Next piece of equipment to get

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blisterman

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So far, I've brewed three extract batches, with more in planning, and am considering buying some more equipment.
Of course, I don't want to buy stuff just for the sake of it. I want stuff that's definatly worth while.

So far I have

Fermenting Bin with tap
Hydrometer
Thermometer
Sample Tube
Hand held bottle capper
20 litre stock pot

So, based on this equipment, which essential things do you think I'm missing, or what should I buy next?

A better fermenter with airlock?
Wort Chiller?
Fermentation cooler?
Bench Capper?
Anything else?
 
My 3rd and 4th batch are fermenting. In addition to my basic brewing set up (which included an ale pail w/ airlock and a glass 5 gal. secondary), there are two pieces of equipment that I've found useful: an autosiphon, and a bottle tree, if you're bottling and I assume you are.

Though not a piece of equipment, I also purchased Star San for sanitizing along with PBW for cleaning, however I have been using oxyclean (free) for cleaning.


Primary: Holiday Ale (AHS Gold Seal Extract)
Primary: Edwort's Apfelwein
Drinking: AHS Blue Moon Clone (1 left)
 
Most definitely get an autosiphon. It is well worth the price. If you plan on going to full boils or all grain, getting a wort chiller now would also make things a lot easier as well.
 
Wort chiller, hands down. Even with partial boils, a wort chiller is great. Then, look into doing full wort boils. After that, look into controlling fermentation temperature. Somewhere in there, look into stepping up to all grain.

Everything else is a matter of luxury, rather than quality, so buy such equipment accordingly.


TL
 
+1 for Autosiphon. Handy, if a bit fragile (I'm a hamfisted ass who breaks fragile things).

+1 to wort chiller. Essential.

I suggest a Better Bottle (with stopper and airlock) for a bright tank (what some call "secondary fermenter"). Good for longer-term storage and clarification.

Do you have a bottling bucket? From your list, it doesn't look like it. It's easy enough without one, because you can always rack into your (sanitized) brewpot for bottling, but...

A bench capper makes sense if you want to cap bottles that aren't 12oz or 22oz standard longnecks. Some bottles can't be reliably capped by a dual-lever capper. Then again, I mostly bottle in swing-tops, so I should probably shut up. ;) If you cap non-twist-off 12oz bottles, there's no reason to go buying a bench capper.

Cheers,

Bob
 
I personally would get a bottling bucket. The spigot on it is priceless and it makes bottling soooo much easier.
 
I would buy another ale pail so you can do more batches! I always found myself that when I could only work one batch at a time that by the time I drank the first batch that my other one was just going to carb so I would have to buy a micro
 
Thanks for the advice. I'm leaning towards a wort chiller. I generally ferment in the same container I use for bottling, which has a tap in it, so so far, I've not needed to siphon anything.
 
Add an AutoSiphon for $10. I'm not sure I'd want to go back to regular racking after the autosiphon. I use it for everything!
 
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