normal" progression of homebrewers, generally starting with extract kits then going on to partial mash and all grain. So, initially I malted my own barley, using a food dehydrator to dry the sprouted grain. Didn't work so well so my first upgrade was to build a dryer out of a large (2' X 4' X 6') plywood crate I had. It was fun for awhile, but time consuming and I don't have enough control over the process to make a consistent product...and it was a little more expensive than buying malt in bulk.

Second upgrade was going from stovetop almost boils to boiling with one of those propane weed burner flamethrower things. Actually worked quite well but I don't use that anymore, either, since going electric.

An Immersion Chiller.

Felt so stupid and incompetent trying to brew my best with as large a quantity of wort I could boil and then taking FOREVER to cool it down.

Made my own 3/8" x 50' for ~$50

'da Kid

I guess I'd consider mine my immersion chiller. Can't figure out how to bend tubing, so I bought it at my LHBS

SWMBO bought me a Brewer's Best kit for my birthday along with an extract kit. Brewed that and immediately did a DIY 10 gallon Mashtun Rubbermaid cooler.

After a few basics like an auto-siphon and a second glass carboy for racking to secondary, my first REAL upgrade was a thermostat for the keg fridge to regulate fermentation temps... GREAT for Summer brewing (when you have no A/C)! Downfall? No room for a keg in the fridge while brewing... BOO!

HOPEFULLY Santa will be bringing me a nice weld-less 10 gal. brew kettle with a spigot/thermometer and a matching, in-pot wort chiller!

OakPond said:

Started out with the Deluxe Homebrew Starter Kit from Northern Brewer. First thing I bought to go with it was a 22qt (5.5gal) stainless steel kettle and stirring spoon.

As far as "upgrades" go, I would have to say I haven't gotten any yet. Unless you count a hydrometer, because that didn't come with my kit. I'm thinking I'm gonna pick up one of glass carboy carriers, and I need a real burner. My wife might actually pay for that to get me off the stovetop, giving me the option to cook it outside. Thought she was going to kill me with the odors the first brew...

Click to expand...

For the carboy, find a real milk crate. Not the flimsy walmart sruff. Works perfect.

Basically, I jumped in head first right off the bat. Banjo burner, 10 gallon pot, built a wort chiller, 5 corny kegs and converted my existing single tap sankey kegerator to a 3 tap with ball lock connectors. Essentially on day one I had what I needed to do full boils. I did start out with extract/partial mash kits, so the next upgrade was when I went all-grain and built a mash tun from a cooler. The best thing I did was get my own grain mill though. I like having the control and also the cost savings of buying grain in bulk.

I will say, I'm very lucky though to have a very cool basement. Even in the summer. So brewing Ales as I do, it's pretty easy to keep my fermentation temps in the mid 60s, even during the hot summers. Controlled fermentation would still be a great upgrade I plan on doing at some point.

My first upgrade was a bottling bucket. After trying to siphon into bottles, I went and got one right away.

buying a hydrometer was the first upgrade.

then it broke.

then bought another

then it broke.

Bought another.

kid broke that one.

I received the super ultra mega deluxe starter kit from the brew hut (so you know what I startd with from thebrewhut.com)
The only things I've bought are a wine thief for gravity measurements, a stir spoon, and a colander to drain grains.
I was lucky because my wife bought me a kit that needed nothing, that was fathers Day 2013, I've made 7 extract batches and my first significant upgrades will come after Christmas.
1) propane burner so I can brew in garage (I've been using side burner on grill)
2) 8 or 10 gallon kettle to do full boils
3) fermentation chiller (I'll build)
4) stir plate (I'll build)
GW

I guess for me the first thing was a 25' wort chiller from some new tubing I scored off CL for 20 bucks. Followed by some simple kitchen supplies to make life a little easier. Strainer, fluid tray, stainless spoons and stir paddles, digital temp gauge etc. My last two purchases was a vinator and water jet. Pocket change to many, but it's the best I can do with the holiday budget crunch.

Hope to take a stab at using a 15 or 30 gallon stock pot for a BIAB session outside instead of fighting with keeping a boil in the kitchen. From there, who know what the cost will be.

I started with a Mr. Beer kit so my first upgrade was a 5 gallon starters kit that had 2 buckets, racking cane, hydrometer, carboy brush, paddle, airlock, etc... All the basics. Quickly I found I needed larger kettles, so I scoured garage sales for the largest stock pots I could find. This served me well while I was doing partial boil extract kits.

The first upgrade that wasn't absolutely necessary, and one of my favorites so far is my Vinator. It makes bottling day so much more enjoyable. Just fill it with sanitizer, a few pumps into the bottle and your good to go.

Speaking of bottling, when I bottle I like to design a custom label. I go to fedex and use their color laser printer, cut them out and fix them onto the bottle with milk. A sort of 'upgrade' is to use BottleMark.com to design custom caps that match the labels.

My latest two upgrades are less than a week old! I went out and bought a keg system so that I could force carb a beer that I'm trying to rush for a christmas party. This beer I brewed had a 3.5 gallon boil which my kitchen stove had a hard time getting to a roiling boil, so I went out in search of a turkey fryer on sale. No luck finding one on sale, but I picked one up anyways at full price. I now have a 32,000 BTU propane burner with an aluminum 7.5 gal pot. (I could have gotten a 45,000 BTU burner for $15 cheaper, but the stand looked a little flimsier. I figured 32,000 is still about 3x the heat output of my kitchen stove.) Im still doing 5 gallon batches so I'm hoping it will work.

Upgrades I am looking at getting in the near future are a wort chiller, refractometer, and the hardware to make a kegerator or keezer now that I have the keg and co2.

Right now I'm borring dad's brew pot for my brews, On the christmas list is a larger brew pot so I can do a 2.5g all grain batch in the kitchen. I think my next upgrade will be a propane burner for outside.

My first upgrade was a wort chiller.