Iniital Equip List - What Am I Missing?

Hi everyone, first post on the forum...

I got an extract kit for my recent wedding and I started my first batch, and got bit by the bug and have spent every spare moment since then listening to brewing podcasts and reading everything in sight.

I have a habit of getting intensely into hobbies, and when I do that I tend to spend too much money because I buy cheapo stuff off the bat and end up on a neverending upgrade path that costs way more than it would have if I spent the money right at the outset. I am also the type to absolutely master things one step at a time before moving on to newer skills.

So, I have tried to put together a list that will give me a good starting point for all-grain brewing (since that is my interest) and have tried to strategically choose important items that will be a higher upfront cost but that will carryover throughout my future in the hobby, while still keeping costs down.

The goal is to have an all-grain setup that can effectively cyclically brew several 5 gallon batches, and to start with pale ales and master them before moving on to other styles. This way I cut my teeth on a flexible and relatively forgiving style that I happen to enjoy thoroughly before I go all-in on other stuff.

I was wondering if some of you old pros could give it a once over and make some suggestions on things that are worth upgrading now and/or things that I have overbudgeted for that are not necessary and/or things I completely missed while planning this whole thing out.


So without further ado, here is the list along with approximate cost when purchased new (where applicable).


Better Bottle 6 Gal Carboy w/ Rack x3 @ 65.95
10gal blichman boilermaker 329.99
Blichmann Burner 149.99
Propane tank ~40
Stoppers, etc ~10
Schmidling Grain Mill 189.95
50 lbs grain ~50
Yeast 6 x 20 ~120
Hops 1 oz x 20 ~40
Enzymes 5x 2.95 ~14.75
Irish Moss 4 oz x 4 ~24
Bottles 22oz x 150 ~150
Picnic Cooler (58 qt) 99.99
Assorted Bits and Pieces ~50
Additonal 6 gallon food bucket ~15
Iodine solution ~10
Mash paddle ~20
pH paper (ColorpHast) ~10
1 gallon growler with sealing cap
1 liter beaker
Eyedropper
Sterile Gloves
Facemask (Particulate)


Subtotal 1521.52
Tax 76.076
Grand Total 1597.596:rockin:

Forgot to mention,

I already have: tons of funnels and strainers, a 6.5 gallon bucket, hydro and thermo, tons of starsan, cleaning brushes and supplies

How many batches have you brewed so far? One?

I recommend brewing with the bare essentials for a awhile before going overboard and spending $1600 in one fell swoop. As you begin to learn more about your system/process, make a few of these bigger upgrades... bit by bit.

Brown bottles can be had for free after your beer purchases; it depends how often you drink. You will need caps for the bottles though. Get other little things like tubes/hoses, hydrometer, thermometer, fermometer strips, more carboys, airlocks, auto-siphon, and go with a 2-3 liter beaker with foam stopper instead of the 1 liter. Also, I don't think many of us would stock up on a few of these things, like $120 worth of yeast.

Try not to take the fun out of brewing before you even begin. You do not have to take the hobby so seriously in order to brew great beer. Just be efficient.

FYI - Some of those supplies can be bought for 3/4 less the price you are listing, so shop smart!

Nice list. Congrats as well. I would seriously think about a stir starter if I were you. Pitch rates are uber important and those help alot. Also make sure you have a 2L flask to go with it. The only other thing I would say is if you are spending that cash just get 6.5 glass carboys. I just tend to trust that more even with the good reputation of better bottles.

I didn't see any kind of cooling device in your list. If you have the money, I'd suggest a good plate chiller.

You have a pretty good list.
I think you can get a cheaper pot than a blingman.
I bought my 9 gal SS pot on ebay for $85.
No need for steril gloves and mask.
My Barley Crusher mill was $125
I didnt see a wort chiller on your list. You definitely need one.
Good luck!

Get a 15 gallon kettle instead of 10 gal. The 10 gallon kettle will limit you to 5 gallon batches. You might someday want to move up to 10 gallon batches, and you can't do that with a 10 gallon kettle (after allowing for boil-off and hot break headspace). Blichmann is the best, but there are plenty of other great kettles for far less money. You could get a great 15 gallon stainless kettle with ball valve and thermometer for less than the 10 gallon Blichmann - it just wouldn't have the "Blichmann" plate on the front of it.

I'd go with the Barley Crusher mill. It's a great mill, for at least $50 less than the Schmidling you listed.

Why are you buying so much yeast up front? While it's true that dry yeast keeps for quite a while, liquid yeast rapidly loses viability over a few months, even when properly stored. Plus, you will want to try different strains of yeast depending on what you're brewing. Buy your yeast right before you brew to ensure it's as fresh as possible. That said, I do keep a small stock (10 packets) of US-05 on hand just in case an unexpected opportunity to brew pops up.

You don't need a pound of Irish Moss to start out. Put some of that money towards an immersion chiller or plate chiller instead.

Don't spend $150 on bottles if you think you might someday switch to kegging. $150 would get you a nice start on a kegging setup.

Why is the picnic cooler $100? Go to Wal-Mart, it should be half that.

Do you have a plan for storing the 50 lbs. of grain? Is it all the same kind (i.e., pale malt)? FYI, it takes two 6 gallon buckets to store 1 sack of grain. You're going to want an airtight lid for them, too. Most of us use GammaSeal lids.

The 1 liter beaker will not be big enough for doing starters if you ever hope to try your hand at lagers. Go straight to the 2 liter beaker. You can still use it for 1 liter starters, but it keeps the option open for bigger ones later. Also, consider a stir plate to get the most value out of your starters.

Hope this helps!

Lots of feedback, thanks guys!

Here's the purchase order plan.

I'll find a cheaper pot - but I need to pick up a pot, the burner, one of the carboys, and the propane up front - because I'm using a borrowed stock pot now and I have to reutnr it NLT 12/15 and my kitchen stove takes 45 mins to bring 3 gal to a boil, and because I can only work one batch at a time currently with my existing equip. I might be able to snag some used carboys from a guy I know, in which case I'll knock those off the list.

I have a lot of yeast on there because I want to master the yeast starter process first and I assume I will screw up several attempts. I'll buy them one at a time but I figured six batches would get me close to mastery.

The all-grain goodies are going to wait until next spring. I will work with dry malt extract between now and then.

Yeah - I would pass on the Blichmann burner and pot. Northern has a nice setup for about $150. I use a big aluminum turkey fryer I picked up new on sale for for $80. After 500 gallons or so, she's showing her age but has worked for me so far. I would also put the grain mill on your future acquisition list - almost every malt outlet will mill for you for nothing. And I never never use a dust mask - living dangerously! Figure the beer will kill me long before the particulates will!

jackthestrat said:

I have a lot of yeast on there because I want to master the yeast starter process first and I assume I will screw up several attempts.

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With your penchant for perfection, I would not agree with that statement.

Just so you know, yeast starters are only generally necessary for bigger beers, and they are made using liquid yeast (not dry). The process is quite simple. 1/2 cup DME per every 1 liter of water.

The huge downside to stocking up on tons of yeast is that you won't use all of it immediately. Those Wyeast and White Labs packs/vials are dated and should be used ASAP for best results.

bobbrews said:

With your penchant for perfection, I would not agree with that statement.

Just so you know, yeast starters are only generally necessary for bigger beers, and they are made using liquid yeast (not dry). The process is quite simple. 1/2 cup DME per every 1 liter of water.

The huge downside to stocking up on tons of yeast is that you won't use all of it immediately. Those Wyeast and White Labs packs/vials are dated and should be used ASAP for best results.

Click to expand...

Got it- I'll work on a batch a time.

I've picked up that the aluminum vs stainless thing is a big point of contention in the hobby. I can save almost 300 bucks and get a 15gal heavy duty aluminum pot w/ cover if I grab it from a chef friend of mine. So...Blichmann completely unnecessary? Am I going to regret not having a built in thermo/water gauge?

kombat said:

Get a 15 gallon kettle instead of 10 gal. The 10 gallon kettle will limit you to 5 gallon batches. You might someday want to move up to 10 gallon batches, and you can't do that with a 10 gallon kettle (after allowing for boil-off and hot break headspace). Blichmann is the best, but there are plenty of other great kettles for far less money. You could get a great 15 gallon stainless kettle with ball valve and thermometer for less than the 10 gallon Blichmann - it just wouldn't have the "Blichmann" plate on the front of it.

I'd go with the Barley Crusher mill. It's a great mill, for at least $50 less than the Schmidling you listed.

Why are you buying so much yeast up front? While it's true that dry yeast keeps for quite a while, liquid yeast rapidly loses viability over a few months, even when properly stored. Plus, you will want to try different strains of yeast depending on what you're brewing. Buy your yeast right before you brew to ensure it's as fresh as possible. That said, I do keep a small stock (10 packets) of US-05 on hand just in case an unexpected opportunity to brew pops up.

You don't need a pound of Irish Moss to start out. Put some of that money towards an immersion chiller or plate chiller instead.

Don't spend $150 on bottles if you think you might someday switch to kegging. $150 would get you a nice start on a kegging setup.

Why is the picnic cooler $100? Go to Wal-Mart, it should be half that.

Do you have a plan for storing the 50 lbs. of grain? Is it all the same kind (i.e., pale malt)? FYI, it takes two 6 gallon buckets to store 1 sack of grain. You're going to want an airtight lid for them, too. Most of us use GammaSeal lids.

The 1 liter beaker will not be big enough for doing starters if you ever hope to try your hand at lagers. Go straight to the 2 liter beaker. You can still use it for 1 liter starters, but it keeps the option open for bigger ones later. Also, consider a stir plate to get the most value out of your starters.

Hope this helps!

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Sure does, thanks!

I was going to use the 1gal growler for the starters.

At some point down the road I was going to build a grain storage vessel out of an old 55gal food grade plastic barrel I have laying around.

Is there any reason why you can't use a previously used cooler, if cleaned completely?

I'm torn on the bottling/kegging thing. I was thinking with bottles I can give it away faster

jackthestrat said:

Is there any reason why you can't use a previously used cooler, if cleaned completely?

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nope. bought my mash tun cooler at an, uh, "antique" shop (used junk shop?). soaked it in oxyclean, scrubbed it with bleach, soaked it again, and it was good to go. even that was probably overkill, since you boil everything that comes out of it, but better safe than sorry I guess. that's definitely a good spot to save some cash, check craigslist and the like (or even post a "want to buy" ad, it being winter people might be more likely to unload a cooler for a little extra christmas cash).

I agree with the wort chiller comments, too, so much better than messing with an ice bath.

as for a valve/thermometer/etc on your brew kettle, it's certainly not necessary. they're nice to have, but that's something you can add later (there are plenty of weldless options from bargainfittings.com, all you need to do is drill a hole in the kettle).

You're missing a brand new 15gal Spike Brewing kettle

assuming that your "55 lb grain" is a base malt (like 2-row), you might want to get some crystal malt as well. not 55 pounds worth, but you could consider getting a pound or two of C60 for example, maybe a little munich, and/or some aromatic, etc. brewing plain ol' 2-row only beer will get kinda old.

jackthestrat said:

So...Blichmann completely unnecessary? Am I going to regret not having a built in thermo/water gauge?

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there are cheaper options that have those built-in (example), and you can modify a simpler pot to add those components (parts). but i understand your desire to get the best off the bat and be done with it... so follow your heart.

jackthestrat said:

I got an extract kit for my recent wedding and I started my first batch, and got bit by the bug and have spent every spare moment since then listening to brewing podcasts and reading everything in sight.

Click to expand...

yup, that's how it starts. welcome to the hobby/obsession/addiction. hopefully your wife is supportive