How to spend some cash

Hey just won my fantasy football league at work. I am going to get around $150 as prize money which I think will go towards brewing some how but I'm not sure what to get. I brew 5 gallon batches all grain brew in a bag. I use the 9 gal aluminum pot that came with the turkey fryer. I have 2 bargain fittings weldless bulkheads and Bobby M sight glass that I have not installed yet. I'm thinking right now I could try to track down a 15.5 gallon keg and make it into a keggle or I could just drill my turkey fryer but I sort of like the idea of a bigger pot so I can make bigger batches or just have less chance of boil over. So option 1 would probably include $50 or more to try to get a keg. I mill my grain with a pasta roller converted into a grain mill right now which works but is slow and might be falling apart. So I could get some sort of new roller mill plus the keg if I stretch the budget a bit maybe a barley crusher or cereal killer or something else. I keg my beer right now I have a chest freezer with 3 kegs in it. I have a total of six kegs. I use picnic taps. The freezer sits out in the garage so looks are not terribly important but for the 150 I could Probably convert to a decent keezer. I am also open to other suggestions sorry for the long post

1. Do you make starters?

2. How do you maintain fermenting temps?

3. Do you add O2 to your wort!

Out of the things you listed:
1: A nice bigger pot to drill and pimp out.
2: Grain mill, seems like you could use an upgrade there.
3: A nice keezer setup is pretty sweet, although admittedly unnecessary.

Other stuff to consider: A fermentation chamber which may (depending on how you do it) run more than your $150, yeast starter stuff, aeration equipment.

inhousebrew said:

Out of the things you listed:
1: A nice bigger pot to drill and pimp out.
2: Grain mill, seems like you could use an upgrade there.
3: A nice keezer setup is pretty sweet, although admittedly unnecessary.

Other stuff to consider: A fermentation chamber which may (depending on how you do it) run more than your $150, yeast starter stuff, aeration equipment.

Click to expand...

Wow the "other stuff" suggestions look familiar.

I have used mostly dry yeast but I do have a DIY stirplate that works pretty good when I use washed yeast or liquid yeast.
Since I use mostly dry yeast I haven't worried much about O2 but if I used liquid I have just done the multiple pours between vessiles to get O2 in.
I don't have a dedicated fermentation chamber right. During the winter I ferment in my basement which is down in the high 50's or low 60's. During the summer I either use the freezer if my pipeline is empty or a water bath with frozen water bottles. I have an old mini fridge that I could use as a chamber if I got a temp controller have thought of picking another one up off ebay.

bingo...temp controller.

Blow all 150 on hops.

GarageDweller said:

bingo...temp controller.

Click to expand...

Agreed, then I also would consider building a fermentation chamber depending on you space constraints, it could hold at least 2 but up to 4 or more fermenters. If your looking to go bigger (10 gallon batches) in the near future built it big enough to grow with your brewery,

Gear101 said:

Blow all 150 on hops.

Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more

I say put some decent taps on that keezer.