How I plan on blowing a holiday bonus check.

Alright so I've been thinking about what to do with extra cash that might float my way during the holidays and all I really feel like doing is spending it on brewing equip. So what I'm hoping for is just getting the most bang for my buck. Here's what I was thinking.

1) Fermentometer (Sp?) for being 100% sure about the temperature.
2) Immersion Wort Chiller, I don't really feel like building my own
3) Another bucket or two so I can cycle batches instead of making one at a time
4) Another boiling pot

What are some gadgets you guys acquired that you feel were 100% worth buying. I want to move to AG over the next couple of months but I want to be comfortable and confident in doing so.

This is what I want for XMAS Turkey fryer, brew balls,and a stir starter.

http://www.brewballstore.com/
http://www.stirstarters.com/

I'm not recognizing "Fermentometer." For a thermometer, I use the Thermapen (about $100) and I love it.

I got Midwest's entry level 25' copper immersion chiller for $50 (probably more now), and it works great for me. Of course, we do have 55F well water to run through it, which helps. I also switched it over this summer to compression fittings for the hose connections, which is an improvement, but it's a good solid chiller.

I definitely recommend more buckets. I got three 7 gal. white plastic buckets and lids from US Plastics this summer for $32 delivered, and they help a great deal with keeping my beer pipeline full.

Hard to recommend another boiling pot, unless I would know: 1. What you're using now, and/or 2. What do you want two for? My brewpot isn't anything special, just a Proctor-Silex 30 gal. SS stockpot with lid that I got on special at Cooking.com for $40 delivered. No matter what anyone may tell you, even though it's only 7.5 gallons, you can do 6.5 gallon AG boils in it. The secret is 10 drops of Fermcap-S, which kills boilovers dead. Since switching to AG, I do it every time, and nothing has boiled over yet.

Oscbert said:

http://www.brewballstore.com/

Click to expand...

Brewballs sound interesting. I wonder how effective it is tho.

The wort chiller is probably the best purchase I made.

I've done 6.5 gallon brews on my 7.5-gallon pot by spraying down boilovers with a water bottle. No problem, but I'm glad I made the switch over to a 10-gallon pot.

Definitely go for the extra fermenters. I generally have 3 batches going at once, and can do 5 if I use the bottling bucket.

Are the weight of the brewballs thrown off by crud building up on them? Cute idea, but I am not sure they're all that effective.

The brewballs seem kinda worthless to me.

For most ales you'd never get down to 1.005 so it might as well not have the white ball. Same thing almost applies to the 1.010 green ball. Unless you're brewing a very high gravity beer the black ball is going to sink right after fermentation starts, which is evident by krausen anyways. For lower gravity beers the black ball won't float in the first place.

That leaves you with the yellow and red balls basically. You should ferment past yellow, 1.035 fairly quickly. Red is a good value at 1.020, but it would be nice to have 1.025 and 1.015 balls as well.

If you're planning on AG brewing, a kettle (or another kettle) about 5 gallons greater than your planned batch size is a wise investment. Consider a cooler of similar size for later conversion to a mash tun. Also, if you don't already have a kegerator, now's a great time to start.

...and be careful when blowing a check. You might get a paper cut on your tongue.

Yuri_Rage said:

...and be careful when blowing a check. You
might get a paper cut on your tongue.

Click to expand...

LOL!

+1 on Kegging system!

Yuri_Rage said:

If you're planning on AG brewing, a kettle (or another kettle) about 5 gallons greater than your planned batch size is a wise investment. Consider a cooler of similar size for later conversion to a mash tun. Also, if you don't already have a kegerator, now's a great time to start.

...and be careful when blowing a check. You might get a paper cut on your tongue.

Click to expand...

I agree....I, unfortunately, am still doing extract and will need three items to do AG, Turkey fryer and pot, Immersion chiller and Cooler for MLT. If you are doing extract that is how I would spend my bonus. I didn't get one b/c of "the economy" or b/c the partners want to keep it all.

I also like the refractometer....might get one of those soon.

smmcdermott said:

I also like the refractometer....might get one of those soon.

Click to expand...

I'm psyched that I just got a refractometer because I was very frustrated with the run of the mill hydrometer.

Probably the best equipment I've bought so far has been the vinater bottle sanitizer. It's clunky but it does make the bottle sanitation process a breeze and is economical on the sanitizer.

Just used my refractometer this weekend for the first time, and it was really nice to not have to toss a huge sample just to take a reading! Three drops.

Get a bottle tree and a vinator sprayer if you're going to keep bottling:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/bottle-tree-90.html
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/vinator-bottle-rinser.html

curious why so many recommend the vinator. why not just use your dishwasher?

No real planning involved. I usually pre-clean my bottles, store them in case boxes, and put a sheet of tin foil over them to keep the dust out. With the vinator and bottle tree, I just grab a case and squirt them fast, hang them on the tree, and start filling them. I keep the bottle caps in the Star-San solution in the vinator cup, and as I need one I grab it. I also dip the flip-tops in the liquid in the vinator. It's really a slick unit, though it'd be nice if it had better instructions for putting it together...

apologeticus said:

curious why so many recommend the vinator. why not just use your dishwasher?

Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. Dishwasher with no soap works perfectly and the high heat cycle sanitizes and dries. Just set the bottling bucket right above the dishwasher, connect the bottling wand directly to the spigot, and have at it.