Looking to expand, buying new equipment.

I am looking to expand my homebrewing beyond the starter kit. I currently have a plastic 6 gal fermenter, a 5 gal. glass carboy (2nd fermenter), 6 gal. bottling bucket w/ spigot, 32 qt pot, 16 qt pot, some simple accesories to aid in bottling and sampling for gravities. I was looking at purchasing a few party pigs to skip some bottling or possibly buying another fermenter. What would be a good investment for future batches?

I'm assuming you're doing full boils in the 32 qt. pot, are you doing all-grain? If not, I would definitely recommend doing that.

You can never have enough bucket fermenters.

If you're wanting to bypass bottling, the next logical step is to upgrade to a kegging system.

A barley crusher (or other roller mill) is a nice add for an all-grain brewer. An MLT if you're not yet into all-grain.

I have attempted a few partial mash brews but no all grain. I don't think I make enough beer for kegging just yet, but I would love to get there someday.

Fermentation temperature control. Best investment you can make.

Liquidicem said:

Fermentation temperature control. Best investment you can make.

Click to expand...

+1
Your beer will thank you, and get much better

+2 on fermentation control.

A few decent coolers and some aquarium heaters will do wonders for stabilizing your fermentation temperatures for ales.

While all of these recommendations are good, the one with the most impact and probably the cheapest would be making the jump to AG. You have a pot that you could do full boils in, you just need to get a cooler converted and you're all set to go.

Cooler to MLT conversion here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=23008

Depending on your funds, I'd recommend a thief and an autosyphon...first...

Oh yeah, if you don't have an autosiphon then you need one. The one time I racked without it was an absolute disaster. There's a cheap alternative in the DIY section if you don't want to buy one.

I think I'd have to agree with the people saying go AG. I'm in the process of upgrading and converting a cooler, making an IC, etc, and I think it's the best thing you can do for your beer. Even if you don't get stupendously better results (I've heard people say PMing with mostly grains is almost as good or as good as AG), you'll understand a lot more about the process and beer as a whole.

It seemed that it was not clear if he was brewing extract or all grain.

Hands down, all grain will be the biggest improvement.

As most have said, the only thing you need is a Cooler converted into a Mash/Lauter Tun, and a chiller. The MLT should cost about 40 bucks, and depending on what kind of chiller you make, you are looking at around 40-60 bucks. If you need a chiller, PM me if you aren't the DIY type.

I am going to be attending an all grain brewing demonstration at my local brew shop next Saturday, maybe after that I will have a better idea of what equipment I will need to upgrade to all grain. However for the fermentation temperature control what did "A few decent coolers and some aquarium heaters" mean and how would you use them?

ohiobrewtus said:

While all of these recommendations are good, the one with the most impact and probably the cheapest would be making the jump to AG. You have a pot that you could do full boils in, you just need to get a cooler converted and you're all set to go.

Cooler to MLT conversion here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=23008

Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. Your cost will drop (assuming you can buy in bulk) and you will grain more control over your recipes.

For fermentation temperature controlling, you find a cooler that will hold your carboy or fermentation vessel. Once the fermenter is in the cooler, fill the cooler with water near the temperature you are fermenting at. Rig the aquarium heater to sit in the water and set the heater to the temperature you want. The water should be high enough to cover most of the fermenter without covering the lid/top. This will keep your fermenter at a more steady temperature.

I think Yooper had a good set up for this...