What is your favorite piece of equipement that makes brew day easier??

The reason I posted is this is because for ten years I have brewed beer... And for ten years, I shunned siphon-starters.. I always said "Hell, thats just a piece of fancy equipment and waste of money".. Then I got one for my Christmas one year and OMG!! It made my life so much easier.. Ridiculously easier.. I couldn't believe that for TEN FRIGGING YEARS I struggled trying to start a siphon with turkey basters, etc on countless batches of brew..... And it was only 10 bucks.. Geeze..

Anyway, that got me to thinking.. Anyone else out there ever have an epiphany with a new piece of equipment that now you cant live without??

I would say my kegging setup. I really hate bottling.

I got a new beer glass that when full is a big help.

Wort chiller, march pump, and tri-clover QD's.

Finally having an organized system makes my life much easier, more accurate, and stress free.

As an AG brewer, the refractometer is the single most valuable piece of kit in my brewery.

a burner. Hard to keep a boil going just sitting it out in the sun.


Oh, and a kegging setup. I'm brewing (and drinking) twice as much now.

flyangler18 said:

As an AG brewer, the refractometer is the single most valuable piece of kit in my brewery.

Click to expand...

ftw. I should have thought of that. Refractometer is the one.

this is low tech, but i really like the bottling bucket dip tube.

I have yet to put a spigot on my kettle, but I imagine that would make things so much easier. +1 on the autosiphon, but I melted mine and have not replaced it yet. I built a T device to siphon with my mouth, but still not quite as awsum as a properly-working autosiphon IMO.

My brew stand.

Lil' Sparky said:

My brew stand.

Click to expand...

Do you have any idea how much I hate you?!

flyangler18 said:

As an AG brewer, the refractometer is the single most valuable piece of kit in my brewery.

Click to expand...

Hey Fly,
I myself bought a refractometer several months ago and have yet to see the value.. I thought it would be nice to get a gravity reading without taking huge samples, but from what I understand,for an OG sample, it only works in conjunction with a hydrometer reading anyway, so if I have to take the hydrometer anyway, whats the point? Where and how do you use it? Isn't it inconvenient to use a chart/beersmith to transform the brix into gravity?

You just need your O.G. in S.G. I use my O.G. as converted from my refractometer.

I probably take 20 readings throughout brewday and check gravity every other day during fermentation. I have a much better idea of how my brew is doing because of the refractometer.

I love my new vinator and bottle sprayer. They hacked 2-3 hours off my bottling day. Used to be I would siphon oxyclean into bottles, scrub them with the bottle brush, dump, siphon rinse water in three times, dump, then siphon in starsan, shake, dump, wait to dry.

Now I give my bottles a good blast with hot tap water and squirt them with starsan in the vinator and they're good to go. Best investment yet.

My coffee pot. Second would probably be my kegs as I hate bottling too.

The guy with the Groo avatar said:

Hey Fly,
I myself bought a refractometer several months ago and have yet to see the value.. I thought it would be nice to get a gravity reading without taking huge samples, but from what I understand,for an OG sample, it only works in conjunction with a hydrometer reading anyway, so if I have to take the hydrometer anyway, whats the point? Where and how do you use it?

Click to expand...

I use it for all pre-boil readings. I still use a hydrometer for OG/FG.

bullrider4 said:

Hey Fly,
I myself bought a refractometer several months ago and have yet to see the value.. I thought it would be nice to get a gravity reading without taking huge samples, but from what I understand,for an OG sample, it only works in conjunction with a hydrometer reading anyway, so if I have to take the hydrometer anyway, whats the point? Where and how do you use it? Isn't it inconvenient to use a chart/beersmith to transform the brix into gravity?

Click to expand...

A refractometer, once calibrated, works independently of the hydrometer. A few drops on the glass will adjust to temperature nearly instantaneously and give a reading. SG x 4 = Brix, approximately, and is a nice easy conversion factor to remember.

You can even use a refractometer during/after fermentation, but you need to adjust for the alcohol in solution. There is an excellent spreadsheet linked on MoreBeer that does this.

SmugMug said:

Do you have any idea how much I hate you?!

Click to expand...

Yes.

Counter Flow Chiller FTW!

Refractometer

flyangler18 said:

You can even use a refractometer during/after fermentation, but you need to adjust for the alcohol in solution. There is an excellent spreadsheet linked on MoreBeer that does this.

Click to expand...

Refractometer-otron 5000

You need both OG and FG in Brix, but besides that I made it easy for you

Up to this point, moving from a water bath to an immersion chiller.





...

+1 to the things I have like spigots, burners, and a kegging set-up.

I also have a love for this thing as well.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/simplest-hop-sock-stopper-ever-105135/

(Mine is slightly different, but the same concept).

A fancier version can be found if you you search for Lil Sparky is the man.

Sigafoos said:

Refractometer-otron 5000

You need both OG and FG in Brix, but besides that I made it easy for you

Click to expand...

Excellent, Dan! :rockin:

My grain crusher. No, wait, my AG set-up. No, wait, my boil kettle.
No, my CFC. Wait, it's the fermenting temp control system. Ahh wait - I GOT it!!!
it's my Kegerator (but only when full!)

There's been a few. In the past, at different levels of brewing, I'd have said the bottling tree, then it was the kegerator (buh-bye bottling tree). Then the auto siphon. Then the refractometer.

But the ultimate, most important time/back saver has been the pump. Brewing became so much easier and smoother.

My no chill fermentor.

No dragging hoses
No cleaning the coils
No waiting for the wort to chill before I can get things cleaned up
Less mess

ProMash.

It is all linked together, no need to enter anything more than once, calculations carry over to all of the other utilities automatically.

Refractometer.

Holy cow, I dont know what I did without it... great tool, great toy.

flyangler18 said:

A refractometer, once calibrated, works independently of the hydrometer. A few drops on the glass will adjust to temperature nearly instantaneously and give a reading. SG x 4 = Brix, approximately, and is a nice easy conversion factor to remember.

You can even use a refractometer during/after fermentation, but you need to adjust for the alcohol in solution. There is an excellent spreadsheet linked on MoreBeer that does this.

Click to expand...

ProMash does this automatically too. Maybe most brewing applications do too, you can enter your OG and FG in either SG or Brix, it compensates for alcohol.

The Pol said:

ProMash does this automatically too.

Click to expand...

As does BTP, which is the software that I use (and prefer) since I'm on a Mac.

IIRC, Beer Alchemy also had this functionality.

Brewday?... probably Beersmith (if that's equipment). If not it would probably be my garden hose (safe water/chem free).

Any other day and it's the Kegorator. That thing makes being a homebrewer soooooo easy.

Our basement. Nothing was possible until we moved into a place with that precious space.

Kit-wise, ever since I rigged up a solid stand for my grain mill I've enjoyed cranking that handle - I like the sound and smell of the fresh grain getting crushed at the start of brewday.

Being a noob who will be venturing into his first AG and outdoor brewday in about 11 days, I'll have to say that the biggest help has been my barstool. Perfect height to monitor and stir my wort. Until I started using this, I would stand throughout brewday and destroy my ankles.

Yay barstool. Oh, and my full pint glass too.

The Pol said:

ProMash does this automatically too. Maybe most brewing applications do too, you can enter your OG and FG in either SG or Brix, it compensates for alcohol.

Click to expand...

That's the reason my script is so fugly looking: I was going to make a suite of calculators but realized there are a bunch of sites that already do it. Of course, BeerAlchemy (my Mac program) doesn't quite match up with my calculations, so I just say 'a few points here or there doesn't really matter.' I guess if you demand precision, chill to exactly 60* and take a hydro reading

Oh, and my answer would also be my refractometer: no chilling needed, no need to compensate for temperature, no need for a big sample, etc.

My brain...

lots of plastic tubing

A torch lighter and welding gloves. Before the torch lighter, I lost all the hair on one arm lighting the upside-down missile that poses as my propane burner. And oven mitts just don't cut it. I can pick up anything used in the brewing process and know it won't burn through welding gloves.

BeerSmith.

Brewmasters Warehouse said:

I would say my kegging setup. I really hate bottling.

Click to expand...

I would agree here, except that I don't hate bottling. I just really love having beer on tap in the house.

Plus it is not really a single piece of equipment but if it weren't for AG brewing I really think I would have lost interest in this hobby by now. There are just so many fine craft beers available these days as opposed to when I started brewing back in the late '80's.

Wort chiller. Hands down.

March pump.. no more lifting for my bad back. The plate chiller is nice too, only takes 10-15 min to bring 6 gallons of boiling wort to low 60s and I whirlpool at the same time. But because of those two I had to get a 3 dollar hop sock so my hops don't clog them. It's worked out pretty well so far. Eventually I'll get around to making a filter for the dip tube on my kettle.

the 'next thing I am going to buy' is probably the most significant addition for me. Right now, that next thing is AG equipment

But seriously, homebrewing has to be the ultimate hobby. There is always a way to improve your process through acquisition of new toys. That said, I am a relative noob, but it seems even the guys on here w/ 10+ years of homebrewing under their belts are constantly upgrading their setup as well.

I would say up to this point, the most significant thing I have done to improve my brewday is to add a simple immersion chiller. It is amazing to witness the piping hot H2O come out the terminal end of that thing, when it goes in at 70 degrees or so. I would have said kegging, but that doesn't necessarily affect the brewday. I don't mind bottling every now and then, but cleaning, sanitizing, filling and capping ~50 bottles isn't my idea of a good time.