Most worthless piece of equipment?

Just wondering - what's the most worthless piece of equipment that you purchased with the full intention of using, then found it to be more hassle than it's worth?

Having a hard time with this one - Mainly because I've only bought stuff because I needed it...

i was thinking swmbo - but that's just wrong

Not so much a hassle, but I bought a 7.5 gallon kettle from one of the online vendors along with some weldless fittings for a thermometer and ball valve and a HopStopper. I got the pot first, drilled the holes in it and installed the ball valve and thermometer.

Then the HopStopper arrived and the diameter of the pot was too small even if I cut the HopStopper down to the shortest length it could be cut down to. My solution was to purchase a 15 gallon kettle with couplings welded in. Now I have a useless 7.5 gallon kettle with two holes drilled in it!

John

Iodine drops. I was hitting OG targets so never tested my mash.

I like lo-tech

Easy. Home Depot had electric turkey fryers on sale for $70, so on a whim I picked one up. It has absolutely no balls at all, it can barely maintain a boil on 2 gallons of wort, much less do a full boil. Completely worthless. Did two mostly-AG batches, with half the wort in that, half on the stovetop, before I got the banjo cooker and the keggle.

I bought this thingy that holds your carboy upside down, thus turning it into a conical. Cost $25, I only used it once. It leaked like a sieve and the little faucet that was supposed to drain trub & hops got plugged up so I wound up transferring to secondary anyway.

orfy said:

Iodine drops. I was hitting OG targets so never tested my mash.

I like lo-tech

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Agree. I think I iodine tested my first two AG batches.

I've been pretty lucky: all of the expensive items I've purchased have worked out pretty well.

Fermentap. Worse yet, I bought two since I was doing 10 gallon batches at the time.

ablrbrau said:

I bought this thingy that holds your carboy upside down, thus turning it into a conical. Cost $25, I only used it once. It leaked like a sieve and the little faucet that was supposed to drain trub & hops got plugged up so I wound up transferring to secondary anyway.

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BOSTONBREWIN' said:

Fermentap. Worse yet, I bought two since I was doing 10 gallon batches at the time.

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Well, I'm glad to know that the Fermentap is a POS. I was thinking about getting one but I guess now I will reconsider.

In a way I'm kind of surprised nobody has mentioned a hydrometer given the fact that this site has seen some pretty spirited debates against using one.

I've been brewing for only a year now and for the last 10 or so batches I've stopped taking gravity readings. I found it unnecessary from what I wanted to get out of homebrewing. If and when I switch to AG maybe I'll reconsider and maybe I'll buy some equipment that I find should be part of the "worthless piece of equipment" thread!

Happy New Year

Walker-san was the anti-hydrometer messiah for a while, but he changed his tune when he went AG. At least, for now.

Alembic said:

In a way I'm kind of surprised nobody has mentioned a hydrometer given the fact that this site has seen some pretty spirited debates against using one.

I've been brewing for only a year now and for the last 10 or so batches I've stopped taking gravity readings. I found it unnecessary from what I wanted to get out of homebrewing. If and when I switch to AG maybe I'll reconsider and maybe I'll buy some equipment that I find should be part of the "worthless piece of equipment" thread!

Happy New Year

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I disagree with that.
How do you know if the brew is fermented. I presume you're taking it for granted or guessing.

You can make good beer with out an Hydrometer. Eck you can even make beer without adding yeast. The Monks didn't use a Hydrometer or pitch yeast.

I'd say an hydrometer is one of the most important pieces of equipment along with a thermometer a brewer can have. I'm trying to think of a piece of equipment more useful or important. (Mash tun and Boiler)

Happy New Year.

Ditto on the iodine. Haven't used a drop.

beer finnings (isinglass(for use after fermentation))never used em cos my beer drops bright after two weeks in the secondery,but i do use copper finnings(in the boiler).
grain bag i tried once and thougt it was a peice of c##p,that was a waste of money.i got one of the enginers at work to make a s/s false bottom instead,and that cost me nothing so more than made up for the money spent on the grain bag.

I'll go with my racking cane. I have one, but I've never used it since I bought an auto-siphon before my first batch.

A mini-keg setup and the POS plastic tap that came with it! (I understand Phil tap's are ok) I'd say a couple cases of 22 oz. bottles that have never been used come in second.

rdwj said:

I'll go with my racking cane. I have one, but I've never used it since I bought an auto-siphon before my first batch.

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That's really the only answer I could come up with, too. And for the same reason.

1. I accidentally boiled my racking cane, bending it into an unrecognizable shape--
So that was completely worthless.

2. Multiple cobra taps. . .. I don't know why I did that. I have 4 of them sitting around

3. Finings--have a whole tray of them, and haven't used them. .. ever . . . (although I may on the apfelwein).

4. grain bag--used once.

5. Bottle tree--I don't bottle anymore. I went to kegging rather quickly.

I'm with orfy on the hydrometer as being important, but as for the LEAST important or worthless POS I have for beer is probably...small glasses!!! ...bring me a half liter!!!

ha... my hydrometer... doing extract now, didnt know i wouldnt use it...

Mine isn't so much a single purchase as much as the effort I put in to build a ghetto 3-tier wooden system. Thing will become scrap wood when I finally get around to building a 3-tier metal setup with 3 burners. But since I'm using it for now I guess it wasn't the biggest waste.

Agree with hydro and AG. I think it's very important now.

I guess I am not talented (or experienced?) enough to brew without a hydrometer, even with the extract brews I make. I have read several threads where people say you can tell a brew is done just by the way it looks, airlock activity etc... If I would have used that theory a few weeks back I would have a batch of potential bottle bombs right now. Instead it is still fermenting away like it should be. Personally I don't know how you could brew without one. :rockin:

trinitone said:

Well, I'm glad to know that the Fermentap is a POS. I was thinking about getting one but I guess now I will reconsider.

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Don't waste your money. The Fermentap was easily the worst piece of brewing equipment I've ever purchased. I used it once and it is now in a bag in a box somewhere. I do use the stand to drain my carboys.

david_42 said:

A mini-keg setup and the POS plastic tap that came with it! (I understand Phil tap's are ok) I'd say a couple cases of 22 oz. bottles that have never been used come in second.

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If you ever are driving south through Fresno, I have a closet with room for a couple of cases of 22oz bottles

beer4breakfast said:

I've never used my bottle brush. I always rinse all bottles immediately after pouring the beer into a glass, so there's never anything to brush out.

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I forgot I had one until you mentioned that...

Still not as worthless as that POS electic fryer

david_42 said:

I'd say a couple cases of 22 oz. bottles that have never been used come in second.

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I'll take those off your hands if you think they are worthless!

I would say the little plastic clip that is suppose to secure your hose or racking cane to the side of the plastic fermenter. I tried it once and couldn't get it to stay on the bucket.
I also stopped using my hydrometer a while ago and my beers got better. I use it once in a while but not too often.

Glass carboys - I mean, I like them but am scared to death of them shattering on me... even with "carboy haulers" on them. Just last week I knocked one against the brick steps walking in from the cooler - could have been a disaster. Plus I'm planning on moving to 10 gallon batches and don't think I'll feel like splitting the batches.

nope... cant really think of one!!
JJ

Bottle capper and bottles than need to be capped. I'm all about the flip tops now.....I'll never cap a bottle again!

I've never used my carboy brush. I rinse the carboys super well after emptying them, and then drain. Then I sanitize before using. I used all my other stuff, as well as borrow stuff from my friend (she has a wort chiller, bottling tree, etc).

Lorena

Thankfully, I don't have much equipment besides the basic stuff, and I use it all on a regular basis without issues. Of course, I bought an auto-siphon first thing, which means I never touched the regular siphon, and my floating thermometer has given me some trouble here and there, but mostly, everything works the way it should.

lorenae said:

I've never used my carboy brush. I rinse the carboys super well after emptying them, and then drain. Then I sanitize before using. I used all my other stuff, as well as borrow stuff from my friend (she has a wort chiller, bottling tree, etc).

Lorena

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I use mine. I get a lot of crusty krausen on the top of my carboy.

I think my glass carboy was my most unneeded purchase. I'm much more comfortable with plastic buckets - easier to clean and move.

My hydrometer

OK yeah I do use it if I am exparmenting or if I get REALLY freeking bored and want to calculater my mash effenciey, but (99% of the time) as soon as the beer hits the fermentor it never sees a hydrometer again.

IMHO the only thing a hydrometer does is make you worry and get ya p1ssed off (which isnt always bad)

Don't use mine.

I use oxyplus and have a million little bubble scrubbers doing it for me.

Bottles, bottle capper and thermometer. The type of thermometer, the glass kind that "float" in the wort. Going digital here someday.

some thing i'm very surprised not to see on these pages has to be those digital infared thermometers things, mine's of very limited use.

A few years ago, I bought a carboy cleaner (strips of cloth attached to the end of a big drill bit) from Morebeer.com. The thing didn't work at all.

some thing i'm very surprised not to see on these pages has to be those digital infared thermometers things, mine's of very limited use.

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That's because I refrained from buying one! Thought about it too long and decided the only thing it would be useful for is checking the kettle while the wort was cooling. A little more cash & I can buy a plate chiller.

#1. 1/2" racking cane - it doesn't syphin any faster and is way harder to start than a 3/8" cane. Plus I should have just got a auto-syphin.

#2. Bottle capper - switched to kegs and will never bottle again.