Whats the next best piece of equipment?

I have a simple start up brew rig. Propane burner, 10 gal nice stainless brew pot, two glass car boys, bottling bucket etc....
What should I invest in next? I could use a temp gage on the brew pot or fermentation fridge but what would you do? I'm in savannah so it's always hot.

Wort chiller and fermentation fridge.

Chiller

Picked up all of the above recently. Looking forward to wiring my temperature controller (STC-1000). Thinking about starting my own yeast. What do I need to buy to do this inexpensively?

Cooler mash tun you know you want to. That's all you'd need to start AG brewing.

Stir plate for making starters and a fridge or some way to control fermentation temps.

Pitching the proper amount of healthy yeast and controlling the fermentation temp will do tons to improve your beer.

Wort Chiller, a themometer on the boil pot is useless in my opinion we all know wort boils at 212* F! You will need a way to cool it down quicker than 6 hours lol.

Actually I'd suggest a refractometer as well. Really helped me dial in my numbers!

A cooler for mash tun and a boil kettle all for the one gallon setup

Immersion chiller: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/wort-chiller-build-231734/
Mash tun: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/cheap-easy-10-gallon-rubbermaid-mlt-conversion-23008/
Fermentation chamber https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/
Stir plate to go with your fermenter: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-shamelessly-cheap-12-diy-stir-plate-338695/

If you are doing a full boil (5 or more gallons) with that 10 gal pot then a chiller is a must. Next I would go for a fermentation fridge or freezer and yeast starter gear. Once you get all that and figure out how to use it well, then buy your cooler mag tun and move to all grain brewing.

Fermentation fridge. It'll improve your beer WAY more than a wort chiller or going all grain.

You absolutely won't regret it once you taste the first batch.

Thanks for all the advice! I just brewed a 5gal full boil batch yesterday and cooling after the boil is the biggest pain right now. Takes me about 30min in a tub of ice. I think I'll do the chiller first and then try to find a fermentation chest freezer. I almost have a stir plate finished so yeast starters are in the near future.
I think I might go to BIAB next... then all grain down the line.
Thanks again everyone...

Keep in mind that if you get a chest freezer you will need a temperature control device to regulate the temperature. Single stage (cooling or heating only) is fine if you can keep the ambient temperature in the room above (or below) your preferred fermentation temperature; double stage for when the freezer will be outside in an unheated or un-air conditioned garage. I just bought a 7.0 cubic feet GE freezer for about $170 at Home Depot, and put together a STC-1000 unit for under $35. I was an absolute novice at wiring and read and re-read several of the excellent threads here on the forum before feeling confidant and getting to work. One thing that I will suggest if you decide to DYI with a STC-1000 is to give yourself plenty of space for the wiring. There is a great thread on HBF that show how to use a 3-Gang box but I am all thumbs and found that using a four-gang box worked better for me since the wiring had some extra space. There were several times during the process wherein I wished I had just forked over some extra money and bought a Ranco controller or something by Johnson Controls - but I could easily make a couple more of these is the future and save some more money.

I've also upgraded to a full-boil and recently purchased a wort chiller as well. Judging from what I've read so far, a wort chiller is a great convenience and will definitely help your beer because there's less exposure to oxygen because you're getting it in the primary fermenter earlier - but keeping a constant temperature during fermentation will probably make a big difference in the quality of your beer. I'm brewing up a new batch in a couple of weeks and will let you know when it's ready!

If you don't own an auto siphon, get one.

lhommedieu said:

I was an absolute novice at wiring and read and re-read several of the excellent threads here on the forum before feeling confidant and getting to work. One thing that I will suggest if you decide to DYI with a STC-1000 is to give yourself plenty of space for the wiring. There is a great thread on HBF that show how to use a 3-Gang box but I am all thumbs and found that using a four-gang box worked better for me since the wiring had some extra space.

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I always hated it when the electrical engineers hung a huge panel on my machines, until I helped them wire one. The more space the better! Plus the maintenance guys appreciate it.

twbalding said:

I think I might go to BIAB next... then all grain down the line.

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BIAB is all grain, very easy, my preferred mashing method.

dustinstriplin said:

BIAB is all grain, very easy, my preferred mashing method.

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I second Dustin and I second your plan. Get the immersion chiller first, you need to get that wort cooled down quickly and then get something to control fermentation temps. I noticed a huge improvement in my beers after building a chamber.

$6 bag for BIAB listed in my signature